Sleep Pattern

I have had no time to start anything new to stitch on but have been sewing this pattern of red stitching over squares in my dreams for weeks now. It has been on my mind each night as I drift off to sleep and the rhythms of it have been comforting to me - as the real act of stitching is. I felt a need to get this pattern out of my head and onto paper tonight as the boys were drawing and coloring. I opened a yet unused little notebook of graph paper - I like the preprinted structure of the little squares for thinking in quilt. As for the red stitches and solid squares pattern - I have to wonder if I have seen it somewhere and it has just moved into my mind for now. I will start something once I complete a happy new year de-cluttering of my sewing room which I absolutely must do. The start of a new year always has me daydreaming and drifting towards simplifying. A new year - and endless possibilities in a simple beginning.

On Holiday

Merry Christmas and happiest holidays to everyone. Stitching here and there but for the most part it has been gingerbread boys, girls, dogs and houses. Lots of playing in the snow. Going here and there. Enjoying time with my boys. Wishing you all peace, love and happiness. Catch you in the new year!

Grow

I am working a few projects towards completed. This one I began back in May and it has settled into a fuzzy edges finish.

My parents will bring branches from their place (the backyard of my childhood) when they visit us this weekend. I will choose a fitting branch to hang this little quilt from.

So in my mind all these things spin - my parents and grandparents, my childhood, a root system. Grown to where I am now and then beyond that - the offshoots - the little people who will be bigger and just keep growing - on and on. There is spin and motion to all of this - day to day. Dizzy. I have the little urge to want to stop it.

Our littlest boy is 4 years old this week. Lots of growing into someone so special.

Timelines, Blues and Golds

We camped under the full moon in my parent's backyard last weekend. Spent the next beautiful day with my whole family wandering around - walking in the creek looking for treasures and found so many. My son walking in the trees - this very spot was an open field when I was his age - full of daisies in the summer - now it is a young forest.

The sun printed "seedling" in blue made a week (or two!?) ago in the warm sunshine. Now the weather has turned - cold, overcast and windy - halloweeny. Our dog is sleeping in the bed instead of at her post in the open window. All the windows are closed all the time.

I have been mostly daydreaming of stitching - been so busy with a bit of freelance work and volunteer projects, keeping the boys busy and happy for fall break. Am working my way back around to fabric and thread. I am missing it - a lot.

Thank you for thoughtful comments on the beetles. I am thinking of more of them - insects. Maybe a big one - with more detail. Kind of funny to be daydreaming of them when there are hardly any left outside - my way of keeping them around a bit longer?

Insects Interwoven

The beetles are finished and will hang from a branch we found on a walk in the woods. I stitched on them a few days last weekend at the park with the boys - sitting in the sun. Every few minutes a ladybug beetle would land in my hair.

Light

Grace has a beautiful post about light this morning. Similar thoughts on my mind today as I set up camp for some computer work - I moved everything to sit in the sun. We are sneaking out now to squeeze in some play time with friends - in the sunshine. More soon...

Great Days

Friday was my birthday. It was a great day and it has been a great weekend. Fun with friends and family and spent a lot of time relaxing with my boys. Henry (6 years old) gave me a card he drew himself in secret - with little swirls and spirals that he knows I love. Calvin (3 years old) gave me a big hug - extra squeezie. My sweet husband surprised me with a new lens for the camera - so I can take close-ups of bugs, leaves and the like. It is suddenly chilly here - so I hope to see at least a few more bugs - but they are quick becoming scarce. I have had fun playing around with it - much more to come - I am just figuring it out. That is my Henry's eye - I have always told him his eyes look like kaleidoscopes.

And I have been stitching a lot on the beetles - more about them soon...

Beetles

The beetles are growing legs and the quilting is about to begin...

Psst... the spiny oak slug

Another caterpillar... posted here - our gardening blog.

Intertwined

I had to just combine photos into one because that's how things are going right now - always I suppose. One thing leading to another all woven together. I am really enjoying Jude's Cloth to Cloth workshop - fabric strips all over the house. Getting used to a new schedule - littlest boy now in preschool for the first time ever. Keeping both boys busy in the time between everything else - have made two trips to this wonderful place and more to come. Playing in the creek. Beetles born of the symmetry on the moth. Things I am learning from Jude's class weaving their way into many things here and there - a new fabric checkerboard for my boys - in fall colors of course.

Camouflage Finds a Home

I found a home for my moth from the "camouflage" post - a gray/black white-striped cotton fabric. I think the stripes used vertically mimic the grooves of tree bark in a simple way - although I may add in some details with stitch. I laid out the other elements on a base fabric this morning - now to pin them down and start the "glue" stitches. Jude's techniques from the Spirit Cloth Workshop have set me free in getting things started each time. I am enjoying it all so much - thanks, Jude.

Now if I can just finish some of them - the new beginnings are always so much fun.

