bee creative

hope

I've finished reading A Sideways Look at Clouds and have started reading Horizon by Barry Lopez.

As it seems to happen...I find connections. 

This week's On Being Newsletter features an interview with Craig Minowa and Cloud Cult which led me down a rabbit hole of listening.

In the interview there is a discussion about hope, and then later as I read Horizon I find:

"We, all of us, look back over our lives, trying to make sense of what happened, to see what enduring threads might be there.  My further desire in planning this book was to create a narrative that would engage a reader intent on discovering a trajectory in her or his own life, a coherent and meaningful story, at a time in our cultural and biological history when it has become an attractive option to lose faith in the meaning of our lives.  At a time when many see little more on the horizon but the suggestion of a dark future." 

Thinking about time this morning.

And hope.

Also... a link for the cloud watchers, this is a nice one for identifying the scientific names of clouds. This morning I would say I have Stratus clouds...a gray blanket of low clouds (pure coincidence I am sure).

The forecast is for sunny skies although I wish it would rain just a bit more and water the garden.

 

pause

Oops...time got away on me a bit.

I wish it was because I was lost in the garden but that's not the case, it's been a busy week.

I'll be back to the alphabet on Saturday.

 

perspective

Revisiting "putter."

It was a slow day after a busy week.

The cats wanted lots of cuddles (purr).

There are things to preserve...pears from the garden and local prunes.  It was the best crop yet on the prune tree (about 20) but that's not enough to fill up the dehydrator and I love dried prunes.  They have so much more flavor than what can be purchased at the store. 

I am thinking about things that are precious, things we want to preserve... About how seasons come and go but it's never quite the same.  Some things age and new things come about; we change. 

Today everything is filtered through smoke from wildfires. 

Perspective.

Two pigments.

On the left is what I think is a piece of cement.  I picked it up on the beach.

On the right, soil from California.  Soil that fed redwood trees. From a place where I played as a child.

Pigments are so much about place for me.  And place is one of the most important things that I care about.  Local and global.  That we are part of both.  Thinking about soil as earth. Earth as soil and earth as planet.

Products...things that have been made. 

Paper and twine.

The little purple dot is pigment too...from the corn husk that I was twining.

I think I will probably make some ink from some of the corn husks. 

More play.

The twine was made to bind the top of a basket together. I might, with the next batch of paper, try placing other twine into the pulp to see if it will hold in a different way.

P.S.  I really can't write the word "precious" without thinking of The Hobbit... a whole other perspective.

h

brought to you by

the letter C! 

Hopefully there are no copyright issues with that.

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What are the things that we don’t remember learning to do? The skills we learn along the way as we grow? How to roll over, crawling, walking, talking, how to feed ourselves…

I don’t remember learning to crochet or who taught me. Mom doesn’t remember who taught me either. It is all muscle memory for me now.

To crochet is to connect a thread or a skein of yarn to itself or another strand until it becomes whatever you are making.

Chain one or chain two, the pattern might read.

Crochet is also, for me, a connection to one of my great-grandmothers. I don’t remember seeing her crochet as her arthritis made that difficult during the time I remember but I have pieces that she’s made and some of the cotton thread that was hers.

It is cherished.

We also shared a birthday.

I took this picture when I was maybe twelve or thirteen? It's in front of the cabin that she was living in...which also happens to be where I spent the first months of my life. 

Some of the lace she crocheted. 

This type of crochet is called Filet crochet. 

Connections hold us together.

Thinking about the thread…awhile back Jude was considering the thread that runs through. I’ve been thinking about that since (and it may have planted the alphabet seed). About how curiosity is the thread that runs through everything that I do. It's probably why I never settle on one kind of making. 

And then thinking about how curiosity lead to creativity.

(This seems bluer in reality.)

I am also thinking about when curiosity can go too far.

Do we always need to know?

Can’t somethings always be a mystery?

(Something to explore, an interview with Jamaica Heolimeleikalani Osorio.)

Yesterday I was asked whether I thought creativity could be taught. I don’t think so…but I do think that play encourages creativity and that the more we play the more we keep that creative muscle working or rediscover it if we feel that it has gone missing.

Connection, communication, curiosity, creativity, community, caregiving…they are all words that I keep coming back to.

I suspect that as I move through the rest of the alphabet, these words will be a part of all the rest.

taking my time

The baby shower will be soon and I know there is no way that I will finish the blanket in time. 

I had a thought that I could do "so many squares a day" and maybe I would get there if I sat down and dedicated some time...

but some days it just doesn't happen. 

And...I don't want to rush this. 

When I am working on it, I am enjoying the texture. It's so soft. 

I smile because the colors make me happy and they make me think of flowers. Mostly roses.

I want the blanket to be filled with joyful energy...

that means it will take time. 

