She likes Forest Green, Gray, Black and Lavender...I have all of those! So, I went digging and came up with the pile above. Aren't they beautiful together? I like how - because of her unique tastes, I get to work with a color scheme that I've never used before. This makes me think of they ways in which we influence one another.
At one point, I held up these three yarns, one by one and J. and I named the kind they were: skein, ball and cake. Isn't it fun when a previous lesson sticks?
STORY: Back in High School, somehow the word "sieve" became THE overused word of the day. It was used inappropriately, frequently and with much laughter. "You're such a sieve!", we'd tell one another. We threw that word in every conceivable spot in numerous conversations throughout the days. Oh teenagers.
sieve
/siv/
noun
a utensil consisting of a wire or plastic mesh held in a frame, used for straining solids from liquids, for separating coarser from finer particles, or for reducing soft solids to a pulp.
"puree the potatoes through a sieve"
As I wove, I thought about this recipient a lot. I tried to find the words I want to write to her. I'm hoping my words and my making will be able to convey my thoughts & feelings.
In the making, I did something different...something new. I finger crocheted the strap with three of her colors together. The reason for this idea was practical. All of the yarns I was weaving with were pretty thin. For reasons of sturdiness, I prefer a thicker yarn for the strap.
This is what that looks like completed. I've yet to stitch it on, because I'm considering if I like the look of it with the Medicine Bag. A nice match? Too busy? I'm leaning towards - it will work fine, but I'll let it gel a bit more. It sure does give a different feel, doesn't it?
After so many woven Medicine Bags, it's been fun doing something not done before.
Current Count:
77 gifted to others
72 CMB planted
I still have some of the Unity/Diversity & Blue bags here and I've kinda lost track of where they are in the count. However, I think the numbers above are current. Not that any of that matters, just personal curiosity on my part. Plus, I think that it is kind of amazing that no two are the same and that I'm not tired of creating and giving yet!
I think Summer 2024 will be remembered for the wether events if nothing else. The video below does not even hold all that has been going on. I'm putting it here as a marker of this time.
These gals came up and I listened to all of their 5 songs on YouTube. First came Wild Sweet, then came Into the River. I see their work being called lullabies for adults, but also being sung to children. Music that sings loved ones into their passing. How lovely is that?
Two of the women are also of "Rising Appalachia". I picture Grace's sidebar and I picture the beautiful women of The Well.
You can learn more, including the story of their name, listen to all of their songs on their website Starling Arrow...plus more of course.
Their Harmonies are breathtaking and offer solace in the news of the world today.
A river sounds nice about now. 107º - 102º - 105º...my venture out to pick up a few necessary items. Does it really matter what the temp landed on? It is hot. Of course as seen above...too much River is not much better. We got some afternoon clouds, but it was not too muggy.
While out, I checked on the tall, growing one...the Century Plant that I've been watching as I go out and about. I want to see the blooms. I don't want to miss it. So today I went to go look. I truly wish it was in a better location...one with less growth behind it, so it would show up better...one where I could park and get out - but really, all I can do is pull off into a side street and snap photos from the stop sign. sigh. Alas, this will be good enough.
The past week, days strung together...some racing by, some dragging on and feeling so long...but, each one holding moments of magic, relief, extreme laughter...some pondering & considering...there was honoring age and relishing the age I am now...In these days, there has been profound beauty and gratitude.
Come along with me through some related, or maybe disjointed thoughts...
This 'sampler' from around June 1st, relates to Jude's post. A spirit animal peace post. I started it, but got sidetracked when my hawk and turtle looked cruddy. haha I'm sure I'll get back to it one day by adding color and the peace signs I imagined. We'll see. LINK
As I gather this post around me, as one gathers the many layers of a long skirt...a long life, ripe with eras and decades and phases of me...as I roll these separate bits around in my mind, I ponder the many "me's" I've been and those "me's" still unknown to me...I think: Who am I in this moment?
