handstories

Blue & yellow and a Blue story

    One morning, I woke up wanting to weave, remembering the fun of being in Jude's Cloth 2 Cloth workshop, everyone weaving together... 

    One of the reasons that I find myself blogging less, is feeling like I have nothing to say.  My life is so quiet now.  There are no interesting stories like there were in my teaching days.  

    Getting lost in the details is a happy place.

    “She Wove Her Sky in Starlight”

    The sun was still coming up when I went for a walk one morning.  Sometimes I stop for the views for a long while and have to remind myself that the goal is to be moving.

    The top yellow fabric led to the rest of this golden cloth.  With pieces from Deb, Jude, and Blandina.  It's still in the works...

    Yesterday, a two-hour phone call with Blue.  It was so swell.  He has grown so much during his adventure in Chile.  Gaining self-awareness, confidence, friends from all over the world, and stories galore. 

    So, I will borrow and share a Blue story...  Recently, his old sneakers finally gave out.  A Chilean friend took him shopping.  When he told the salesman his size, he shook his head with doubt.  Blue is tall and has BIG feet, size 13-14, much bigger the average Chilean shopper.  They went to the stockroom, and they all searched together, looking for anything close.  Just as they were about to give up, they found one pair of sneakers in size 12.5.  They were comfortable enough.  Blue was so happy to have them, and said it felt like a miracle.

    Fast forward to last week:  A group of them went south of Santiago to a friend of a friend's family cabin.  Surrounded by mountains, forests, and lakes, they had a wonderful week of hiking, kayaking, etc...  On their last day, thanks to a friend of a friend, etc... they were taken on a tour bus around the area.  One stop was at a fancy hotel/restaurant where they were treated to a delicious meal.  "You would have loved it, Mom!  It was like a fairy tale... something Snow White would have found in the woods.  You felt like you were inside of a magical tree."

    The next morning, packing up to leave, he couldn't find his new shoes.  He remembered switching them out for his flipflops on the bus the day before.  They were still on that bus.  One friend said he looked like someone had died.

    He flipflopped to the bus stop, mourning his precious shoes.  As they boarded the bus for the ten-hour ride back, the driver asked, "Does anyone here have big feet?"  Blue called out, "Yes!"  The driver pulled out a bag with his shoes!  They had been found on the other bus.  Folks wondered if a basketball player had left them?  Somehow, they had found their way to this driver, Tio Rico (who everyone called "Uncle").  Blue gushed his thanks and shared his shoe search story with him.  Tio Rico laughed and laughed, and at each stop along the way, he would call for Blue to tell the story of "The Miracles of the Giant Shoes"!

    Blue and Tio Rico, and the Giant Shoes!

Small things can shift things

    There are so many things with needles in them.  It's dangerous to reach around on my table.

    There are lots of ways to say "I'm working" without really getting anywhere.  This was a half-start of sorting out the thread nest.  I showed a photo of the basket of tangles and knots to a friend.  "How did that happen?!" she asked.  After explaining how I work, and that there are three other baskets of chaos, she just stared wide-eyed at me.  "Do you need more corks?" she asked. 

    "Fortunately or unfortunately, no," I replied.

    I've been experimenting with cyanotypes the last two days.  Playing really is good for the spirit.

    This boot (can you see that it's a boot?), with its cactus began in the late 70's.  My uncle came home after four years of being stationed in Germany with the Army.  Grandma took his boot and planted the cactus in it.  Proclaiming that it would keep him from ever being able to leave again, she put it next to her trailer steps.  I always enjoyed seeing it when visiting her, so when she died, I took it.

    It has been at the foot of our front steps growing and multiplying for the last thirty-plus years.  The toe of the boot is pretty much gone, it's rooted through its rotting sole into the grass, and a few sprouts have escaped the boot all together.  It just goes along with no interference from me.

    But THEN, two weeks ago, overnight... that growth/branch/arm on the upper left.  Nothing like this has ever happened in all of its forty-something years.

    Each day it reaches a little further, stretching thinner.  

    SOMETHING is going to happen.

    Small things can make for such a difference in the days.

Hello!

    The love/hate relationship with technology continued...  Our house has been without internet service for a week.  After several phone calls, three new modems, and two trips across town for exchanging... we finally have one that works, with enough oomph to reach the studio, and doesn't hum.  Hallelujah.

