Random Stitching

I have spent more hours in the chair zone stitching random thoughts.  I have finished the initial stitching of this new section and will weave another component next.

This looks like it could turn in to a face.

The Connection

It's true, I haven't stitched since June.  However, the cloth side of me always gets the urge when cold weather arrives. I wouldn't say it is cold here but is cooler for sure.  Other than the obvious reason for this urge, which is sitting all cozy with the cloth in my lap,  I think I'm also reminded of the times my Granny let me iron the quilt scraps for her.  The iron wasn't electric.  It was heated on the wood burning stove. I have great winter memories of this with my Granny.  

So, during the past weekend when this urge hit, I wove another component for Tim's quilt.  Before I put it all down in June, I had worked out how the components I had finished would go together.  Beats me.  Now it is like a puzzle and I couldn't remember or figure it out again.  So, I just made the above and went from there.

I really like "the connection" of two components.  I like that it isn't obvious at first glance.

I hope to make great progress this season.  We will see.

The Cloth Side Of Me

The cloth side of me sat and stitched most of the weekend.  Not really, I did make plum sauce and a little house blessing. Surely not enough of that.  I seriously need to put this stitching away for a while and we'll see if I manage that.  The thing is stitching is something I can do during the evenings while sitting which seems to be the only thing I can manage in the evenings.  I'm worthless after five after dinner. Stitching does keep me upright in the chair.  I have nearly finished stitching this large component and have it ready to connect, merge, integrate, fuse, unite, blend, with another component. 

Thread Beads

Adding thread bead to the bead moon.

An Unplanned Plan

Yesterday, during my morning ART period, I did another component weaving.  It will sorta match up to other components that I have already shown.  I just really "needed" to do it. Maybe you know what I mean. I don't know.  I don't have a painting started and didn't have time to start because the "start" was not in my head.  But the "start" of this was in my head and so I did.  I first had this laid out with the same size strips, but when I was weaving the other direction, I changed my mind and added the wider check.  It seemed to really go with my unplanned plan.  Then on a whim and knowing I would be late to the office I "needed" to do the weave within a weave with the black.  Middle bottom of component.

Last night, still feeling a bit stretched and "needing" to just sit in front of the big screen, I basted around the edge with the hidden baste stitch and did a little stitching in the double weave.

I really thought this chartreuse green moon would be perfect here .... and I do like it but then I thought of the skirt I used in this piece and sure enough, it is more perfect.

Maybe you really can't tell with the close up instead of seeing the whole component.  Don't worry, I'll be showing again when I get all the stitching done.  I find the stitching so relaxing at night and today I'm feeling less stretched. 

Another Connection

Another Connection.

Actually, I made this connection of the first and third component during my Monday holiday. I left my toes for perspective but this is approximately 28+ X 14+.  All the grand kids were here but I didn't tell any of them what I was doing.  Tim usually ask and is always very interested but he was busy fishing and playing games on the computer with his cousins.  This cloth will be Tim's.

I find stitching in the evenings very relaxing.  Just as I find my best time to paint is in the mornings.  That is pretty cool but I do have a hard time balancing them in my head.  You know?  The push and pull and up and down of balance that is mostly constant in my thoughts.  It is a struggle inside which obviously  has an effect on the outside. I guess.

The Mystery Of It

Connect, merge, integrate, fuse, unite, blend, complete.  I really like the mystery of it all after it happens. Like, wondering which came first and last and in between.  I'm showing so I can remember.

Play

I'm spending my holiday weekend playing with fabric and stitching. This is component #5.

I wanted to leave the little blue windows even though they do not show up very much, they do coordinate.  The component was not random enough and too predictable with the blue windows so I added another layer with the black dots.

I will probably add more when the blocks are connected.

Hello Skirt

This morning I was awake early which means I start my day like someone has turned the clock up a bit.  That's OK.  I did another block weaving before heading to the office.  It is very much like the first one because I laid it out together and planned it that way.  I want to connect them.  This one has another green introduced. My skirt. The one I cut the elastic band off of.  I have now ripped it.  You see I could have put the elastic band back on and shortened the skirt which is the reason that I no longer wore it. 

I wondered this morning before getting out of bed if my counter top would be deep enough for the components.  It is.  I can stand or sit on my stool to baste the block before stitching.  Good lighting here and this is actually where I used to paint before I got the big black desk.

Green Thread

While stitching this little nine inch component, I kept thinking about the green thread that was in my MIL's nest of threads.  At least 75 percent of her stash was green.  It gave me pause that my project's primary color theme is green. Anything with green. And that I most likely will use a lot of green thread to stitch. That's nice that I will use her left over threads.  But I have to admit while stitching this component, I got bored with using green.  I felt the need to switch to shades of gold and then red.  I'm sure it is safe to say, in the end, I will be using all colors to stitch with.

