handstories

dull and dandy

    I find the longer I go without posting, the harder it is to post.  There's the feeling that I need to make up for it with something really interesting.  

    Well, I've got nothing really interesting.  

    Life is fine.

    Nothing terrible, or terribly funny has happened.  

    Everyone's healthy.  

    It's been raining a lot and has turned cool, which I don't mind at all.

    We got a new refrigerator, and five minutes after plugging it in the neighborhood lost power for a couple of hours.  It wasn't our fault, a tree had fallen due to the rain.

    I've been monogamously stitching slowly on this blanket, adding piece by piece to the back, and I still can't stitch a straight line for the life of me.

the flip side

The back . . .

The front . . .

    Not to play favorites, but I'm preferring the backside.  This isn't the first time.  Maybe it's the clear uncluttered blocks of color, or maybe it's the surprise of it each time I turn it over to add another piece? 

managing space

    Color is slowly being added back into the new blanket with stitch.

    One section at a time.  

    It seemed more manageable than creating the backing cloth and pinning it on all at once.  Just didn't feel up to moving the couch, bean bag, and book table to create a big enough floor space.

    Quieter, smaller spots are very doable.

oh, yes, I did.

    After a dunk in the indigo bucket, we are getting along just fine now.  I had meant to add just a little rain, but it turned out to be a dark downpour.  I do love a good storm.

    With a couple of new spots to play with.

stormbow

    It started with thinking about Jude's idea of a "personal rainbow".  I imagined the usual colors, but there would be seven different blues, plus brown.  There would have to be cocoa brown.  Thirteen.

    I went to the boxes under the bed, full of the prints that appealed a decade or more ago.  There they were, and here some are.  

    I can't tell you what's going on here.  

    It started with an idea, but this wasn't it.  I don't even know if I like it, but it's going.

    And right now it is absolutely pouring, with lots of rolling and rumbling thunder, and lightning cracks.  The door and windows are wide open.  I am trying to breathe it all in.

    One of the blues in my rainbow would be the color of rain.

warming up

    At this moment . . .

    Before . . .

    This being open to change business, it's very awkward, but not as uncomfortable as it used to be. 

story shaping

    Unexpectedly, the boys left for the weekend, and then my own plans fell through.  What has filled the time and space has been really really good.  

    The first hours were spent beginning this new piece about a long story that is still on-going.  I played with and shifted cloth happily, but stopped when I realized I was over-thinking it all.

    This morning.

    The gray cloth was dyed by Arlee, she titled it "mystery".  The plan was to use it to create a tree of some sort.  I didn't see the silvery moon until after it was placed on the cloth.  Too big to see, I guess.  It's all a mystery, yep it is.