silent sunday - 04/21/2013

it seems someone doesn't think we've had enough snow this year...

night and day

it is so strange to go to bed on a typical 49+ degree night and wake up to the vestiges of a winter storm that ravaged the land while you slept and then snuck away as you woke quietly from dreamimg...

even the county road crew was unprepared for the 6" of white cold snow that was suddenly draped across the countryside! once again, i am thankful for owning a large 4-wheel drive truck as it trudged its way along what i hope was the road into town. if not, then i am thankful that i managed to work my way across a field or two without dropping into any irrigation ditches hidden beneath the snow. ha!

namaste'

warm hands

just when you think it's safe to go outstide in short sleeves and flip flops, you wake up to find a new dusting of snow and chilly temperatures!

namaste'

as the snow flies

there is nothing quite as disconcerting as crawling under the quilts for a few hours' sleep in the afternoon and waking up to find the entire landscape has changed. it's as if one had spent a few moments in summer-filled fairie and come back a hundred years later to snow and ice. where once there were roads, now there are great swaths of powdery snow. where the air was crisp and clear, it is now frosted and filled with flurries of white. for those around these parts who wanted a white xmas, prayers have been answered. with great abandon!

namaste'

snow!

more of the heavy, white stuff came fluttering down with a thud during the night! wish i were stitching by the fire at home instead of at the cottage, but what are ya supposed to do? at least i get to stop from time to time and watch it fall outside the window before continuing on with stitch and cloth...

it is very quiet here tonight. i can almost hear the snowflakes sighing as they reach the ground.

namaste'

winter wanders in

it would seem our lovely, prolonged autumn has finally given way to winter. temperatures have dropped into the teens and twenties and six inches of snow fluttered down from the skies to blanket the countryside with glistening wonder.

not all of the leaves have had a chance to make peace with their lives and let go of the branches overhead. but they will find their time, perhaps sooner than they had hoped.

it seems they are not the only ones not quite yet ready for winter to wander in. i still have hoses to wrap and stow away and covers to put in place on the the barbecue and the swamp cooler. not to mention a bit of burrowing into the closet to find warm winter coats and woolen shirts.

i shall be looking forward to spending more time by the fireplace, stitching cloth and watching the cat purr and slumber on his pillow next to the embers as the snow continues to assert itself on what appears to be promising a long, frigid winter...

namaste'

shifting weather patterns

the weather her in the wilds of montana can't seem to make up its mind. we still haven't had a "real" winter (though there are those who are sighing in relief). lately, it'll seem like spring is poking her head around the corner. then old man winter wakes up and shakes a flurry of snowflakes from his robes and reminds us that it's still his turn to wander the countryside...

in reflection of this, i have added some more clouds to the skies around the rusty sun. they are batik scraps from the same old class project. added some kantha stitching to fill in where the scissors took out. whispers of thread chants and romping beasts fill my ears this evening. this cloth is far from fully realized in its manifestation...

this afternoon saw a new flurry of snow. perhaps old man winter hasn't given up the ghost yet either...

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 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'

spring snow

woke up to six inches of new-fallen, wet, soggy snow this morning...  just when you thought it was safe to pack away the woolens and break out the thongs!  ha!  i must have forgotten that i live in montana...

it's been snowing all day, too.  non stop.  sleep and snow.  so much for the saint's recent grooming.  at least, bringing her into work with me so much has kept her much cleaner than she would be if she were at home, playing in the mud behind my back... much like this guy:

she's been worse in her day...but i try to keep her a million miles from any mud now that i've experienced her high and muddiness!

this batty weather has reminded me of a little critter that's been lurking in the back corners of my mind for some time.  i think he may come out and play tonight...maybe even bring a friend, if it's not too crazy at work once everyone is tucked safely in their beds.  we'll just have to wait and see...

namaste'

baby, it's cold outside

i was fairly certain spring was here.  

but nature had another idea...

hoping today might find a little warmth to melt these snows away.

like a midwinter bear, i spent the better part of the day sleeping.

making up for lost sleep last night...

until fingers started twitching...

it's just a little bit of needlewandering.  thought i'd meander through

a stack of vintage scraps and see what puzzled together...

i enjoyed the soft, faded colors in counterpoint to the bold hues

i've been working in so much lately...

i'm not certain what i'll do with it...or what it will become.

will have to sit quietly and let it whisper what tales it may have to share...

namaste'

p.s.  fortune cookie wisdom wednesday is postponed.  i didn't venture out from under the comfort and safety of my quilt pile today to forage some chinese food.  will try to stop for some on my way home from work tomorrow night...

darkness and light

you can't have a light 
without a dark to stick it in. 

