Spirit Cloth

Quilting

Yes. I have settled back in here.

Leaving Feel Free as a reference for this place. Just a place to organize stuff so it can help me, keep me from losing my way.  I will leave it there, simplify it's appearance a bit. And you don't need to worry about it at all.  There will be pointers if needed. 

Heal.  Quilting. Slowly. I am sure it will end up as a gift somewhere down the line. Not an art thing, a blanket.

And , well, what do you know, I mustered up enough spirit to push me forward. A video, just to test my ability to keep at it.  There was coding, the man is a teacher too. And I put it here the way it should be, if you watch it from the blog, with my own videos at the end. The audio is a bit weird but one thing at a time,  Yay!

Here is a link if you see no player because it happens if the post comes by email.

A reminder to email subscribers, since some inquired, if you click the title of the post and read it on the blog itself, you can see comments, make comments and see other content, like video etc. 

The Cure for Sick and Tired...

No need to name it.

Not counting days or naming them either. Just Going.

Just Quilting

This part, the quilting. Needle Chanting.

I am quilting a Nest Of Days.

My favorite part is the hardest for me these days.  Older with thumb joint issues. Slower than ever. But then, it is the forever part that holds me in the safest place.

The basic quilting style I began with. Just going, along the seams. Simple. With squares, reinforcing the grid. I am back there, in simpler times. Hoping to finish another blanket before winter. 

The quilting will be done using what is left in the thread nest from a year of working. No worry about color. Just thread to hold it together. Mostly I use 2 strands of floss. No hoop.  I will quilt what is here and then make the whole thing bigger by adding around the edge. A cloth can always become bigger. Even if it is already bound. I am not sure I have ever composed that thought as I have this morning.

A baby quilt might just be the gift of beginning, it could grow with you. Imagine it as a nest of days, adding a ring each year as needed, so it remained big enough to hold you.

Hunker Down in a Field

 

The freeze is gone, I'd say.

May's Womb. Still a chill at night, but I trust we have crossed the line, here in The Valley. The unexpected snow has cleared the air.

The rain has quenched a thirst. 

Stitching without saying much, Needle Chanting, has quenched another.

I have weathered the storm.

The beginnings were simple here. Already present from way back. Looked at for a long time. Years.

A ragged nine cobbled from dyed cloth made during Whispering Color. And then creating the circle field to stitch within , like I do. A field of stitch can hold a lot of stray bits together. Create One-ness.  When I use thread beads I call it the Snow Globe effect.  Here, a stacked running stitch. Kantha. Maybe the Grow or Flow Globe effect. Imagine this bigger. Oh my. I have done it slightly larger but what about huge?  When I began a few days ago, I said it will take forever. It didn't. I stitched through snow, sun, rain, hail and a lot of wind. And now there are flowers. Imagine stitching through all four seasons. Oh. Ideas. Four Globes, one for each season. Four quilts maybe? Ha! I'm back!

This one though, will remain smaller. And only seem bigger. It was a big help to me in the last days.

Being imperfect, a little egg shaped, I suddenly thought womb. And those tie like corners that make it seem so apron like. I think then it is part of the woman series. Womb Woman.  Womb Woman's Apron. Need to work on the ties a bit. I can hang it from those. It turned into a little holiday cloth then. A Mother's Cloth. 

There is a lot of Deb's thread here.

 

Snow . Stitch.

It did, it snowed a bit.

I'm celebrating. Stitching across an old moon.

Thread beads. But today I will call it the Snow Stitch. Frame of mind.

.........

 

How words Spring forth.

 

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A Wishing Star with a Path Through it.

 

 

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Today's List

 

It's way warm,

warmer than yesterday.

The two rust spots on the cloth,

from where it was stapled

in a notebook.

1971.

 

Splitting hairs,

a single strand split back stitch

takes forever.

How many Forevers I've lived through.

Still, it seems

there might be more.

 

Some Grey Tuesday

That this kind of day.

A lights on kind of day.

At the foot of the bed, in the sleep loft, on the wall, a photo by my son. The Boy. It's big one. It reminds me of my folks. The old sea. It actually seems bigger than it is.

I've probably said it before, but I can get right in it.  Away.

Not unlike cloth.

Away is so needed right now. Beyond politics, it's the man himself. Just Saying, ideology aside, he's an ass.

I need to get back to Feel Free. The organizing. The way to do that.

I've been stitching stars. Needle Chanting. Hoping for a plan.

What I ended up with was ShapeShifting. With a note to self:  "...the transformative edge of going..."

That was big enough for today. I'll talk more about it tomorrow.

Seems there might be some snow coming.

 

The glacier is receding.

Like it does. We wait.

To celebrate...

...some new growth around an old broken heart. (a Double Running Stitch is Magic) With a note to self.

Feel Free from worry and have a nice weekend.

How we might Continue.

Last evening. Fireside.

Brain Nausea.

The smallest beast. Going. Maybe not Just. Leaving a trail. Dividing space. Making a path. Bringing a bit of fresh air to an old piece of patchwork. Transforming it into a place to breathe.

The slowest stitch. Slower than even the slowest slow stitch.  Splitting hairs I call it.  A split backstitch using one thread. Takes forever because you add row after row and and no one might even notice. But it gives you time to consider and shape your vision.

Eventually. Evidence of how we keep at it.

I'm not particularly focused lately.  I'm just letting that play out. More walking than thinking. More going than explaining. I need a Wordless Weekend of Willful Wandering. Mixed with Day Dreaming. Take care.

And Happy Birthday dear Michelle.

Lost in Space

In Between I remain.

It has been easier for me just to continue. Continue some small journeys past, rather then start something new. I am feeling better now, now realizing how not well I was for the past weeks. And this has spaced me out. The reflecting on that. Health. Wellness. Age. What's important.

This one above, all the components from the original Sun Moon Stars workshop, now available through Feel Free. I pulled them together and framed them with more cloth. Now NeedleChanting (how I express slow stitching) my way through.

I'm looking at both of these together.  The newer one on the right.  Looking. Noticing the similarity in color pallette. Looking for other common senses. Like floating. I will work on the both, back and forth until I can bring my selves together.