Planet Textile Threads

For those who still haven't swaped a Postcard with Susan over at Cyber Fyber. Don't miss this opportunity to join in!

While joining... Sharon has started a new community called Stitchin Fingers.

Have a nice weekend!

When Mr C and I first thought about coming on this trip to Israel, I had in mind that I would do a series of pieces based on the trip. I will have the opportunity to mount a show of this work at Trinity Cathedral in Portland. What is so interesting to me is that I had a vision of what the color palette would be before I arrived here. If you have looked at any of my photos from the trip, you can see that the color scheme is very neutral — gray, beige and golden tones.

I have been paying attention to words and metaphors as we visit various sites. For instance, pomegranates grow profusely in the Galilee area and are featured in antique carvings. Almost every where you travel in this amazing country, you are faced with the facts of past and present strife. I am thinking of representing this with red for the blood shed. Anyway, I am intentionally thinking about ways to present this experience in my fabric art.

Today, we drove from Galilee to Jerusalem through the West Bank, stopping for lunch in Jericho. We went through several check points as we went from Israeli control to Palestine control and so on. It was quite striking to see the difference in the Israeli controlled Galilee to the West Bank, which is Palestinian. The roads are less cared for, there is a lot of trash along the way, the homes are often made up of whatever can be tacked together and the farms do not have the polished look of the kibbutz farms. I will post some photos from today, later when I have some time.

I thought I would post some photos about our trip yesterday. You can see all of the photos on my Flickr site. Our first stop was the ruins of Sepphoris, famous for its splendid 3rd century mosaics. This particular face was very compelling:

We also visited Nazareth which is inhabited by Muslims and Christians — very few Jews live there. We had lunch near the well where Mary, the mother of Jesus, would have gotten her daily water supply, thus it is now named Mary’s fountain. We visited a recreated typical Nazarene home and farm. It is on a site that had been excavated and had some of the necessary parts of a family farm, such as a wine press made from a rocky area. Our guide was the lead archaeologist on the dig. There were the cutest kids dressed in costume hanging out for our entertainment.

I take many of my photos from the bus as we travel around the country. I love taking photos of doors, windows and interesting buildings.

Notice the high tops on this Palestinian girl.

I also love to photograph the architecture. Much of the housing is on hillsides and vertical. This is to save the flat land for agriculture

Tomorrow we are off to Bethlehem. When we arrived in Jerusalem this afternoon, we drove up to the Mt. of Olives to get an overview of Jerusalem — wow, what a sight.

I made two painted calico samples, this is one that I applied all sorts too, just to see if I could, I ended up putting so many layers and eventually I just ruined it, and it was a dull dark red and turquoise, no life it looked ready for the bin, as I had nothing to lose, I dunked it in the sink and scrubbed it with a pan scrubber, then threw it on the draining board and scrubbed it with bleach, rinsed it of and left it to dry, I liked the fact some areas had faded and the turquoise seemed to have remained the strongest colour, next day I sprayed it with Moonshadow Mist Tawney Turquoise, once that was dry I made up some silver metallic acrylic into a very watery solution and washed the whole surface, while it was wet I sprayed it with the Moonshadow Mist again



Above is the full piece and the four pictures below are scans of the sample rotated on the scanner to show some of the detail, shame you can't see the two tone effect of the Moonshadow Mist, this was never meant to be a resolved piece, but just to try out some thoughts I had, but it may well end up in postcards.

Autumn Forest #1 For Sale $40US inclusive of postage

Autumn Forest #2 For Sale $40 US inclusive of postage

I did some dyeing today and these autumn forest fabrics turned out like real bewdies! Just like the trees in the autumn garden.

The top piece is a little sample I am doing. I think I showed a photo of a Syrian horse rug I bought when in Syria- I really liked the colours and it was all half square triangles. I did think I might make a piece with half square triangles but it is not really me so I have been batting my head against the wall trying to think of some way to still get the effect but do it differently. I tried this little piece today- stitching every other triangle- i also laid on some copper banding- i am still in the thinking stages. Maybe I should just freehand applique hand cut triangles on. I will try that tomorrow but now that I look at the piece on the screen I do quite like it.The copper banding will get some hand stitching over the top in coarse black cotton.

I also spent some time making a portfolio book with Viovio. Has anyone used this company? Their system was quite easy to use and you can also upload your own pdf. Anyway I decided to take the plunge and produce my own book of images to do with the work I am doing for my exhibition. ( Th e postage cost almost more than the book- as I used International express post- I thought it was possible to get prepaid satchels in the US for international post?). I will be interested to see what the quality is like and i deliberately used images of different sizes so that I can see what works and what doesn't in case I do like their system.

The new stamp went to work on some silk dupion. First step, once the stripes were together, was to delineate the hexagons with hand stitch. Next, I machined all the daisy/star shapes, then added a narrow binding (in the fluorescent orange) round the back.
It didn't photograph terribly well: you don't get the wonderful shine of the "metallic" orange bit, or the limeyness of the green. But while making it I had various ideas for other uses of hexagons.

