still standing in the snow...

tonight's arctic storm has inspired me to pull out the old man in the snow winter cloth and work a bit more on him as the snow continues to waft down around the cottage. he isn't really a "santa clause" so it doesn't matter that xmas has already been packed away once again into its boxes for yet another year. does it? not in my demented world in any case...  perhaps he will be in need of friends? either way, there is still a lot of thread chanting to be done before he has whispered his stories into the cold, snowy night air.

meanwhile, i am in full gratitude for the crackling fire that burns on in the hearth and the comfortable chair beneath my backside as i stitch into the wee hours of the morning...

namaste'

eight inches and counting...

we've had a lovely arctic storm slide down from the north. so much for my lamenting over not having a winter in montana this year! ha! eight inches so far and it's still coming down fast and furious...and if the local weather forecaster is to be trusted, then it will continue on through tomorrow.

on the upside, i've been picking up shifts at work left and right from people who are snowed in in outlying areas. thank goodness from my monster 4-wheel drive truck (that's the beast in the back under all that snow), cuz i don't think i'm going anywhere on this for a while:

namaste'

a bit of winter bundling...

been doing a bit of winter rust bundling this morning. playing with my new rusty treasures in an attempt to rust some suns, and maybe the odd moon or two, into a selection of salvaged cloth. it will be a two part project. first rust the suns, then play around with some hybridized shibori techniques using some old scrapbooking fabric dyes that i found tucked away. forgotten, in the oubliette. don't even know of they make these dyes anymore. but i've got some, so i guess it doesn't really matter. it's amazing what i can find in the oubliette when i really start digging! i think i may even have spotted my new airbrush. now old. but still new, in the package, as i've never used it!

now, i can already hear some of you saying, "rust dyeing?! in the middle of winter?! but you need sunshine and heat to encourage the rust to flourish! those are gonna take forever!" but, being somewhat tricksy myself, i have a solution to this issue! sunny windowsills and extra thick zip lock bags. "wha-?!?" you say. yuppers! mini-makeshift hot houses for rust cultivation! who could ask for anything better?

as you can see, these bundles have only been in the mini-makeshift hot houses for a few hours before i got a chance to snap some pictures and a few of them are already taking off like bandits! some of these little buggers might be ready for stage two before you know it!

as you can see, we are finally seeing a little bit of winter. so strange for us to be half way through january and only now getting a taste of winter. i have a feeling spring may be a long way off this year... maybe, if i can kick this dastardly cold, i might even get some snowboarding in this year?!

namaste'

warm winter wishes

the roads are empty today...of all save those, like me, who travelled to work and will be providing warmth and cheer for others to enjoy until their families come for them and leave us alone in the cottages awaiting their return this evening.

there is a warmth in being able to provide joy to others. though, sometimes, a quiet, (guilty) selfish voice whispers into the darkness, hoping for some for myself some day... it's odd that i've lived here in billings for so many years and have so few friends. most of them have moved away to other parts of the country. somehow, billings still manages to grow. yet, i work entirely too much and have forgotten, i think, how to make connections with people in my own community. or, perhaps, the new influx of out of staters simply stick to themselves more than the locals...and the locals are happy in their own circles already. most of the time i don't think on it much...though the holiday season tends to bring it to the fore.

may you all enjoy your family and friends and holidays!

namaste'

as swift as it arrived...

the snows have begun to melt as temperatures climbed to the whopping 40's! i wonder if the white stuff will manage to hang on and give us all a white holiday this sunday?

in between 12 and 14 hour shifts, noc shifts (the medical profession's term for graveyard shifts), doubles and a decided lack of sleep, i've still managed to find a little holiday cheer in the decoration boxes to toss about the home. i didn't think i'd get a tree up this year...i must have been sleep decorating or something cuz i really don't seem to recall actually putting the silly thing up! ha!

tonight, yet another of those dreaded noc shifts, i think i shall keep myself awake with some quiet needle chanting on the santa cloth...

