A Change of Scenery

Doesn't this look like it could be the eye of a giant tree needle?

While on Saltspring Island yesterday, I also found several species of Eucalyptus trees - and most importantly, lots of their dried leaves on the ground. Maybe I will use them to natural dye some of these fabrics I bought at the thrift shop and Stitches Quilt Shop. I am in love with the silk gauze on the left - gossamer light - like a stitched dream. And I think the fabric with the orange red bird is Japanese.

Here is one more scrap I bought that's undergoing a transformation:

I will not be posting for a few weeks, now. The Patchwork Beasts class ends this weekend and while I have enjoyed it, I also feel the need for a change of pace and less time online. Until then...

Meow

I was up in the night completing basting new pieces to this cloth and later I stitched in the face, those black dots next to it - which Jude Hill calls thread beads - and a variegated thread spiral moon.

Current Threads

I went to see the 'Current Threads' show in Ladysmith yesterday, where fifteen fibre artists from the Vancouver Island Surface Design Association had their work on display - art wear, weavings, quilt art, mixed media and 3D pieces. What great variety and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Speaking of 'current' threads, here are some from the sea.

And another type hanging by the beach:

This huge rusted chain was one of many old metal items I saw, including some railway spikes, which I kept to use for rust dyeing.

It's the last week of 'Patchwork Beasts' and I'm continuing to work on my cat, extending it vertically in preparation for quilting.

A Tale of Roots and Wings

'Butterfly Dreaming' is complete now, and is soft and substantial, made from mostly silks and linen with a cotton spiral moon and rayon tree trunk. Not long ago, Tree was desperately wishing she could flit like Butterfly from flower to flower, seeking nectar and new vistas to behold. Instead, she remained solidly rooted to the earth, stuck in the same place day after season. One day when Butterfly landed near her, the tree asked if she might trade Butterfly some roots for her wings. Butterfly was quite surprised by this request and asked why Tree wanted wings. After Tree told her of dreaming she could fly to distant lands to experience something other then her backyard home, Butterfly understood and then pointed out that in staying rooted in one place, Tree really got to know the environment around her throughout the years and seasons - she could witness how the beast friends that walked under her, flew over her or nested in her branches were changing and growing. "How lucky you are", said Butterfly, "to be so connected. You do not have to keep searching and searching farther afield for your needs but can just rest and draw nurturance from your roots." Tree had never thought about it like that before and could see her groundedness in a new light. And what's more, she suddenly realized that she did have wings of a sort that carried her to new places in the Imagine Nation - that each year she could dream new leaves and shoots into being and that through her creation, she would always be refreshed and renewed without having to leave home. 'Thankyou, Butterfly - you have taught me a lesson', Tree said, and from that day onward she took great satisfaction in watching and participating fully in her life and all the life around her, joyfully rooted in her Home.

Maybe I will tuck Tree's story into a back pocket for this cloth - a story pocket so she will always remember.