Yesterday it stopped raining for the first time in days so Choco and I took a different route for our walk. On the other side of the river there is a small dairy farm and half of the year the cows are there and half of the year they are taken out to some far off pasture I guess. Cows seem like very peaceful animals just sitting in the shade and flicking flies but they were very interested in us when we walked by and we had a small stampede greet us at the fence.

I walked today down Bab El Qalk, and in towards Bab Zuweilah. This is the area where the Tentmakers work.

I was taking my time. Every walk at the moment has the weight and importance of a 'last time'.

An elderly man shuffled past, moving fast. His tracksuit drooped about his spindly thighs and hips, slung low enough to be dangerous. It was threadbare in places, with patches of beige showing through - which I hope was his underwear. The legs were too long and had frayed to a long and daggy fringe.

Across his bottom was one word.

JUICY.

.........................................

There is a white horse on the same walk. He (undoubtedly) is always parked in the same place, beside a man with a big fruit stand. He is a beautiful horse - in good condition, firmly muscled and rounded, and pulls a cart that is a patchwork of pattern and paint - bright triangled in red and white and black and green and yellow. Every day as I pass he is turned in his traces, untethered, and his fodder is piled high and bright green on the surface of the cart he pulls. He is always eating, and he never seems to try to wander away.

.........................................

We went out last night to a coffee shop with a singer. I love this place - and there will soon be a whole blog on it. Last night though, I was fascinated by the singer. The sound system must have been set to maximum echo - so the blasting words rang into the room long after he lowered the microphone from his mouth. "Habiby" - which roughly translates as 'my darling' and is the mainstay of all Arabic songs as far I I can see - became 'Hab b b biby y y by by by".

I realised how useful this was as he saw that we were there and rushed over to greet Ibrahim.
He was in the middle of a series of 'habibys' and one long note was sung straight into Ibrahim's ear as the singer wrapped the microphone around Ibrahim's neck to make sure the audience missed nothing. He lowered it with time to greet us with a few words before the last throbbing notes died away, and then took it up again. It is obviously useful to have echoes long enough to have twenty second conversations between them!

I went with my son Sam, to the Friday markets in the City of the Dead a few weeks back. It is a marvelous place - though unbelievably grungy. If you have watched the blog you will have seen several references to it. I took the usual photographs of lots of people. I love the way the faces of the older ones have so much history written into them. On the whole I have found people are happy to be photographed. Now and again I want a pose that the person is holding and take one without their knowledge with my "sneaky camera". Do not worry - I have never ever been abused for it when I take a photo back, though I occasionally worry about the ethics of it.

I went to the City of the Dead again yesterday.

I had a pile of photos to hand out. This is something I do often - copy images to CD, print them off at one of the local cheap photoshops, then take them back to the area where I took them where I hand them out. People are usually delighted and it means that the next time I want photographs of people they rarely refuse. I have almost been mobbed in some places by people hoping I have images for them.

One of the men I photographed with Sam on our first visit there was an elderly man in a long white galabeyiah. He had a marvelously bushy beard, and the beard was dyed bright scarlet-orange with henna. I have since found it can be of religious significance - at the time it was simply a wonderful splash of colour. My request for a photograph led to some catcalling from the men around him, but he smiled, composed himself on his chair with his hands on his knees, and I took four shots in quick succession - two close and two further back. At one point he turned his head to answer a friend's comment - rude, guessing from the laugh on his face - and the shot is side-on but really amused.

I had two of the four printed to give to him - both the more formal versions.

The following week Sam and I went back. I have been dithering for a long time about purchasing an old door. I cannot possibly claim to need it - but I wanted it. Bob had said that he didn't mind as long as I did something with it in Canberra. I had reluctantly come to the conclusion that it was just a silly 'want' but the day before I packed I realised that I might forever regret not buying one while I had the opportunity.

The doors are wonderful. They have that faded and streaked and worn look that can show the past seven coats of paint in wear and scratches on their surface. Palimpsest is a popular element in art and somehow these doors are art forms of their own. Some are carved, some have insets of wrought iron work - curved or art deco. The colours are marvelous - greens and blues and purples, and the occasional one which is just wood turned silver and umber with use and wear, with the oil from a thousand hands soaked into areas where people reach to push it open, or to turn a key. Some come complete with knockers shaped like a softly curled hand holding a ball, feminine fingers forever frozen, and often painted in the same colour as the door. I suspect sometimes, knowing Egyptian painters, because it was just too much trouble to go around the knocker with the paint. Like old men's faces, their history is written in their surfaces.

Opposite my lovely man with the red beard was the best stall for doors and it was in the process of going through the doors that I had spotted him.

We could not see him there so I approached a boy sitting in his rather sad and tatty stall. There were old bits of washing machines, lumps of unidentifiable metal, cardboard boxes flattened down but decidedly tired, and a smashed typewriter - so smashed that it looked as if it had been thrown through a third floor office window in a rage.

I showed the boy the photographs and his face froze, and he shot to his feet. He was muttering about the Sheik - and I realised that one of the men the week before had also called him a sheik. It started to dawn on me from the shock in his face that something was wrong. Then others started to crowd around including a neighbour from the drink stall opposite. I caught the word 'dead' in Arabic.

