Spirit Cloth

Direction

I let her standing become a path.

With the help of an old sharpie which never seems to dry up. A vertical field that frames her. She might become one with the way. And even a mapmaker.

And then I embarked on a long journey.

Some full coverage embroidery. The slower stitch. Split back stitch, which I really call the tapestry stitch now. Here I am using the background weave of the cloth as a sketch, and I am stitching over it. Skitching (stitching over a sketch). Where as the figure has been skatched, patched over my own sketch. 

My idea here, well, what if I frame a section of the chaos and transform it into some sort of secret garden way, a place touched by her spirit. Of going. Perhaps she is just listening to what it all has to tell her. The story, of how it might go.

This will take a long time so I can just know that and patiently enjoy the transformation. And I will use up a lot of the tangle in my thread nest. That feels good too. We can check in on her from time to time.

She is a lion.

And I suppose I feel comforted and ready to walk the walk.

I broke a tooth off over the holiday, and now I have to go, yes, in these awful times, to the dentist. Hey ho.

To Fall into it

It's Fall.

And then thinking about Fall. Leaves Fall. But leaves are let go to make room for new leaves.

Our sweet Michelle gave me this little hoop. I played with this photo. I highlighted what might be held by this small gift. And I added a garden layer, the season. Fading.

I say to myself, the layering in photos, as well as digital drawing, can be a tool, for helping form evolve in my story cloth.  But then too, tools need to be an extension of those who use them. That is the complexity in the relationship.

Some stitching then, continued from here, yesterday, but more realizing again, how the nature of cloth, it's flexibility, how cloth is like clay, like breath, like extension of self.

I'm in a mood.

Moods are useful.

Expecting days of rain here. Again.

 

Composition

Compose.

To begin with something. To make peace with it.

That is how I use the word.

There is a the physical thing. The need for it to feel right, and to hold together, at least long enough to reconsider.  Letting it, helping it  BE.

There is also the thought behind it. I always hope that might become a tool and not a weapon. 

I make changes, often based on softening my original vision. Even though I was often taught the opposite. In this case my thought has softened as well, and this one has become more about that. How dark and light might lean into each other.  Which is really quite a concept if you think about it.  I remember how weaving taught me so much about that. Softening. The new form in that. Anyway, I am rambling today because that is how things come together.

x

I don't know why this one is so difficult to photograph, just elusive in some sort of way. Perhaps I see something that cannot be seen outside a dream. The thing that remains in between.

The X emerged, I don't think I have talked about that symbol much. I have been gathering thoughts for a while. It is a combination of conflicting thoughts having to do with the unknown, crossing over, and placekeeping.  Not to be confused with the cross (which is here too.).  But my words seem inadequate this morning and I need some time ...

Anyway, this one is complete in the context of the day. Pinned to a bit of Sanity. The Heart of Season.  And the thread that runs through it. 

This is an old drawing that is very much at the root of my thread theory. 

Very old, like 60s.

I love it more today.

I will use it to pull me through to some new form of understanding. 

 

Some other kind of energy

A Moon. Always a whiteboard opportunity. For story. 

Days fly by at such a frightening speed really, lately, I am  thrown off course. Then I think, what course?  I really have lost that sense of direction that keeps me focused.  My sleep is off, mealtime is off. I have little notes posted here and there to remind me of regular activities or to hold loose thoughts.

Last night we drank wine. It's been a while. We order Clean Wine online and drink less to keep our immune system intact. The Man  decided I need a computer.  Not his, but my own. And he is going to order one for me. He knows about this stuff.

I was sure it was just wanting one and not needing one but no, he convinced me. "It keeps you focused. You need it." I think he has just had it with the cloud around me. So we re-budget and drink to that.

I did stitch. Something moved through. And talking, it's good to know I can do this. 

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