Reorientation

Snow changes the landscape, covering what's familiar and bringing potential navigation challenges. I have been puzzled over how difficult the studio move is proving to be. I had expected it to interrupt my work and to take awhile, but I had not expected to feel so lost. My old space in the basement, while tight, was densely packed and very organized - and - had developed over the course of a few years. I could find anything I thought of and not interrupt my creative flow for long. Now, between studios, I'm not sure where things are anymore, as it's too much to track and items aren't yet settled, and while I am content to allow how it will come together to unfold as I continue to work at it, I feel disoriented. And then I read a snippet of information that really hit home. In Canada's far north, where unbroken deep snow can make it nearly impossible to navigate - even with a map and GPS - the native people rely on internal mapping - a sense of the whole developed through their experience with the land, stories and descriptive landmarks passed along, and awareness of seasons and weather shifts. And - these cognitive maps are different for men and women. Men were the navigators across the land on the journey, but once complete, the women took over because they knew where to best place dwellings for safety and proximity to food sources. I realized that my internal map of the old studio has deep roads from frequent travel within and an accompanying comfortability with knowing the lay of its land. Somehow that mapping metaphor helped me understand and accept my lost feeling and also gave me renewed energy to create a new map. So with stacks of mess around all shouting to be put away and a tiny clear space on the cutting board, I rummaged up and down through my studios to find supplies and make more mess to do what I love. I used some of my dyed wet felted wool to stitch a book cover that I lined with a scrap of real suede and braided cords of hand dyed perle cotton to stitch pages into it.

It took me two days to figure out how to make it work, find the supplies and to complete.

I've learned along the way, having other ideas I might try next time and figuring out what not to repeat in future.

A small journal but a big step because I made a path in the open space of the map of my new studio.

One piece wrapped up, with lots more to come.

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.

Small is Big

This morning I was thinking about how something small in a field can really be very large in how it draws my attention. With that in mind, I partially sewed this, only

Then I wondered what if I made it even smaller?

And then everything mushroomed!

Trial and Error

There is new growth in my yard and it seems to bloom into beauty so effortlessly. Whereas the growth in my studio today is a beginning bearing dubious results out of very focused effort . I finished sewing four curved pieced blocks yesterday, and tried arranging them in every possible manner and decided this one was the best, albeit still not to my liking. The brown shapes are too bulky and I had envisioned lovely flowing curves and an interesting design. Maybe that is why some people plan designs out first on paper!

So I decided to try again, still winging it and sewing four curved pieced blocks, but with less of any one colour so that large dominant, awkward looking shapes would not occur when I put them together, hopefully. Well - I cut and pieced and auditioned this or that and I still had awkward shapes with some of them too dominant - only they were smaller and mostly different from each other. When I cut and resewed, I realized how important similiar shapes are for unity and this is what I have now - whittled down to about a third of the fabric I began with.

I will improve with practice - and - I am enjoying pushing my growth edge.

Today's Yield

I felt like machine piecing, today, and made this by deciding what to sew where, one piece at a time: I also started making some curved pieced blocks and have two sewn, so far. I'm interested in seeing what happens when I put them together. I have been wanting to do this for a long time, so I'm pleased to finally experiment with it.

And yesterday after fibre artist Gloria Daly's presentation at the Victoria Quilt Guild meeting, I went up island to see a mixed media show - 'Thread and Paint Revolution' by Lara Scarr - only the gallery was closed during their open hours - too bad!

Playing With Blocks

Here's the woven piece I'm working on so far. Jude has given us several options for weaving cloth strips, including the one I"ve done in the corner above. The top photo shows my small blocks surrounding the larger centre (unsewn) and I'm going to play with them and maybe make different ones to see if I want to keep this design or make changes. I am enjoying myself and can see so many ways to take this further.

Taking Off

After the quilt top I'm designing morphed several more times, it is finally taking off, like the quail in the top photo did when I startled it on my walk, today! The quilt top has become much smaller and less jumbled and I've started hand quilting it. The bottom photo is one of the versions I made yesterday, thinking I would triple it, but when I explored that, the design didn't hold my interest.

New Moon Musings

A new moon and a new work in progress - this is not the final design but an experiment to use the strip piecing method to see what I learn and to explore further with it. It has already changed many times, just as the moon we see appears to change shape throughout the course of the month, even as the whole of it is always there, and our ability to see is actually what changes. A good mirror of the design process for me - like the final design is there already and waiting for me to see it in its final wholeness, if I persist. I also tried an experiment using crumpled wax paper ironed to paper and then painting dye over that - to see if I could get the crinkled pattern where the ironed on wax acts as a resist. The results were more successful when the paper was still wet. Once dry, the pattern faded substantially. I also tried ironing the wax paper to some interface fabric and not realizing it was the fusible kind, accidentally fused the wax paper to it. I dye painted it, too, and a faint outline appeared where the circle of wax paper was (on the opposite side of the interfacing) so I fused it down over top of the first circle imprint of the waxed paper on paper - it's the small rectangle and I used a purple pencil crayon to outline the small circle further, as well as other colours for the rays. It makes me think of the sun and moon aligning and bringing together masculine and feminine energy. I am also thinking of my work being at the intersection of a heartfelt approach combined with 'just do it' spontaneous energy. Another work in progress... Oh - and I've signed up for an online course about experimental quilt weaving called 'Cloth to Cloth' with Jude Hill, that will start in a month.