rusty sunshine where once there were none

eighty hour work weeks do not leave a tremendous amount of time for creativity. i shall have to remedy that. in the meantime, however, i have been unbundling my hothouse rust dye bundles and discovering all manner of unexpected treasures! more photos to come, but first i wanted to share what i've been doing with one of them in those few precious moments here and there when i can sit down by the fire and needle chant a bit instead of sleep...

nevermind the sun in the sky, which hasn't put an appearance in for several days now, this little rusty fellow seems to bring a warmth all his own!

looks like piper is laying claim to this warm little sun before anyone else gets a chance!

a few suns that i've found inspiring today can be found here (3rd pic down), here, and here.

namaste'

still standing in the snow...

tonight's arctic storm has inspired me to pull out the old man in the snow winter cloth and work a bit more on him as the snow continues to waft down around the cottage. he isn't really a "santa clause" so it doesn't matter that xmas has already been packed away once again into its boxes for yet another year. does it? not in my demented world in any case...  perhaps he will be in need of friends? either way, there is still a lot of thread chanting to be done before he has whispered his stories into the cold, snowy night air.

meanwhile, i am in full gratitude for the crackling fire that burns on in the hearth and the comfortable chair beneath my backside as i stitch into the wee hours of the morning...

namaste'

a new obsession

imagine my unexpected joy at finding such a treasure at the local thrift shop on my way home from work this morning...and for only $25 no less! except for the small broken bit on the back rest, the wood is in amazingly perfect shape, right down to the wood wheels. the cushion springs are also in incredible condition.  obviously, the upholstery needs a total redo, though there is a wondrous, faded vintage floral on the bottom that i believe i shall salvage for my clothwork (i know...pics, please!...i will get to them later...for the moment, the batteries in my camera have died). whomever owned this lovely before it found its unfortunate way to the thrift shop obviously loved and cherished it for many years!

this will be one of my favorite new obsessions, of course! some years ago, my folks bought me a luxurious scroll saw for xmas (that i simply *had* to have or i was gonna *die*!) that still hasn't been out of the box. i do believe, however, that i now have an unprecedented reason to get it out and set up! that little panel on the back should be a breeze to duplicate with the scroll saw and a little hand carving.

then i'll want to tighten up the support bands under the springs, check to make sure none of them need to be re-wrapped, and then decide on the cushion materials. of course, at the moment, i'm thinking kantha stitched vintage sari scraps! or perhaps she'll want something a little more stately and subdued? japanese boro stitched fabrics maybe? i've have a delightful stash of vintage silk kimono bits that would be absolutely exotic and lovely on this chair!

oh, the possibilities!!! but where to start?!? wood? cloth? well, either way will have to wait until tomorrow in any case as i'm working a night shift again tonight for someone who couldn't get out of their driveway through the snow...

namaste'

eight inches and counting...

we've had a lovely arctic storm slide down from the north. so much for my lamenting over not having a winter in montana this year! ha! eight inches so far and it's still coming down fast and furious...and if the local weather forecaster is to be trusted, then it will continue on through tomorrow.

on the upside, i've been picking up shifts at work left and right from people who are snowed in in outlying areas. thank goodness from my monster 4-wheel drive truck (that's the beast in the back under all that snow), cuz i don't think i'm going anywhere on this for a while:

namaste'

a color whispering smidgeon

this quiet moon has been resting peacefully until this afternoon when she began dreaming of grasses becoming flowers, prancing cat tails, and even a visiting dragonfly. there is still a lot of story to be told here... but the moon is shy still. perhaps after a nap she will have more to say... or even to unveil her face...

at the moment, i am inspired by this. i think i may even still have a little gadget for making these tucked away in the oubliette somewhere!

namaste'

a bit of winter bundling...

been doing a bit of winter rust bundling this morning. playing with my new rusty treasures in an attempt to rust some suns, and maybe the odd moon or two, into a selection of salvaged cloth. it will be a two part project. first rust the suns, then play around with some hybridized shibori techniques using some old scrapbooking fabric dyes that i found tucked away. forgotten, in the oubliette. don't even know of they make these dyes anymore. but i've got some, so i guess it doesn't really matter. it's amazing what i can find in the oubliette when i really start digging! i think i may even have spotted my new airbrush. now old. but still new, in the package, as i've never used it!

now, i can already hear some of you saying, "rust dyeing?! in the middle of winter?! but you need sunshine and heat to encourage the rust to flourish! those are gonna take forever!" but, being somewhat tricksy myself, i have a solution to this issue! sunny windowsills and extra thick zip lock bags. "wha-?!?" you say. yuppers! mini-makeshift hot houses for rust cultivation! who could ask for anything better?

as you can see, these bundles have only been in the mini-makeshift hot houses for a few hours before i got a chance to snap some pictures and a few of them are already taking off like bandits! some of these little buggers might be ready for stage two before you know it!

as you can see, we are finally seeing a little bit of winter. so strange for us to be half way through january and only now getting a taste of winter. i have a feeling spring may be a long way off this year... maybe, if i can kick this dastardly cold, i might even get some snowboarding in this year?!

namaste'

letting go...

letting go can be the hardest action some of us may take.  be it letting go of feelings for someone. letting go of things we have painstakingly collected through the years. or letting go of preconcepted ideas and plans. having been laid up these past few days or so with a horrific cold, i have had a lot of time to think on such things and have decided that this year will be the year of letting go for me.

being the classic "collector", this will not be easy. i will be letting go of more than just "things"...as i have collected so much more than that. I will be letting go of ideas that limit and contain. of friends that restrict and denigrate. of finished projects that need to go out into the world and share their being-ness. of habits that destroy...or at least severely hamper...personal growth. and of attachments to these ideas and the methods with which to do so. as clean a slate as is possible for a man in the heyday of his middle age!

to start with, remembering not to overdo it today simply because the sun is finally out again, but i am still weak from this cold, i pulled out very traditional ohio star quilt top that i had pieces ages ago and never did anything with. it is much too "traditional" for my current tastes and has been sitting forsaken in the oubliette, the "forgotten place" that is my great, great uncle's steam trunk. i had such plans for this quilt at one time! but now am letting go of them as they no longer interest me.  i've helped it along on its new journey first by giving it some rustic, big stitch quilting stitches, in a very traditional manner. just to lay some ground work and keep things from shifting about too much. the rest of the afternoon, i think, may be spent digging through scraps and finding a fabric palette from which to pull some new elements to breathe new life into this cloth. trees. critters. i can almost hear a story beginning to whisper from the depths of this cloth's soul...

meanwhile, i've been inspired lately by this and this...

blogger is acting up at the moment and not allowing me to add to my thread trails list, but i wanted to share one of my new favorite blogs today:  snail cloth   her work is overflowing with exuberance and a zest for life that i can't help but smile whenever i visit her blog. i'll get it on the list as soon as blogger behaves...

namaste'

texture play

been taking a break from specific "projects" and just playing around with fabric. i used to teach a class in textile textures and manipulations and sometimes, it would seem, we forget what we already know and have to re-explore the paths we once tread upon so frequently and with such apparent ease. i do not know what i'm going to use any of these experiments more. if anything more than an exercise in remembering how to play with no particular result in mind. all too often, i find myself caught up in what i must create, rather than taking joy in the simple act of creating...

i got lost, at times, in the hustle of day to day life. working too many hours. but i must not lose touch with my creative aspect. it is only when that connection is broken that life seems empty and without purpose. this is a seed that i must water and nurture...

namaste'