List

The short list of plans for my needle and thread in the new year:

- start and complete a collection of small quilts that have been developing in my sketchbook

- make and mend the things that are needed and wanted for my boys, my family, my home and my friends

- document the way the fibers of a quilt and the threads of my days are all a part of the same patchwork

My long list is much more adventurous - but I am hopeful these few things may lead to all the others.

Happy New Year!!

hold

snow

To You...

Thank you to all who take the time to visit me here.

I have some (grand!?) plans for January (aren't there always!) and the year ahead. Right now I am wrapped up in enjoying this time of year with my boys. Health and happiness to you all and warm wishes for 2012!

Last Weekend...

between visiting with family and friends, walks in the woods and helping Brett with the wood pile...

I had many little moments to stitch. I have left these threads top and bottom. I plan to use the loose ends on top to hang it - thoughts on just how still in progress.

Brett does most of the work with the wood - the boys like to help for awhile. I think the way he has stacked it is beautiful.

New blue details.

These always amaze me.

The tangle.

A tiny forest in bloom.

Radiant

My first quilt block with curves - started here. I think it has a nice glow. I am also seeing it as a compass.

Golden

Our sweet Beandog passed away 5 days ago. She was 14 years old - lived a long and happy life. That first day without her was hard for us. So difficult to keep my mind from wandering towards the saddest departing details, so I searched out fabric in her colors - traced, cut and started stitching. Keeping hands and brain busy and bringing back the good memories - which are so good and so many. She was the sweetest girl.


Loving and caring for her was our way of life for over 14 years. Her fur is woven into our carpets and our clothes. We patted her sweet head when we walked into the room and again when we walked out. We walked outside with her many times every day. We anticipate the sound of her toenails on the wood floors and her rustling shuffle in the fall leaves. There was much worrying in the last weeks - thoughts of her were hovering in front of all else - and near impossible to concentrate fully on anything. It has been hard to let go of that quiet urgency of wanting her to feel better and also knowing it was just time.


This was her season of camouflage, sitting in the dry grass and golden leaves and and looking lovely - this taken just 2 weeks ago.


It is becoming a little bit easier to just be sad - smile through the tears and not fall apart. There really are so many wonderful memories of her - we are so fortunate to have known and loved her.



So I will be stitching on this little golden sunburst for awhile...

Strings and Lines

One thing leads to another.

Particles of Prehistory

I released this one out into the world today, leaving me daydreaming of mark-making on fabric. Drawings. Something different growing from what was always there.

Foundation

A week ago I took the boys to my parents' place. We spent some time in the creek there, the same creek I played in when I was little. My parents, my boys, my sister and her girls - all of us looking at the rocks. The creek bed was completely dry.

My sister found this fossil coral radiating out from its' base - still hidden in the limestone.

This one a gathering of broken bits of shells. I like the texture - and the mystery - trying to tell what each bit may have been.

This coral - the texture on this one preserved so well...

and this type of shell I have never found before, that day I saw 4 of them all in the same area. I believe it is a Loxoplocus gastropod.

All of these we believe are from the Ordovician Period. This period spanned approximately 505-438 million years ago.

Leaves :: Feathers

I sun printed these tiny compound leaves - they reminded me of feathers - added some drawing and got to know them a little better...

A bit of patchwork with fabric like watercolor - I am back to this simple diamond and all its centered possibilities.

... a few of the feathers I've been finding on walks to and from school with my boys. One feather is blushing?

This raven one for Grace - I love the wisps and waves.

Something...

Something about lots of things all together - and finding balance.

Oak and Pond I :: Float

I squealed a little when I unwrapped this one. Two oak leaves wrapped in cotton and left in the pond for about 7 weeks. It is my most successful act of patience and fabric to date. The darkest areas are the marks of sediment settled directly onto the fabric. The oak leaves rolled around themselves and the fabric made a repeat of vertebrae - a spine stretched out. The pond as dye pot made this - all the little life that lives there making an impression, with the help of a couple of oak leaves. There is nothing I can stitch on this to make me like it more.

A favorite thing of summer for my family has been floating on the pond. When I float I am looking up at the sky, my back and spine long and straight, my arms are stretched out and in the water. I move arms over my head and then back down to my sides to propel, slowly. I am symmetry and balance - centered. There is a raft under me - arms and hands in the water - dragonflies land on my knees and toes. The fish, insects, animals, the water and life within it are supporting me, holding me up and I wonder what it all looks like from below - the concentric circle ripples where I touch the surface of the water. The music - along with the birds singing and hot buzz of insects - is this...



All of these together are this summer to me - the floating, the pond, the music and the oak and pond print - are forever related in my mind. They are this amazing summer we have had - that is not over yet. This pond has swept us off our feet. From my 7-year-old son, "I wish we could take our pond wherever we go."



My pond and oak leaf print was inspired by the techniques I have read in India Flint's wonderful book - Eco Colour: Botanical Dyes for Beautiful Textiles.

A Feather Story

I wanted to say something about Jude's Feather Project. I haven't made my feathers to send to her yet - but I am working on it. Please go on over to Spirit Cloth and have a look and read about what she has planned for the feathers.

and... the front porch basket of our pond place has a little bird nest inside. Brett found the nest and gave it to me in March? and we have also been sticking feathers into the nest as we find them on walks - there were maybe three small feathers and one big turkey feather in there so far.



Recently I heard and then saw a wren singing on the porch rail - then saw him flying off a few times. The small feathers from the basket went missing. Birds are collectors too - it's fine if he needed them - I was so curious why he would take them. One evening right before we all went to bed it started raining. Rain has been a rare occurrence so we all went out to feel the rain cooling the air and there he was. Snuggled right into the nest - head tucked under his body out of sight but his little wren tail was sticking straight out. He slept through all the gasping, photo flashing, boys being lifted to see and all the excitement. He was gone in the morning, but I like to think he? will be the nighttime guardian of our doorway for awhile...

Still Looking For It

I cannot find my photo card reader - and so I created this image with photos already on my computer. I have had an extension of ideas and a combination of images simmering. I have taken photos of inspiration and of things I/we have made to move things forward - and the things that got things started - but can't get to the photos right now. Grrrr. It is not unusual for me to misplace my card reader often - but it usually shows up in a few days. May just have to get another one this time...

Realizing how much I depend on the photos and look forward to "showing" what has been done. Interesting.

Line Growing

There is something growing from this - or through it.

Lavender :: Line

Starting something new is exciting. I am using the iris squares/circles.

They belong together. The gray base fabric is lightly painted - going along with the watercolor effect of the dyed squares.

I am experimenting with a solid hand-stitched line. I like that it looks like drawing - drawing with thread.

Looking for ways to hold everything together.

Oak

Results of the cotton with oak leaves inside wrapped around a bottle. Deepest result where front side of leaf was in contact with the fabric, but also interesting that the other side acted as a resist. I really like the browns created.