For the baby shower I am thinking to give a doll sized blanket. 

When I am finished is soon enough for the baby blanket. 

This took time and love too...blackberry plum sorbet. 

Plums from a tree in my garden that has been growing for 7-8 years.  This is the first year it had a good crop. 

The recipe is a blend of a few.  About 3 cups fruit, 1 cup sugar, 1 cup water, and a couple tablespoons of an unlabeled cordial that I made last year, maybe quince? 

this week

We've had days and days of sunshine. 

Today, some overcast and just a sprinkle of rain. 

It feels good.

Today's harvest.

Underneath the top layer are blueberries. 

The calendula will be used for salve and the marigolds for dye.

All of this, but the cheese (and the sugar for the jam), came from the farmer's market.  The cheese is local, a smoked scamorza. It's really yummy with apricot jam.

I've started a new project...baby blanket for a coworker.  Her favorite color is pink!  I also know she likes granny squares so it's a safe bet that she will like this.  There is no way that I am going to finish it in time though...the baby is due in September.

This week's collection on some cord that I made.  A dried rose from the garden, a shell and a bead from Venice Italy. 

Still house painting...

 

more blues

Much cooler today but the indigo vat is still happy.

More dyeing. 

The only piece of fabric that had a white base is the blue in the middle, the rest had a yellow base.  The yellow is either marigold or buddleia from last year. 

For comparison.

Waste not: 

I've been adding the indigo rinse water to the paper pulp I've been making (on the left).  Some of the pulp has been used for paper sheets and some as "paper clay." 

The square on the left has a paper basket as a base and the one on the right has a plastic container as a mold.  They both seem to be drying well.  I added flour to the paper pulp to make it clay like. 

I was inspired by an Instagram post (Sibster) but it's something that has long interested me...

I bought this book which has instructions on paper making and paper mache, along with other paper projects, over thirty years ago. 

Somethings just take a lot of time to get to...

 

confession number one, I keep things too long.

I feel like I lost a week and am not sure quite where it went.  Maybe it's just that the grass pollen is high...the garden is amazing though. 

(cucumbers and celery...trying celery for the first time.)

It's been raining so a lot of time yesterday was spent cleaning and organizing.  I am not sure it looks much better than it did before but two big bags full of things left the house so something must have changed.

There was also a lovely surprise visit from Hazel (the second in two weeks!)...just when I needed a break.

I also made a new indigo vat with some dates that were way past "best by."  This is dip number one; the fabric (dipped today) will go back in for another dip tomorrow and/or the next day.

Today I used some shredded junk mail for paper pulp and added some of the pansy ink the water. 

Just for a moment it was purple and then it was blue. 

This is some of the pulp flipped out onto watercolor paper.  It doesn't matter if it sticks...I have an idea!

Some of the pansy ink was saved in some tiny bottles that I've had forever and found while sorting.  Maybe this is something I kept for just the right amount of time? But it's the "it will be useful someday" that gets me into trouble.  

There also has been some stitching; trying a technique that Jude shared in the Forever Zone.  The fabric is some that I dyed using a clay resist for the circles.  It will make a nice pillow once all the circles are stitched

Hmm...where did that clay go? 

 

 

 

 

 

dreaming

I wish I had been able to capture the immense and incredible blue of the last few nights. No Aurora B but I am okay with that. I’ve seen it green and blue and dancing across the sky in the past.

My brother (the local one) was only able to see a green glow, captured with his phone. Maybe it was there when I went out? Maybe it was what was creating a blue that seemed extraordinary? I like that idea...a layer not quite visible but changing the usual color. Or maybe it just felt good, to be standing outside on a warm night looking up and out into endless blue?

 

I am still spending a lot of time in the garden.  So much to appreciate there.

The lilacs have been amazing.

I have also been making blue dots.

This one is the pigment I made:

I want to sew something blue soon.

time flies

Most of my my non-work time recently has been spent in the garden...pulling weeds, pruning, planting, dreaming and sneezing.

I was really worried that my fig hadn't made it through the cold snap last January, but there are baby figs!

Another happy discovery...strawberries at the farmer's market!

I am pretty sure these are from a hoop house but still, this is early.  The greens are lettuce and spinach from the garden. 

I've also finished hemming the first of the sewing projects that I started last week. 

This is essentially three squares.  The neckline was cut on the fold of the larger square and the sleeves added to the sides.  Elastic was added to the ends of the sleeves. 

It's made with rayon so it has a lot of drape.  Rayon is something I try to avoid but I just loved this print and gave in during a moment of weakness.

This a pattern/layout I've been playing with for many years now but I've also been recently inspired by Christi Johnson. 

And lastly:

They still haven't grown out of the need to snuggle together and there is no box too small...