Yesterday, such a sweet day, I forgot to take pictures.
The Boy is fine. The woman is fine and we all went out for sushi!
The true sense of a simpler time filled me.
I've lost my way here, it feels a bit like that today.
I am wandering.
But it feels ok.
I am slower.
Could I just work on this forever?
When does slow become just not going?
I guess I could answer that in many ways.
Just popped in to say hi. I figured a journal page is good enough as a posting tool. Back to the no typing thing. Easier to post one photo here instead of trying to compose on the screen. Simple. I'm not getting anywhere in terms of where I thought I was going. Just hello and I'll try to be back soon. Spirit Cloth Shop update planned for New Year's Eve, but we'll see really. Maybe there will just be soup.
I had a post planned, one that included some media.
But it's not going to happen today. Blog server issues. I'm sure there is enough social media out there to keep you entertained. But there is a picture!
The Simple Life. I will name it and take the weekend off. Try again Monday. Cold is moving in. Maybe I will make bread. It's our anniversary anyway. Every Friday the 13th. How's that for a plan?
Sun's out but it's a bit cooler today.
What a relief.
A little quilting, just simple, around the edge quilting. Seems to add a simple logic of building to the new day side.
And then around the sun. Hardly visible from the other side if you don't look closely. But it is there, the new day has come through. There are many choices for thread and stitch. Stitching does not have to scream, it can simply whisper. There is satisfaction in the way this is going. It takes me back to a simpler time when no one was watching. It is nice to know I am still that person. That I have held fast to what I love. I like the place it takes me to. No, wait, I AM that place.
There is a huge hibiscus tree at the edge of the wood that I had not noticed until it bloomed. This morning it was all-a-buzz. You hopefully know that sound. I saw this pollen drenched bee and thought... keep at it, find a way, do the hard work, gather, take what you need and spread the goodness.
Let's hear it. With me? bzzzzzzzzz
Simple then. A simpler time, a simpler way.
So this can be considered one way to make a quilt from a whole cloth base. I want to talk about that now as I go forward with this one. One piece of cloth as the beginning, as opposed to lots of small patches stitched together. Of course you can only begin that way if you have a bigger piece of cloth. We often do though, could be an old sheet or table cloth or curtain or just a piece of inexpensive muslin. Or something that is not big enough really, for a blanket but can be made bigger later by adding a border. A quilt like this can move very quickly.
This one just simple then. Focusing on this one. Renamed. Heal. To recap, it is 44" square, the size of the cloth I began with. Square-ish. In this case, I filled the empty space by attaching a patchwork cross as an applique. Normally I would cut away the back of the applique, but I did not need to. The cloth used for the pieced applique was so thin. And the slight thickness in the center is pleasing, yet it still seems weightless. I have laid it on a similar size piece of very light weight muslin, which will act as batting. It is ready to baste. I leave it there for now. And will talk, yes, talk, tomorrow.
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.
The time in between is the time so telling.
The breaks from what needs to be done. Calls to be done. When you come up for air.
Why do I call this my work?
Suddenly it is quite the opposite.
I have stitched quite deliberately, but without drama. In rows, and then sections. I tacked the sections to the deck rail. To get to know this deck. Forgetting the order of the design. Sensing the beauty in that. I fall back into the simpler time before art and judgement. And I am refreshed. Spaced out like this, the pieced sections have become, again, loose patches. Or even long cloths. Path-works.
The clothesline is temporarily out of reach due to some forest management. With the advisement of a new friend.
Splitting needs to come soon.
When we first moved in, I dumped my kitchen scraps on one corner of the existing raised bed because it was the only spot I could find where the soil was soft enough to turn over.
The soil is good. What a gift, the soil is good. Even though I have decided that this will eventually be a dye garden,it looks like, for now, we have some bonus potatoes, tomatoes, onions and squash. I will space them out a bit today. Madder has been planted on the other side. That will take more time.
Yes, I feel torn apart. Don't we all?
Piece.
I have been thinking about being prepared. How it sometimes seems like a "suddenly" last minute kind of thing to rush and change everything now, which often pushes everyone and everything else out of the way in the process. But then it can also be a constant worrying activity where you keep at it based on a long standing fear, which might wear on you and everyone else around you. Drag you down and limit the rest of your activities. Poison your days. But then in a more gentle perspective, just going works too. A moment to moment witnessing and knowing who you are and what you need to work with. Which includes others. How this habit might just make you prepared.
In preparation for the HUNKER DOWN and make do teaching series (Patchwork in Perspective part 3/Large Cloth and whatever else gets us through) that will be hosted here, I will be cleaning up this page and making room for teaching related stuff. A lot of current links might be moved to the Place Keeper page. Again, if you are subscribing to my posts by email, you will only see the post itself and not the rest of the site. I feel subscribing is a good way to be alerted to content, but not a complete picture. Visiting the blog will allow you to interact with comments, and view media in a better format and browse related materials. I am not worrying much these days about how it will play out. I am not making any promises. Who can do that these days anyway? I am just going. In a sense I am making my online world smaller and easier to handle, while others seem to be embracing fancier far reaching technologies. I am opting for something more modest. Call me old fashioned. I'm old enough. So I will begin, in earnest, on Wednesday, and we'll see. I suppose I will continue for as long as I can for now. Open ended. Thank you to all of you, those who have donated, those who cannot, we are all in the same boat, let's just keep paddling and see where we end up.
On another note...The Journey from paper to Cloth and back again is a circle that needs to be completed. For me, a necessary path to peace. Working on paper will not be the same as it was when I was in art school, hoping to be an illustrator. Too much has happened. But in some strange twist, I am simply picking up where I left off and letting all that happened in between inform the change I feel will happen, once I get familiar with it again. I will use the story card exercise to transition. I will include my paper to cloth to paper musings here as well as they happen. Peace.
Not sure why I raised my voice in this video, didn't expect it to work maybe. Feeling a bit wacky. Anyway, it did. No sense wasting it. And apologies for the suggested videos that pop up at the end. YouTube used to let me turn that off but not any more. YouTube is reliable and free so... just ignore it.
Almost 70. Yesterday. Ha, like me!
Rain, sun, wind, fog. No snow. That's coming next along with cold.
The Japanese Andromeda bloomed. Must have been overnight. Reminding me that life goes on even when it doesn't. New York, they say, now has 40% of all cases in the country. The car won't start, even after replacing the battery. The small repair shop within walking distance, a loooong walk, is thankfully still open. We'll see.
I saw my first groundhog this morning. He comes to eat the kitchen scraps I dump in the compost. I haven't rigged up anything official yet in terms of a bin.
I have nothing to show you today, and I have not done a video test yet, but pop over to Shibori Girl Studios. Glennis has set up a page for Moon Making Videos, some how to for all you indigo lovers. I know a lot of you have asked about the process and I don't really teach that... And if you are learning something and enjoying her gift, please consider dropping a few coins in her basket, there is a donation link in her sidebar. Things are tough, more so for some than others, especially those who rely on small business that has all but dried up in this crisis. Every little bit helps. And when things get tough, the tough seem to keep going and giving. I learned my indigo skills from Glennis and I am for ever grateful for her generous spirit.
And say hi for me.
.........
So Ragmates, the audio seems to work as is, and video is just a matter of getting my ass in gear. I will begin soon. With no plan, no agenda, just going. Here, where the group is more likely to be smaller, more intimate. Safe. More like simpler times. I will ratchet down a few details over the weekend because all I know now is:
Patchwork in Perspective part 3
Large Cloth and whatever else gets us through
Thank you as always , for your kind support and company.
If the path before you is clear,
you are probably on
someone else's.
-Carl Jung