He had been hit by a boy on a motorbike only a few days after I had taken his photograph, and he had died.

By this stage a fair-sized crowd was gathering. I was still trying to control the photographs, but others were snatching at them, l0ooking, and handing them back. A tall girl in full black, headscarf and long sleeves and dress and coat, pushed through to the front of the crowd. She took one photograph then held it at full arms' length behind her - like a child refusing to return a toy to its rightful owner. Her face - I can only call it stricken!

I kept picking up odd words in the flood of Arabic - like "his daughter" and "no photos". As I realised that she wanted the photo for the family - and had no intention of giving it back anyway - I nodded and she shot away.

I was still numbly clutching the other photograph - but the neighbour from the drink stand begged and I gave it to him.

There was a group of Americans in the small and narrow 'door' shop and no hope that we could fit. Sam and I moved on. Looking back now I realise that I was utterly - quite out of proportion - shocked. I do not think I could have made a decision on a door even if we had been able to go there.

This was the second time in one week that I had tried to return a photograph and found the subject had died. Earlier in the same week I had visited the spinners with a friend and a set of shots taken around February - in a muddy and wet period in Winter. We had not found the men I hoped would be working, and in looking further afield had stopped and talked to a spinner I did not know who was working with his young son.I took some photographs, and they were in the pile I was sorting while talking to Ragab and Ali - two spinners who have become good friends. They had had a similar reaction, grabbing at the photos in shock. I had sent four good images, full face, off to the subject's home with assurances that they would be so welcome - "they will be shocked, and it will make them sad, but they did not have photographs of him except from his wedding."

Two in a week. Egypt has changed me in some ways. It is a country rife with superstition. It threads through the religion, and is interwoven through the folk lore, some beliefs are pharaonic, and some the most modern of conspiracy theories. The same lovely friend who had decried the sacrifice of a hedgehog to save a sister with cancer had calmly arranged to kill a sheep four weeks later when his taxi kept breaking down, despite the money he spent on repairs.

Perhaps I did not really believe that I had caused the deaths - that would be pushing too far when I have always believed myself without superstition - but as we walked away through the mud of the city of the dead, with a small crowd still following us entreating us to bring more photographs, I felt - guilty.

Two days ago I went back to the City of the Dead with Ibrahim again. It was time to say goodbye to my lovely spinners, Ragab and Ali, and to old Hamed, keeper of fifty three tombs, with the face like a kindly walnut.

We sat in a circle in one of the tombs, on chairs borrowed from homes nearby, and in the cool shade of the rooms. Outside Hamed's carefully tended pots of plants were in spring flower - and they had handed me a rose and a 'ful' a fragrant gardenia-like flower. The spinners had told us that the family of the dead spinner were happy to have my photographs, and in a lull in general conversation I mentioned my worry that I might be blamed if people realised that two that I had photographed recently had both died within the following week.

He explained seriously and carefully that every person's birth is a set and recorded date, and every death is the same. There is nothing that can be done to avoid death on that date, and nothing that can be done to die on a different day- as if it is not your time you will not die. I think it is the sort of fatalism that helps them to cope with the concept to death, and certainly there is a sense of closing the door and moving on.

He pulled others into the conversation and they reassured me - obviously amused that I should think I could have the power to change something so thoroughly controlled by God.

There is a story (in the Middle East there is always a story). Ali is walking in the Cairo market and he sees Death, who looks straight at him. He turns in panic and runs to his master's home.

"Master, I have seen Death in the market, and he was looking for me. I must leave and hide."

The master decided to send Ali to relative in Aleppo, in Syria. He put him on a plane that afternoon. Then because the shopping had been forgotten he went late to the market.

He saw Death, but was unafraid, as he felt it was not his time, so he approached him.

"My servant Ali was very surprised to see you in the market here in Cairo this morning."

Death said, "I was very surprised to see Ali here too. I have an appointment to meet him in Aleppo in only four hours."

After fizzy orange with Hamed we walked to Ali's home. He is probably seventy. His face is think and lined but full of laughter. He had a dark ring around his head, as if he has been wearing a hat with black dye that ran into his skin. His hands and arms are stained indigo from the dark silks he has been spinning. He has four teeth, but they are crooked and catty-cornered, like stained old pegs left in the earth for seventy years too long. He wears an old white business shirt, with a double sided razor blade attached to his collar for cutting his threads. Years of loping up and down long alleys beside the threads on his loom have left him as lean as a piece of dried sinew, lanky and fit, despite his age. I have never heard him use even one word of English.

He stopped in the doorway as we slipped off our shoes, and took my right hand in both of his.

"I love you," he said, and tears filled his eyes.

I had a lump in my throat I could hardly speak through.

I love this country, and my Egyptian friends.

Messing around with textural stitching last night...I think I might mess around some more tonight...no doubt this will have more added stuff before it's done.

My day job continues to prove challenging but I'm surviving. When I'm feeling particularly 'used up' in my 9-5 world I think of art and what I'm working on or want to do and - all of a sudden - everything goes into its proper perspective. My day job is a function I have to perform. It is only a part of my life and meaningless in most ways - but necessary. But, the minutes and hours that are spent creating nourish my soul and have more to do who I really am than an A+ on a job performance rating ever will.

