A Handful of Dust

 This has been a good week off from work.  I did some spring cleaning, taking a carload of yarn to the Scrap Exchange and loads of household goods to the habitat resale store here in Sanford.

Believe it or not I kept enough yarn for future tapestry weaving and did not even touch the knitting stash!  I was overwhelmed by all my craft supplies and wanted to gain some emotional and physical space.  Quilting is what I am passionate about now.

Quilting, like tapestry is another way to communicate thoughts and feelings when words aren't sufficient.  Right now front of my mind is the ongoing police violence, the search for justice and the unrest when justice fails us.  Will there be justice for George Floyd when the verdict is rendered.  Will our cities burn in despair and rage?

Today I pulled my scraps from The Cary Quilting Company and started to improvise a small  quilt.  

It was easy to limit my colors to red, black and white.  I love these strips and tried to use them with minimal cutting.

I kept this quote by T.S. Eliot in mind.  "I will show you fear in a handful of dust."  His poem, The Wasteland speaks of brokenness and loss.  So the working title of the quilt is A Handful of Dust.

Burn, smoke and ash, these large words feature prominently .  The words silent and very sorry are smaller whispers.  Stitch on friends .

My Internal Debate

 Since December my weaving mojo has been missing in action.  I have been conflicted about blogging about quilting on my blog, The Weaving Song.  It felt all sorts of wrong!  Sitting quietly with a needle and thread feels like a homecoming of sorts.  I spent many happy hours as a little girl making Barbie clothes.

I love scraps.  Those bins are all my scraps, sorted by color.  I blogged about the wonderful scrap bin at The Cary Quilting Company. Normally I don't have scraps strewn across the floor but this was a spontaneous scrap pull.

I fell in love with this little scrap of flowers.  I am proud of this little improvisational and wonky log cabin.  The beginning quilt class at The Cary Quilting Company not only refreshed my sewing chops.  It also showed me how much more enjoyable quilting is with a cutting table at the right height and a design wall.

I am proud of this improvisation .  All scraps were chosen from the scrap bin at CQC  and pieced without a plan. I plan to practice my machine quilting and  hang in my studio as a reminder, it is never to late to become what you were meant to be.

I Am Too Old for Homework!

 It is Saturday night at 9:00 pm.  I just finished my quilt class homework, despite having two weeks to get it done.  We were to machine quilt our small quilts and make our bias binding.  I have been practicing free motion quilting but put off my homework until tonight.

 

My forty year old Pfaff machine is a champ and a workhouse.  The quilt class has been great fun, made even better by taking it with my friend Susan.  Cary Quilting Company has done a terrific job of making this class fun, effective and safe.  No easy task in this pandemic.  I have learned a lot from Kim.  She is a patient and flexible instructor.  Lord knows she has had to demonstrate both with me.  Apparently, I have difficulty with measuring accurately, straight lines and following directions in general.  This video shares some highlights.

I have been stitching and quilting since December and it reminds me of  learning to sew as a girl, making Barbie clothes and a truly awful purple pantsuit.  Murchel, the cat pictured was my best friend and an important part of my life from pre-school to  my first year of college.

I should probably apologize for those peeking in looking for weaving content.  The weaving muse is no where to be seen, perhaps on a long walk about.  That is partially why I haven't blogged in awhile.  Slowly hand stitching and quilting feel like coming home to myself.  Rather than stressing about the loss of weaving and knitting mojo I am just going to enjoy the learning and the making in whatever form it takes.

My Pandemic Secret Weapon- Cary Quilting

 I like many others have exhausted my usual arsenal of coping devices during this pandemic and political season.  The combination of increased work and life stress and limited opportunities to socialize and commiserate in person has been exhausting.  Top that with my long loved husband being a conservative Republican.  Oy Vey!

But this post is one of gratitude for the big and little things that get us through. Like Cary Quilting Company. As my interest in stitching developed, this store was a lovely distraction. In the worst of lockdown, you could order a bag of scraps, fat quarters or whatever and pick it up curbside.  This was such a treat to have a bag of surprises to grab and take home to play with.

