Year of the Crone

It's transition time into next year and time to reflect. Tomorrow, I will already be looking back from a new perspective.

I saw these double rings double with their shadow into infinity and the vesica piscis and I really like how the two symbols connect and combine and what they might say about my path this year.

I have only done a very small bit of stitching as I've been focused on visiting family for the past week. I feel excited to return to setting up my new studio and getting back to work.

And my second son is moving out from home across country, so I expect even more space to fly. 2012 seems like it's going to be a year of big change and a new stage of life for me.

Solstice

Reaching, touching,

the return of the light.

Solstice

Lit from within.

Wishing everyone who stops here, a lightened heart.

Slow Steps Forward

I continue to peck away at the studio move in between Christmas preparations, so right now it's slow going and no stitching is happening. Slow can be good, though, as ideas can take time to incubate - all part of the journey.

I know I'll eventually see the light.

I eagerly anticipate returning to work with colours and design. My creativity has been channelled into other areas for now - like menus and plans.

But I am keeping the star of my desire in sight.

Moving Towards Order

It was frosty and dark out when I went to Mt. Tolmie to see the moon eclipse, a few days ago. An eclipse is a good metaphor for the process I have been going through in creating new studio space - a descent into darkness before the turning point and return of the light - or in this case, some order.

I'm past the turning point, now, but felt in the dark about how to proceed at first, once the heavy 8 by 5 foot table had arrived and was awaiting set up. I spent a good part of a day developing more than ten possible plans on paper for how to arrange the furniture before moving anything. I have never done this before and what was interesting was how at first I thought there might be just a couple of ways, but as I persisted, more and more options became apparent. A good lesson for designing anything.

In the end, I still modified the plan I chose - ending up with kind of a 't' formed from my desk and sewing table and shifting the angle of that. Now comes alot of hauling up and down two flights of stairs and thinking about how best to organize my fabrics, books and supplies. Wherever I move something from, something else will have to be moved back, to replace it. The large table has a single flat storage shelf beneath it and I have some drawers that fit there, which is great.

Still a tall order ahead, but I'm motivated!

Growing Pains

I completed another nuno scarf to give away for Christmas: but mostly, I am making a path through clutter towards my new studio space

and while I keep moving, sorting, organizing and imagining, I am not yet seeing it

clearly and I feel pulled in so many directions - starting in one spot only to be stymied and then moving on to another.

This is creation on a big scale, with my palette scattered all over the house and me needing to compose and unify it into a well functioning whole. I feel a bit stunned,

I don't know where I'm going, but there is growth here and I'm trusting the process.

Imagining What Could Be There

This could be a butterfly: And sky on the ground:

And a face appearing beneath my sandpaper... One of my sons has moved out and I will be moving my studio - after alot of work and a series of shifting around other rooms, first. But I can see it taking shape in my mind's eye.

I have a nuno scarf partially designed with this silk I dyed as a base.

It may be a few days before I get back to it.

In the Black

I spent today making this nuno scarf: It is a gift.

I am still amazed at how much these shrink in the making - this one started out as nearly 70 inches long and shrunk 20, in addition to 6 inches of shrinkage on the sides.

Making one of these is really a work out. I think I'll need to let my shoulders recoup before my next one!

Securing Expansion

I decided I needed to start fastening all my bits down, today. And I filled some gaps like the lower right corner in this photo.

I attached these and cut off the bottom which had been hidden behind other fabrics.

And I basted half of this and am recovering alot of pins.

But the big news for me today is finding a table I can use for laying things out, cutting and sewing, with a storage shelf below! I don't have room for it yet, but I expect to set it up sometime in December.

Home Ground

I have been engrossed in designing Palace of the Soul. This is the right 'cornerstone'. And today I was deciding between straight

or curvy

and here's what I chose:

I have moved things on and off and around and varied directions - and I'm not done, yet . I have really been feeling into what wants to be included and where, listening closely and acting on that.

I love how this decaying log I saw today is integrating with the earth. Home ground. That feels like what I'm on and once I have all the fabrics chosen for 'Palace', I will work at unifying the whole.

Soul Reminder

Something was really brewing inside me yesterday. I went into the studio vaguely thinking I might do more handstitch or begin a gift but nope, that snow dyed piece I had previously unpicked didn't want to be put away and suddenly some hand pieced blocks declared they would be the perfect partners for it - on a large piece. So I played along and prepared a size and shape that felt right. I was curious as to when exactly did I do the snow dyeing, so I went back in my journals and discovered that I had made the first of these blocks the same day - and had an intention to make a larger piece. Well, at least my psyche remembered!

I proceeded to nearly cover the whole of this with other fabrics I've dyed and pieces that I've partially stitched, but I'm not at the stage yet where everything has found its place. This piece is going to be called 'Palace of the Soul' and I feel excited and know I will be spending alot of time with it.

Picking Up

While the wind outside picked up, rearranging leaves and branches, I was picking up fabrics and supplies in the studio after my creative whirlwind, so I can have room to work again! In normally hidden spaces, I found many partially completed projects and felt into what has energy for me now and found that many of them do and that I have lots of ideas for where to take them, next.

This fish still had pins in its fins - ouch! So I secured it with thread onto a background.

And I selected a backing for this unicorn and started to baste it down.

I am thinking about gift making, too.

Change For the Better

Some of this pond that I saw yesterday, had become ice. And the only sun to be seen was on this tree:

It felt like it could snow - and these snow berries added to that feel.

I did not get cold feet and took the plunge.

And I like this much better:

The snow dyed fabric will look better paired with hand dyed fabrics.