Started the day today by driving downtown and meeting Rayna Gilman for breakfast. Rayna and I have "known" each other for something like 15 years online, but met for the first time face to face today. She is here (from New Jersey) for the Quilt Market where she is promoting her first book. I can hardly wait to get my hands on a copy.

The day is over, I am back in my room, and tomorrow morning I hope to sleep late. We shall see. Being on east coast time, I was up at 4:am west coast time. NOT a good thing. Now it is almost 9pm Oregon time and almost midnight Rayna's body-time. (So I don't guarantee anything).

So, this will be short and sweet?. Busy today - but good. Started the day with a bang! A delightful time and a to-die-for breakfas t with the lovely and talented Terry Grant. What a treat! I simply love it when I get to "know" somebody on line and finally get to meet them in person and they are just a s fun and cool as you knew they would be. Don't you love when this happens to you???After breakfast, Terry went shopping and I hot-footed it over to the convention center. I spent the day wandering around and then attending various sessions given by other authors. Finally, I got my chance to talk about my book and then went to dinner with the wonderful C&T people.

I am going to sleep momentarily and hope to sleep in tomorrow morning - but I have the day free and will make the rounds at Market. Will post again when I can.

I have been out of touch because we lost WiFi at the kibbutz for a day. Yesterday, we visited two sites that were in out of the way places and off the beaten path. It was much more peaceful. Our guide was asked to give us some quiet time on the bus.

We drove up the Golan Heights to the ruins of a Jewish town named Gamla which is (I think) the Hebrew word for camel. If you look at the photo below, you see the shape of the geography that resembles a ridge on a camel’s back. We did not hike down to the town, we observed it from above. You really can’t see the ruins in this photo. The geography of this area was spectacular. The sea of Galilee is off in the distance.

The site is a nature preserve as well as an archeological site. I enjoyed the various wild flowers in bloom. This thistle plant abounds in Galilee.

We then drove to Korazim, the remains of a Jewish town mentioned in the Babylonian Talmud as renowned for the good wheat grown there. This is the sign which greets visitors.

I include this because rocks and stone are such a presence in this country, even modern homes are made of concrete. But the remains of past civilizations are revealed in the rocks and stones of their homes and crafts.

The remains of the synagogue in this town were especially beautiful. I took lots of photos which can be seen on my Flickr site.

Here is Mr C finding some quiet time in the ruins.

We literally had this place to ourselves by the end of our visit. Our resident priest, Mary Anne, set a table for a communion service. It was a lovely experience to share the bread and wine, from our kibbutz, and served on pottery purchased here in the Galilee.

Just a comment on my last post. I was probably very jet lagged and a little grumpy. I was taken aback by the commercialism, but I am having a wonderful time. But, let me tell you, there is not much free time. Tomorrow we are off to Jerusalem. So excited! I hope to have a chance after dinner to post some photos of our visit to Sepphoris (Zippori) and Nazareth, today.

When I was young I remember that my father used to tell me that more than any expensive dress or makeup, a smile made a person attractive. It seems to me that smiling is the root of communication and it lets others know if you are happy or sad, it encourages the speaker and says non verbally,

"I am with you here. I'm trying to understand your message."

Historically, Japanese, and especially Japanese women, don't smile. It used to be considered bad manners to show the teeth and so during the earlier eras women's teeth were blackened. Even now, all formal pictures are taken with stern expressions and wedding pictures always look like such grim affairs from the albums. If any of you have Japanese women friends you may have noticed that they will laugh with their hand held up to the mouth. It is an unconscious habit and extends to even speaking with the hand held over the mouth (making it very difficult for me to read the person's expression!)

Boundary Waters 32
21″h x 66″w
White cotton fabric, paint, thread.

I finished this piece right before Collage Mania; it was one of those joyful artworks that spring out fully formed.

This artwork is my entry in Art Quilts XIII: Lucky Break at the Chandler Center for the Arts. I’m not entering much this year, but I always enter this show because of the beautiful venue and the personal touch of the curator, Diane Howell.

Boundary Waters 32 obviously continues the series based on my journeys with my sister in The Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW).

The BWCAW is known for its cliffs and rocky outcroppings, worked in endless layers by erosion, volcanic activity, and glaciers. Huge sheet of granite were broken, tilted and folded beginning over 2.7 billion years ago. The end result is the wonderful landscape we are privileged to enjoy as we paddle along: long narrow lakes, jagged shorelines and towering cliffs.

It’s hard to see, even in this detail, but this piece is stitched twice. Once, very irregularly, with invisible thread to mimic the fault lines in the rocks and once, in parallel lines, over the entire surface with variegated rayon thread to mimic the very orderly stacking of the rock. I like the contrast between the jumbled surface and the regimented top stitching as well as the contrast between the two types of stitching.

