handstories

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.

Come what may

    This log cabin happened while spending a couple of hours in a hospital waiting area.  (K was having a routine procedure that he needed driven home from.)  There were a handful of us waiting, with an occasional hospital workers stopping by to eat at the tables near the window.  One woman made several laps past me, slower and slower.  I don't know if she was stretching or trying to see what I was doing?  Not feeling social (it was early), I didn't make eye contact to find out.  

    This was the moment when I noticed that the last piece had been stitched onto the to the wrong other side.  It happens.   I thought about moving it, so that it could be an extension to the sky, a place for more stars.  Too much trouble, just work with it.  It needed a quiet something to fill in some of the space.  Scraps of colors other than blue would pull the eye too much. 

    So, more blues, a little different, with a bit of variation- texture, pattern, and stars after all.

    I like making a base with no idea of what might come.

floating dots of thoughts

"The Quiet Filled Her"

    I soothed myself with this piece.  That's another bit of Deb's indigo dyed silk in that left corner.  It was a gift when we met in real life for the first time, last autumn, a lifetime ago.

    Something I've really been looking forward to was cancelled yesterday.  These days it feels hard to hope for anything.

"Lui," "Fatima" and "Fern."

    The first two are names of students at my last school.  There were two girls named Fatima- both were challenging and full of spirit.  K. had a great Aunt Fern.  She lived on the family homestead property and was near a hundred when I met her.  She lived to be 102.   These tree tokens are fun to make.  Ten are finished for tomorrow's shop update.  They've spent the week on the table, becoming friends.  Naming them makes it a little harder to let them go.

    To cheer myself up last night, I ordered two new paints.  "Smalt Blue" and "Rain Cloud".  A blue and a gray.  Surprise, surprise.  They should be here next week...something to look forward to!

"In A World of Their Own"

    I have been thinking a lot about friends.

    This morning Moon stumbled down the stairs half an hour after online school began, after ignoring his alarm clock three times.  "This is Monday, isn't it?  Shoot."  Then headed back up the stairs to turn the computer on.  Later, we got the call from the attendance office.  For years we've heard the message..."This is to inform you that your student was marked absent..."  Now it says, "This is to let you know that we are not sure if your student participated in class today..."  It's hard to be sure of anything.

"She Wondered About it All" 

    The debate about whether or not Blue should come home for the holidays continues.  

    Needing to go to the grocery store, and desperate to see something different, K. and I drove to a different co-op in another town this afternoon.  It was good to wander through someplace new.

   

"She Knew Her Own Magic".

    I'm realizing that it's really important to figure out new ways to surprise myself.

    I hope you are all faring well enough and finding some magic in your own worlds.

    OXO, Hazel