Solidago and the Pollinators

This is the most recent quilt I have made - finished and photographed about a month ago. Those green leaves in the background are long gone.

The fabrics are a mix of cottons, including repurposed clothing and some indigo bits. The denim above was from a pair of outgrown jeans once worn by both of my boys. I thought about making this quilt for awhile and then it rather quickly came together with a few late nights spent cutting and then machine piecing.

I drew and then hand stitched goldenrod plants with wasps, bees and beetles along the bottom edge. I used a piece of flannel as stabilizer for the hand stitches. When I attached the back panel the flannel also became the batting.

I machine stitched around and between all of the hand stitching for that crinkle that I love.

This quilt is for the buzzing little lives of our late summer garden. The warm, welcoming golds and yellows of the goldenrod would draw you in for a closer look. We put our faces so so close to the starry structure of the blooms. Each bloom head was crawling and buzzing with pollinators too busy with their task to even notice us. This quilt will be our winter buzz.

Burr oak leaf whorl

I started this little tablequilt inspired by a few large Bur oak leaves I had pressed from last season. Spring arrived as I worked on it and I decided to show the way the leaves grow as they emerge. All of the leaves are from a tree in our yard that my husband started from an acorn five years ago. The acorn was dropped by gigantic and ancient Bur oaks that stands at the edge of a favorite park in our town. Now our little tree has already set acorns and is well over six feet tall.

The leaves are attached to each branch in a beautiful radial whorl pattern. This is very noticeable at the ends of the branches. It's really beautiful. So this little quilt has turned into something to honor this young tree and what is just the very beginning of its' timeline. 

A sensitive edge has been sketched in so that it will follow the shape of a few of the larger leaves. I am going to push the limits of what I have done so far with a shaped edge and see what happens - trying to work a few things out to make something on a much larger scale.

We really are so impressed with this little tree - proves it is well worth it to plant an acorn or two in a  special spot and see what happens. The squirrels took all of the acorns last year but more are on the way.

these live with us now

Tidying my studio is on pause. I am sewing some of the cloth I have found again into some things that can live out in the open with us now. The lighter side of the log cabin block is indigo from an online class with Glennis Dolce at ShiboriGirl. The indigo star in the center was also made during that class. The block on the right was made during one of Jude's Contemporary Boro classes. It seems like both of these learning experiences took place about 3 years ago, which is hard to believe. It makes me hesitant to put any of my favorite pieces of cloth back on a shelf or into the cupboard. Better to get them all out among the living I think.

color journal II

I have a lot of fabric I hold on to for mostly sentimental reasons. Much of it vintage print scraps given to me by my grandmother. I very rarely use printed fabric in what I make so I have given some of it away but I swear the odd shaped little crumpled scraps multiply when I am not looking.  So color journal II is born of needing to deal with this. I haven't finished quilting the first color journal quilt, but oh well - back to that later. Block by block still seems like the best way to end up with a quilt sized cloth and I love just working by color without over thinking it.

See first set of possible winter colors above. Freezing cold and snow with frozen mud underneath don't seem so bad when thinking of it only as color like this. It soothes the late winter mood, but still I will be daydreaming of the green. The clear blue sky days hold it all together no matter what the season.

I have a whole bunch of stitching going on but I can't find the words for any of it. My workspace is long overdue for a tidy and I am hoping that will help with the cluttered mind as well.

warmth blocks in winter

I have started stitching on a couple of winter blocks. My theme hasn't strayed far from the block I stitched last year. 

I am making the new ones 12X12 inches to be compatible with last years'. If I can make one or two each year I can eventually sew them all together to make a quilt.

Moving inside as it gets colder outside inspires lots of imagery about warmth. I think a lot about keeping my family busy and happy as it becomes harder to spend time outside.

Filling our house with people always helps with warmth and cheer. I wish the same for all of you.

winter stars

More of the star, but winter colors now. We have snow and cold. The white backdrop of the snow makes it easier to appreciate the lovely lines of the plant stems and seed heads that have held on on through the weather. There's a lot of inspiration out there.

and I think I have worked a few things out for the construction of these stars, but only in my head so far. I learn a bit more with each one. I am now cutting things out to make a few more with the new plan. Some pieces of pale indigo I dyed during Glennis Dolce's online class a few years back are giving some variation against the whites. I think the pieced stars nicely echo the frost patterns, snowflakes and crispness of winter. Natural organization.

We have been busy celebrating 8 years old with our youngest and it's official today. Above - waiting "patiently" at 5:30 this morning to open his gifts. He's a funny one.

time warp

Last week my dad had a serious health scare, but he is doing well now. My mom is faced with the fairly difficult job of trying to get him to take it easy for awhile. This is the first day it has felt okay to think about anything else except all of this. I guess I am just noting all this here for sake of my personal timeline. Last week was like a time warp.

The boys and I are making a few small trips here and there over the next few days. I will be back to posting here in about a week.

I am still working on the redbud leaves and I think something is about to happen with these patchwork stars.

redbud family

Nighttime and daytime photos but the same cloth. Right now I am liking the heart shape of the eastern redbud.

It has been a crazy week and next week my boys are on fall break. When I get back - let's talk about leaves again.

family

My parents are the "Fletcher" in my name (as well as my boys') and the foundation on which my sense of family has been built. They are encouraging and supportive and so when I started taking ceramics classes a year (or two?) ago, my dad surprised me by making a custom clay tool. It stamps my initials into the soft clay on the bottom of my work. He is a woodworker but can really make anything he puts his mind to - he's pretty amazing. The stamp works beautifully. He modeled it after my own configuration of hand writing/carving of my initials, but these letter forms are pleasingly clean and simple - beautifully influenced by the materials used.