Who have you been? Which parts do you hold in loving memory and which parts do you hide under the layers? What would happen if you de-layered your life skirt and hung it all out on the line or laid it bare on a grassy hill as Grace has done? What would happen then?
I've been watching some of the videos on this channel. I find Eryykc interesting, as one who studies human behavior, a habit...as one who works with children - who often get their first diagnosis and support. When a child gets a diagnosis, often for a lifetime, there is very little conversation about how this will look as they grow older - out of the classroom and into the world. Anyway, he mentioned recently that he was reading the book: "The Tao of Pooh". I thought "Hey, I have that book and have never read it"...so I pulled it out. It was the perfect book to read over the past few days.
I started with the correct pronunciationof "Tao"...because it is one of those words that feel unnatural to me, (even while reading this book) so that my brain is stays stuck on the "T"!
When I got to the uncarved block, I needed to draw it. Thus start hours of reading, drawing & reflecting.
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Unique pre-op art!
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Several days ago, whirligigs came to mind. My friend has moved into a beautiful home, with a wonderful outdoor space. What fun could be had led me to this book: "Making Whirligigs & Other Wind Toys" by Sharon Pierce. J. made the Indian in a canoe from this pattern (you may remember it). I gave that book to her "builds with wood" husband years ago.
Then I fell down the rabbit hole, as they say.
I looked for real ones and found so many. However the one in this video was jsut way cooler than the cheap or cheesy ones! I saw it HERE, but if you watch on YouTube (click over from the video below)...you'll find dozens and dozens of videos. I've always been fascinated by whirlygigs, especially the handmade, original kind.
It of course didn't stop there, because I recalled that years ago, I found this book and bought it ~ "Whirligig" by Paul Fleischman, which I talked about briefly back HERE (you can see the one J. made here too).
Beautiful blooms outside of the main entrance.
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LINK It seems to have been the week for discovering very elder women on YouTube! I had not heard of this lovely woman and really enjoyed these two short clips about her. I think the documentary would be interesting to watch, so I know I'll be poking around some more.
Waiting and sitting bedside, gave me lots of time to play my beloved 'hand-held solitaire and new found love of drawing. Both relaxing escapes for me. J. said that he wants me to doodle draw a pick guard for a future guitar build he's been manifesting in his head 🙂 That would be fun.
When I stepped outside to move my car into a more convenient spot, I was hit with a wall of heat and met by a fierce, very strong dust devil. Leaves, thick twigs and various other natural or manmade bits were swirling around so fast...banging down on my car. My first thought came out of the ominous feeling I had and I said aloud to myself that "this is not good". I later learned this was very close to the time the brush fire nearby, up North began.
When I got my car into a new spot, I was greeted by this crow, calling and calling nonstop. His call was fairly spaced out, singular sounds that almost sounded like barking! Do you see him?
We played WORDLE on paper. Playing it on paper verses the computer was kind of like the Hangman game I played with my mom when I was a kid. But I found this way harder! Trying to visualize and recall letters that could be used, were used in the right or wrong place was so hard for me. He could do it so much easier!! But, even when I had the pen in hand, writing it all down, I still messed it up by giving him wrong information feedback on the letters he'd used! 🤣 Oy.
Upon leaving, we did indeed smell the very strong brush fire smell and saw the very brown sky out of the large picture windows. I drove home with this image, pausing to snap a photo between the trees and the sky at home.
The 5 Freeway, near Gorman, CA. When I went to bed last night it was at 4400 acres. I awoke to it being 11,000 acres 0% containment. This article has it at 12,000+ acres, 2% contained as of this afternoon.
As of this post, it is 87 degrees and there is some wind, at maybe 17 MPH
We had so many May Gray days and I thought and thought of what I could draw for the June Hallmark Datebook page...so, I thought of "JUNE GLOOM" at the first of the month. But by the time I got to drawing it...well, it has not been cloudy and cool. Instead it has been very hot and the air quality already looks/feels bad. While still being hot, the skies hold a brownish overcast haze. You can barely see the mountains and I use a word I usually don't. It's been ugly.
