Mythological Flying Bird

Autum Moon

Dear Timothy,

This is the lost moon. But this is not the lost cloud.  When I went looking for a different cloud, do you believe I found this perfectly mythological flying bird?  I found his head first. It was just as plain as day. Then I found the body. Then the glorious tail. I really don't think the person who designed this bit of fabric knew there was such wonderful beast and birds on it.  I guess the thing I want to tell you is, keep your eyes and heart open. And give your imagination a place to go. 

As you can see, I had to remove one of the trees. And then I sat and stitched. And stitched. I was so excited to see him.

And one more thing.  Do you remember that I told you nothing every happens before it is time?  Well, this lost moon is surely evidence of that. Otherwise, I would have never found this bird.  

Green Moons

Summer Moon

Dear Timothy,

You've heard about The Man in the Moon, an imaginary human face that some can see in the moon.  Well, the Summer moon in the Green Moons Forest is most certainly not a man.  I think this two headed beast will need a name.  And I'm giving that some thought.

Spring Moon

I finished stitching on the Spring Moon and clouds.  Oh, and guess what Timothy?  I found the missing moon.  I guess at the moment that I hid it from myself, it was a good place to put it. But I did accidentally find it the other day when starting a new project.  The lost moon will become the Autumn Moon and the cloud was still attached to it.  But guess what Tim, the cloud looks a whole lot like the beast breath in the Summer Moon. I'm puzzled about that.   

Two Headed Dragoneosorus

Dragoneosorus Breath

Two headed Dragoneosorus on the moon.

The Beast With Spots

Dear Timothy,
Last Wednesday, I took a day off and met up with Aunt Paula, Aunt Sue, and cousin Diane.  Sue and Paula are Granny's girls and she taught them to quilt too. Sue is Diane's Mother.  Paula lives in Oklahoma and was down for a visit.  Diane is learning to quilt so Paula is giving her a lesson on "The Texas Star" quilt.  Sue is holding a section that she has started. 

They are into what I call a contemporary method of traditional quilting.  

I'm not sure that they "get" my kind  of cloth making.  But they do really like this one that I'm making for you. While I was there I started adding the spots to The Beast. 

I guess you could say now, The Beast is no longer a burden to me. I like him now and with a few more stitches, he will be done.

Do you think I got carried away with his spots?  

Chatter In My Head

Dear Timothy,
I am making progress on this green moon and cloud.  Almost done. I have found that stitching relaxes me and helps to clear the chatter in my head.  And while that is going on, I do wonder if my Granny and Big Mama, your great, great grandmothers, found quilting and stitching relaxing. Or did they do it totally out of necessity?  I wonder.

Your beast is getting spots and I'm getting very close to finishing the big moon.  
♥

Floating Green Moons

Dear Timothy, 
I lost a green moon.  It had a cloud pinned to it and I have been searching for days.  It is one of those things that happens. I kept seeing the green moon floating around in my world, as moons do, and then suddenly one day I thought,  "I need to put that moon in a safe place so I will have it when I'm ready for it."  Yes yes, I'm sure it is safely waiting and I'm sure I will eventually find it.... when I really need it. 

In the meantime, I have cut another green moon and I did find more clouds. Now, I'm wondering if I had the wrong clouds.  These are different from the lost ones.  Of course the moon will go behind the tree and I'm thinking I will be stitching that today. 

Feathers

Mr Dragoneosorus

Dear Timothy,
Not until I picked out that silly little black beast that was taunting me on center stage, did I see the cute little creature heads hiding in the red moon tree that I added last week to the summer side of the moon.  Yes, I knew they were there. I saw their eyes and gave them pupils.  But I did not know what they were nor did it ever occur to me that one lived on the big moon.  I know. It should have. And now I'm certain the trees in the forest are indeed a reflection of the trees that stand on the edge of the moon.

It all makes perfect sense to me now.  Nothing ever happens before it is time. Believe that.

Turns out, that silly little black beast was just a "place holder".  You know, reserving the spot for me.  Making me wait until it was time.  When the time was right and I knew that little creature had to go, I had no problem at all removing him and the whole while I was doing it, I wondered why I had left him on there so long. 

Then I turned the cloth in my lap.  My eye caught sight of a little red head hiding in the red moon tree.  The eyes that I added made sense to me now or I should say, "they spoke to me". 

Meet Mr Dragoneosorus (Dra-gone-o-so-rus).  Timothy, the story is unfolding.  It is about a bird, a beast, and a dragoneosorus who can be seen on the big green moon.

But don't forget Timothy and believe that nothing ever happens before it is time. 
xo
Nana

The Beast Is Gone

Remember him?

He's gone!

I could never get comfortable with him on center stage. 

I tried.

So, this afternoon I picked him off.

Not until he was totally gone did I finally have inspiration for his replacement.

I'm stitching now. 

Shooting Stars On The Summer Side Of The Moon

Much stitching has been happening here.  Mostly in the evenings which is a good thing as it does keep me upright in the chair zone. 

The Summer sky has shooting stars now and I'm working on the transition where the sky and flowers join....in my mind for now.

While adding the moon trees, I wondered if the green moon forest trees were a reflection of the moon trees or was it the other way around.  Whichever, a new red tree popped into the forest on the Summer side of the moon

I have concentrated on the Summer side of the moon and here I added a new green moon and two more trees.

I call this the rogue moon tree. It could be the only real tree on the moon.  It doesn't reflect to or from anywhere. Puzzling. For now. But I love it.  

And this sweet bird-in-the-moon that sits where the Autumn and Winter forests converge was composed yesterday with small scraps where I saw the potential of a bird.  I was so focused on stitching, it was not until after I finished and stepped back that I saw my placement was right beside a moon tree bird with the same pose. 