Within this happy space is my primary destination.   Just digging through this bin during my lunch hour on a discouraging day at work was my remedy many days.

Scraps are sold by the ounce.  I found when too down or tired to craft, I found satisfaction just washing and ironing them.

This store has been a lifesaver for me. Both visiting and playing with my scrappy treasures.

Thankfully I  have moved beyond just ironing scraps.  The staff at the store helped me pick out fabric. I am making a quilt for Riley's birthday. 

This long ago pieced and forgotten throw has been hand quilted and bound.  Need to work on those mitered corners though.  Thank you Cary Quilting for getting this weaver through a season of despair.

 

We Are Not Okay

 I refuse to write "in these challenging times" and my ability to spoon out an encouraging platitude or two is exhausted.  Things are not fine, may not be fine anytime soon.  As we have been told "it is what it is."  Most of us have questioned our coping abilities but the overall situation we are in has been described as a crisis, extraordinary, unprecedented, historical, a castrophy, a hot mess and a dumpster fire.  If you aren't struggling to find your equilibrium you aren't paying attention.  Those thoughts prompted this.

As you can see, my design process is a rough one.  An idea, a basic plan and rudimentary sketch.  The beauty of wedge weave for me, is the ability to let it develop intuitively on 

the loom.  I love the distortion and the serendipity of not knowing how it will morph when off the loom.

This tapestry is a wool warp with linen and handspun newspaper.   The sett is variable, meaning the newspaper is woven at 8 ends per inch and the linen is woven at 16 ends per inch.  This is really easy to accomplish on the Mirrix Saffron.

I purchased an 18 inch rod at the hardware store to extend the Saffron to 18 inches.  This finished tapestry is 17 inches by 5 inches.

I am so excited to see the profusion of lovely goldenrod on the side of the roads here.  Such beauty and promise.  I dyed a batch last weekend and have a pot bubbling now.

Be well my friends and remember. 

"When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love has always won. There have been tyrants and murderers and for a time they seem invincible but in the end, they always fall -- think of it, ALWAYS."

Gandhi

The Road to Should

The definition of the word should includes the words obligation and duty. It is an active form of self criticism, indicating dissatisfaction with who and where we are.   That alone should eliminate it from any of my tapestry thoughts.  But...

I should weave upstairs in my studio, surrounded by my yarns and tools.

I should listen to classical music while I weave.

I should drink green tea from a hand thrown pottery mug while weaving. 

I should maintain an open, generous, karmic mindset while I weave.
  
 Or perhaps I could set up my Mirrix Zeus into a corner of the bedroom, listen to old Law and Order episodes,  sip on a McDonald's  diet coke, swear like a sailor and weave some tapestry.  It ain't elegant but it is my life.

Beautiful hand dyed greens and some close to home inspiration. 

A little encouragement from a tapestry mentor and I am back at the loom.
I have a sign in my office that says "Life does not have to be perfect to be wonderful."  These days our lives are all about embracing the unexpected and grabbing moments of joy whenever possible.  

Thank you for reminding me, you know who you are!

Purposeful Play

 Dyeing is such a serendipitous activity.  I do not approach it scientifically and precisely therefore the outcomes can be wildly variable.  Indigo is a favorite and I have always great results.  Until the last vat a few weeks ago.  Not sure why but I did not get the nice swampy green and purple flower.

In an effort to revive it, I heated it to 170 degrees for 30 minutes, stirred gently and added more reducing agent, thiox.

It worked!  I combined some rust dyed linen with this revived indigo and played all Saturday afternoon.   I continue to be inspired by https://spiritcloth.typepad.com/  I followed a link on her blog and made some moons.

Lots of choices for stitching projects.  I continue to think about the role of making in my life.  How to maintain a thoughtful slow approach and not think in terms of "making art."

These hand dyed fabrics and naturally dyed threads make me happy.  As does this finished small piece below.

And enjoyed a breakfast picnic and cookie baking with my favorite turtle wrangler.