The hazy brown may not thrill me, but I have been able to find other beauty as I go about my days. The photos above are of the planted area outside of a medical building I've gone to for years. But this last visit had me and J. pausing to look, feel, smell and discuss each of these. How have I never noticed pomegranate bushes there before?!!
Of course, I know the pink Rock Rose well, but had to do a search on the yellow flowers. I discovered that it is called Jerusalem Sage (here are some great photos of it). It seems to also come in pink, which in looking at it - I think maybe I Have seen this before! I look at so many flowers on my walks and then promptly forget that I've seen a particular type. haha
Still, everywhere I go...lizards! So many, more than I recall in years past...or I'm just super tuned into them (do I keep saying this?). This one was on a building where we go for physical therapy and I spotted it from so far away. It was so big!
I started to 'ball up' that hank of yarn you met back HERE. Is that an official term, "ball up"?!! Anyway, I set no goals or expectations on this one...just get it into a ball(s), so I can use it easier. The big ball went very well, no tricky parts at all. but, then I got stuck. I worked for a short minute and then out came the scissors! lol I don't knit or crochet...I'm not making anything that calls for a whole, unbroken hank...so what do I care. I made the little one and cut again. heehee Now I'm wrestling with the remains and making the tiny one. It is surprising how much this activity can aggravate arthritis in the old hands. Just as when I wound the black/gray yarn, I wonder how a Medicine Bag would look using this yarn alone. It's very pretty.
Lastly, I give you this...
We lit the circle of friends candle for my dear friend, who's mama passed away yesterday. As I hold her in my heart, in my thoughts, I reflect on what this time means for her and her family. I remember my own time of grief when my mama passed...when my or other's loved ones have passed. It is a sacred time. A time to be honored, where grief is allowed and accepted. it is a time to pause and be still.
Ooops...I didn't leave enough room around her name, so I got to pick it out and start over. It was more relaxing than you'd think.
The pieces or choices are gathered...patterns absolutely filled with pin holes from years of use, were pinned into place one more time. The old corduroy shorts from high school are almost gone now. I was grateful to have enough to do behind her name, as I'd done for her older brother. I also used some for the heel. The two toe pieces also have some texture to them. The larger one is a bumpy, scratchy linen (?) and the small toe is wonderful silk velvet.
I've also continued working on this little cross-stitched scene. It is 2 1/4 X 4 3/4. It's been fun to do and surprisingly took longer than expected. I'm just making X's after all...how long could that take?! A long time, evidently. Ha.
Days later, I've completed this little treasure. It feels very good in the hands, thick, but squishy...bendy. Nice.
I think one of the parts I like best about this stitching is that I did the whole thing free-hand. From my brain to my hand to the stitch. No patterns...and you can actually tell what each element symbolizes! I kept thinking about what Bob Ross might say about my Happy Little Cloud. He had some great quotes and ways to say things.
I also used some of the long skinny scraps of cross stitch cloth to stitch two 'spines'. haha
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We heard one of those fun trivia questions on the news the other day. It went something like this:
What is the fabric named for the king?
The answer: "Corduroy". Another further explanation is HERE.
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J. suggested adding a 'feather' on her stocking, since that is what we called her before her arrival...and after too. I left the fringe of the corduroy behind her name, bottom edge. I rather like it and I can see her feeling it for many seasons to come. The back pocket on her brother's stocking had the little "Levi's" tag still on it. Her back pocket has a teeny leftover bit of blue iron on patch! This patching was done prior to my Levi's cord shorts ownership. I love how this itty piece survived all of these years.
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As long as we're looking at (baby related) history -to- current...here's an interesting video. This video made me chuckle in the fact that it has long been a classroom joke that if we could just come up with an idea for a baby product...we'd have it made! We'd probably make more money that way!! 😁
