bee creative

#8 bandwidth

Bandwidth as defined by the Oxford dictionary:

1. a range of frequencies within a given band, in particular that used for transmitting a signal.
2. the energy or mental capacity required to deal with a situation.

This morning Jude brought up something many of us may be experiencing...slow internet.  It is ironic that bandwidth can be used for describing mental health too...

It's been a tradition for me to rent/stream the movie Enchanted April each spring.  This year I'm not going to (or any other movies) and instead take the time to read the book.

"So entirely unaware was Mrs. Wilkins that her April for that year had then and there been settled for her that she dropped the newspaper with a gesture that was both irritated and resigned, and went over to the window and stared drearily out at the dripping street."  Elizabeth Von Arnim 

And instead of dreaming of the beautiful clothes/robes that they wear in the movie, perhaps it's time to act on the inspiration of the movie?

 

#1 Assignments.

"How are you" has become an interesting question. 

"Fine" doesn't seem right and yet fine is a wonderful thing. 

"Good enough," I usually answer.

Mostly I am distracted. Not sure of what I want to say or why.

Maybe a daily assignment would help?

A daily photo. Because it is something that I can do. For one hundred and nineteen days, mid August.

Posted here because it's the platform that I like the best. Because everyone who has internet, has access.

There might not always be words, maybe not an image.  I'm not quite sure where I am going with this, but mostly I think...exploring what is good enough?

From my journal, inspired by John Franzen via India Flint.

 

grateful

My mind is on hearts right now, really heart as a symbol for gratitude.

Silk dyed with walnut, eucalyptus and sumac.

I found the below video at Pomegranate Trail (Nancy).

What I needed today and worth sharing...

 

a kind of house cleaning

While sorting cloth I found the white fleece I was looking for. It had been made in to a pair of sweat pants that were too big.

Added to a little leftover pink fleece I have a whole new sweatshirt...probably for a P.J. top.

I suppose there is a little Alabama Chanin influence along with the usual suspects.

And the house is a little cleaner....

committing can be the hardest part

Home today working on projects, mostly sewing. 

I've been using the facing patterns that I made for my favorite tank top as guidelines for necklines and armholes for more free-form cutting like the top below that is based on a square.

First time round this was too wide for the weight of the fabric.  Much better now.

This is the favorite tank top pattern made to dress length. I'm trying to make my wardrobe more cohesive and this shade of red matches a skirt  perfectly...so it's a tunic length now.

This jacket was started during Jude's Boro class. I finally made a decision regarding fabric for sleeves. Just a little more lining to go and then I will sew up the side seams.

I think it might be time to make jeans....

word number ten: absorb

An assortment of plant dyed fabric, all plants grown in my garden. Mostly browns (leaves), some yellow from marigolds, blue from the indigo I grew. Some fabric stewed away in canning jars for a year, some for a couple months. Length of time didn't seem to change anything for these samples. Fabrics are wool and silk.

I've been looking and considering this weekend but still not sure what I want to do with them.

word number seven: local + Wendell Berry

Look and See, it's the title of a movie.  Simply, a movie about Wendell Berry, but really more about what he believes and values.

One of Berry's essays I read recently from The Future of Nature, Writing on a Human Ecology from Orion Magazine included:

"The principles of neighborhood and subsistence will be disparaged by the globalists as "protectionism"--and that is exactly what it is.  It is a protectionism that is just and sound, because it protects local producers and is the best assurance of adequate supplies to local consumers.  And the idea that local needs should be met first and only surpluses exported does not imply any prejudice against charity toward people in other places or trade with them. The principal of neighborhood at home always implies the principle of charity abroad.  And the principle of subsistence is in fact the best guarantee of giveable or marketable surpluses." 

Local can be defined as where you are standing but is also dependent on what you are referring to. If we are talking about the universe, Earth is local.  A community can be global.

"Think global, act local."  It's become a little overused but is useful as a lens.

....

I so overestimated my ability to finish my sweater; still working on the yoke.

It will be finished when it is finished but it will be soon. I was remembering recently that this was reclaimed yarn.  The first time I used this yarn for a sweater, the sweater didn't fit so I pulled it all apart.

I did finish a tunic I put together using scraps left over from another project.  It is made up of six different pieces of fabric.

Very much designed using ideas from India Flint's class, "conscious clothing."

Choosing local can be as simple as choosing to do the labor or reusing materials...

cool blue filter

Or let sleeping dogs lay?

 

 

Experimenting more with taking pictures when lighting isn't great.  Filters are not quite true, but not wrong either.

The bottom image is of two of my current projects. 

The netting (from Mo Crow) is being stitched to pre-felt.

The knitting project is a hat and is my current bus project.

holding place

Wool dyed with Eucalyptus.

I have enough wool for a blanket but to be dyed in the eucalyptus I'll need to cut it apart, bundle it, and then sew it back together again.

Thinking about how that is story telling....

s is for salad, shawl, shirt/stitch and summer

Salad: butter lettuce, peaches, sherry vinegar, olive oil with lemon and herbs, scamorza cheese.

Shawl.  The edge is secured and ready for the dye pot. 

Shirt/stitch. It has a few extra seams so that I could use scrap fabric. It's a self drafted pattern inspired by several sources (Spirit Cloth, School of Nomad Arts, Conscious clothing, dosanyc). 

Summer.

It's the season (noun) and it seasons (verb) everything.