namaste'

better late than never

it's been tough getting into the holiday spirit this year. but a flurry or two of snow, my santa cloth, and a horse and carriage ride around downtown billings, after a leisurely stroll through moss mansion, oggling all the delightful holiday decorations of bygone eras, and i think it is finally beginning to descend...

with faces like these, how can you not feel your heart begin to warm?

namaste'

waiting for the man standing in the snow...

the holidays have been creeping around the corners of my awareness. these years past they have been a time of great sorrow and heartfelt pain. so, usually, like a sleeping lion, i allow them to sleep whenever possible. but, for some reason, they will not sleep this year. little piles of old cloth would congregate. and whisper. the din grew so great that i simply had to begin needle chanting them into existence. and so, this small cloth has begun manifesting beneath my busy fingers. there are miles to go before he has whispered his story into my ears. but he seems content with this start. a beard. a 'stache. a nose and crinkly eyes i think are next. perhaps a potted tree in his mittened hands will follow. from there, it would be any body's guess what he will require of me!

meanwhile...

i managed to pull out the "better camera" for those of you requesting more detailed pictures of the tiny nine patches that have been manifesting during my daily needle chanting sessions to clear my mind and kick start my creative energy.  it has been a struggle, attempting to stitch so large! 24+ stitches to the inch is just ginormous when compared to what i'm used to hand stitching lo these many years ago of miniature bearmaking and heirloom sewing. there are a host of inner muses screeching at me for allowing...no, intending...the stitches to show. for choosing variegated threads to heighten the effect. to not-so-blind stitch the seams, allowing the little dots to blatantly reside along either side of them. for allowing one of jude hill's magic fringes to grace the edge of one of the tiny squares. you'd almost swear the muses were harpies indeed! but i have stopped my ears with cotton wool to their cries and continued on... i am quite enjoying the added texture and visual interest created thereby! a little math scratched on a scrap of paper has informed me that i will need 480 of these little nine patches to create the queen sized bedcloth they aspire to be. which turns out to be 4,320 little squares of recycled and repurposed cloth! best not to think of it these terms, joe, lest you become quite overwhelmed and abandon all hope!

namaste'

radiance redo

i'm much happier with the new radiance stitching.  i pulled out all of the kantha stitching that went out in rays from the moon and replaced them with a more subtle combination of vintage off white pearl cotton and hand dyed variegated pearl cotton in a randomized spiral.  this maintained the quiet peacefulness of the cloth while still creating a radiance from the moon.

and a close up (it's difficult to see the variegated stitches...i can hardly wait to get home and get my good camera out instead of relying on my droid cam):

that woven cloth peeking out from behind the midwinter cloth is one of my c2c pieces.  i'll post pics once i get some stitching done of it, but right now it's just pinned...

meanwhile, these remind me of what is falling gently outside at the moment...

and i'm really enjoying this...and this...

namaste'

some stitching, a fine dinner, and a quiet night...

spent a nice afternoon stitching on the midwinter long-cloth, sipping a good merlot, and spending some quality time with the saint wrapped around my feet and my folks on the davenport.  mom, of course, has decided the midwinter long-cloth is hers.  i'm not certain what the cloth has to say about that...it's still revealing itself and hasn't spoken much above a whisper....

i've added some modified kantha stitching around the moon to give it some radiance... i think it may need some more...maybe some spaced stitches to suggest fading light?  i have also started adding french knot snowflakes.  think the cloth still wants some random seed stitch snowflakes to add texture and visual interest.  as you can see, the roots definitely extend beyond the outer edge and will become part of a fringe with the cloth is complete.

you can see the modified kantha stitches better in this close up as well as some of the french knot snow flakes.  i'm not certain where that little dragon pup flew in from but he seems rather interested in what's going on there...

here you can see the beginnings of that bird's nest i mentioned in an earlier post (i used the scissors to point at it to help you find it since it isn't well-defined yet).  that little curl on the left side is couched down.  i'm thinking it needs more thread or at least an egg or a bird or something, but will come back to it later...it's being somewhat vague with it's desires at the moment...