This morning during my morning meditation time I had the usual brother and sister birds that add to my time with Creator bringing different messages for the day. But today I noticed in the neighbors tree a new visitor, Brother raccoon, a relative of the bear. He came over the fence moved directly toward me as I sat on my perch and without hesitation he made his way over to me face to face. We made eye contact several times as I spoke to him and then I stopped to listened to what he had come to say. Thank you Brother Raccoon for this message today. Ttlazocamati

This morning whilst browsing the ABC Website, the Australian national television broadcaster, about Budget reports I came across this article an excerpt of which follows

Women are heading back to the sewing machines writes Clara Vuletich.

"...the satisfaction and empowerment you feel when you have made it yourself is infectious ... it is something we have lost since mass manufacturing was developed. Not only have we become passive and deskilled as modern day consumers but we are also buying into the idea that the fashion system can satisfy our needs." More...

I left a comment which hasn't appeared yet but it seems to me that this is a wonderful opportunity to add our voices by way of comment. I would like to see a thousand voices or more so that they will be forced to look at what this might be all about. In my comment I mentioned not only the very creative endeavours of so many women but also the incredible goodwill I have personally witnessed when I have toured exhibitions- and also the incredible trail of love that textiles leaves on the entire globe- from Blankets of Love for prenatal babies to quilts for homeless and refugees, from Fiber Arts for A Cause, the thousands and thousands of raffle quilts made to raise funds for charitable causes, from knitted beanies for Afghani children ,from the Anat project I witnessed in Syria to Pascale Goldenburg's project with Afghani embroideries in Europe- all done with love and a realisation that there are many many people in the world less fortunate than us. So if you do one thing today- please leave a comment on the ABC website- write in your own language to show how widely the language of textiles travels. Ask your friends to also comment.

...or rather, things I hadn't thought about. I've never had a large enough space to work in so that I could actually see what was going on in a big canvas as I painted it, or even when it was finished. And now I have, hurrah! I painted in the shudio for the first time yesterday afternoon, working on a large (44" by 56") canvas, and the difference being able to step back from it made was enormous. I could see all sorts of things that I wouldn't otherwise have been able to see.

No photos of that, today...it's still in progress, and I'm not entirely sure where it's going, though I have my suspicions. Instead, a photo of the other textile piece I finished yesterday, made from Evolon, with fibers and another of Mike's beautiful beads on it. Titled Fissures I, it, like 'Cracking Up', takes its inspiration from the cliffs at Hunstanton. I'm planning a trip there soon, hoping to find some small fossils as well as take more photographs; it's not far from here. I might go visit the lavender fields, too, though it's a bit early. But I could buy myself some dried roses, or a rose/lavender mix; I love the scent of both plants.

Speaking as someone who has rather more flesh than I'd like, I'm delighted to see this lifesize painting by Lucien Freud (grandson of Sigmund) has just become the highest value painting ever sold, going for a mere US$33.6 million to an undisclosed bidder. The blog heading is mine - the painting is actually called "Benefits Supervisor Sleeping" - the model was doing that job at the time.

I don't think a similar painting of, say, Kate Moss (substitute the name of any other stick-thin model/actress/celebrity here) would have the same impact, do you?

Found this in an old magazine and started thinking about the challenge for the June "Quilting in Action" regional day in London (7 June, Maria Assumpta Centre; details on the Region 1 website)My first impulse was to stamp rather than sew, and the erasers were the right size for half a hexagon -
One eraser was big enough for a whole hexagon, but the pattern didn't go together quite the way I remembered it...Lesson: don't rely on memory, have another look at your source. This is more like it! -
The fabric was (and is) intended to be used as stripes a la Margo Selby --
but I ran out of time and that will have to wait till another time.

I slept for most of the flight, after having gotten up at 3:30 a.m. Happily, the plane was not full and I was able to get an aisle seat in the exit row- plenty of leg room. Even better, the center seat was empty and the window seat was occupied by someone going to Market -- and we discovered we have common acquaintances. Of course!

The weather is iffy here - gray and chilly. Can I believe them when they claim the rest of the week will be in the 80's and 90's? This is the view from my hotel room and I think the sun is coming out.
While I was waiting for my room to be ready I went in search of lunch and an Office Depot, where I could have more business cards printed because I did not bring enough. In a little while, Anna Faustino, another author and I, are going to head over to the convention center to get our badges and say hello to the C&T people while they are setting up their booth. She in napping; I am talking to you.

I called Terry Grant when I arrived and if we can coordinate our schedules, we hope to have breakfast tomorrow before I go over to the convention center.

I am 3 hours ahead so I'll try to adjust before I need to be perky and lively tomorrow! I'll check back with you when I can.

slower running, and some completed work. As well as an Evolon piece, which I'll show you another time, I finished the Texture of Memory piece I was talking about yesterday. Though I may contemplate adding some text to the top layer; right now, though, I'm not sure what to say. Or even whether to say... Perhaps that is another piece in the series...?

As you can see, I've quilted, and added some heavier yarns to the surface, as well as adding a beautiful little glass button which was a gift from friends on Etsy who make wonderful glass and fabulous jewellery. Their shop is here, Gimme Beads (oh believe me, Mike and Madelaine can gimme as many beads as they like... I'll even pay for 'em!). A second little piece of their glass is on the evolon piece.

