handstories

Sweltry

    "Mirabel"- meaning "wonderous."  The vibrant colors in Tina's dyed cloths and Deb's threads are wondrous.

    Results of the second harvest from Deb's plants.  Most of the cloth was originally off-white to pale brown from walnuts, making the results lean to the greenish blues.

    Seattle has joined the heatwave happening for almost everyone.  This tub made all the difference while stitching this afternoon.  (Please excuse the dirty feet.)  There are larger containers of water freezing for tomorrow, so it will last longer.  I am a big baby about heat.  Yep, yep, I am. 

    Last night I melted fell asleep on the couch right after dinner, 7 pm.  Woke up two hours later and went straight to bed after spraying myself and the sheets with a water bottle.  Waking at 3 am when the screen fell out of the window and jumping out of bed at 6 to open all of the doors and windows that will open in this old house.

    There I've whined.  I will try to make it the only time this season.  No promises.

    A couple of other things that are not quite finished or named yet.

    There was something else I wanted to think and write about, but it has dripped out of my brain.

Blackberries & Sunlight

"Blackberry Moon" 

    "Purple Rain" was hummed quite a few times while making this one.  (Substituting the word "moon", of course.)  I haven't considered myself a purple person for a long while now, but I do love blackberry, to eat or eye.  More and more lavender tones have moseyed into recent stitching.  Much of the credit goes to the allure of Deb's and Tina's dyeing.  

    A recent car knitting moment, when I looked down and realized I was blackberry and plum from top to bottom.  Grandma Blanche loved purple.  Trimmed her trailer in it, chose a purple nightgown to be buried in, and then there's the lavender marble headstone at her grave...

    It was a beautiful sunny weekend.  Shiny things were pulled closer and closer to play with the light and catch their reflections.  I must have mesmerized myself, because I dozed off mid-stitch at one point. 

"Convergence of Home & Sky"

Coziness

    Scraps shuffled and shuffled around Tina's moon, until I picked up the rainbow cloth by Deb that became the house.  Actually, it already was.  The only cut/tear that I made was at the bottom, separating the house shape that stuck off of the end of a scrap.  I wasn't even looking for a house, but there it was.  Surrounding it with a collage of polka dots (including some of Dee's dots) and stars made for a happy afternoon yesterday.

    In spite of (or maybe because of) the bluster that's visiting for a few days here in the Pacific Northwest.

2:34 pm

    While I stitched, it bent the trees, knocked over the bins outside, and shook the windows all afternoon.

2:56 pm

    Twigs flew at the windows as the light changed and flickered.

4:08 pm

    Still, there is something cozy about a storm.  Maybe it's gratitude for having windows, walls, and warmth between us and the brouhaha going on out there.

    Sewing a flannel jumper, and finding some new blue shoes are on my want to do list.  Both involve shopping- something I don't want to do.

    The wind is picking up again out there...

    Not a lot of stitching over the last days.  A little mending and plenty of wondering about all kinds of things, with some anxieties added into the mix.

    I started digging through the studio shelves.  Filled three bags- garbage, recycling and donations.  A small dent.

    Found a few piles of quilt starts, including some that I have no memory of.  Wondering if I can just close my eyes and stitch the odds and ends together?  Make them into blankets of some sort?  Useful, if nothing else.

    One very long night with a mosquito circling around my head.  Even under the quilt I could hear its whining.  There wasn't much sleep the next night either.  In fact, I was having a really good dream, movie star included.  Just as it was about to get good, I told him I was too tired, that I couldn't keep my eyes open, and fell asleep in dreamland, only to wake up in real life even more exhausted.  Drat.

 

    Looking for something to do, that would require no thoughts, I pulled out the spinning wheel.  So much dust.  Honestly, why I forget how much I love to spin, I don't know.

    The glow of yellow skies from the wild fires came back for a couple of days.  We're lucky that the air quality has stayed good.

    Last night there were two brief rain showers.  I ran outside to stand in it.  Hoping for real rain on Friday.

    Today- wave work.  Not how I usually go about starting a piece.  Rarely plan so much out at the beginning.  It's also a little bigger (9x6") than the usual 4" squares.  Not sure where it's going from here...

Haze

    Even colors seemed too hot to look at for the last few days.  I appreciated the coolness of this Threadcrumb moon.

    Saturday 102°, Sunday 104°, Monday 108°

    Sunday and Monday set record highs for Seattle.  Since 1896, there have only been three other days that have been 100° or over in Seattle.  Last week, when I first saw the forecast, I may have cried.  Today is blessedly only 84° (3:00 pm), so far.  Perspective changes things.

    It's an old house without air conditioning.  We did the open/close/cover dance with the windows and doors.  Scattering and moving fans as needed.  On Sunday I pulled out the old wading pool (congratulating myself on being a packrat).  Lunch was IN the pool.

    Family down in Oregon had it worse.  Mom said it was 117° at one point yesterday.  My brother lives in the next town.  Neither of them have air conditioning either.

    A spray bottle of cold water and mint leaves became my new best friend, traveling everywhere in the house with me.

    Only a few stitches happened during the weekend.  Early.  Before my fingers were too sweaty.

    There was salad after salad.  We had washed, chopped, made of all of the ingredients before the wave- lettuce, tomatoes, mint, nuts, corn cut from the cob, shredded chicken, dressing, etc... putting them in containers to pull out for meals, everyone serving themselves buffet style.  Anything to lessen movements and heat.

