28.1.10

Let´s get foggy...

Here´s a another one of those little projects
for which I more or less just grabbed the nearest
scraps (to get them out of the way, and to
avoid the dustcough and headache from searching
around among the crates and boxes in the other
room - in fact, I find it liberating to just
use what´s at hand, to just make do, and I quite
often are more satisfied with the results...)
- a grey logcabin block...













... with which, inspired by this and this, and by this
picture from a magazine...













... I did this...













The writing says: mit nebelhafter Klarheit (with
foglike clarity)...













After the longest period of grey (NO, I didn´t ask for
it...) days since 1964, there was a bit of sunshine
this week - but now new snow...














"It is not the clear-sighted who rule the world.
Great achievements are accomplished in a blessed,
warm fog."

(Joseph Conrad)


Last, but not least:
I´m enjoying the comments on the hearts give-away
a lot - it´s like being allowed to glimpse into
peoples homes and hearts for a moment - thank you...!

26.1.10

Give-away time

Inspired by this, and going along with
"One world one heart" (great idea, more about
it here...) I think it´s time for another
give-away here, too - to join in the fun, and to
say thanks to the steadily growing number of
visitors who take an interest in Gerdiary...

So, I´m offering three textile hearts (about 14 cm
high) I made a while ago. Here they are:













I´ve always liked the english expression "to my heart´s
content"... In German, that´s "nach Herzenslust" - but
the meaning seems a slightly different one. It suggests
something like eating too much cake, or to frolic about
in the shopping mall, without having washed the dishes
first at home - there´s a tiny quantum of guilt mixed
in (as it is with most things German...) - whereas
"to my heart´s content" for my ears sounds more
private, and restoring...













To be counted in, tell me: What´s to your heart´s
content today - or tomorrow, or next week...?

And please note which one of the hearts you would
prefer (named after the words used on them, left to
right on the second photo): Silver, Wisdom or Ottawa ...

I´ll pack a little bundle of fabric scraps and things,
all in neutrals, in with each heart. The give-away
will be open till February 14, and winners will be
announced/contacted on February 15.

24.1.10

Patchwork Dada

In order to use up scraps (before they take
over completely...), and to get things a bit
more in order around here, I started on a couple
of projects for which I just take what scraps are
at hand, sewing them together without thinking
too much about what will come of it...
Here´s No. 1...













... made from small cotton and linen rectangles
and stray pen-on-fabric words from (other people´s)
poems. Since I decided not to butcher work by
others (except songs, they´re public domain in
a broader sense than poems...) for my stitching
any more, I rearranged them towards a new meaning:

In a poem another room,
like ways to look at
unblurry unanimity,
as we look at a child,
a bird, the horizon.

I meant to add a border to it, with a splash of
colour, but then...













... inspired by this and remembering this - I taped it
to a window...
























Ha ha, neighbours with the evil eye (in case there
are, who knows...) - no chance for you here any more...

21.1.10

Squares with tails













Seeing this ad, I wondered how it could be done:
four patches, knotted in the middle...













So I tried, cutting squares with tails...
Never figured it out properly like in the photo,
but came up with these quite entertaining little
four-patches...



19.1.10

Thaw or: Why, oh why...

Ugly weather here, dirty slush melting further,
big patches of ice and snow crashing from rooftops,
sunless days for the longest period since 1964 -
all this dripping and dropping makes me extra fond
of frayed edges it seems...













A little something I stitched yesterday...













... using some print-pastel-sketch bubbles I made
a while ago...

























"Somewhere over the rainbow
Way up high,
There's a land that I heard of
Once in a lullaby.
Somewhere over the rainbow
Skies are blue,
And the dreams that you dare to dream
Really do come true.

Someday I'll wish upon a star
And wake up where the clouds are far
Behind me.
Where troubles melt like lemon drops
Away above the chimney tops
That's where you'll find me.

Somewhere over the rainbow
Bluebirds fly.
Birds fly over the rainbow.
Why then, oh why can't I?

If happy little bluebirds fly
Beyond the rainbow
Why, oh why can't I?"

(E.Y. Harburg: Somewhere over the Rainbow)

17.1.10

January or: Brave news













New snow (rapidly turning into slush)...













Old rose (with surprisingly fresh petals inside)...













Pond straightway (with Berlin pond sprites)...














"There is a slumbering subterranean fire in nature
which never goes out, and which no cold can chill. It
finally melts the great snow, and in January or July
is only buried under a thicker or thinner covering..."

(H.D. Thoreau, from: A Winter Walk)

16.1.10

Silent saturday...















































(* Art is beautiful, but a lot of work)

14.1.10

A matter of perception

Staring at the curtain before getting up in the
morning (well, okay, more often close to noon)
I saw two dogs, nosesniffing. It can get a bit
annoying, actually, seeing faces and creatures
everywhere all the time...













But what can you do but acknowledge them -
so here they are: Snow dogs...














"If the doors of perception were cleansed, everything
would appear as it is - infinite."

(William Blake)

12.1.10

Mission (more or less...) accomplished

What became of my quixotic resolution from back at
the end of November
to finish all UfOs, WIPs and half
forgotten projects...? Well, 6 weeks, in spite of
failure and fatigue, can at least slightly change the
appearance of a sewing basket...













I did finish a lot, actually - except the one below -
waiting all the time for the day I might get around to
visit a fabric store all across town where I´ve seen some
very light woven cotton I´d like to use for the backside
- but not in that slush out there, no way...
And there´s that big fat brown-grey one - let´s forget
about it, it´s a wrist killer...













And there´s Hands of Time, in progress...


9.1.10

Silent saturday...















































(*Unendlicher Spass = infinite fun)

7.1.10

Reading at noon time

I like to use small quilts (or big Calmers)
as book marks. When reading while eating (or
eating while reading) they help to hold the
pages open...
Here´s one of my favourites, accompanying me
through "Die Jüdin von Toledo" by Lion Feuchtwanger













And here´s one I made as a gift, on a wonderful book
I got as a birthday present...













"Fragile Remnants - Egyptian Textiles of Late Antiquity
and Early Islam" - here´s a sleeve fragment of a linen
tunic from the 6th century (can you see the tiny red
elements, several tongues and a scarf - or a leash? or a wound??
(click to enlarge...)














I mean to start writing poetry again - there´s neither
time nor energy for "serious" stuff at the moment,
though. But to stay true to my resolution, here´s
an impromptu Haiku:

Reading at noon time
What better way of climbing
A winter day´s peak

5.1.10

Alles hat seine Zeit

WAY is going to be good company, I can tell
that much already...













A small piece of cloth I located in the depths
of the sewing basket with four roundish patches
meaning to resemble stones or gems or whatever found
a new home there already, as well as another one
I started at my mother´s, using for the round
element one of my father´s old ties.

Alles hat seine Zeit - there´s a time for
everything...














"Everything happens to everybody sooner or
later if there is time enough.”

(George Bernard Shaw)


MANY THANKS, last but not least, for all
your kind and cheery good wishes....!

3.1.10

Funny faces

A little sunday noon stitching:
long cloth, or WAY, trying hard to look
serpentine...













And here´s something I made while staying
at my mother´s. The child within, issueing a
statement, I guess...













The outer child, by the way, became 55 today.
Happy birthday to me...!