bee creative

in the sunshine

Things are happening in the garden...

For this boat I applied the washi tape first and then folded.  The tape is thin enough that it was fine on the straight folds. 

The coveted window spot.

setting (and a small plot)

Out in the garden yesterday I found a huge chunk of ice that is still melting.  It's been over 3 days since we started warming up and it's still 2 1/2 to 3 inches thick. 

It's 43 F and raining now. 

Next week we might be sunny and 60 F!

I spent a lot of the day at the table thinking about the garden and what I want to do this year (time to start some seeds!).  

This is a year for a Victory Garden.  Vegetables and fruits for food; flowers for the pollinators and for joy.  Herbs for other flavors and healing.

There was also time spent sewing and watching a cat drama unfold.

The basket has been on the table for awhile, full of bits of fabric that I am using for patching holes in the Good Enough quilt and the stitch book.

Gibson discovered he fit quite well inside the basket.  He likes to be contained.

Timber, as always, needs to be included so he climbed into the basket as well.

It's a tight fit.

Gibson goes along with it for awhile but eventually feels crowded and crawls out, leaving Timber in possession. 

After about 30 minutes Gibson returns and crawls back into the basket which annoys Timber.

Timber crawls out and decides to relocate to the rocking chair with Widget...more room to stretch out. 

The likelihood of Widget trying out the basket is small.  She likes places where she can exit quickly or to hide under the bed.

Current location of cats:

Widget, beside me insisting that her head be rubbed.

Timber, unknown.

Gibson, in the basket.

Poems under consideration (and that I am returning to).  

Rilke, "Go to the Limits of your Longing."  "No feeling is final," is stuck in my head...like an ear worm.

Theodore Roethke, "The Rose."  "I think of the rock singing, and light making its own silence." Every time I return to this poem I find more that I love. 

And...Wendell Berry, "The Peace of Wild Things."

 

 

 

filling in the gaps

I've spent most of today working on a section of my Good Enough quilt.

There has been some problem solving to do.

 

As usual, Timber wants to help.

 

dots and holes and beasts

Today I finally cut up a quilt I had made and that Lola had torn a lot of holes in with her nesting habit. I miss her, but not how hard she was on blankets.

All the pieces will be recycled into other things, including this slightly tattered beast I made in one of Jude's classes.  

There is help; Timber thinks it's great fun to flop right where I am cutting. 

I keep telling him it's not helpful and probably dangerous.

I've also been playing with the ink made with the Douglas Fir cones.

The dot on the left is the Doug fir, the middle Doug Fir mixed with iron water and the one on the right Doug Fir with iron water dropped in the middle.

And then walnut and iron because it was so much fun to play.

Might be the eye of a beast? 

joy and silliness

One of my coworkers decided the cats needed a costume...

Gibson thought it was worth considering.

 

present two

I've got to teach them to read.

The label says, "not pet friendly."

Basket made from red twig dogwood and hops from the garden. 

Local wool, washed but not carded to soften the edges. 

funny cat

I wish I had a picture of Timber with the ornament I decided he could have.  It's a small cloth heart that he has been packing around in his mouth.  Every once in awhile he tosses it into the air and then pounces on it.

He is ferocious!

 

cat proof?

The jar includes ornaments from great grandparents, grandparents, my childhood, my first tree as an adult and a few others that are special to me. 

I am not sure that I will ever trust the cats enough to hang ornaments where they can reach them.

 

return and reflect

What do I come back to? 

The garden, reading, the beach, rearranging things in my home, color, yarn, sewing...

I know making paper and baskets will be added to this.

And reflection...as in thinking, the kind where you are considering but not necessarily making a decision or doing research.

I've been thinking about why I make and what I make.  They are kind of heavy questions right now when I consider the state of the world.  How much of a privilege it is to ask that question.

Unless I have a specific project, this is the last year that I will buy any materials for dyeing with the fresh indigo.  I have enough to make several things and it's time to focus on some other things. 

I do still want to grow indigo though. What I will do is add another layer of color to things that I have been dyeing. And then I can make pigment because this is something that I can keep using in a way that is a better use of resources for me.  

Making a lake pigment, not sure if this will work but it looks promising!

There is so much paper in this world...and I love making paper.

  It's a great way to make recycling personal. 

I used the leftover walnut/marigold dye bath for this paper. Also a bit of a hop flower and marigold seeds

My assistants as I reflected on all this:

They are laying on top of my collection of handmade paper and some scraps I've been using for a project. 

They do love a box.

 

open

Also...heart, mind and hand.