After the surprise registered, that discovery gave me great understanding of and how things that channel through and around and up and down and over and under and away and near and loud and silent and then...... POP!!! right back out.......

Blue Jay Feathers

Today, I'm mailing my three blue jay feathers to Jude for her Magic Feather Project.

I'm always thrilled to find feathers and when I found two blue jay feathers in my garden, I felt like I had received a present for the hours I had just spent working there.  I saw their magic and was inspired to interpret them in stitch on a fabric remnant from a dress I made myself about 30 years ago. 
The fabric scrap reminds me of the ground that I found the feathers on.  I really like that this little cloth has a connection to Tim's cloth where I used the same fabric scrap.  You know I will be adding some magic blue jay feathers too.

Looks Like A Jacket

Tim's cloth draped over a chair.

Doesn't this look like a cool jacket? 

Making Moon Trees

Making Moon Trees

Yes, of course there are trees on the moon. And I needed them to be more greenish that brownish. Brown has its place but I hardly consider it a color. To me, brown is another gray. 

So, I had these brownish trees that matched the greenish trees of

Green Moons Forest. In the studio, on a shelf, just above the coffee pot, I reached for the Rit dye. 

Ahhh haaaa! Coffee pot still hot! Why not!

I added a small amount of green dye to the hot coffee. Tossed the brownish trees into the pot. Ran about two cups of water through.

Wa la!

Greenish moon trees.

After rinsing, pin the stack of trees together and dry with a load of laundry.

Ring Around The Moon

Ring Around The Moon

The day before my friend's visit, I was frantically pinning and stitching because I just had to do this.

That was last Saturday after I took the photo with all of the center components conjoined.

I had no idea that it would go this direction until then. 

Green Moons Forest

Green Moons Forest                                                                           

The components of the center section are connected. It is now approximately 45" square. Too big to photograph. It is tacked above a wide door frame.

I have a lot of inspiration for embellishments and stitching. Mainly because of the name of this section, "Green Moons Forest".

I will be taking a little break from the cloth.
Company coming!!!!

Another Tree Corner

Here is another tree corner. 

Actually, I have progressed way past this stage. I don't like the middle print with the geometric design.

I do ♥ the dark blue floral that was from my skirt and I enjoyed all the stitching around it. 

I am also enjoying Jude's Magic Diary class and I am getting what I had hoped from it. Which is a focus and inspiration to continue with Tim's cloth as I will never get it finished if I only work on it during the cold months.  

One Feather

I stitched Sunday the 7th.

In the chair zone all day.

A tree was added to this forest after the connection was made.

And then, just a lot of straight stitching...

and one feather.

About the beast, they don't really feel like "me".

This one had a face change and is more to my liking.

I'm still undecided about all the beast.  I have to keep in mind that the reason I was adding them is because this is Tim's cloth and he would like them; however, at the same time, it has to feel like me.  I can't remove these central beast but should I add more, they will feel like me.....

Forest Components

 The forest grew over the weekend.  I made the connection.

 And also made another tree corner component, stitched it and connected it too. 

And then I made these beast with Inktense. I'm unsure at this point if I will add them to the cloth or not. I've become bored with stitching for now and will fold it up for  a while. 

Maybe. That's how I deal with the edge of a decision. 

Back away.

I ordered some Harem Cloth as recommended by Jude to use as backing cloth behind my woven components; however, I've not yet decided if I like it for the backing cloth. It is true, it stitches like butter. That I like about it. But I found it hard to rip and get same sizes. It doesn't hold its shape as well as I would like. And for my purpose, it is a little too thin. I'm using the backing cloth as the middle of the sandwich between the design layer and backing layer. 

To use or not to use.

Another decision to back away from. 

I keep wanting a good black cotton fabric and find none in my stash so yesterday, I found just what I wanted at Walmart. There was a very small amount on the bolt and it was priced at $2.68. But I was charged $3.44.  I questioned the cost but accepted her explanation. 

Now I don't know why.

Weaving A Connection

I acquired more scraps. Well actually, I ask for them from a dear friend because I knew she was all done with them.  Thank you Terri.  The 1960's-70's wild and crazy prints were gifted to her and she made a beautiful quilt with them. When she showed me the quilt, I ask about the leftovers.  You can do that with dear friends. 

I selected a few and ran them through the dye pot just to take the edge of of them so they would incorporate into Tim's quilt. 

Here is the first tree corner component.  I have woven some of the new scraps with old one and I find this is a great way to introduce new fabric to the quilt so that it looks cohesive. 

I decided to go ahead and conjoin a forest component with this new corner because in the past, I have had a plan for a component and then forget the plan.  I love the connections.  Today, I stitch.

My First Beast

My first beast.  And my first effort at needle turned applique.  I hope for improvement on both creating beast and needle turned applique. 

I worked on this guy yesterday here at the desk-in-town.  He's not finished. 

Layering and Conjoining Method

This past week, I enjoyed a visit from my brother and family who live in Arizona.  Saturday we invited a whole bunch of family for dinner so they all had a chance to visit with Mark.  We had a great time and my Aunt Sue and Aunt Irene came.  Sue is Granny's daughter and Irene is Granny's daughter-in-law.  I enjoyed showing and telling them about Tim's Quilt.  They both have made many quilts but nothing anywhere similar to this cloth I am working on.

So, just touching the cloth again after a few months made me want to do a little stitching.  Well, that and the fact that I am quietly involved with Jude Hill's Magic Diaries class.  I liked the slow format that she planned for the class and thought I could focus on the continuance of Tim's quilt.

Sunday evening, I picked up these two forest components for the ring of trees and finished the raw edge applique stitching.  Then I conjoined the two.  I'm showing my method of layering the two edges and then stitching to conjoin.