Dad's stamp also works well on other materials and so I can stamp lightly onto fabric and then stitch over it.

I am working through a stack of pieces - many started quite awhile ago. Some of them have become overwhelmed with my original intention of what I hoped for them to be or mean. When that happens I eventually put them aside and now there's a stack of them - looking all lonely. In the midst of normal family chaos of day to day life it is the meditative stitch that I so often need. So they won't all turn out to be what I originally intended because I am going to lighten their load of intention just a bit. In the end I think cloth just begs to be lived with and useful - part of a family.

If only just a sense of all that can be stitched into what I make then it will be enough. All the comforts, the calm and sometimes chaotic - past and present of home. It's all in there.

just a few more of the sugar maples :: love of leaves

I hope you won't get tired of me talking about leaves and trees, because here I go again with the sugar maples. We have large old sugar maple trees surrounding our house and I like the idea of honoring their many years of shade and protection by making things for our house with images of sugar maple leaves. The same trees have also given us sap for maple syrup. Our house would feel very exposed without these trees. I worry they won't always be here but they have been with this house much longer than we have.

I took down several insulating curtains this week and now this little entry room at the front of the house is letting the light in and there's this little curtain panel on the door. It's a piece of osnaburg with three raw edges and I like it fine but have been imagining adding something to it for awhile.

I might stitch over the black marker lines someday or maybe not. I might also paint the lower leaves and the other half of those green ones yellow in the fall, or I might not.

Over the next few weeks a few other folks and I will be drawing, painting and or stitching some leaves  together or whatever they might want to sew. I am excited about that. It's silly that it took me so long to just ask.

the outside edge of home

Less talk and more stitch after this, I promise. I want to post these to remind myself what this little room looks like when it is tidy and welcoming. This is how it looks when I really look forward to being in here. I am so grateful for this little space on the outer edge of our house, the "old side" (1917).

It's working very well to leave the computer work in here - not to mingle so much with the rest of the house.

The light in here is really nice. With all the cold outside, at least the sun is shining.

ceramics student

I am looking forward to my next ceramics class - continuing with wheel throwing. Class starts up again this week (once we are through all the cancellations and delays due to the bitter cold). All good stuff - learning something new, making something beautifully long-lasting and practical and (my favorite part) sharing time and conversation centered on creativity. I am so grateful to have the very talented artist and teacher Soyong Kang Partingon as my instructor. For local friends considering a ceramics class - Soyong teaches at our local Sullivan Munce Cultural Center and also at the Indianapolis Art Center.

I thought about taking classes for years and have been so happy that I finally did it. I have been inspired by these ceramics classes in so many ways. I have truly loved being home with the boys for many years and really enjoy freelancing from home, but I have really missed the creative buzz that happens in learning something new in the physical presence of other people who are very interested in doing the same.

The blue bowl above is a favorite from last class. I like the practicality of the wide shallow dimensions and hope to produce a few more like it. Before this it was mostly cat size bowls - and that was before I had a cat. I now have so much appreciation for what goes into making something out of clay. There is much time invested in following a piece through each step of throwing, drying, trimming, embellishing, firing, glazing and firing again. In the end there is this thoughtfully produced object, both beautiful and practical that will likely long outlast me. I really like that.

I would like to eventually think about a relationship between cloth and bowl or cloth and vessel - lots of possibilities there. Goals for this class - maybe four good size bowls of a very similar size and shape possibly resembling a set. That would be really nice. Also maybe a pie plate, we like pie.

snow

Eva

Three weeks ago a friend and I found a black and white kitten meowing loudly, shivering and sneezing huddled up beside the front steps of my house. There have been efforts to find out wether she is someone's lost pet but no replies. From the start she has acted like she has never known anything other than living with a big furry dog and two little boys constantly interrupting her naps and carrying her around. She already looks less like a kitten and more like a long lean cat.

I love her loud loud purring (the boys call this her motorboat) and the deep brown tiger stripes that are showing up in her black fur. Her quiet moments of contentment are contagious.

Stitching attracts the quiet company of my animals so I thought I would take a moment to introduce her here, as I am sure she will show up often.

The beginning of my new year of stitching is likely further postponed due to the expected arrival of ridiculously cold temperatures here these next few days which may extend the boys' holiday break from school a day or so. Today we will play in the snow.

first day :: new year

merry

May love and laughter light your days, and warm your heart and home.

Happy holidays and see you in the new year!

the similarities

I found *this post* from one year + one month ago and it's in a way comforting - the similarities. Thoughts this time of year are still about staying warm, but we are all a year older and some of us a year bigger.

My youngest has graduated to reading chapter books but I am still stitching leaves.

I finished this one on the curtain this morning - started last year but I was in a hurry to just get it up into the window to insulate the room. Now it's done and in the window again.

I like the changing of the seasons and the rhythm in it all - quiet momentum.

warmth

Bits of warm in the cold. A little something for the winter holidays - in progress.

the curtains

Still bright out around 4:30 this afternoon - homework time. Thanks to the time change it just feels like the season changing. 

With no more fires in the wood stove and a bit more sunshine each evening I am thinking of taking the draft curtains down. I like the ritual in that, but I will feel a little exposed when they are gone. 

I added the diamond four square panel to the window curtain and then it seemed a nice way to tie them all together. I was hoping to get the red squares on the kitchen panel stitched on before I take them all down. They have been just pinned on quite awhile because for the longest time spring has been so far away.

starry compass

 I love this gold color and I would name it "treasure map". It is fabric paint on cotton and the tiny fossils are drawn with archival markers. It just came from the wash - so the drawn lines held up nicely.

 I started the fossil fabric with something else in mind, but it has become the compass cushion.