here's a close up of the root system of this quiet little tree.  it's still just pinned down and patiently awaiting to be couched (if you could see the rest of this picture, you'd be groaning at the pun since the cloth is sitting on the couch at the moment).  i will most likely work on couching them all down tomorrow before going back to stitching snowflakes, moonbeams and other various sundry bits.  somewhere, just out of sight, is still a quiet presence waiting for the right moment to present itself.  the anticipation is of meeting him/her is poking me in the side like an unruly child.  i can hardly wait...

this was the wonderful dinner my dad prepared for us tonight (odd that he seems to do most of the cooking when my mom is the master chef!).  the crustacean was delectably amazing.  i could have eaten three more of them but had to remind myself that i'm trying to watch my consumption these days....

now i'm off to bundle up and go sit by the waterfall out back with the saint and soak up some of the crisp midnight air and bask in the starshine now that the snowstorm has passed us by.  i wonder if the saint will be wanting a scarf tonight, too?

namaste'

  

"...a little more comfortable in the nest.”

the lure and gravity of the midwinter long cloth was too great for me to withstand today. the roots multiplied.  the trunk thickened. the branches grew. some unseen bird built a subtle nest in the upper left branches from the laundry cluster of threads.  the nest is empty.  i can't help but wonder whether the bird will return or may nestle an egg or two in its gentle embrace whilst i'm not looking once again?
the roots have been pinned down and are ready for couching.  will probably start on that tomorrow (i've decided i need some sleep for a change tonight).

some of the snow layers are beginning to curl in the corners...  i get the feeling that they may do more of that before being kantha'd into place.  but i am reserving from forming preconceptions.  i am enjoying sitting quietly and allowing the midwinter long cloth to whisper into my ear what it wishes me to do next to help it manifest.

from a design point of view, i feel as though the piece is weighted a bit too heavily to the left. of course, the kantha stitching and other threadwork may shift it back into balance on its own.  or perhaps some as yet unknown character in this story will put in an appearance before the telling is done...

i would hold my breath in anticipation, but i'm enjoying the process and the moment too much for that!

namaste'


p.s. for those of you who might be wondering: the post title is from a quotation of bill moyers, "when i learn something new - and it happens every day - i feel a little more at home in this universe, a little more comfortable in the nest.”   it seemed appropriate in so many ways.....
 

somewhere a tree grows...

got to work on the midwinter cloth some more today, in between and after the many errands and preparatory chores that had to be accomplished before closing my eyes.  who knew there was so much to do to get ready to journey to boise to spend the holidays with my parents for the first time in nine years? amidst all this frenetic activity, my mind turned to a quieter scene...  my morning meditation practice is one way i find peace in the middle of all this chaos. a deep, enduring peace that i take with me into the journeys and interactions of the ensuing day.

as i gazed at the midwinter cloth, it seemed that a moon was required in the night sky.  upon reflection, i realized this was a gratitude moon...in particular, in gratitude to jude hill for being the first to introduce me to this particular forest of ideas and in memory of all the beautiful and blessing moons that grace her cloths.  it will still need an echo of radiating kantha stitches to give it depth and presence.

next, a tree began to grow somewhere in the snowbanks.  it is still growing and whispers of many more branches and a more textured trunk...but the promise of what is to come is already chanting quietly across the snowscape.

the roots have decided that they are not going to hide beneath the snow (though they are not yet couched down) and the sky is already asking for french knot snowflakes.  there is still a lot of kantha stitching to be done in the background as well... and i can hear the quiet chant of something not yet known that promises to put in an appearance before the midwinter cloth is complete.  it seems, too, that the frays of laundry resultant tangles on some of the blues have need of some stitching, too, though they have yet to speak up and tell me in what fashion they want to make their mark...

but for the moment, this cloth is going to sleep for a bit...as i am in need of the warmth of bedquilts, the purring neckwarmer that is cat, and the gentle tug and kick of the saint lost in puppy dreams at the foot of the bed...

namaste'