Stitching and Thinking

Thanks to everyone who wrote to ask me about my garden quilt. You  certainly make me feel supported, help keep me honest and on my creative path, and feeling less isolated (I'm such a homebody.). As you can see by the photo, I have been working. Yesterday was a little frustrating as I kept breaking needles (three in all). I find that all the stitching does cause me to think. I keep revisiting my encounter with my neighbor. What do I not see? And not just visually, what do I miss seeing about myself? I've had a couple of epiphanies lately (one quite painful) and I think this quilt has played a part. I have always found hand stitching to be a form of informative silent meditation so I remain thankful.

I also find it interesting that people keep asking me what my plans are for this piece, and how surprised they are when I tell them that I haven't a clue. It's the journey that I am enjoying. I'm not even sure how it is going to look in the end and to be honest, I like it that way.


On the cleaning front, yesterday I cleaned and reorganized my kitchen pantry. I bought Oxo air tight containers so hopefully I will never have another moth problem. This project made me gleeful.  I'm such a strongly visual person. The order and uniformity appeal to me.  My husband finds it humorous. It is definitely his influence that I now embrace order and uniformity. Probably not as much as he would like (he's a chemical engineer) but then again, he did marry me.

Observing

I woke to a world encased in a thin layer of ice. I found myself constantly looking out the window at the trees and the way the sun was playing with the ice. Outside I ran into a neighbor walking her dog so I asked if she was enjoy our winter wonderland and pointed to the trees. I was dumbfounded when she confessed that she hadn't noticed. Her goal was to walk the dog as quickly as possible and off she went. For a moment, I was sad. Joy is so much better shared. 


Creative Everyday 2010 has been talking about shadows which did influence my decision to put myself dancing in my garden. Couldn't help giving myself funky socks. By the way, I hand pieced the flying geese and over dyed them to get the green I wanted. It was one of those "nothing ventured, nothing gained" moments that paid off.

Honoring Spoon River

One of the favorite pieces of art in my garden is "Spoon River" so even though my bent spoons are covered with snow, I had to include them. The green fabric is linen. I do love linen. I hand appliqued the spoon. Working on this quilt has actually gotten me quite energized and helping me find a wonderful peace of mind. I'm also already planning my next quilt. If you would like to see a photo of Spoon River, just go to the posts marked "Garden Quilt." It was posted last year on May 9th.

Thoughts on Winter, Slow Cloth, Garden Quilt

I struggle to not feel the downward pull of the short, gray winter days in Chicago. I had hoped this year would be different. Unfortunately, it hasn't. However, I am working which always gives me hope.

I have admired the Slow Cloth movement for some time. The idea of reusing textiles, layering, handwork, hand stitching and stories has always appealed to me. There was a time when I only hand pieced and hand quilted. For a while now I have moved toward handwork. On Tuesday, I posted a Quilters' S.O.S. - Save Our Stories interview with Jude Hill. I admired Jude and her work and her interview is a great addition to the project. I hadn't intended to make a Slow Cloth quilt for my garden piece but her interview got me thinking. I'm going to give it a try and hope this honors the movement. The background is a piece of denim (approx. 17" x 18") from a friend's skirt that she cut up and the light blue fabric is a napkin my friend Elizabeth Cherry Own. She had used part of it and it reminds me of all the grasses I have in my garden. I'm also hoping that this will help me keep away the winter blues.

Backyard Inspired Quilt

Whenever I make statements like I did in my post about taking photos and not really needing them got me to thinking. Was this really true? And what could I do if I drew upon photos for inspiration? So I decided to take the photo of the Mexican photo and play with it. After an hour or so, I realized it was too limiting so I went back outside and took more photos. Viewing the added possibilities got me excited! The background for the blocks is an African brocade because the snow in my backyard is covered with animal (squirrel, rabbit, raccoon, cat) footprints and I like the texture. I used the cobalt blue linen I found because it was a nice contrast to the white brocade and it reminded me of the cold. It's just in the beginning stages and I'm having fun! I've also been dyeing wool for another project I've titled "Praying in the Rain." The basement studio is almost clean and organized. It's all good!

Changing the Story of Fear

I read somewhere that we have 66,000 thoughts a day and that two-thirds of them are fear based. We are basically taught to be afraid. I'm not saying that fear cannot be a good emotion especially when it comes to self-protection, but so often we create a narrative around it in our own minds and it paralyzes us. I've been making a effort to feel the fear and do it anyway. One of the ways that I have done this is in my garden which has made changing the story of fear easier in other parts of my life. Here is my "Spoon River." I spent a day restoring it. I put it in last year and it still makes me smile and my neighbors scratch their heads. I'm just happy that I can still surprise them. Enjoy! Karen