Spirit Cloth

Everything is...

September.

A warm one really.

There are berries on the dogwood. The birds will be happy about that.

There are pears despite tree fungus. All the leaves turned black and fell off. But there are pears. Smaller but sweet. I will learn more about pears. These grow along the road in. Trees need to be trimmed along the wood's edge, too much shade.  Next year, more fruit trees and some learning.

There is a circle here on Everything is So Fragile.  Even though it is too big to see. More than one actually.  Suddenly it has occurred to me that there is no other kind of direction. In perspective.

8 months here...

Sometimes time flies.

Then. Sometimes it doesn't. One day you might be standing, the next day, not. Why? I laugh. Hindsight won't change this moment.A few days stitching spirals. Coffee but still inching along.

I marked the meeting place after Liz's comment on the last post. I was going to say yesterday but I missed yesterday.

Dad's blue bowl, now a bee refreshment station.  I think he would like that. Yes, I still know him after such a long time gone. 

On the edge, Change

Just let the cloth breath the new cooler air.

Yes, that pile of wood is still there.  It's fall here. The shift.  I can smell it.  Feel it.  Hear it.  Can't really see it yet.  No chimney fix, no wood burning stove yet, wood is not the issue.

Spirals on the earth edge. I like drawing them, they become scribbles. Doodles. The border which is still only 2 layers, unlike the center that is already a sandwich, will be stitched with spirals. Split Back Stitch. 2 stands of floss. Slow work.  I will add the third layer to the edge, indigo dyed I think, after that stitching is done. I will then quilt using the spirals as a guide, in white, bringing the pattern to the other side, like swirling constellations. At least that is what I imagine.  These spirals, I think they will take 2 weeks to complete. Early mornings and evenings. I usually do not measure the time. I did. Just to see if I understand my slowness. Of course, it doesn't matter how long it takes. 

The edge of a quilt is often a binding, a frame, a way to finish. Even an after thought. For me the border is often a focus. Maybe on what's next. A ring of vision.

The Circle comes through on it's own

It's summer and it is unbearably humid and hot at the moment.

Yesterday, Nest of Days, circle side toward me. Toward the rising sun.

This morning, the other side.  I had commented that I might want to bring the circle through somehow. 

Poof.

Today I am thinking about Oneness and both sides of the cloth as a Pairing. I am inspired to work the circle into the other-side so it is apparent without the lighting.  I also love how the porch seems to become a tent with cloth hanging.  If you ask me about process, I would have to say that although I am slow in getting to it, and some of you have fallen away with impatience, this is a big part of the process, how I get to where I am going. Lesson for today. Slow down. Let it unfold or just hang in the air...like summer dampness.

We are going out this morning. He's waiting.

So signing off for a few days.  Trying to set up studio in the basement, do some bathroom repairs, get my car inspected, split some wood...address some chimney issues... a big list has formed.  Need to get through it.

Overlapping Fields

 

Field. Many definitions, but for me a space defined, chosen, within all other spaces that might act as a guide for focus. As in field of vision I suppose. And then and course, a place for wild open growth and play. An open field. Like Feeling Free. I play with the circle a lot, but not always. As I look at the quilts I have made, these shaped overlays, fields of focus, are fairly constant. Sometimes they happen at the beginning. As a base. Sometimes they are a tool to bring things together at a later stage. They are a layer of thought. Sometimes there are so many I forget. But they can often be used to explain how one thing might become another.  

Still with the circle this morning, I tried more than one. And the overlap (another kind of alignment) seemed an eye opener.

This piece that was hanging on the porch back here. Working with that, what-iffing, not on Wednesday, but hey. Again stitched over pen lines. Inspiring radical change on this cloth and also a larger application for a big cloth in the back of my mind. 

Digital musings for cloth and maybe paper. And imaginings, not yet recorded from the well of memory unspoken. 

And then, as I turn to press publish on this post, I see this. On the top of the patch basket.

From Glennis. And I think of overlap as form of Kindness. Friendship, Sharing. Sharing will bring new form. Maybe the simple beauty in this drove deep into my heart a while back and although I forgot, I actually remembered. Time is magic.

I am grateful, in these difficult times, that we still might find time and ways to share and be kind. Let's focus on that. If we all do it, we will all be OK. 

 

 

Encouraging Formlessness

 

Behind the Door.

I hung the Endless Wishing Cloth there because in this small room, that's the only open space. 

And a few days ago I posted a pic on Instagram. As I  used it to pin up an unfinished Solstice Cloth. 

Blurry here while in motion. The wishing star center no longer visible. 

This action is most significant as a core compositional intention in my work. The kind of action/alignment that encourages the notion that Form is Temporary. I don't talk about it a lot, but it gives birth to new eyes.

To Encourage. To give courage to. Truth. What if truth is simply what might happen? With or without explanation.

 

about Just Looking

Yesterday.

The front door has glass you cannot see through except a little square in the center.

Today, from a back window. A light snow at dawn. Apparently there was a little garden out back. 

I bet it could be a great animal watching place if I plant something.

When I find time

I've been making waves.

I also spilled coffee on this one. 

Driving ,stitching and rough terrain.

I am happy to report that the Feel Free repair project is on track and the site will reopen on or before 9/18/19. Classes will resume at that time. Thank you for your patience.

just growing.

Choosing Imperfection

The circles are hand drawn.

I always like them better that way. In this way I become the compass. And the way reflects how centered I am.  It took me years to be able to explain that in so few words. How fragile balance is.

I started this way back. I've been less inclined to check exactly when. Instead I am just going from where I am now. I dream of dyeing this at one point. But who knows where I will be then.

They are all becoming baskets. Eventually. The larger cloths.