Spirit Cloth

lightness

 

ok.

regeneration.

it's this kind of day

The Outside Looking Place in the Valley

There is a habit, well, a need actually to see more than one piece of cloth at a time, to see how they relate. Especially if they are being considered at the same time.

They are parts of a bigger story. I thought OK, I need a longer line, a stronger line. Now, more than that, I need a longer "thread". To understand the One-ness. I might thread a clothesline all the way through the forest. Connect the strong trees. Cloth like markers, and if they are green, for now, no one/thing might notice, unless they were really looking. Maybe the line should be green. Or brown, I could dye the rope. Brown is easy. Maybe I could use thread. For smaller stuff. Yes, this IS my real life. 

It's foggy, damp, and quite warm. The lion quilt is almost touching the ground. I think that is the size I am targeting for the baby quilt series.  Big enough to be a small person quilt. Or a lap quilt for a big person. Or a bed topper. Or even a table cloth.  About 60" square. Ish. That means the green cloths will need to grow a bit. Sometimes I let that happen first. Sometimes I let it wait for later. There are many ways.  I have in mind to make at least 2 more green bases though, so I might count the ways. Hazel kept going with just piecing squares and look how big it got! And if you use bigger squares, it grows quite quickly. Working on one right now. 

You can see in the background, there is a utility pole on the property. The previous owners had a street light installed. ???  We are finally having that removed this week.  Maybe they were afraid of the dark?  And we are paying for the extra electricity! 

I love this picture.

I think while I am creating the quilt bases I will begin to consider theme. That goes beyond color. The lion quilt is a sampler style quilt. That is a base that holds many considerings around the theme of lion. Why did I pick lion? It was appropriate at the time. I was focused on the beast/human relationship. I used the beast to represent people in my life. Lions seem powerful. Each lion has it's own powers. But more about that later.  I do like the sampler approach for a theme.  Many versions of the same thing. There is an inherent learning in the process. An expanding of thought.

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.

 

Hunker Down and Keep Trying

Today's note to self...posting here, for now, well, it's ridiculous. But I know it's possible. Moments here, moments there, OK, it's a patchwork. Little bits at a time. Duh jude, figure out a way to hold it together. That's what you do. So less often, posts being built over a series of days. Content, in smaller pieces perhaps. In perspective, appropriate. 

 

The thing I like about cloth is that it seems kind.

You can make friends with it, it will cooperate if you give it's nature some consideration. Like working with anything,(anyone), it is basically an exercise in problem solving (not always JUST going), based on what you have to work with.  I often say ingenuity springs from a relationship based on patience and flexibility. Love, I guess. Yes, I just love cloth.

Cloth is like clay. I will be like Clay.

I had been slowly adding strips of that patchwork curtain to the front of the robe. I added one of the other pieced strips as well. but I moved the strip slightly, off it's original course, because cloth lets you do that...to fit the one side of the neckline. I like the gentle curve of the seams. How it flows. Seems to adapt to the situation. Seems to soften. Like gentle wind.

link to video if you see no player below.

I was already wearing Wind at this point. Getting know it. Walking, Sitting, even Sleeping with it. Oh Ha!

 

link to audio if you see no player above.

I have been posting content from an old class, just wanting to finish up the basic approach to robe making as it applies to a large cloth base you might choose to work on. I will get through the basics of that soon and with May, move on to other forms of large cloth.  But know that all these techniques might be applied to a quilt type project as well.  My goal is never actually to lead you through something step by step but to inspire you to find your own comfort with problem solving. Offering my perspective.

As I look back, at any point, I might have taken another direction. Watching all of you doing your own thing reminds me how that might happen. 

Thank you for your patience as always...