Spirit Cloth

New word in 2022

By breaking up the ground she stood on, her going, growing, was softened as if she re-formed in sympathy sempathy with something more liquid. Making for a more Peaceful Transition. 

Sempathy is my new word. And I think it might be a new word. Derived from sympathy and empathy, a transitional word that combines me and all of you/everything in a new way. Sempathetic Evolution then.

I used a fragmention field here, on the bottom and have added that to my Spirit Cloth Language glossary over at Feel Free.  This year I will be focusing on completing that glossary. Because I simply need to look at it as a whole.

...there was a small gathering with 

only as much wine that would fit

in a turkish tea glass.

we slept well.

Happy New Year.

love.

And yes, still fog.

shifting perspective

Also I am thinking about tree forms.

Soup

Sometimes, just living can rescue you.

Every scrap from the garden and leftover food prep has been frozen since this pandemic has emerged. I guess I was in a panic early on. I did not let anything go to waste. Fearing not being able to go to the market. The freezer is filled with bags of scraps ( ha, patchwork again...) and broth made from them. I have also been ordering fresh frozen fish from Alaska, that and eggs being the only animal protein in this house. We have relaxed the Vegan thing, now evaluated as not really healthy, and more of a fashion. Trend is a difficult battle isn't it? Time to learn. It's a privilege to live long enough to make your own decisions based on experience.  And then to simply live it without trying to convince anyone else. And so ramen style soup is on the menu once a day.

And less sugar is the new goal.

And then Soup as a concept is on my mind. Soup as in compositional concept and the One-Ness it embodies. Which ingredient (component) will bring it together?  Give it identity. 

And with that in mind, I'm cooking up a few ideas. How funny it is to be considering adding "soup" to my Spirit Cloth Language of words. A Quilt is like soup. And Soup is a story.

It's also time to cut my fingernails. What day is it anyway?

I opened the Spirit Cloth shop with the intention of offering some old work for sale. In the season of Gifting. But I feel and hear the holiday season will just stress the mail to its limits and so it might be better to wait for the change of year. 

Large Cloth as Place again

PlaceKeeping.

A term I have used for so long. For many parts of my journey, mostly in cloth making.

P is for Place. Place is a special part of Space. Very often a kind of home.  Or a destination. (as recorded in the Feel Free Glossary on April 19, 2019. Gee time has indeed passed quickly.) Then, even a reference point. Lately a place to hide.

How much this robe is like a blanket but then a robe's 3 dimensional aspect is so much more a "structure".

Here on a stick, balanced between a chair and a the half wall that separates the room with the big table and the fire room below. Before coffee.

I turned it other-side out. I made the blue side first, then coated the other-side with what I had here. It wasn't too hard because it is based on rectangles. When I first made this I was in another frame of mind. I wasn't much thinking about "through". I was trying hard to make sure that what was on one side would be independent of the other.  The invisible stitch was a big part of that. But over time, I relaxed. And began to take a different approach. A few things began to come through. I haven't worn it much other-side out. I never liked how the sleeves looked. I am going to coat them with another layer. I don't need to but I want to. Some thin plant dyed silk gifted to me by an old friend. To recolor them, which will make them warmer but not much heavier. Ultimately also useful.

I found some basting still in this from like 20 years ago. I have been using it for so long I almost forgot how unfinished it could remain and still be useful. Most definitely it will never fall apart with all the layers. In my lifetime. It's robe weather. I have a few robes. What a luxury. Probably I only need one. 

I have decided it might serve me well to create some project pages over at Feel Free to keep things together.  Typepad continues to have issues and well, maybe. I will catch some thoughts about that today. While wearing my renamed robe other-side out. While I look for that silk.

And while I am rambling, the PlaceKeeper link up top on this blog has become so outdated, a lot of the links are not working, I will be rethinking that as well. Maybe while I line those sleeves.

Karma

And so, I hold on to sanity,

At it's core, in cloth, the 1" square. I start here each day.