I've always wanted to use glass in my work; I recently commissioned another piece of dichroic glass from an Etsy friend, Eileen, AKA Chauncey of Chauncey Design, whose work is amazing. I intended using it in a textile piece, but it is so wonderful that I'm keeping it for myself and using it as an inspiration piece, instead. You can see a picture of it here. Joining Etsy has been inspirational at all sorts of levels!

My response to May's TIF.
Terse and self assured it has taken me years of agonizing, questioning, justifying and being apologetic about what i do.

I added a new summer reading list/essay, Hunting and Gathering, to Art, Nature, Creativity, Life yesterday. If you’re a subscriber, I’m always happy to hear your comments.

Hunting and Gathering is an annotated book list with thoughts about being a foodie and why, the cascade effect of reading one good book on a topic, why it’s best sometimes not to read biographies of cultural heroes, my foray into growing heirloom tomatoes this year, and the au courant topic of being a locavore.

Here are some interesting summer websites, not included in the essay, related to Hunting and Gathering:

Where to find local products - Local Harvest

Join the hunt for bees! The Great Sunflower Project

10 Steps to Becoming a Locavore (PBS)

100 Mile Diet: Local Eating for Global Change

I have to admit I am a big fan of American Idol. Tonight the adorable David Archuleta sang this bittersweet Billy Joel song. (You can hear Billy Joel's version here) I think he did a beautiful job with the song, though I am probably rooting a little harder for the other David than for David A.

And So it Goes. You may suppose that the name of my blog, And Sew it Goes, was chosen mainly because of the corny "sew/so" pun, but I go back a ways with that phrase.

I am a fan of Linda Ellerbee, the journalist, who ended her newscasts, always, with the phrase, "And so it goes." Her writing and delivery were so eloquent, so beautifully expressed. For me she brought compassion and humanity to the news in a way that no one else ever has. She has gone on to produce childrens' news programming and having survived breast cancer, has become a speaker and activist for breast cancer research and treatment. Her autobiography was titled "And So it Goes." She is one of my heros.

Many years ago (1993, to be exact) I found my way onto the internet and discovered the Quiltnet listserve, which was my first exposure to what has become the amazing online community of quilters and artists. At that time the internet and listservs seemed very impersonal since there were no ways of posting photos easily at that time and no one had web sites or blogs. There were several Terrys/Teris/Terries on Quiltnet and I wanted a way of distinguishing myself in my posts, so I started using "And Sew it Goes . . ." as a signature line. It seemed a natural choice when I named my blog.

For me it means we are all in the river of life—where we started doesn't really matter, where we are going is too far ahead to see. We are in the stream—and so it goes . . .

Forest #1 For Sale $40US inclusive of postage SOLD
Forest#2 For Sale $40 US inclusive of postage

Wow - thank you for all the comments, and I am delighted that some of you find me worthy of reading and looking first thing in the morning! Many thanks. I realise now that I expressed myself rather badly re the Coral Variations- I meant for one each to go to three people- but the way it reads is that someone will get three variations. So I will have to leave it like that! Don't forget if you want to be in the draw to leave a comment ( preferably on the previous post) or you can email me via my profile.

I finally basted the village scene I have shown in white previously. I dyed it and feel the colours came out too dark. ( I may redraw it yet) On the photo it doesn't look too bad. I have started stitching it in silver metallic thread- and under light it looks fine and it sparkles but in daylight it seems flat. Not sure what I will do now- if the gallery has spot lights or down lights it will be fine because it will sparkle but if not it will be rather boring. So to continue or not to continue?

Another tree lady needed to be made last night. This one will be a 4x6"'er and will find a home in Michelle's great little Maine gallery http://www.rougettegallery.com/ . Michelle purchased one of my very early 4x6" art quilt postcards on ebay - when? 2 yrs ago? - and has been carrying them in her gallery ever since. Michelle carries work that is unusual and outside the norm, most you'll never find in traditional fine art galleries. She once said that the beauty of my work helps to offset the edginess of some of her other artists. I think that is one of the most unique compliments my work has ever received.

This piece was created using my own gelatin printed and discharged fabric, plus some painted Lutradur.

I have been hoping for some down time to really reflect on my impressions of this visit to the birth place of Christianity. Today, it was very hot and muggy, again. We have all had to drink lots of water. Most of the sights that we visited were out in the open, with little shade. So, we finished early to come back to the kibbutz to be refreshed.

I hoped that I would have time to write a more informative post, but here it is — 10:30 in the evening and I need to get some more sleep. I took a nap this afternoon and then downloaded photos. Then it was lecture time, followed by dinner. I almost dozed off in the lecture!! When we signed on for this trip, I think we had a notion that we would be a group of like-minded pilgrims quietly visiting the important sites of the historical Jesus. We are what I would call more progressive Christians, believing that Jesus was a revolutionary person who set out to liberate the oppressed residents of this agrarian and fishing area of the middle east. I believe that he was all about peace and justice in the shadow of an empirical government. We are traveling with two of the preeminent scholars of this notion — Marcus Borg and John Dominic Crossan. The director of our Spirituality Center is married to Marcus. The pilgrimage is sponsored by the center.

