sewing away

it was going to go somewhere else, however we all know a woman changes her mind more often than not, so the small tree patch has landed in this log cabin mini-quilt, not that I knew what it was until I learned about this motif, where other than over at Jude's, where I was carried away via the virtual waves to womenfolk.com, very quaint indeed

wonderful how fast we are able to travel these days

the cream/green silk comes from Dee and the pale blue from Julie, the stained silk from my wedding dress; the very fine cotton is, if I remember correctly, from a blouse my sister-in-law handed down to me

it never ceases to amaze me -when I make myself think about it- how in such a small square there are already so many connections....I haven't even mentioned all the effort that went into producing the fabrics themselves, the dyes, the threads; come to think of it, everything I make is always part of something bigger, resulting sometimes as a final product at the end of a long line of human production and/or natural processes

humbling to realize how small I actually am; I tend not to think too much about the bigger picture (or my place in the world) focused as I am on my belly button, very much the centre of my world; child-like almost

moving on now to this larger piece: a Big Pillow, deviating ever so slightly from the smaller ones; it can't be any other way 'cos I want to keep this boat image intact; it started life as a seperate piece, became integrated in the Larger Cloth, which itself didn't survive and has been cut into several smaller pieces, most of which resulted in the Small Comfort cushions (or Soft Landings, I'm not sure what to call them really, are they seperate enitities or should they stay together?)
As I decided we needed new pillows on our beds, it meant I had a really nice down pillow left over (a couple of the oldest ones have gone to Django as well as to  the eldest son who no longer lives here, but in his student digs and needs five pillows, new and old, I haven't asked why)

I made the pillow smaller, i.e. narrower, as the down feathers have shrunk, fallen in on themselves as it were, and I want a full plump look, without losing the softness. I've had to use a ruler for drawing straight lines onto the fabric, and am now sewing the front and back to each other as neatly as possible; when I look at all those hand-sewn stitches, absolutely mind boggling and yet, also completely as it should be

laughs

Arjen Lubach, Dutch comedian

I believe the only thing that can save us is laughter!

'tweet re-tweet' 

far from the turmoil on the world stage, at home surrounded by the beings in the studio, loving family members, the dog wagging his tail - apart from his not so subtle nudging urging me outdoors for a walk every 15 minutes or so - a sense of sanity, calm and well-being descends upon all those who dwell here....I feel grateful to be here, alive and healthy in this day & age, despite it all
although I too grapple with many petty so-called first world worries: a new phone that doesn't seem to be uploading the photo's the way I'm used to, hence the lack of posts these past couple of days; two phones arriving instead of one, having to send one back and fill in all kinds of incomprehensible forms; 'stay calm, breathe in breathe out, don't let yourself get upset'
switching energy supply companies, argh, very friendly woman named Claire whom I must have spoken to/emailed 20 times this week (I kid you not) but now if all goes according to plan we will be heating and cooking with renewables instead of adding to climate change* whilst cooking a healthy meal or taking a hot shower!

dealing with 2 different companies and stuff went wrong, not because human beings made mistakes (which we sometimes do) but because their 'systems' failed.....well we have all been there I guess; fortunately in both cases the two women I dealt with, wanted to help, be of service, we talked like real people do, we made jokes, in short we made it; Small Feats

have started practicing yoga again after a botched attempt in a class years ago, a much more intense kind, I think this might be helping as well

(*this is not an alternative fact)



latest small cushion, with a hare-in-hiding, a small green bird, full moon (yep, Jude related) blue silk from my wedding dress, rust marks lino print indigo dye lots of tiny stitches

thinking of sewing the tree-print-patch onto this one, adding a layer 

display on windowsill; the humble toothbrush has become purely decorative, I tried brushing my teeth with it: the wood is just so uncomfortable! too hard in my sensitive mouth, ha

ever expanding and contracting collection of small cushions, where have the other ones gone? memory's a fine thing