And then 9. A way to frame it. Today it is a kind of natural darkness. Arranged to seem woven, almost as a square basket.

I will continue. Make a nine patch. Nine-dujour I call them. If you haven't got the mind for large cloth, try making a nine patch a day. React to the day. Before it's over. Catch it so you might share it. Or remember it. That is story. Sew them all together maybe, at one point. 

No, I do not celebrate the  illness of the president. I hope he will simply learn something and that he recovers.  Quite simply because I will not disregard the humanity of others.

I will hold my sanity. 

Agency.

Later..

yup, this is good.

 

If you experiencing troubles viewing or leaving comments, it is a TypePad problem. Try switching browsers away from Chrome for now. I suggest Microsoft Edge.

One on One

Pairing. Pairings , as I call them, just simple connections, have often been my starting point for patchwork. Two, loose scraps, often mismatched, touching, then becoming more. Here, obviously more deliberate, but still, with a bigger cloth in mind, such a simple and effortless and gratifying way to begin. One plus one. These are 2.5" squares, because I was dividing space, and I started with 5".  I hung them on a string on the porch, like flags. Clothespins were too heavy so I used pins.

Black and white. The magic seen through new eyes.

Then black-ish and white-ish, because nothing is that simple, black and white.

Prayer flags I thought, though I don't like the word prayer because of its link to religion. I am yes, God-Less. But I thought just redefine it in your own terms. With how you feel. Prayer-ings then today. In the context of the moment. Because a prayer might just be a way for saying Please help me,I can't do this by myself. We might simply ask each other for help. Sometime yesterday, I decided to stop talking about what I really don't know. To sound like I do. Maybe focus on what I can do. Here in this local community. Connect. While still Hunkering Down which seems to gone to hell in a handbasket.

I will talk through cloth here. I know how to do that. That is simply how I find words.

First there were prayer-ings, then paired to become magic 4 patches, my symbol for the time it takes, night and day. Season. And I have the green cross cloth pinned other-side up, using the shadow as a guide to build. A reference point.

What if I use yellow ? Energy. As a center? I think this cloth , the base will come together quite quickly now, Because I am driven. I will embellish with stitch from both sides. Which I think might emphasize and even celebrate a layered connection. I look forward to the day.

It was close to 90 here yesterday in the Valley. It has become summer without me noticing. And we have been here almost 6 months already. Suddenly the forest is becoming carpeted in ferns. 
I have never lived with frogs and dragon flies before. The are glorious. 

HOLDING

CENTER

Late August Patchwork

Acorns have been falling.

Mostly encouraged by squirrels.

I've been thinking about my folks. It always comes in between seasons. The two acorns reminded me of them. Together. Through whatever was.

Yes it's been a bit cooler. But this week will be hotter still. And humid. I always remember the late heat that often coincided with going back to school. The hot un-airconditioned classrooms. The difficulty concentrating. How Dad would be home waiting to whisk us off to the beach for a late swim. Like a little bit extra summer vacation.

 

I stitched a moon cabin. Because I am preparing for my Patchwork in Perspective. I'm looking back fondly at  my patched past. Gathering. Documenting. Reconsidering its use to give it wholeness. There's a bit of Mom's wedding dress in there. The silk velvet. Dyed blue like the old sky. She gave it to me and said make something out of it, make it useful. I could have altered it and made it into a dress. But I don't much wear dresses. I like it better like this. Holding the late August moon. For all of us. Part of the bigger basket.

 

It's the Little Things

Good Morning.

It's Raining.

 

video link if you see no player

 

Sunflowers make me feel hopeful.

 

Simple as that.

defining, considering, reconsidering, redefining

The circle that forms my obsession.

It's just the time for this for me. Because the edges need to meet. I am after all the Tapestry of me.

You may not even care, but this is how I am going.

Let me talk.

 

audio link if you see no player.

 This audio is also posted over there. I'm curious, if you do have a problem listening here, is it ok over there?