Amsterdam

 I was greeted by our prime minister (the previous one, now) on a giant television outside the airport

 I didn't see much of the city, only from afar, but I did see the old shipyard. got to know it a lot, walking up and down

 some rehearsing, a little music, telling, meeting people

 and a flag..Greece was on my mind a lot, since we are being turned inside out by political powergames

 a greek question mark in one of our singing bowls

 colours on walls. the grey sky seems relentless, just as I suppose our sun is to people coming from grey skied countries

 language learning outside the mens rest room. looks like broken english..I know its the other way round. And, Martine, do women need telling?

 bench floor patterns during nightime

swans in couples
saw a raven
and fat self satisfied seagulls
ducks, and black ones that I learnt were called coots


I didn't spend much time in Amsterdam, but I saw people, met some I'm glad to have met, hung out with members of the pack, told and listened to stories
a good trip
maybe another time I will see the city, and, who knows, a blogging friend or two....

Iwas in the desert and I came back to snow. now the sun is out and spring is here. we had a pocket size winter!

the sun has taken its rightful place on the babycloth, along with beasties and beings.

now to get the pins out

seamingII

making a borobag backpack with pieces of clothes, leftovers from ragdoll koutsouna making. some woven, initially with no base, very loose, moves around a lot until they find their place. all very loosely basted onto a sheet, then a "stretchy" piece of skirt, it is the stitching that holds it together, uncountable layers at the seams

lines and lines of stitching are making a very sturdy cloth

I tried to traverse the whole bag with lines at right angles, felt very much like weaving (with some diversions for fun, little winding paths, turning around on themselves)

the pins were in only for a moment, to hold the final seams

generally I like basting layers with thread to hold them together letting them move around until they are stitched down

it makes my left hand, the holding one take up an active role of energetically feeling the cloth as it comes together

the joining seams were very thick, the pins were under tension, I could almost hear the cloth sigh as they were pulled out

this is what I'm doing in anticipation of the start of jude's contemporary woven boro online class

I think it actually began sometime last year when I found her blog, spiritcloth

just another morning

the sun shines in my eastern window. i've hung graces cloth there, my eyes feast on it, admiring. ideas are coming about how to turn it into a storytelling cloth, but not the story. not yet. just enjoying, and wondering at the beauty of the cloth and the gesture. it makes me happy.this is another gift. took he picture because I liked the way it looked all jumbled up. woven from our native coarse wool, here in the village, must be very old- it was made by the grandmother of someone who is a grandmother herself.

did a little piecing experiment:

picked three scraps from ever expanding scrap bag

rules:

no waste, use it all up, cut after making the seam. it helped that one was a strip.

started with no plan or measurement

like it so much i've been carrying it around in my pocket for a few days

medusa the gorgon in the making

want her to be terrifying

but still to be able to receive a tender glance

layered charm
it has me thinking of a double sided cloth with all the layers visible at the seamsthe family are safely back home, the little one is safely here, his brother and father are safely back in Warsaw, and I am here, blessed.

Bless you all this new year, may the light shine through all clouds and worries.

warsaw and prints

I am in Warsaw with the spaniards, that is my boys and their father. Eldest son is moving here to go to school. It is beautiful and sunny (for the time being, anyway) and the parks are stupendous'Sunday morning Chopin concert was fabulous.
this is what came out of a pot left for a week, I sneak peeked and opened it before leaving, and now it is going to stay here. I´ve torn and bundled all my white sheets and pillowcases, and they are simmering in the sun in pots and jars, bundled with metals and leaves. looks promising...


the cloth in the top photo was pieced and then cut into moebius strips and is slowly turning into a strip' what do you call it bias strip ? I'll show you when it's done

heat and absence

so it happens that I am alone at home for three days. A true holiday, a difference. Also, there is a heatwave. 40C in the shade. limiting movement, and food, and sleep.

so how to fill absence in a heatwave?

reflecting, sweating, musing, watering, myself, plants, myself.

the vat is at its happiest

stitching is ok, especially if I don't get too fussy

at night I play around with positioning cloths

basting sometimes

made a little blue ridinghood with the cutouts from beachcloth and sea cloth. I think I'll give her a pink madder wolf.

cat, owl, fish is an applique sampler

fun

oh yes, dyeing cloths

sort of madly dyeing- there's nothing like a heatwave to bless pots

also preparing bundles, because a longer absence is in the near future, the best recipe to leave them alone

I surprised a gecko in a bag of leaves

I live with colonies of them, they are vociferous and entertaining

and they eat moths, mosquitoes etc

say hello to grace, mr gecko

the window is from kythera, a seaming window

you can see more of my dyeing on flikr, there on the right

back from Arcadia

mountain villages. Storytelling at dawn, watching the mountains float with the new light, the world being born again. my workshop this year was about the mythic image, metaphor, abstraction. Illustrated by the koutsouna ladies.

"what is in your hand?"

"a boat without sails"

it was half an empty walnut shell.

storytelling, no?

a memory of last year's workshop overwintering in the forest.

and stitching dots, making a cloth out of bundled scraps.

food for the soul.

sea and sky

we went to the sea today, there was no one swimming, too cold. End of June, in Greece! I stitched some, and took photos. Telemaco went in the water, I put a jacket on..

all colours (on the cloths and threads) are from plants, with some help from rusty nails and little bacteria, except for the heart- I haven't gotten round to dyeing threads with madder yet

artificial light in the top two pictures, the beach scenes are from the cellphone

philemon and baucis

the treecloth I've been making for jude hill's cloth to cloth online workshop, backsidetrunk and beginning of roots, up close
all components secured, cloth washed. All fabrics have been dyed by plants from this area. After I washed it I saw the face on the trunk, but the embellishing will come later. It has been so satisfying to make, and magical, really. It is full of stories. I see the olive tree of this land, after the fire, is she praying, or is she dancing? I think a beetle will keep her company, a little lizard and a scops owl,

this is the olive tree which lives next to the houseand this was a fragrant home for a family

today we sre going to the sea to wash the fleeces