bee creative

a few minutes, one thread

Primroses at the store last night. 

I didn't even try to resist and bought five.

I do love flowers.

5 minutes because I slept in

It's a Timber Moon!

And despite the cold snap and kittens (I brought it in and then covered it with a clear plastic bag), my indigo plant is alive!

Hooray!

10 minutes or so: knitting because it soothes me

Of all kinds of making I think that knitting or crochet soothes me the most.  There doesn't have to be thinking, just motion on repeat.  Yarn that keeps coming for long than a needle can hold thread. 

This morning, listening to Wendell Berry read, "The Peace of Wild Things" here.

(The creek has been high the last few weeks.)

And Mary Oliver reading "Wild Geese," here.

Imagining the two of them having a conversation.

(Not the best photo as it was taken through the window, but oh it made me laugh!)

 

build your own story #4

Base layer of indigo dyed fabric:

This was one section of a piece of fabric I dyed this way.  I was experimenting with applying the clay with a turkey baster.

  Results? 

Very little control and drips.  From there I did some finger painting, creating moon shapes and more dips with my finger.

I made circles, hearts, flowers, a butterfly; all of which I was pleased with. This piece of fabric is the one that feels most open, like the sky or the sea.

or

or

I will be making more fabric this way.

For stories to come.

a new rabbit hole

Always helpful Timber.

They aren't going to be perfectly clean but I don't care. 

I love this.

And mostly the boys were good.

a day ahead of me

Yesterday I made a indigo fructose vat:

Test strip this morning, I am in business!

And as everyone may guess, I have too much help.

Maybe they will retreat to their new favorite place? 

That would be the top of the 7 foot armoire.

As for the indigo vat, I am taking a class on clay resist and indigo dyeing from Kristen Arzt via Botanical Colors. 

I am sure to have things to share tomorrow!

P.S.  I think I've shared this before but Botanical Colors Feedback Friday Videos are wonderful!

60 minutes: listening

Sometimes I listen to podcasts while working on a project, like when I am trying to make yarn with coffee filters.

(Not going well, need the cats to take a nap.)

Other times, like this morning, I listen after waking up very early and am just not ready to start doing something.

"On Being" remains a favorite and funnily enough this week's interview was with an author, Oliver Burkeman, who has written about time management.

One of my favorite parts

"Every new, extraordinary thing that a small child does is the end of the time before that time. But it occurs in everything, all through the day and all through one’s work, all through everything, that to do anything is to forgo all sorts of other things. And this isn’t some recipe for making the pain go away, but I experience a sort of amazing drop of my shoulders and all the rest of that whenever I can recall that this is just built in. This is like, how it is."

Another podcast I've found recently and have been really enjoying is "The Ezra Klein Show."  I've listened to several episodes from the archives now and am thinking about much of what I listened to.  One interview was with Richard Powers, author of The Overstory.  I am about half way through the book and am loving it.  A favorite passage,

"It feels good, like a root must feel, when it finds, after centuries, another root to pleach to underground.  There are a hundred thousand species of love, separately invented, each more ingenious than the last, and every one of them keeps making things."

Last week's walk through the park.

Always time well spent.

30 min: fussy work

When I started piecing the squares together I knew there would be gaps caused by different sizes.  As I wanted to stick with 19 different fabrics per square, it made sense to choose one fabric that would be the gap filler. 

The choice was purple silk, it adds sparks of light.

It's fussy but I love it.

The best way to work with it has been to cut a strip, baste the raw edges, tuck the edges under and baste the strip on as applique and then stitch it down. 

It's funny that one ended up right next to where "mend" was stitched...

30 minutes: stitching

Starting to put things together.

Oh it's a crooked thing and that makes me love it more.

Never aiming for perfection, just good enough.

 

30 minutes: sleeve

3 rows done.

Maybe the daily-self-challenge I need at the moment is what can I do in 15-30 minutes that feeds the non-work side of me?