    Meanwhile, there has been stitching.  These two nine-patches were inspired by Jude's post.  Some of the blues are from her too, the earthy one is made up of naturally dyed cloths from Deb of Artisun, and both have a linen napkin edge from Deb L.'s dyeing.

    Not finished at all, with many sketchy lines in blue-grays that have something to do with how the sky might hold our stories.  A thought that came while thinking about how the starlight that we see is from the past.  There's more to do and think about.

    Ideas are brewing on this one, too.

(P.S.  Tomorrow, I have a giveaway to share!)

New toys and thoughts

    There have been a lot of comings and goings, but finally back home.

    The workshop was good.  Christine is wonderful and generous with sharing her wealth of know-how, inspiration, materials, and ideas.  There was lots of playing, especially with trying out printing ideas.  Aiming for a new layer on the cloth, I experimented with this clever little press, gelli plate printing, indigo, and cyanotype.

    I really enjoyed exploring this liquid cyanotype process.  An area is painted with the mixture and then exposed to sunlight.

    There were experiments with overlapping layers, wet and dry fabric, and using various objects to create shapes.

    And then collaging things together...

    There are still some questions and ideas to try, and I'm looking forward to diving further.

Turquoise

    "1: a mineral that is a blue, bluish-green, or greenish-gray hydrous basic phosphate of copper and aluminum, takes a high polish, and is valued as a gem when sky blue

    2: a light greenish blue" (merriam-webster.com)

 

    Also called sea, sky, river, jewel, lake, beach glass, pond, robin's egg, ocean, and a deeply loved blue.

 

    One of the things brought home from Maiwa's was a packet of turquoise iDye.  Really, I'm not a dyer.  There is the midsummer indigo vat and the bucket full of the neighbor's walnut husks.  But there was something about the idea of "turquoise" and it being a small packet that could be done in the washing machine that created a craving.

    Even though the directions were simple and straight-forward, I was nervous.  Waiting until K. left town for a few days, so as not to have any witnesses if it all went haywire, I went to the basement.  Before getting the load going, I accidently knocked the directions and the packet behind the washer and dryer.  There is no way to reach behind them.  Ugh.  I considered climbing on top of them and leaning way over, but wondered how long it might take for a rescue, or body discovery, if I slipped?  While wondering if it might be a sign to abandon the plan, I was reminded why you do want me with you on that desert island.  A long dowel was found, duct taped around one end (with the sticky side out), both items were retrieved, and... ta-da!

    A pile of dreams.  I wish that I had taken a before photo.

    It was a mishmash of scraps of many colors, including some of that childhood rosey soft sheet.

    Moon is home for the summer.  We are settling in, figuring out routines, remembering how to be with each other again.

    This feels like stitching fresh air...

Friends & playing

"Cara"

        A few trees have sprung up this week, brought to life with Deb's rainbowed scraps and threads.  I do love the surprise of each of them, the not knowing who they are until they're finished.  Once done, I hold them and see what feeling or word comes to mind.  In Cara's case, it was the connection between the tree and star.  There seems to be a conversation, an understanding, a connection... which led to thoughts of friendship.  "Cara" means friend in many languages- Irish, Spanish, Latin...

"Yawen" and "Linnea"

    "Yawen" is a Chinese name meaning cloud patterns.  Do you see the faint cloud line that I followed in blue stitches?  "Linnea" is where I landed after a search for pink names.  It's Scandinavian for a small pink mountain flower.

    I wonder who will show up here?

    A blue moon playground by Tina.   I wasn't sure about my ability to stick with and pull off a tidy stretch of Jude's stacked stitches, but ended up enjoying the process, and could see that I improved as I went along.  Practice, practice, practice really does work.

    Twinkle is so glad that I'm home, but not happy that I'm spending time at my table, rather than on the couch with her.  She tried to balance and make do on my lap, but not for long.

    There was a beautiful glittering silvery dream last night- a boat ride near waterfalls and a new version of Portugal.

    

    And more waves for Barbara....

Sailing, cinnamon rolls & moon dreaming

"She Journeyed On"

    When I found this tiny ship in a bottle on my basement shelves in the school I was leaving after 23 years... I didn't think twice about keeping it.  Whoever it belonged to before, clearly the universe meant it for me.  It was time to set sail... 

    I wonder if I'll ever stitch such a grand ship (or be able to?)

    How many candles can you fit on a cinnamon roll?

    Nineteen.

    For Moon.  

    We were glad for the decision to only put the candles on one roll!

    I'm the only one in the house who still asks for a cake.