Our local guide is an archaeologist and spends too much time (for me) pontificating on types of columns, the life of the Romans and other archaeological facts. One ruin begins to look like another and the constant babble does not give one time to reflect and sketch. Not to mention the busloads of other tourists visiting the same sites. Then, there are the souvenir stands. Even our bus driver has books and dvds for sale.

The boat trip on the Sea of Galilee was surreal. It was already very hot at 8:30 when we boarded our boat. It was refreshing to be out on the water. A peaceful and contemplative trip on the water would have been lovely.

Instead, we were “entertained” by the crew. They raised the American flag and blasted the Star Spangled Banner over the speakers.

They gave us a demonstration of how the fishermen would have cast their nets back in the day - that was interesting.

Now, we had to endure the hawking of a cd of Israeli music, which they blasted on the speakers and sang along with, and a vinyl “Places of the Holy Land” place mat. One guy even got out his drum and accompanied the music. Don’t get me wrong,  it was quite entertaining. Many people got into the spirit and danced and sang along. It was fun, in a way, but not what I had expected.

I am thoroughly enjoying the company of the folks on this trip. They are all interesting and intelligent. We start the day with a 15 minute meditation. The end of the day is another meditation with Taize chants, followed by a short lecture by each of the scholars with some Q and A. The Center has not sponsored a trip here in 10 years, and I think it is clear that things have changed considerably.

Enough about that. What else did we do today? We visited the newly discovered and unearthed site of Magdela, home of Mary Magdalene. It is on property owned by the Franciscan brothers who have it fenced in. Next door is a defunct amusement park - talk about surreal! Crossan said he hoped that the site would one day honor Mary as one of the followers and important historical persons, without putting a basilica over it!

Then we we stopped at the site of the feeding of the 5000. Under this alter is the rock from which Jesus supposedly served the food.

This building had beautiful mosaic floors that had been unearthed.

Next on the tour was Peter’s house, actually his mother-in-law’s. Several of the men could not enter this Catholic run site because they were wearing shorts - Mr C included. I was sorry he could not go in because it was the most interesting of the sites, with layers of buildings from different eras and the ruins on an incredible synagogue. Of course, there was a brand new basilica built over  the ruins of Peter’s house, but the synagogue was open and you could wander through it, imagining another time.

I love this mosaic on the altar in the new basilica.

We topped at a restaurant for a sit down lunch. I had the tilapia from the Sea of Galilee.

Mmm - finished off with Turksih coffee and dates.

I asked for a diet Coke! It wasn’t enough caffiene to keep  me awake. I am finishing this post on Wednesday morning.

Back at the kibbutz, we saw this 1st century fishing boat that was discovered buried in the mud in 1986. It is pretty amazing to see how the poor fishermen of the Galilee put together a boat out of various pieces of tree limbs. It is very fragile and had a metal frame and special atmospheric conditions to conserve it.

I must get put together for another day of Roman ruins? - probably!

Every time I go away I wish the gremlins would come in and clean up my ROOM so that when I get back, it would be neat. Oddly enough, they never show up and I come home to the same mess. Tomorrow, I leave again. And tonight, as I surveyed the scene I saw it was worse than ever. Boxes half-packed for QSDS teaching supplies; fabrics I brought home from the studio to make samples to take with me to market; the supply suitcase still packed from last week's trip; 50 lbs of soy wax in a carton. The view from my chair...honestly, not staged.
I knew I couldn't face coming back to this on Monday morning.
The alarm is set for 3:30 a.m. and it's almost 10:30 so I think I had better try to get a few hours of sleep. I will check in from Portland.

 

For those commentors who were the first to add their suggestions to the post about little changes and keeping things fresh, the ATCs are almost to the mail box. I'm waiting on addresses for a couple of you. But here's a preview and a little sharing with the others who added after number 5. It's fun to read comments, and I always enjoy the conversation.

On other studio fronts: I presided over my last meeting of Fiber Artists of San Antonio (not the last I'll attend, the last as President - presiding is the operative term). It's been a great ride  (hey, take a look at the great story about  the Runway Show on May 3) and all of the boardmembers, committee chairs and members who were active, engaged and participating have enriched my life immeasureably. As we become more connected internationally and nationally through avenues like this blog, like video conferencing, some experts point out that we (the big we) are becoming more isolated from civic participation, the in-person volunteering, politicing, even soft ball teams are losing membership in many communities.

I like both kinds of communication: the internet connects me with  those who inspire from afar. The local fiber artist group inspires me in a whole other sense, toward the do-able, the in-person contribution, the personally present. And of course, I come down on the side of  active communication and active creativity over the passive partaking of hours and hours of video, gaming, music etc. that increasing fills the space inside our heads. 

I interrupt the regularly scheduled programming for a shameless promotion of a book by my daughter, Stephanie and her friend, Maria, in Portland, Me. Click the image to go to Amazon to pre-order. You can bet that I will be ordering several!! I think it comes out in November.

