Sad Stitches for Belle

     My summer reverberates with the loss of my beloved grandmother, who through her strong and idiosyncratic beliefs, taught us all about health, manners, gestures, elegance, kindness and strength of will. As a family, we have lost our lodestone and our cornerstone and feel bereft of her presence and I have lost my greatest mentor, friend and champion.

I have spent many hours piecing together my quilt tops and finishing them off as best I could in my temporary set-up in the mountains.

                              










 Here, I grow my beds of vegetable and herbs for the winter, watch lazuli buntings if I'm lucky enough, frighten off the coyotes and bears that occupy the woods around us.  Gluey with life, the air nourished my soul, mind and body and opens me to the purest pleasures.

Les Fraises Parfait.

one patch of wild french strawberries
two nearly clean fingers
one greedy mouth.
divine and glorious.

yogaquilt: Encroachment

yogaquilt: Encroachment

Encroachment

I have always hated being copied by others whether in clothes, taste, style, or just being.  I've had some crazy people with fixations on me and I've had to hold myself strong to flow through these relationships and leave fairly unscarred.  In quilting, sharing is the name of the game whether it's patterns, ideas, or even material. I have found that this world relishes collaboration among women instead of the competitiveness that we normally find in our relationships-who has the better house, car, kid, stove, etc and on it goes, but in this world, my world, a gift of a scrap of this or that makes all our lives sweeter.  As the summer nears its end, I find myself with an oddly pieced and deeply scarred journal-it holds the bitterness and the sweetness of these sultry months.  As I strengthen my seams, I make beauty from all the pieces of my life and I learn to lose without grasping for control, but with the ability to ruthlessly cut the threads in one place and slowly undo them in another.

I finally finished my fleur-de-lys from my on-line Nancy Chong class.  She's a great resource for patterns and easy instructions for something that looks complicated.  I used a vintage fabric for the center and a more south pacific inspired material for the backing and binding.  I love practicing my hand quilting and practice I need, so I have another one waiting for more attention. For the next few weeks I will be off-line while I fabricate more textile stories. Have a wonderful summer with many blessings.