    By Monday it was too hot to even go outside (except to hand our poor mail woman a cup of ice water, with appreciation and an apology for our hill), so I filled the tub instead.  I probably stood in it at least once every thirty minutes.  K. laughed when he passed by and saw me brushing my teeth while wading.  Happily the toilet is positioned right next to it, so I was able to sit for a spell with a book now and then.

    Moon and I had a short tub party.

    "Moonfall"

    Today I am grateful for 84 and being able to hold a needle again.

Beauty in a bit of storm

    I've been off the last few days.  Wandering aimless through the house, putzing, unfocussed, trying to stitch, but not liking anything that came out of my needle.  One piece was even thrown across the room with a "There's no hope for you!"

    Today was so dark- windy and raining.  Stormy weather often shakes things up for me.  I forced myself to sit down and try, "Make a boat."  It almost always works to help me find my way back home.

    In the middle of working on it, the old windows were rattling from the wind.  The blanket over my lap wasn't enough.  My feet fumbled around under the table in search of slippers.  There's been no need for them in the mostly nice weather we've had over the last weeks.  In fact, the last time I used them was while visiting my ferry-ride-away friend's house.  The visit when my wallet went missing.  I finally gave up on finding it two days ago... after several calls to the ferry lost & found, going there in person, searching the shrubs around the dock, and asking my friend to search between the cushions and in her long gravel driveway... On Monday I ordered a replacement driver's license, saying to K., "You know it will turn up now."

    Anyhow, one slipper was way under the table.  Reaching for it with my toe, I pulled it closer and slipped a foot in.  There was something in it.  My beloved $10 glittery designer wallet.  When I dropped it into the tote bag it must have fallen into the slipper.  Upon arriving home the slippers were tossed under the table, and the next day when I realized the wallet was missing, the fact that the slippers had been in the bag was completely forgotten.

    "She Needed Some Stars" with an indigo silk sail dyed by Deb G., and rainbow stars & deep sea by Deb L.

Silver the moon

    This base was stitched a while ago and rediscovered in the mediocre clean-up of Wednesday.  One of Deb's threads seemed to match the steel-like feeling.  I loved making those +++ marks, watching the threads change in the indigo and walnut dyed cloth.

    The last days have been busy and full.  Mostly good things- drying clothes out in the sunshine (including the cotton sheets that I can't wait to sleep in tonight), making a delicious dinner out of leftovers (or what a friend calls, "Week in Review," and a day trip to my friend's house across the water.

    There were riots of colors in her yard.  It was the hottest day yet this year, near 80.  My legs saw the sun for the first time.  I hope that no one was blinded by them.  She gardened.  I helped a tiny bit, but mostly moved in and out of the shade while stitching and writing.

    I wrote memories of Myrtle.  A girl I knew in third and fourth grades.  She been on my mind all week.  There's still a bit more of her story to write down.

    Mt. Rainier during the ferry ride home.

    Today I feel like I have a sun-hangover.

    I love having the windows open again- fresh air, the clear sounds of birds and the smell of flowers.

    On Friday K. came home with raspberries and blueberries.  For the first time in a very long time, I had the feeling that everything is really going to be ok... relief.

Stitching by Snowlight ❄️

    This morning's view...

    It seems I think about bowls and glass a lot.

    The snow continued off and on until midafternoon.  K. measured thirteen inches on the car top.  Meanwhile, Blue says they only have a few inches where he is in Michigan.  How strange.  I remember Michigan snow lasting six months when we were there.

    This morning Moon was putting on all of his winter gear.  "I'm going to go dig the car out."

        "Why?  You're not driving it anywhere."

    "It'll be fine, I just have to roll down the hill to the main street..."

    That's our car across the street.  There are only footprints and sled tracks on it.  No one is going up or down our hill, let alone a teenager who's been driving for less than a year, and never in snow.  His plan was kiboshed, and he hiked up to the snow route bus stop.

    I loved how bright the day was.  Stitching by snowlight, while listening to neighbor kids squeal on sleds sliding down the empty streets.

Snow, Sister & Stitch

    A surprise for Seattle this morning!  We woke to ten inches, and it's still falling...

 

    It's also my sister's birthday today, and her gift arrived on time!

    Often I bring along mending supplies when I visit her in Rhode Island, stitching up a jacket elbow, shirt sleeve, whatever...

    Not knowing when I might be able to tend her mending again, I made this little mending kit for her based on a sweet pattern by Ann Wood (find it here).

    Stocked with possible patches and thread in her colors, pins, needles, etc.

    She doesn't enjoy mending like I do, but at least she'll be able to... or there will be supplies ready for my next visit.

sunshine & stitches

    Seattle is beautiful right now.  My eyes are very grateful for the bright sunshining days to stitch in.  On the way to school, the lake sparkles in the morning light with Mt. Rainier majestic in the distance.  Walking in the arboretum, I keep stopping to admire the pretty Magnolia blossoms and cherry trees that line the paths.  There were also two ravens calling and flying in the tree tops the other day, the first time I've seen them here.
         Some pieces are getting ready for a shop update tomorrow.  The finishing process has become a ritual that I really love.  A quick loose sketch is made of each cloth with a few words or thoughts about it.  One by one, I hold them, feeling and listening for story, until it all comes together...