Beings

Husssh... can you hear the beat of their wings?
I decided to call them Beings...

Out of the blue

Grey clouds over Berlin, with a bit of snow - time
to look for blue skies elsewhere...













Two books I bought recently, two blue + white old
and very soft quilt blocks I purchased on Etsy,
for very little money (I´m thinking of making some
cloth including bits of material someone unknown
to me, somewhere, somewhen made - similar as
including "found footage" in some of my mixed-media
works...), a "component" with grey swirls on indigo
I got from Arlee, a blueish creature in the making...













... and a piece of hand dyed blue + beige silk.
I took these "Wave" pieces out of the shop, they didn´t
sell in a while, and I don´t like things sitting around
there for too long, gathering virtual dust...
I had the the bigger piece, before I cut it in four,
pinned to a wall here for some time after I´d dyed it,
considering it for use in a project with words half
hidden behind gaps in the fabric I have in mind -
but then I found it too colourful for me.
Now, looking at this piece, I might reconsider...
But I want to offer one of the four for a swap -
it´s 54 x 66 cm - 22 x 26 inches, and I´m open for
all kinds of offers...

Window-shopping...

Just updated the shop - and here are some of
the things I´ve put in...


























































The words on that hanging are a short version
of a poem I wrote the other day, about most
of November having been a decidedly undecided
kind of month, aprillike...

Between seasons

Time herself might feel her age
Slow down
On becalmed wings
Allowing voids between the seasons
For a while
Where color, constant, climate, can/can-not
Dissolve

(H.G.)

Beasts, bling-bling bag...

I´m very pleased with the performance of my new
threadbox-watchdog so far...













So I made another one. And a watchsheep.
They will be in the shop tomorrow...

And I want to show you my new old indian bag I found
second-hand...













It has an interesting inner life...

Gloomy Monday afternoon

Meet my new beastly threadbox-watchdog-beast...













Busy sewing, and stuffing, and...

Silent saturday...

Wagonload of wips

Which first...?? No idea...
There´s the Housecoat quilt, a hanging in the making,
a small long cloth, waiting for more of its kind to come
and hang next to it, there´s the beginning of an attempt
at a "traditional" quilt, in order to use up scraps...
There´s even more, to the left, and in baskets, and
over chairs...













And there´s something on the table, of course - a
few "storybook children" larvae in the ripe age
of almost 2 years who somehow got to the surface
of a basket, so I might as well finish them into
dollcreatures - and some necklaces... I´m going
to put them in the shop later or tomorrow. As I´ve
been asked about my fabric beads, I thought
I´d offer some combinations of those with other beads
(the fabric beads alone would cost unreasonable high
shipping, compared to their size and weight...), on
simple strings, which can be worn as a necklace as
they are, or taken apart and other elements added
to create a personal piece of jewelry...

Old thought, new post...

This reminded me of these photos I made back in
September, but somehow never posted - didn´t touch
that piece either since then. Too many of them
around, unfinished, perhaps...













Eye wide open in front...













... and asleep on the backside...
























Here´s looking at you...

Monday mail

Lately, I´ve been developing a certain fondness
for things colourful and shiny - favourably in
connection with stitch...
Might be the cold grey season coming, or me being
a capricorn, who are prone to (at least that´s what
I´ve been reading once, in a horoscope book) to drop
some of their natural austerity when life´s autumn
approaches for a weak spot for bling-bling...













However, that´s why I bought some sari scraps...




































Look at that tough little bead, hanging on, as the
last of it´s kind, on a vast expanse - for a bead - of
border...

Reverberation

Yesterday´s poem, with Rose Ausländer´s words
"Sei was du bist/be what you are" echoes here,
obviously...
























And here´s a little storybook I made. It tells,
in deliberately scrawly machine writing "a story
from once upon a time of a lady who loved the
wind"...
I do. Makes me cranky, though...













A good weekend to everyone...

As time goes by

The piece on the right, which I started somewhen
in October, has been put on hold till now, because
it occured to me it would fit nicely into a September-
October-November trio.
I might as well continue with December, January...
I might.













Three years ago my father died. So I made this little
cloth, for my mother.


"Wirf deine Angst
in die Luft

Bald
ist deine Zeit um
bald
wächst der Himmel
unter dem Gras
fallen deine Träume
ins Nirgends

Noch
duftet die Nelke
singt die Drossel
noch darfst du lieben
Worte verschenken
noch bist du da

Sei was du bist
Gib was du hast"

(Rose Ausländer: Noch bist du da/You’re here, still)

"Throw your fear
into the air

Soon
your time is over
soon
heaven grows
under the grass
your dreams fall
into nowhere

Still
the carnation smells sweetly
the thrush sings
still you may love
give words away
you are here, still

Be what you are
Give what you have"

(transl. Julia Samwer)

A winner, and more pouches...

The winner is...













Kit Lang of Diva Quilts...
Thanks for the lot of kind and encouraging comments!













And I made some more pouches. They are a bit bigger
than the last one... Though I haven´t done much of
it in a while, I enjoy making bags and pouches a lot,
not for practical purposes primarily, but just to have
them around...
I find that very soothing, empty receptacles,
vessels, bags and baskets. As it is, most of those I
have are occupied by all kinds of stuff - but with more
storage room and living space, there would be a lot
of empty ones... I´d like that.

Faces

Have been amusing myself by making funny faces...













Unintentional...
























And on purpose...

Thanks for all the comments on No. 450!
I will be drawing and announcing a Give-away winner
on Tuesday.

But please don´t put your expectations too high about
that pouch - it´s only 8 x 11 cm, so if you intend to
gather a lot of leaves, taking along a second, somewhat
more spacious receptacle might be recommendable...

Gathering posts or: a Give-away

That´s post No. 450 here. Wow.
So I looked around in the shop and reserved
this little "Gathering leaves" pouch...













... as a Give-away. I´ll add a pack of hand dyed
fabrics, and a personalized card & tag - to be
counted in, just leave a comment till Monday...













No leaves left on the chestnut tree outside
my window...

Pinkism

That´s how it goes with those -isms...
One eats an avocado, sees some red leaves, wonders -
just theoretically - what might happen with a few
plum skins added...













... and boom, off on another bout...
I don´t even like pink, normally, did I ever mention
that?













But here we go, nevertheless: there´s a November
Pink Pack in the shop now, and a few more things...

Prepared to dream again

So, November...
Has been a mild day, I´ve been sitting outdoors,
drinking espresso.
Today, my grandmother would have had her 105. birthday.
That´s her, in the 1930s...













She shares that date with someone else I quite esteem -
Kinky Friedman, born November 1, 1944, and source of a
multitude of highly enjoyable, as well as instructive,
songs and novels and quotes such as "There is one way
you can always guarantee that you´ll wake up in the
morning smiling: Go to bed with a coat hanger in your
mouth". Don´t like it too much? What about this one then:
"But what is life if not a series of small disappointments
from which we rebound, pick ourselves off, and prepare
to dream again"...?













Me, I´m dreaming of a productive, calm, untroubled
November (and wishing everyone out there the same)...













Meanwhile, I´m making some mixed-media collages...