- arlo guthrie

all this whispering about fog and shadows had me thinking about the dark. darkness.  which led my thoughts toward light.  even at night there are few shadows right now, with the countryside blanketed in blaring white snow.  even the cloths i am stitching are centered around snow and light in the night. moons radiant.   

light can be gentle. harsh. dreamlike. misty. dangerous. dark. sensual. poisonous. soft. bare. hot. violet. cold. calm. radiating.  penetrating. concealing. all of this and more. so can dark. and yet, without the other, none can exist.  it can even be said that the quality of their opposite influences the nature of the other. not unlike the way the fabrics influence each other in our cloths. i gaze at the fabrics i've been weaving and stitching into cloths for jude hill's c2c workshop and they no longer resemble the garments they once were.  they have transformed into something altogether different and been influenced greatly by the fabrics they've been intertwined with.  even the simple blues that make up the sky in the small cloth i've now named sky flower have been transmuted:

as you can see, i've done quite a bit of stitching on sky flower since yesterday.  added a tangled gossamer moon, filled with random stitches, finished stitching the tree (for the moment), added some stitches in the snow, as well as a forgotten blue flower which looks as if it has fallen from the sky... or perhaps disremembered by a jilted lover. there is still much to do before the small cloth is fully realized, but it may need to rest and reflect for a short space.  the larger, woven cloth from the c2c workshop has been whispering stories into my ears as i lay in the dark, sleeping.

on that thought, cat is meowing for attention, so i shall leave you with this one:

there are two ways of spreading light;

to be  the candle or the mirror that reflects it.

- edith wharton

random thoughts

sink back into

the welcome depths

of morpheus' velvet embrace -

reality dissolves

with alarming ease -

resolves into strange

new landscapes -

salty heat of a 

thousand tongues

gives way to quiet frost -

      -joe madl

stumbling through scraps of old poetry and long silent musings, my eyes tasted this fragment and memories surfaced from darkened layers... like cat's rough tongue scratching at my mind's ear, the words licked their way into the moment.  exploring. savoring. questioning. wondering.  whisperings of fog and distortion over on jude hill's blog echoes these quiet mumblings.  strange landscapes rub their backs against dry skin...raising goose flesh...sending tingles up spines...teasing imagination.

walls are slowly growing landscapes of cloth. seeds are planted deep, though not dormant.  the man in the other room sits comfortably, the needle between considerate fingers softly murmuring through woven fragments, fabricating cloth. cloth for whispering stories. stories for expressing ideas. ideas for expanding minds. or not.

tonight, shielded from the cold, keen air by the warm embrace of cottage walls and crackling fire, my fingers cannot mimic the man's in that room. gossamer ghosts of cloths yet to assume tangible form crowd too close. feeble attempt to warm unmanifested bones by the hearth.  better to let the imagination roam beneath frozen stars tonight.  the needle, silenced, will chant again when the sun illuminates snowdrifts in the morning.

for now, good night. sleep. dream. be.

namaste'

"new" source of glorious silk and other thoughts

several hours of blizzard strewn mountainous driving later, i am safely at home, ensconced in warmth and the adoration of a certain cat who was certain i'd left him behind for good this time!  i would like to say that i hope never to have to drive through such winter madness as this again, but i know mother nature wouldn't listen one wit...

meanwhile, i've been unloading goodies from my trip, and settling back into my home.  amongst these treasures are two drexel living room club chairs that i remember growing up with (mom bought them back in the 50's) that have been in storage in my folks' garage for nearly 25 years now.  they are in quite a sorry state, but as such, are crying out for restoration and recreation...but more on them later...  while dropping these off at my storage unit (where i have many antiques and other items that don't currently fit in my tiny cottage, but simply can't bring myself to let go of yet), i spotted a huge basket full to overflowing with.....silk ties!!  glorious and wondiferous silk ties from days of old when i worked for lawyers and wore suits (oh, the hideous crime against humanity!!).  ties were one of the few garments with which one could be creative when working in such a conservative environment...and i took to them with wild abandon! old ties, new ties, hand painted/hand dyed ties...it didn't matter, so long as they were silk, i loved them!

being the horribly addicted clothes horse that i have always been, i amassed, quite literally, hundreds of ties! it seems the last time i counted them, i reached 346 before i gave up because they kept turning up in the oddest of places.

these, of course, were immediately loaded up into the truck and brought back home.  i think at one time i had contemplated the idea of making a crazy quilt...or maybe it was a dresden plate quilt?...from them.  clearly, they had other ideas since they immediately began whispering a myriad of requests...all related to my more current work with slow cloth, kantha stitching, boro techniques and spirit cloth!  i think these lovely snakes of silk will live in my studio for a bit before slithering their way into my quilting...

tonight, however, i am going to watch eat, pray, love and start a small cloth for something i have in mind...

oh...and i saw this fragment of wonderfulness today...

namaste'

  

and we're off...

we left early yesterday morning before the sun was quite awake...off to spend a week with the folks in idaho.  fresh on the heels of an unexpected winter storm was probably not the best time for a road trip, but apparently mother nature didn't get my request for clear roads...

i've never traveled so far in the truck with the saint.  she's used to having full roam in the back of the blazer, so it was interesting trying to juggle the wheel with the saint trying her best to make like a lapdog...especially while attempting to drive on two feet of packed snow and ice!

ah, the joys of living in the country!  after fourteen grueling hours on the road, we finally pulled into the folks' driveway at midnight last night.  i would have slept in this morning, but the saint had other plans for me...

now it's time to settle in and work on the midwinter long cloth for a bit while mom is off getting her hair done...

namaste'