handstories

any which way . . .

        . . . this one makes me happy.

    How things spin and twinkle.  I've started another . . . need more space.

    The yellow and pink planets hold some of Deb's magic.

    In the shop, along with some sailing ships. 

around some worlds on a rainy day

    Circles, spheres, new worlds- they're cropping up everywhere (ha, crop circles are other worldly).  I may be making myself dizzy, but I'm having a terrific twirling time with them.

    Moons, planets, bubbles . . . something about them floats and contains.  Maybe it's a way of organizing?  Now I'm thinking of the years of making mind maps while creating curriculum plans for other teachers at my old job.  I loved that kind of thinking.  Starting with a center theme, and how the ideas would branch, ripple and flow out . . .

    I want these to vibrate with energy and light.  

    There are still some stars to hang in this sky.

where to begin?

    K. & Moon left yesterday to go visit Blue for the long weekend.  The list of things I could/should do is quite long.

    I'll probably just pet the cat and stitch.

time & space

    Little stitches- one, two or three times through in each spot.  Jude's thread beads, a favorite.

    They are stringing together to make up a new star cluster on the Star Cloth.  The cloth that I thought would be much further along by now.  It was seeming to go and grow so, so slowly, but then I read up on the creating of real stars . . . around ten million years.  

    So really, this is evolving at the speed of light. 

 

    Here it is out on the snow (which is quickly turning to slush).  The day off of school yesterday, and the two-hour delay today, have made time slip and slide.   

sailing on

    The button was slipped in while stitching the water's edge to the ship, to keep the needle from going through to the back.  While there, it became a moon, and stayed.  This piece began with thoughts of self-sufficiency, of being able to grow and carry whatever you might need, be it moon and stars, or perseverence.     

    It's been a hard week- swimming in some sadness.  Wishing I could outfit some of the children at school with a full boat, full of all they need to carry on, to get through.  Sometimes their stories weigh so heavy.  Sometimes the past does, too. 

    But . . . it is vacation now, and Blue came home last night.  Time for family, resting, and cookie making- some very good things.

ever so slowly . . .

    The students are bouncing like pinballs through the days before vacation.  There are holiday functions to do.  My sister sent a link to a t-shirt that reads, "Introverts Unite.  We're here, We're uncomfortable and We want to go home."  I told her I'd get one, except I wouldn't want to draw attention to myself by wearing it.  Maybe I could wear it inside out?  The eyes are blurry from the cold and all of the goings on.  Time for a bigger font size and a nap.

    One star at a time.

moon stories

    Moon stitching on old silk (faintly blue from the end of indigo season) using Jude's dimensional face techniques.  She looks a bit worried.  Maybe it's because she was mostly stitched in the dim light of evening?  

    I even bumped into myself, discovering another needle in the path.

    I'm not worrying about any of it, just stitching and going along, thinking of the fast and fun art that happened in the Pre-K classroom this quilt used to live in.

    "Stories of the Moon"

    Painting is going along in much the same manner.  We had our last class of the term yesterday.  With some wheeling & dealing of schedules with the teachers of the two classes I work with, I'm happy I get to take the class again next term.

    And there was snow last night!  It's turning to slush now with the rain, but it was pretty at midnight.

the next day

    She was absent again, so there was no hand holding, another student lied to me . . . twice, and the sun and moon didn't get done.

    But, there was a very sincere apology for the lying, along with a connection of understanding, and that boy from yesterday did ask for more help with division, and another boy (one with too many worries in his life), he and I had a great time making a shark head puppet, there was no yelling (not by me, anyway), and some sunshine that did show up, well, it's enough to imagine the rest.

tonight's plan for tomorrow

    A blue square was appliquéd over one of the spots, after taking off any "salvageable" scraps of the old one. They've been basted down and will be filled in with other scraps. 

    Today a student reluctantly and successfully let me teach him division, and then later, because he doesn't want anyone to get too close, set about to disrupt our group's science discussion and to piss me off, he was successful at both. Another student and I have connected. She's usually late, or absent, her life is chaotic, crowded, and full of need. The school has done everything it knows how to do, and then some, trying to help the children in this family, but they are being lost, one by one. It breaks my heart that things can't be fixed.

    Tomorrow I will try to build a moon and a sun-they were common themes in the units Janie and I taught- Raven bringing the light, the galaxy at Solstice time, fairies dancing by moonlight in the Spring . . . Janie loved the Sun, and me the moon.

    And tomorrow I will see if that boy will let me do division with him again, and tomorrow I will try not to yell, and tomorrow I will hold that girl's hand whenever possible, and tomorrow I will try not to feel hopeless.

star therapy

    When there's much to do,

    and things are out of sorts . . .

    stitching stars helps.  Yep.