at home with fragments

“every experience, 

no matter how bad it seems, 

holds within a blessing 

of some kind. 

the goal is to find it.“

-buddha

i got laid off today. the corona virus and the oil price war between russia and saudi arabia have all but shut down the oil industry in the states. of a sudden, i have a lot of time on my hands, so this is happening. a bit of fragment exploration in three dimensions. playing with unusual forms to create old favourites. where will this all lead? i do not know, but it should be fun figuring it out!

namasté

trying a different path

"if plan "a" didn't work out,

the alphabet has 25 more letters."

the apple cores seem beyond my ability to concentrate at the moment. i need something a little less taxing.  a ten thousand pyramid quilt is just the ticket! i have a plethora of small scraps and these tiny two inch triangles are looking pretty awesome.

no plan. no color scheme. just random pulls from the scrap baskets. pull. cut. stitch. repeat. with the first seven rows completed, i'm well on my way to a very large quilt! 

during this covid-19 pandemic and the resulting social distancing and lockdowns, a project like this can be very calming. especially when you just don't want to think for a while...

namaste'

apple cores and snowflakes

fluffy snowflakes are blanketing the view from my studio window. bodhi is dreaming of squirrels and the next door cat, so is unaware of his favorite playtoy romping about outside.

inside, where it is warm, there are tiny little 2" apple cores sitting on my table. ordinarily i would hand stitch these little fragments collected from past projects, but my wrists are sore so i am opting to try out stitching them with my hand crank Singer Red Eye. judge this first group going together not too harshly. machine stitching apple cores is best with two free hands to manipulate the curves.

this adventure of stitching apple cores with a hand crank machine requires that i do all my manipulation with my left hand. not my dominant hand. without any assistance.

i think i'm beginning to get the hang of it...

namaste'

cranking away

time. fragments. rust. sewing machines. emotions.

all cranking away. i get lost sometimes. these past few years perhaps more than before. could be my age? or maybe simply that i haven't been present of late.

i've pulled out one of my hand crank machines to help me slow down a bit. be here more.

my wrists keep me from doing too much hand work at a time. carpal tunnel. there. i've said it aloud. not thinking about it will not make it unhappen.

time to listen more closely to the whispers. hear the stories my collection of fragments have to tell. help them unfold and manifest...

namaste'

wandering unleashed

when you set no deadlines,

you can allow your curiosity

to wander unleashed...

i've long admired ann wood's devilly delicious owls, so you can imagine my joy when she released her pattern!

this little guy has been fun to create from salvaged fabrics, vintage buttons, and more!

he's still got a long journey ahead of him, along with a few surprises!

namasté

change is constant

change is inevitable. . . blogger making changes to some of its commenting policies that sounds like it may make a lot of past comments disappear. sadness. but since i know of no way to circumvent this, i'm going to focus on making an owl...
.
namasté

just going...

sometimes

just going

is just not going

anywhere

bodhi has mastered this "just going" thing, as you can see here. sometimes i think i have, as well.

namasté

when orphans are no more

"i feel akin to the platypus.

an orphan in a family.

a swimmer, a recluse.

part bird, part fish,

part lizard."

-trevor dunn

everyone knows how much i enjoy working with orphan blocks. they somehow seem at home in the selvedges of life and creativity where i reside. these all roads blocks (pattern by angela waters) are fast becoming a family of favorites!

my mother-in-law began making these half-sized from the original blocks in red and white a while back and then orphaned them as she grew bored with the monotony of them. knowing how much i love orphans, she gave them me, along with a stash of red and white minnick and simpson charms and jelly rolls.

after playing with them a while, soaking up their beauty and possibilities, i've begun to really have some fun with them. toss in some greys, blues, plums, and creams and all of a sudden they are coming to life and coming together in their new family! with each unit measuring in at only 4-1/2 inches finished, i've got several hundred to go before i can call it a quilt, but 4 dozen done seems like a great start!
.
namasté

thread chanting

"chanting is the

waxing moon

that spreads the white

lotus of good fortune

for all living entities."

-sri  chaitanya-caritamrita

if you have followed me for any length of time, you've heard me speak of needle chanting many times. it is a term coined by jude hill long ago, referring to the meditative nature of hand sewing and kantha stitch. lately I have found myself contemplating this concept in my own work and how the focus has shifted.

needle chanting becomes thread chanting. the focus moves from the act (needle) to the legacy (thread). from chanting to that which was chanted, and its lingering effects.

chanting is very powerful because it aligns our core energy, centers and raises our personal vibration through vocal resonance. it is much the same with stitching slow cloth. a meditative process that chants with needle and thread. holding self in the present. creating with intention. the silent chant of needle echoing softly as thread is pulled through fragments of cloth. the voice of slow cloth, a quiet voice of the soul. silent whispers becoming the roar of peace, harmony, creativity, and all possibilities!

namasté