    The tiniest of scraps can make a world.

    There was a fall on the front porch two days ago- stepping down the front porch stairs with arms full of damp laundry to put out on the drying racks, turning around to reclose the door that hadn't quite latched, tripping over the now trailing bedsheet in shoes that were too loosely tied...

    Falling so slowly that there was time to wonder if I could catch myself, or would I go off the edge of the porch taking the window boxes with me, or maybe (as the stumble picked up speed and turned into a tumble) go through the screen door, and most importantly a quick prayer to the sky that no one was coming up or down the sidewalk and that none of the neighbors were looking out of their windows. 

    All the while fumbling to get my hands untangled from the laundry to stop the plummeting off of the porch.  One hand got free in time to grab the screen and push it into the watering can, jar, etc. that later needed retrieved out of the ferns below.  I landed in a full out sprawl-splat, knocking the flower boxes a few inches over the edge, but not off.  Banged and bruised, but grateful that there was only the cat as a witness.  Still quite sore, but the bruises are getting pretty.  Just don't bounce like I used to.

    Friends are sailing out on the ocean, with experienced friends to help them on their first sea trip.  Hoping they're gaining confidence, and that I'll be able to have a turn soon....  They left Portland on Friday and will reach Point Roberts (the tiny tip of the U.S. that's attached to Canada) by Tuesday.  With the help of a find-my-friend feature on the phone, I'm able to see about where they are, and was excited and envious while watching them cross the bar from the Columbia River onto the Pacific.  It's such a beautiful powerful spot where the river meets the sea.

    Dreaming of a moonlit sail...

"Moon Dreams in Blue"

A thousand little things &/or stitches

    Thinking about the cycles that happen with stitching, and in relationships.  Both seem slow going and growing at times.

    Last night I dreamt that I was transported to Italy.  So happy, I tried to call Deb G. to tell her, but then the sky exploded with flames...

    The relationship with this bird is tenuous at best.  I fill the birdbath each morning and try to keep out of sight when he shows up.  Landing in the Japanese maple outside the window of the front room, yelling at me if I'm within view.  The other morning he saw me and then went to the porch, continuing to yell on the other side of the door, while snacking in the window boxes.  He likes to eat alone.

    Some of these are mixed colors, many of them are not.  I have an addiction to blue paints.

Blue thoughts

    Yesterday was another good stitching day, two pieces were started.  Moons and blues on my mind.

    Until a headache and carsick feeling kicked in late afternoon.  A delayed reaction that grew and grew until I went to bed.  A small price to pay to feel safer in this world, and one step closer to normal.

    Today I feel just fine, possibly because tonight, after fifteen plus months, Blue is coming home for two weeks!  For the last year I've been lamenting not seeing him be twenty-two, but tonight I will look into and hold his face on the last eve of it, as tomorrow he turns twenty-three.  I've been afraid to believe it would really happen, but he's in the air right now...

        This morning I went a bit wild with Deb's thread around Jude's moon, but I've lost focus for the last few hours.  There is so much I should/could be doing right now- stitching, cleaning, writing a promised article, baking a birthday pie, but all I can do is stare at the clock and hold my breath.

    (And just to say, K, Moon and Blue have all finished up their vaccinations.)

Blue & potatoes

    Before the boat it looked quite desert-like with its soft colors dyed by Tina, Deb and Laura.  There was quite a long ponder as to what might be in the wide open pink space?  At first, a boat washed ashore onto dry land.  Fortunately, the sea rolled in, silk from Richard that I dyed in indigo.  

    It's been good and fun to dip into new color combinations lately, but I do find that after each wading there is a craving for the familiar comfort of blue.  

    And now for the nature portion of our show...

    The birthday "card" from Blue arrived.  Yes, a real potato.  It came inside of a mailer labeled "The Best Gift Ever".  Inside was a shiny gold box holding the spud, with a message from him written on the other side.  This is so my family.  I texted him, "You're so weird!  And I'm so glad!" 

    He has always had a thing for potatoes.  You can't imagine how happy he was to discover blue potatoes, there was a potato costume for Halloween at age nine, and in high school his email address included the words "bluepotato".

    A sprig that K brought home from a walk.  The smell is delicious.

    Speaking of delicious... stitching into this silky moon gift from Jude... sigh... like melting.  A very soft thin cloth.  This one has so many tiny stitches, some to include the whole rainbow spectrum, others not needed for design or stability, but because I just didn't want to stop.