For those who do not know, this book is photos and text from their photo blog, 3191 — there is a link in my side bar. I am so proud of these two for pulling this off. This year, they are doing a year of evenings and perhaps, another book.

seems to be what I'm doing best at the moment. Stuff is still wandering out to the shudio, and I'm also trying to tidy up the spaces that I'm taking it from. That is no mean feat! I have a conservatory, now, or at least half of one, and I'm unearthing bits of work that I'd forgotten about (duh...). Everything is suffering as a result, fewer blog posts, fewer etsy visits, fewer everything except sneezes; it's either the dust or I've caught the cold that my friend Jill had at the weekend. My money is on the cold, as I started sneezing before I started dusting!

Tomorrow, though, I will get some work done. I've started a couple of pieces; this one I've mentioned before, I think. It is distressed lutradur in layers over a backing of pelmet vilene. It needs some stitch, I think and possibly more colour...I might print over it. This is the new Texture of Memory piece that I was talking about here. Click on the image to enlarge it; see if you can see the writing through the lutradur layers. I can in the original, though it's not easy to make it out if you're not used to my appalling writing!

Blown

This tulip was on the way to compost heap and I happened to look inside it; it’s almost like another season of bloom with these glorious colors.

Nature Report: I forgot to mention last week that the wrens are, at last, back. I hung out my hummingbird feeder last Thursday and saw the first hummer on Friday. I don’t know how they know to come and check. The robin who built her nest in the gutter end under the eaves wasn’t as lax as we thought; her three eggs hatched Sunday. I saw my first orchard oriole yesterday and made sure to put oranges out for it. While I was typing this, a little black and orange bird flew into the bush outside the window. Sibley says it is a mature American Redstart, a type of wood warbler. I have never seen one before.

There’s a new post in The Garbage Day Project blog today.

I had a busy day yesterday and didn't get home until evening. Teaching at the nursery school and at a friend's house and then again in the evening so I never got to the computer.

My head though was spinning all day with ideas of things I wanted to make and try. I think it is the challenge of creating something rather than the actual finished product that I like.

"Can I really do this? Is this really a time saver or a new technique?"

Last night at 8:30 I was upstairs trying out Patti's stars at Quilting is My Passion, and I made four. You really should go to her blog and see the beautiful quilt she is making. I don't know why I'm even showing my feeble attempt. Patti's instructions were very easy BUT I was reminded again at what a complete dunce I am with numbers and measuring. There really must be some gene missing in my DNA. How difficult is it to make 3 1/2 inch cuts in a square. How many times did I measure and re-measure and count out the inch lines in my rotary mat? And yet, twice I mis-cut and ruined some very good fabric. Once I can understand, but twice? Makes me think I should leave all cutting to someone else and just dedicate myself to sewing seams.


Here are my colors. I ignored Patti's advice and am not doing this in two colors which I'm not sure was a good idea or not. Calico Cat had sent me all those gorgeous bright patterns on black fabric and I decided those would be nice against some bright fabrics of my own but I don't know if you can really see the stars in there. I'll work on this a while longer hopefully adding some red and pink fabric and see where this leads me. No real plans for giving this to someone but hopefully it will grow into something nice.

Here's Cass in his regalia after getting degrees #2 and #3 (architecture) with Hattie (aka Red Delicious). Don't they make a lovely pair?

This morning we set off for Caesarea Phillipi and the head waters of the Jordan river. This is in the northern most area of Israel on the border of Lebanon. We were on our way up the Golan Heights to the base of Mt. Hermon. The air conditioner on the bus had a shredded belt and we got stuck in an out of the way town with Israeli soldiers, security guards checking packages as you entered stores, if you looked suspicious, that is.

The driver tried to fix it, to no avail. We finally got off the bus and stood around and chatted for what seemed like an eternity.

Help arrived. The repair was made and we were on our way - not! Another belt or the same, who knows, but we were dropped off in the town so that the bus could go to a repair shop. By now, it is late enough to have lunch, after we trooped through town, en mass, looking for public restrooms. Our guide wanted to keep us together. Of course, there was the ubiquitous MacDonald’s, which some opted for. We went out of the shopping center and found this lady making falafel sandwiches.

We were told to gather for the bus, then we were told the driver and the bus had disappeared and we were taking public transportation back to the kibbutz. Argh! Thank goodness, Ishmael and the bus showed up and we went on our way to Caesarea Phillipi. More Roman ruins. Those guys sure left a lot of stuff in their wake! Actually, the preserve was a combination of antiquities and lush vegetation. The headwaters of the Jordan river supplied lots of water for some beautiful flora.

We had to cancel the walk along the Jordan river and arrived past our scheduled time at the kibbuts for our afternoon lecture and dinner. Two days in a row, we have lost our precious bit of free time, but I am not complaining!! I just want some time to sit in this chair:

I started this post last night, but I crashed and am finishing it this morning before I go to breakfast. We are going for a boat ride on the Sea of Galilee this morning. It is really hot and dry here (I am not complaining about that) so this sounds very refreshing.

I finally have a Flickr set for the trip photos, here.

Now that the really hard physical work is over, we’re having fun arranging areas of the newly renovated offices and gallery.

Here’s a drawing desk I built using an old black door and some dusty sawhorses I found in the warehouse. I like that the hinges are still attached (except when I busted my ankle on one as I was moving the door into the room). The door knob is still attached to the other side, which makes is easy to carry around.

Last week while I was recuperatin