The one thing that puzzled me with her threads was that I found several hanks of thread that had been cut through resulting in a whole hank of strands all the same length and ready to use. In other words, instead of pulling the end of the thread from the hank and cutting off the desired amount, one could just pull off a 6 ply length and work with it.  Like the blue below, I used some of the green and rather liked that it was already cut like that.  I wondered if this was the way I was suppose to be doing it and I wondered if I had known this in the past and forgotten.  So I pulled a skein from its little paper holder and unfolded it. It was one big circle of 6 ply threads and I cut through all of it. Sure enough that was how it was done.  Then I looked at some of my newer thread and found that it is not done the same way.  In other words when the skein is opened up the circle that is formed of the 6 ply threads is much smaller and if I cut through the threads, the lengths would be much to short to stitch with.  I'm still puzzled about this and wonder when it changed. Was it by brands. It is certainly not something important to be puzzled about.  Just mindless thinking and stitching.

This morning I laid out my first component (below) to start planning the next one.  I'm thinking about how I can integrate them and that is why I left the edges random lengths on the first block.   At first, before starting, I resisted the thought that I could "start" without a plan.  So, I planned green.

The Beginning

Yesterday I helped Melissa with a garage sale.  She is living in my MIL's house and we never really cleared all of her things since she passed away last fall.  I knew she still had some treasures and she had enjoyed a long life sewing.  So I was pretty sure that I would find some remnants.  I did.  I also found a dress bodice that was still pinned to the pattern and I knew it would be perfect for the ground of my first cloth to cloth weaving shown above.

I knew I might find some stripe or plaid shirts to repurpose into this project.  I'm wondering now if I will ever actually finish this.  My guess is that I won't because I know myself really well.  My passions come and go and I enjoy the moment but get bored and move on to something else.  I will say that I have enjoyed quilting for more years than I can remember and have finished a few and have a few unfinished.

I have great intentions.

With time.

I will finish.

My first two woven components are about 14" square. I know it is hard to tell on the screen. 

The fabric I used for the checkerboard is a wonderful chartreuse green that is poorly shown here. I think I remember master bedroom curtains made of this and that is the type of fabric it is. The weave of the fabric is such that the back/wrong side is black and the front/right side is the green. I have used front and back of the fabric remnant for the checkerboard. I tore the fabric in random size strips to weave. I am not interested in an exact square of squares. 

I have watched in astonishment how Jude uses her textile without any notice or concern of the wrinkles and creases and I am convinced that fact could be one of the mysteries of the beauty of Jude's Spirit Cloths. Therefore, I have set aside my own compulsive disorder regarding ironing the remnants. 

Of course the first thing I did when I got home with my new stash was run all of it through the washer and dryer. Hoping, as I think Jude does, that colors will run and fade and color wash over the whole load. Another mystery to the cohesive integration of Jude's cloths. I'm sure.

Weaving within a weaving adds such mystery.

I think.

I learned a thing or two with this first effort and hope to remember them during my next try.

I have four grandchildren and following the tradition of my own grandmother of making a quilt for each of them is my motivation. Should I finish this one, it will be Tim's.

The blue gingham check is from one of his outgrown shirts. I wonder if he will remember it. He won't know about the other pattern in this 9" component. I think in the woven form here, it looks like a camouflage.

The fact is, the little square was laying handy by my chair and it is repurposed or reused times 3. In it's new life it was a house dress belonging to my Aunt. That would be my Mother's sister who married my Daddy's brother. I don't think Tim every knew her. I used it because it had green in the design and brought its compliment of an orangy red. Aunt Minnie had sewn a quilt top of random repurposed fabrics and gave to me years ago. And last year, I ripped it apart to reuse. So it was just a little 9 inch square that I anchored on the WIP bodice and then wove Tim's shirt into it.

Now they know each other.

I will continue making components and stitching and adding embellishment.

It took me a while to get started with this project. In my mind, I thought I would clean out my closet. And I will. But it is hard to just take the things out before knowing that I will use them. Clothes that I haven't worn for whatever reason in way too long. So I go to the closet thinking I will pull something out and just rip it up.

Can't.

I needed to start first with cloth remnants. I did take this skirt from the hanger and cut the elastic band off. It was a favorite that I haven't worn in several years. I took it off the hanger and held it up to me and thought, "I might still wear this". Then, I put it on and I thought, "No, I won't".

So I quickly cut the band off and washed it. Now the skirt is waiting for me. I have my eye on a black skirt next.

Prologue

Prologue
written October 2015

"Do not go where the path may lead,

Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail."

                                  ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Dear Timothy,
I found this quote on my Mother's fridge after she passed away. For many reasons, I hold it close to my heart. Tim's Cloth is where I veered off where there was no path and am now leaving a trail for you. 

When I first started down my own path, May 2010, I considered my audience to be all those known and unknown to me on the world wide web who might happen upon my trail.

On Monday, September 26, 2011, I understood my audience was you. Therefore, I began to address my post directly to you, Dear Timothy. 

Frequently, when I shared my thoughts, photos, discoveries, inspiration and explanations of construction, I found myself giving you bits of my learned experience in the form of advise to you. For example, one day I said, "...keep your eyes and heart open. And give your imagination a place to go." And on another day, "...sometimes we have to let go and just keep the beauty an inside memory." 

I hope you will discover these bits of me that I have left on this trail and know that my personal spirit, heart and soul is also left on the trail. 

I found the song birds and jungle birds; the shooting stars and wishing stars; the green moons and circles; the forest and jungle; the beast and dueling dragons; the flowers and garden path; the seasons and moon trees all there on the path that no one else had gone down. They are the spirit from my heart and soul....... 

And the love I have for you, Dear Timothy.