handstories

A prayer to the Sky Spirits

    Thank you.

    Thank you.

        Thank you.
 
    Please...

Enough for now

    A few weeks ago, a friend shared something hard that is going on in her life.  This piece was started that afternoon.  The words "knowing" and "believing" went through my thoughts.  Knowing and believing that she will be ok, and wishing for her to know the same.  "You are a phoenix," I tell her.

    I say good things and really wrong things, and ask her to know that they all come from the same place of loving her.

    There was a struggle with this cloth, so many stitches were not right and pulled out.  I wanted it to be a beautiful glorious rising.  The threads, cloth, skill couldn't hold enough of what I wanted to say.  Sometimes there is no right, and all you can do is be there... and love.

    "Knowing & Believing... She Rose"

mapless

    Things were meant to be different.

    There was, and there wasn't, a plan...

    Sometimes I feel out of ideas, or the ability to carry them out.

    Wishing... still in progress.

    (wishing stars inspired by Jude's workshop)

another wander through the past

    I'm a bit out of sorts, again.  Blue comes home tomorrow for the summer.  Twenty years old, finishing his sophomore year of college today, and next week he will start what looks to be a great summer internship/job at the Port of Seattle.  While he's away I can imagine things are somewhat the same, but each time he returns it's clear that more and more he has his own life now.  How it's supposed to be, I know, but still...

    Indulging the melancholy, baby photos and his baby quilt were pulled out this morning.  

    This blanket was started in spring of 1997, and it was finished just before Blue began at the end of the summer.  There had been a late miscarriage earlier in the year, and the following months were were full of longing.  

   It's hard to make out, but the quilting represents a spider web/dream catcher.  The windows are filled with images of wishes- a blue bird, twilight forest, sailing boat...  Also there are symbols that reminded me of the strong women in my life- berries for Grandma's jam, favorite flowers of  friends...

    This cloth was from Janie.  It holds her, and a memory with my mom.  

    It was summertime, Mom was 28 and I was nine.  We were sitting underneath a big willow tree with my siblings (7, 4 and one).  She was looking up at the bent branches that reached nearly to the ground and surrounded us, telling us about a willow that she had loved when she was a child.  She was so peaceful and happy while remembering that tree.

    The back is made of sea and sky. 

    The whole thing was bound in starlight.  The starry cloth was a Christmas gift from K., who never doubted that Blue would come.  I named the quilt "Waiting, Wishing & Wanting".  It holds a lot.

a story with a heart

    A cobbled heart from the smallest scraps in the thread basket for the "Child Cloth".  For being so small (about 1 1/2 in. wide), it took a lot of thread and stitching to secure.  A loose and fragile heart, but it's strong now.

    It started out mid-sky, traveled around, and finally landed in the center of the starburst, a wishing star of possibilities.  

    And then things started flowing faster than I could stitch, so I pinned all the thoughts into place...

     of seeing a way through on a path of dreaming, feelings, with the truth and sureness of the moon, and guiding stars,

    of a growing garden of blooms, birds in flight, and there's still some sea to come, I'm sure.

    There's a kind of circle in it all, that I can't quite put words to yet.

    It's feeling quite exciting!

treasures in her hold

(Please click here, and then come back to continue reading . . .) 

    "Out of my window looking in the night,
    I can see the barges' flickering light.
    Silently flows the river to the sea,
    As the barges too go silently.
        Barges, I would like to go with you, 
        I would like to sail the ocean blue.
        Barges, have you treasures in your hold?
        Do you fight with pirates brave and bold?…"

     (These are a few of the lyrics from  "Barges," one of my favorite songs from Campfire Girl days.)

    At camp we would make small boats of bark and twigs, with leaves for sails.  On the last evening, we would light a little candle on each of them, and set the boats into the water at one end of the creek, while making a wish.  Running around the bend and along the bank, to the other end of the stream, we would sing this song while waiting for our vessel to appear.  If it made it, with its flame still flickering, our wish would come true.

    Filling this little boat with treasure made for a lot of happy thoughts.

        "One of these days and it will not be long
     You will look for me and I’ll be gone
     Face to the wind far out upon the sea
     Where the whales and dolphins sing to me…"

orbs

    The moon is growing, along with its rainbow rings.

    Yesterday the Seattle skies were filled with smoke from the nearby wildfires.

    Sending out thoughts for the three fire fighters who died last week.      

in my own little queendom

    I have a thing for crowns.  And I have been know to say, "I want to be queen."  A wish for control, I know.  A girl can dream.

    Once upon a time . . . I went to a new doctor.  There were forms to fill out.  One question read "How would you like to be addressed?"  I filled in the blank with "Your Royal Highness".   It never happened, not even a reference to it, not a chuckle, nothing.  I took it as a sign (it wasn't the only one) and found another doctor . . . and I lived happily ever after.