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.