Spirit Cloth

the where am i ceremony

2009-11-10T10:22:57-05:00

...what a coincidence, that as i look for a way again to continue with this project, that i am asking the same question i asked almost exactly 3 years ago when i started this blog. a different cloth, but the same journey. so where am i? coma is a longish cloth. it has been edged and it now measures 46" x 70" with a small triangular protrusion outside the frame when i was thinking that it needed to be square. but i like the shape. it is a nice bed runner and easy to wrap around my shoulders as a sort of cocoon. i also like it because it emphasizes the shift in direction that the color blocking created. instead of just a spin it also has an implied wobble. something imbalanced. something that might fling itself off the edge and out of sight in a moment. without notice.

and in its calmer moments it is longer and narrow like a pathway.

each corner has a different color scheme, meant to symbolize some seasonal order amidst chaos. after a walk outside yesterday i noticed a fern that had been totally bleached by the coming cold. still intact but colorless. and the colorless corner of coma fits so well with the idea of a cycle of drain and renewal. time as a coloring book.

...i liked this picture of coma on the rail of the deck that was also undone when coma began. (a link to that thought, in case you don't remember)

so here i am, looking forward to where i will go tomorrow.

outside looking in

2009-11-09T16:57:55-05:00

i love this beach fragment i picked up between walking and talking. it has many dot dimensions but what has drawn my attention is the pebble inside the barnacle. it seems to represent growth and limitation at the same time. i am thinking about surroundings. how things can grow around us or how we can grow into things. how they are related. how well coordinated the steps would seem to have to be in order to get stuck somewhere. i guess that dance happens all the time. and in this instance it is quite beautiful.

walking and talking

2009-11-09T11:14:35-05:00

yesterday we went walking. warm november days are a treat.

we were talking. we were talking about how we are alike and how we aren't. and how time can rearrange those things. we talked about how it is that we so easily spend most of our time together and how that works even though we thought it wouldn't. he will be traveling back home to turkey without me this time because i have some things to attend to.

this morning i had a conversation with coma. just to renew the connection. a slow cloth can be good company.

holiday coma

2009-11-08T10:04:15-05:00

so coma is back in my hands, almost a stranger now since it has been so long since i immersed myself in its liquid confusion. the decision to back off from the holiday shop thing is the right one for me. i need to make the end of the year count for something more essential. some hard core decisions about my work and what it means are looming mixed with financial instability. the coma diaries have been lovingly collected and recorded during the year, along with notes and unpublished photos and drawings. it felt so personal and meaningful that i decided to put it in print. Coma, the real life diary for 2009 (and then some) is becoming a book. very slowly and deliberately. a new version of the timekeeper. if you stop and look at what actually goes into a slow cloth it will astound you. the best decision was to include the special part of this one which was its expansion into the community of readers that followed along with their comments and inspiration. a world wide coma documentary. thank you all for this gift.

new dots and old dots

2009-11-07T18:34:45-05:00

in november the scenery starts to change the view from the sleeping loft. the house is not two floors, the loft is really the attic. we took the cheaper alternative and just knocked out part of the ceiling, pushed the roof up in the back and added some windows, a whole wall of them... so we could catch a water view when the leaves fall. this morning i saw the first little dots of reflection through the thinning leaves.

this afternoon i reworked an old what if using a wash of color as a ground for some reverse applique. dots. details here.

it reminded me of a mini coma. tomorrow it is time to return to the main coma. the year is almost over and i have been sidetracked. i have decided to replace the holiday frenzy with a slower form of consciousness.

dye samplers

2009-11-06T16:46:52-05:00

i have been reading a bit about natural dyes and loving the journals and the notebooks kept with all the little squares of cloth recording the process. i decided that the best way to learn is to do it. and i think a nice way to record the results is to make cloths that would be samplers of process, and real life records of results. little dye quiltlets. so today i have stitched some undyed indigo stripe samples to some that have been overdyed with black walnut hulls soaked in water ... in a jar for about a weekand a half and that's all. i think i will just write my results and observations on the back of the cloth. there are alot of acorns on the ground. they are next. i am using india flint's book as a guide and as inspiration and above all as a calmer (because it is more than just a dye book) ...sticking to what i find here on my land and letting myself just play. oak leaves stain the pavement around here so i have my eye on them too. i live in an oak forest.

doodle friday and frozen dots

2009-11-06T07:55:30-05:00

well i know it is only november but time flies so i am thinking about frozen dots, december dots, and the dot as a radiant motif. which is kind of cold and warm at the same time. a snowflake is a dot.

and this idea reminds me of those hawaiian applique quilts. such a warm place but the arrangement of the floral motifs always reminded me of snowflakes.

stitching with a few more words

2009-11-05T15:23:19-05:00

...a few very windy days have stripped the trees of most of their leaves. these first november mornings are so bright and clear in the back room of the house. the sun shines in with such intensity i almost need sunglasses to sew.

...i was stitching without a lot to say when i noticed that i could catch the sun's reflection in the needle. what a moment. reflections are like that i thought. a chance to witness something that may never come again... never actually caught at all.

...so in my speechlessness i found my words again, and i did a bit of what-iffing inspired by the changing light and the wash of winter chill that is moving towards us. and i stitched a lot this morning. the stitches are like words i guess.

...a bit of wool is creeping into this one and i feel the need for more of it. just feels right. this piece which i have named the last apple will have a woolen back i think. something lofty and warm.

i added a couple of new blogs to my new paths list. you know how it is when you start a new blog. a few words from others can be very encouraging.

weary wednesday

2009-11-04T16:29:23-05:00

...i got in over my head a bit with obligations. i am tired. the apple from some recent what-iffing has turned into a still life. i am just stitching with not a lot to say.

time to wake up

2009-11-03T08:12:32-05:00

the moon was allowing me no sleep last night. it stared in the window with unnerving brightness. it seemed angry so i got up and performed a time keeping ceremony with thread and needle. and then i went back to bed. poof! zzzzzzzzzz.

this morning i have noticed how my walnut and water concoction has turned dark in so short a time. my first nayural dyeing project in a long time. slow dyeing but not really.