bee creative

mending the beast

 

Stitched beast made during Jude's original "Patchwork Beasts" class (for those not familiar you can check it out here). It was washed a few weeks ago and it shrunk a bit more. I like how the stitches have stretched out. A little mending might be in order though. 

We have a raccoon prowling the garden.  A couple weeks ago there was a close call with Lola.  She escaped with a few scratches; we were very lucky. She isn't allowed to roam the garden in the dark anymore.  She whines and I tell her, "The raccoon could be out there.  It will eat you if it catches you." 

The raccoon prints are on the side of the chicken coop.  They are on the roof top as well.  I visualize the raccoon sitting on the roof of the chicken run, peering in at the chickens through  their window.

I am glad that they are not very trusting chickens.

of mushrooms and moons

Look, interesting mushrooms on the way to work:

A little playing in photoshop elements. 

I see the potential for a stitching project...

 

In the meantime, a little dyeing project:

I over-dyed a bit of wool (indigo dyed first I am guessing) with black bean soaking water using a technique (how to make the moon) learned from Glennis (Shibori Girl). 

And of course, I will never be done being inspired by Jude.  Thank you...

sometimes creativity means cleaning house

I've spent the best part of two weekends cleaning and organizing and still have more I want to do. What I am (oh so slowly) coming to realize is that I need space to be creative. 

On the flip side...I could get a sign like my friend Cindy. 

layers as a way to keep going

Last week I added a layer of fabric to a blanket that needed some mending.

Another layer will keep this functional for a long time.

After the windstorm in August, some of my neighbors lost power for 3 days.  It made me think about the importance of having layers in the pantry as well.

The importance of not just freezing:

but dehydrating:

and canning (canned pizza sauce):

And as experimentation is another way to keep going:

a new method for baking pizza. 

I still need a little practice (could have been cooked a bit more on top, almost too much on bottom) but this was so good.

Directions are here at Root Simple:

Topping: sausage, jack cheese, and that pizza sauce. 

 

 

sock season (and it's a thoughtful sock)

Hazel is sure she is being helpful.

Sure that I need her to hold the loose thread as I knit a sock.

Three things I want to share:

One of the other pieces I liked from the interview with Mary Catherine Bateson:

"I like to think of men and women as artists of their own lives, working with what comes to hand through accident or talent, to compose and recompose a pattern in time that expresses who they are and what they believe in, making meaning even as they are studying and working and raising children, creating and recreating themselves." 

And revisiting an old favorite that I keep tucked in the side bar of the blog:

"We can not only live for ourselves. A thousand fibers connect us with our fellow men, and among these fibers, as sympathetic threads, our actions run as causes and they come back to us as effects."  Herman Melville

And from the book I am currently reading, The Art of Asking by Amanda  Palmer:

"Collecting the dots.  Then connecting them.  And then sharing the connections with those around you.  This is how a creative human works.  Collecting, connecting, sharing." 

She continues, "When artists work well, they connect people to themselves, and they stitch people to one another, through this shared experience of discovering a connection that wasn't visible before...Artists connect the dots--we don't need to interpret the lines between them.  We just draw them and then present our connections to the world as a gift, to be taken or left.  This IS the artistic act, and it's done every day by many people who don't even think to call themselves artists." 

I've checked Palmer's book out from the library but there is no way I am going to be done before it needs to go back. 

It's going on my to-buy list. 

And just because, here's one more thing to share, a short little video.  Because it is sweet:  "Behind the Trees."

 

 

 

 

 

 

star stitching

Believe it or not... I had doodled the word "wonder" before I sat to stitch this star and listen to an interview with Mary Catherine Bateson on On Being.

One of the things she said:

"The starting place is the sense of wonder.  And that can take you to science.  It can take you to art.  Other human being are amazing and beautiful.  The natural world around us-the more we study it, the more fascinating and intricate and elegant it turns out to be." 

Jude reminded me to make a wish when I mentioned I was stitching a star.  Hoover over the photo with your cursor to see what my wish for today is.

I'll be coming back to this interview, there is more that I liked and want to share. 

 

color: walnut dye + fall feild notes

We've been gifted with some glorious autumn weather.

I was able to find some more walnuts and made a small dye bath today.

(about 1/2 gallon of water brought to a boil + 4 walnuts cracked open with my hammer, brought to a boil for about 30 minutes)

Walnut dye on white linen and cotton, soaked for about 30 minutes.

An over-dye on red wool.I am sure I'll do more.