bee creative

on the table

Mostly it's been a stormy  weekend.  Early Saturday morning there was a gust of wind measured at 63 MPH. 

During this week's On Being interview with Christiana Figueres, Krista Tippett says,

"When I was growing up, when you were growing up, the weather was a matter of small talk. The weather and the seasons had a predictability that was a rhythm of our lives, and how quickly that has shifted, and we just kind of — It’s so interesting to me and a little bit terrifying how we so quickly move into accepting that there’s fire season."

I was stitching the edges of a cloud patch while I listened to this. 

It is the wind season, the season of power outages and floods.

The cloud patch is now attached to my blanket that I call "Peace and Plenty." It's the name of the quilt square that is on the upper right hand side. 

(There was another cloud close to this spot, it has been temporarily been removed.)

Somewhere on the blog I know I have shared about this blanket (it's mostly 2 layers so not a quilt) but I want to share again.

It started as a memory blanket for my grandfather.  The chambray fabric in the Peace and Plenty squares are from my grandfather's work shirts, the ones he wore gardening. 

Originally the plan was to have a whole quilt of the squares but I needed a blanket and started stitching everything that was handy together and they just seemed to fit. 

I've been adding patches to it for awhile now and suspect that eventually it will be more patches than not.

It is becoming a story quilt, every patch and mend making the story more clear to me. 

I am thinking about choice, and trust, and love...and other things too. 

 

 

some big thoughts

Yesterday Jude posted about audience and blogging. Early this morning I wrote a long journal entry about this that went off on all kinds of tangents.  That is one of the differences between writing to an audience and something private.  The effort to be coherent, to say something meaningful, to be thoughtful.  I am still trying to wrap my mind around what I want to say but here is some of it.

Accountability and participation.  While we can make goals and live without sharing in such a public way, it is helpful to be able to put what we are doing out into the world:  "I have this goal and I am showing up as a way to motivate me to keep trying."

Community.  An audience often implies information flowing in one direction, a producer and a consumer. A presentation.  A healthy community invites participation and conversation. 

Teachers, mentors, facilitators, caregivers.  To teach is often  someone imparting information to an audience.  The others involve a more complex relationship, one where there is a possibility of learning from each other.  Participation comes up for me again. 

Validation.  This is the messy and emotional part about sharing (Alfie Kohn,"Five Reasons to Stop Saying Good Job"). We all appreciate a "good job" as human beings occasionally. Buying something that someone has made is a form of validation.  It's hitting the "like" button.  And it can become about popularity... sometimes that is necessary for survival in the society we live in. 

When I consider it, I am not very interested in being part of an audience (but I am not judging people who choose that role, it is a way to participate). I want conversation, space to be curious, room to grow and be creative...

 

 

 

 

keeping busy, with breaks

Some more playing with pigments:

This piece of brick was soft enough that I could use a rasp to powder it.

Added a little stone fruit gum and I had paint.

Dots are always good.

I also spent some time canning and loading up the dehydrator this weekend.

This made me smile. 

And there was some sewing.

With breaks.

Everything that fits together has been sewn together, but some of the squares just are not cooperating. I am basting those squares to a 3 foot by 3 foot section of the backing fabric.  Where the edges overlap neatly they have been sewn down.  In other areas I am going to have to put a "filler" piece. And in some areas I will applique a strip over the edges to cover where there would be a raw edge. 

To borrow a phrase from Jude, I think this could be called

"design mending..."

 

treasures

Lunch break, sitting on the grass outside the building.

Two perspectives.

Things gathered.

Fabric from Jude.  There was a plan when it was cut out it but I don't remember.  A new opportunity now.

The lids contain dried pigment. Honey could have been added to keep it from cracking.  It could still be done.

The dahlia a gift from a friend, from her garden.  The bottom rock is crumbly enough that it might work for a pigment.  Both marking a special day and I will try making pigments from them.

The other rock I will keep for awhile.

A favorite book, Everyone Needs a Rock by Byrd Baylor and Peter Parnall.

I was doing a bit of research and had the thought that to hold a rock is a way to hold time. 

That making a pigment can be too.

That something made, telling a story, holds time. 

 

 

 

always something to learn from the garden

Jude's post today reminded me of something that I have been watching for the last month...

A pansy that is a volunteer from one that grew in a pot just above this area in the spring and a foxglove that has been waiting patiently for some time. 

I thought that all of the volunteer foxgloves were gone from the garden. 

This spring I dug this area out after losing a few shrubs to the weather. 

Such a lovely surprise to find foxglove growing here again. 

today, a list of things I am grateful for

#1 Goldenrod thread on the edge.  The last thing that I used the dye bath for before making a lake pigment with the rest.

As I was stitching, I thought (probably because I could see how crooked I was getting), we don't need to be perfect. It's fine.

I am thinking about how the thicker thread lines are more childlike, at least for the way I stitch.

#2 Goldenrod paint sample.  The color of sunshine... There is supposed to be rain tomorrow.

#3 Today's garden harvest.  Just enough.

#4 A very lovely visit with Hazel this morning. Still thinking about our conversation...in many ways I am refining what I want to make and why. 

book mark

I decided a cloud book mark would be perfect for a book full of weather poems (Gigantic Cinema), but also thought this would be a great tree. 

It can be both.

The cloud is a threadcrumb.

I am not done yet...

indigo weather

Fabric that I was using as a sheet.  It really wasn't strong enough so I've decided to do a bit of experimenting with it.  

A puffy cloud inspired by Jude.

I am using clay as a resist.

More experimenting.

I finally made paper! 

There will be more of this. 

Paper counts as #2 of the "waste not" project since I made it with recycling, old screen that was salvaged, and left over dye water (which didn't alter the color at all).

 

 

things can take time

This is eggshell that I am grinding for pigment.  It's out on the porch and every time I walk by I stop and grind for a few minutes.  After a day of this, it's almost a fine powder. 

Some things collected today, others a couple weeks ago. 

All possible colors for dye or pigment.

Hemp that I've had for several years. 

It was a project that didn't turn out well.

It's been waiting for me to realize it will make a fabulous base for stitching. 

Maybe a bag?

All of these are possibilities for my "waste not" project. 

P.S.  I stepped out into the garden at about midnight.  No Northern Lights but it was warm and the sky was full of stars, including the big dipper. 

busy day

Finally finished the tank top and am very happy with it.  I will be making more with scraps.  The fabric was from this top and a skirt that I made and never really shared here.

The rest of the scraps from these three projects will be used for twine or stuffing a pillow form.

I am officially calling this #1 of my "waste not" project (50 projects made from things that might be considered waste/garbage).

I also started the last square for good enough COVID 19.

I used one of Jude's little houses for the center.

It seems so appropriate since so much of covid was about staying home.

The yellow is some of the fabric I dyed with marigold.

Today I used the leftover dye bath to make a lake pigment.

And I started an indigo vat (fructose), bundled up a pillow case that I had dyed with fresh indigo a few years ago that needs a refresh, and worked in the garden for a few hours.

Should sleep good tonight.