Late Summer Circles

Strange Bird

I spent a few moments looking through a pile of fabric scraps last night and this was the result. Stayed up late working on it and then a bit this morning and afternoon. I seem to always start something new when I am having trouble finding time to work on things I have already started.

Art Nouveau in the Garden

There has not been much stitching going on here - but we have been watching things grow all around us - plant and animal. My biggest boy has smoothly made the move into first grade and is loving it. A few last plants of the season are showing off their blooms - these anemones have the loveliest art nouveau curves and symmetry. I wanted to post them here for future inspiration...

Ripple Effect

This bloom is making waves. I am stitching patterns to hold the layers together as one - emphasizing the original elements. I had thought I would stitch to the edge of the brown base but am thinking now of letting the stitched circle shapes be the edge of the stitching.

Pssst....

I added a subscribe tool to the right-hand sidebar - all the way down. I hope to post in the next few days - we are squeezing in every last fun thing before back to school. I'll be back soon...

Camouflage

At home last Monday morning - when I was really missing the wild surroundings we had enjoyed on our trip - I discovered this lovely creature on our stone patio. I like it that this moth found it suitable to rest there. Our chair is not a tree - but he was shaded enough to rest there all day - and the grays of his surroundings suited him perfectly. My sons and I checked on him often throughout the day and even played near him and he stayed. He was gone the next morning.

I had wanted to see what the lower wings would look like if opened - but I hadn't had the heart to disturb him.

Return to Real Life

We were gone and now we are back. These are just a few photos - for a sense of the place. It is strange to be back to cars driving by outside our house and the heat and humidity. We are slowly adjusting.

The story cloth went with me and I worked on it here and there quite a bit - although the things I added seem as if they have always been there.

Offline

I will be offline for a week or so - but I expect to have much to post about when I am back! Happy Summer!

Avocado Impatience

Although I made the previous post about the avocado dyeing today I actually took that first piece of fabric out yesterday. So technically I waited one more day after I first saw what the fabrics were beginning to look like. This afternoon it (finally) rained and the hot sun went away for awhile so I just decided the fabrics had been in the jar long enough and took them all out. Total time in the jar - about 5 days. I used the skins from 4 avocados and one pit.

I had placed colored fabrics in the mix as well as some creamy colored cotton. None of them were white to begin with because I don't use pinks very often and that is often what is achieved from using avocado. I had hoped using some colors would give me something different and I am happy with how they turned out. The lightest cream dyed a beautiful shade - the photo does not represent the lighter colors very well - but it is not what I would call pink - it is much warmer than that - I really like it. I like the dark shapes that happened - maybe where the color migrated to the high spots that were sticking out of the liquid? The blue print in the center was very bright and the print on the right was bright yellow - so it toned them down quite a bit - in a nice way I think.

I am encouraged. It was lots of fun. Its' a good thing my six year old likes avocados so much.

Avocado Skins and Pits

This is my first result - dyeing fabric with dried avocado skins and pits. The darker colored areas have just begun to show up so I am trying to be patient and leave the rest of the fabrics in the jar.

I started with everything - pits cut into pieces, skins and fabrics in a big pot - simmered everything for at least an hour. I tossed in blue, yellow and gold fabric to see what the results might be - we will see.


I put everything into a big glass jar and sat it on the counter for a few days. Then yesterday I put it out in the sun all day and that is when the darker spots (which I like) started appearing. I peak a lot - probably too often - but excited to see things are happening. I have left everything outside in the jar - still in the sun. If I can be patient until then I will take everything out on Saturday - which will have been one week.

Threads

What if I just discovered I love variegated thread? I used it here - it is a subtle change from color to color, all browns - but a different more living/natural? look than a solid color. I like it.

Gaining Ground

I have made some progress on this the last few days. The elements have grown connected and I have added a few things here and there. The stitches are growing and changing the fabrics.

I had started to stitch on the top portion but am thinking the growth and stitch upward might be the best. I have the thought that it should just keep growing - how far could it go - upwards and outwards?

Under Construction...

I am working on moving things around a bit here - but all will settle soon.

Setting Roots

Spent some time working on this Sunday night and here and there yesterday - while sitting on the front porch.



I think I will work on areas from bottom to top - as it grows - root to stem to leaves to eventually bloom.

Fragments Find a Home

This is the current state of the cloth I am working on for Jude's online workshop. I am enjoying the experience very much - it has all the wheels turning in my head. I expect to be working on the ideas discussed for quite awhile. A few of my favorite little fabric experiments have found a home on this cloth.

A Base to Begin

Jude's Spiritcloth Workshop began on Tuesday. This is my base and beginning for a story cloth quilt.

Tomorrow

This is coming along - I ordered some new supplies - nice markers - waiting on those to draw a bit more on this and keep the stitching going.


Also - Jude's workshop starts tomorrow and I am going to try to post what I am working on for that on this site too. I can't wait to get started. More soon...