Spirit Cloth

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.

 

Just the Day

 

The birds woke us.

The morning was Pink.

And for a moment, pink was my favorite color.

Soul-o slept in Wind (robe) last night.

There is a guy coming this morning to give us an estimate for cutting a few dangerous dead trees here. Trees that might fall on us. Trees we cannot cut ourselves. Trees too close to the power lines. Trees that have been moaning in the wind. Wood we will split ourselves. Fire wood for next winter. We have a chimney issue, so that's next.  All outside work, so that's good. If we have the money. 

It is cold this morning. But I hung the Lion Quilt outside on the porch. It has not been part of an open air ceremony for a long time. I wasn't sure how big it became. I loosely measured. It's 58" square-ish.  I guess because that's how big it became. I don't remember having a reason. I remembered it as bigger. 

Hunker Down Non-Sense

When someone asks, how did you think of that?

Where did the idea come from?

(I wanted to talk today but my batteries are dead.) 

Well sometimes I think I make up a story that might seem a little simpler than it is. More like something I can take credit for. Some thing I can own. Instead of telling the story as is. Because honestly, how it happens doesn't always make the kind of sense I expect. It's not a straight line or a path so easily followed. That is why process is so interesting to me. And why I tend to honor the in between more and more. Letting it be on its own. Because it is what I don't expect, or always give value to, that helps me understand how new form emerges. Eventually.

 

Loose thoughts. Loose patches. Loose implies free. Free to realign. Alignment implies a kind of useful harmony. Peace. Peace is a temporary state. It wears out. Must be mended. A life's work.

You can't teach creativity.

It's just there. You might simply try to make it more obvious how to find it. Demonstrate the usefulness of thought. 

If it's too large to grasp, make it seem smaller. Perspective. 

Today is an in between day. Letting thoughts out.

Wednesday is now Robe day.

Saturday is now quilt/Blanket day.

All the other days are like today. 

That's about as clear as I will get.  I have been listing Hunker Down posts in order in the sidebar under Hunker Down Diaries. Enough of that, the list might go on forever. No matter what they are telling us.  If you are following, you are following. I'm tired of organizing. Day by Day it is, till it isn't.

 

Hunker Down and Appreciate the Ordinary

 

Just a few moments to reflect. 

I did not plan to focus on the Robe thing in such detail here in "Large Cloth".

But how it goes is simply how it is. And I let you lead me my friends. Lead me and accompany me at the same time.

You might recognize this robe "Without End" from one of the videos I published from the Contemporary Boro class in the last few days.  It's the one made from grandma's linen curtain.  With the binding made from scraps of my son's baby quilt. It was patched and dyed and mended and worn. My first attempt at ROBE. Dates back to 1975 or so. And then the cloth began to weaken. To honor it I undid the seams and attached it to a foundation cloth for support. To take the strain of tension away. It is now a wall cloth. And I renamed it Temple. It is not a religious statement. It is symbolic of a dwelling place for an aging deep seated feeling of honor.  I have only begun to put this together, it has been hanging on walls for a while and needs more stitch. 

I put this here today simply to emphasize how one thing might become another. And still be useful.  It could have become a blanket. Maybe it is now an art cloth.  One I wanted to create , wanted it to make an impact. Maybe just a Ceremony. Because I needed it as a reminder of how I feel about cloth. In a new way it is still a robe. It wraps me in peace. And tells, to me, my own story.

How strange,it has grown larger now, Larger than Life.