Life has been busy lately, but when there is a minute to spare, I've been in the studio, still culling through my hand dyed and hand painted fabric, seeing if I can think of a use for any of it. Lately, I've been playing with a piece of hand dyed fabric that has really appealed to me, but a project for it has been hard to find. Finally I came up with this.
Now that I look at the picture, the Celtic runes along the upper right side don't appear to line up as well as I thought they did--especially after using a ruler to place them. Darn! And they're already stitched down. I want to add a few sparse leaves to the ends of the gnarled tree branches, but I'm not sure how many--3 or 5 or 7. I'll make the 7 and then audition them.
According to "The Book of Runes", by Ralph Blum, the runes, from the top mean:
Victory, perhaps from winter?
Cattle, goods and vital community wealth
joy, the absence of suffering and sorrow
Birch tree, associated with fertility rites, rebirth, new life
God's light, prosperity, and fruitfulness
I have no exhibition or show in mind for this, but I'm having fun making it.
I plan to link this with The Needle and Tread Network.
Today I did a demonstration for my LQG. It was only 10 minutes, but it was simultaneously filmed for projection to the large group in attendance. It went well, although I missed a couple of steps in the technique and had to back-track a bit. I left right after, and when I got home and relaxed for a few minutes, I was stunned to find myself very, very emotionally upset. I was beside myself, almost in tears. This has never happened before. I have been teaching various aspects of fibre art for over 40 years. I have no idea what brought this on, and it frightened me to realize what was happening. I haven't done a lot of teaching in the past couple of years, and wonder if my mind and body is trying to tell me that my days of teaching are ending. I have to confess that I haven't been getting as much satisfaction our of it lately, and am starting to find it a chore. Food for thought maybe?
But I continue working and playing with fibre, in an effort to find whatever creativity may be left in my brain. ( I'm never sure at my age). I've been asked to teach a one day workshop that may involve demonstrating with my machine. In my review of what gadgets etc that I own associated with my machine, I found a 1/4" foot. It looks nothing like other 1/4" feet I've seen and I did not know that I even owned it. I've been using this machine almost every day for over 10 years. During that time I've kept my previous machine in the storeroom for any time I needed to sew 1/4" seams.
At the same time, casually over a couple of years, I've admired the traditional pattern "Hunters' Star". My Son-in-law is a life long hunter who now works as a fishing and hunting guide, and taxidermist. I think of him when I see the design. So I decided to make one, as an excuse to try out my 1/4" foot. I cut all the pieces for a larger one, and quickly realized that I would never finish one that size in this lifetime, so just finished it at about 41" square.
I'm pleased with the result, and really have a sense of accomplishment with having actually finished it. This is a very complicated and challenging design. An added bonus is that the blue fabric is off a bolt of very old very traditional cotton that I've owned for almost 40 years. I'd really like to get rid of it.
Creativity appears to have moved to Moscow. Usually the recommendation is to just do something. Doesn't matter what, as long as you're playing with fibre in some way. Been playing for about 2 weeks now, and still haven't found what I'm looking for, but I know that this time of year is notorious for giving people the "blues".
This morning I played with orphan blocks for awhile, then started going through my painted and dyed fabric that lives in shelves in my storeroom. I found three large pieces of dyed fabric that called to me, but didn't really give me any hints about where they wanted to go. They are all a good size--about 60" wide, and about 3 feet wide. I'm looking for suggestions.
No. 1 Here I ten to think of looking up into a forest canopy. I think the piece would have to be cut down significantly but that might give me enough fabric to back it.
No. 2 this piece is larger but a chunk has been taken out of the other side. At this point I have absolutely no idea how to approach it.
Piece three makes me think of skies and clouds, but maybe needs to be muted a bit to be used like that.
There are two smaller pieces. These are dyed cotton Damask napkins.
Again my first thought is to use them as a background, but I would want to keep the soft, gentle atmosphere. Not sure how to proceed. Any suggestions, Can anyone give me a sense of direction on any of these?
I plan to link this with The Needle and Thread Network, and maybe Nina-Marie Sayre's Off the Wall Friday.
