handstories

love can mend

    When Mo sent out an invitation to join in the making of her installation "I Dream of a World Where Love is the Answer," I had visions of a little boat on a calm sea under twinkling starlight, all being peacefully stitched on lovely summer days.

    Well, none of that happened.

   Giving up on the idea of making it with a peaceful spirit, it was dipped into the fading indigo vat.  After washing it, I started to iron it, and before I realized what was happening, there were holes melted into it.  At first there was panic, but then Mo's phrase "our beautiful broken world" came to mind, and it began to take shape.

   An earth of scraps and stitch was made. followed by a golden moon with the warm sun below, a few patches of deep space and starlight, and a scattering of stars across it all.

    And while making, there was thinking, confusion, and a wondering if... maybe this is how it really is.  This work and struggle for peace, healing the earth, trying to find a way through-  It doesn't usually happen because everything is a calm and hunky-dory garden of sweet peas and roses.  The ripped and rough places show us what's really going on, and call to us for mending.  For most of us, we do what we can with what we have.  Piecing together whatever kind of inner scraps we might have within.  And just maybe, all of the frayed worn bits can be brought together and worked into a kind of wholeness again.

    With a heart full of gratitude for Mo's vision and spirit, I'm sending wishes and prayers for, and into, the bigness of the Universe and our own small wished for cosmoses within it... May they all be patched and held together with our threads of hope and love. 

ever grateful

    Thank you, again, for all of the very kind comments on the last post.  I wanted to be sure that you all saw this paragraph from the article...

    While being in the magazine is very flattering and confidence-boosting... at the heart of everything I'm grateful for in this stitching world, is this circle of makers.  Finding Jude and this community of kindred spirits has been the very best gift of all, another "Thank You" to all of you!

 

a VERY Nice thing

    Remember that crazy photo shoot months ago (here)?  Well, it was worth it!  Last summer I was contacted by writer and editor, Katie Allen, asking if I would do an interview for the United Kingdom's Cross Stitcher magazine's "meet the maker" spot.  The November issue has finally made its way across the ocean to Seattle, and it's such a swell and lovely article!  

    Her thoughtful questions were a welcomed opportunity to think about the what and why of my making, as well as bringing to mind fond memories of learning embroidery stitches from Grandma Blanche, which led to lots of cross-stitching in my early years of stitching.

    The cross-stitched quilt above was my last gift from Grandma.  I watched her work on it for months and months, not knowing it was for me.  One day she took the last stitches, knotted and cut the thread, folded it up, and set it aside.  Later, when I went to leave, she gestured towards it and said, "Go ahead and take that with you."

     Sending a great big blushing-tickled-pink "Thank You!" to Katie across the sea!

winter & time

    Winter feels just around the corner.  Maybe it was those cold sea winds in Maine?  Some new story cloths were finished up this morning (in the shop).  I like the contrast of the icy waves and flowers in this one- holding more than one thing at a time.

    A jar of hope.  Being gathered or scattered?  Another place for the idea of "both".  

   The "blanket" of snow here is a scrap from Blue's first blanket, "Rosie".  He took it everywhere for years.  He called today, from college in Ohio.  He's spending Thanksgiving in New York City with college friends.  They will be carrying a banner and balloons in the Macy Parade.  It sounds like so much fun.  Remembering the road trip a friend and I took after college graduation... driving from Oregon to NYC.  

    Time stretches and whooshes all at once.

light

    There has been a lot of silence and stillness here.  Sometimes our stories are not ours alone.  In the big picture things are ok enough, there are some challenges that have taken most of my attention and energy.  Things are still being worked through, but there is some ease after last week's big gulps of sea air.

    Remembering how poorly Moon slept until he was four... how there might be six hours of sleep in four pieces.  The first time there were four hours in a row someone at work commented that I looked/seemed better... and saying to her, "I feel like I've come up from the bottom of the ocean."

 

    Having been much away from here and making, I'm feeling overwhelmed about finding my way back, so I’ll just start...

    

    Today I stitched.  Almost the whole day.  Until the moon came up.  And I'm looking forward to more tomorrow.

blythe days

    I'm just back from such a good week-plus with my sister, such bad photos on my part, oh well...  

    We drove from her place in Providence up the coast of Maine.  It was my first trip to the state.  Really, really beautiful.  Loved seeing new views of the Atlantic. 

    One of the places we stayed had this view at 5:30 am.

    There was a bench at one with a plaque that read, "Sit and enjoy the view Doris loved, "The wind was no blyther than she".   I did.

    Popham Beach was so windy and cold, the sand stood up in little peaks, and it was amazing in every direction.  

    On another beach we walked and walked.

    There were beautiful things,

    and unusual,

    and clams the size of size 10 feet!

    Heading toward our place at the beginning of twilight.

    There is more to share, but the ocean... it was at the center of everything.

somewhere on the coast of Maine

     Traveling with my sister.  Laughing, eating vegetables, wine, art museums, and the sea....