MOVING ~ Three Steps Forward

...and one or two steps back!

Oh man

Oh man

This moving, is hard.

Stressful

My stomach was acting up a bit, so I was home today.

Great, a weekday to make phone calls.

AT&T...25 minutes later, speaking to someone in another country 

(so some communication barriers)

...after going through EVERY step to turn my service off,

she tells me to "call back to turn it off".

After a tooth pulling, Who's on first? type dialog...

I finally get her to explain that they will shut it off the day you call.

Period.

So, I hung up to call back on the appropriate day.

Fun.

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The girl who made a plan with me on FB to buy my washer and dryer...

messaged me back to say that, NO she needs a stack unit after all.

The first girl never even replied after I answered her questions.

Really?  My gosh, at $25 buck each, let's just get it done!

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Southern California Edison stopped their: Pick up your old, used 

energy hog fridge and give you $50 bucks program "years ago" I was informed. 

Okay then.

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Trying to sell a few pieces of antique furniture...

so far the two shops I've had conversations with have not emailed or called me back.

I have no idea where we stand on this.

These pieces need to go, yesterday!

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All things posted on FB have had zero luck.

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Place a few misc. items out front  for FREE!

All went really quickly, except the infamous

GREEN CHAIR

This chair I've tried to get rid of several times before, 

with no luck.

Today...the FREE sign worked!!!

45 minutes later it was gone!!!

I was SO EXCITED!

And then it was BACK!

Someone actually picked it up and brought it back!

Who does this? 

My neighbor thought it was super funny.

Nice gal.  Not.

I won't even go into that.

sigh

There is more, but I've even bored myself tonight.

Man, I'll be glad when this is done.

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So, now for something far nicer.

After years of work and procrastination and whatever,

I've finally finished and mailed the cloth to 

Wendy and her Travel Show for Children!

YAY!!

The last thing I added was one of Jude's moons.

Can you see the dark rust spots leading to it?

They represent the highway from years back...

On my way home from my job North, my Big Commute.

after rounding a slight curve, at a slight rise in the hill...

I see the full moon ahead of me...

Blood red and I swear it was sitting 

on the end of the highway, where it met the freeway.

The moon was low and huge and the most amazing color I've ever seen.

I actually gasped and cried 

It was that truly awesome

I added a ring around the moon,

because I've seen some amazing one recently.

ONe just a couple of weeks back,

the biggest, furthest from the moon ring I've ever seen.

And also, because that sweet little lullaby,

"I will draw a ring around the moon..."

When my daughter was a toddler, her super nice and cool

Gymboree teacher would close the session with a small group experience

It involved a lit candle in the center of the circle

and he would play his guitar and sing a soft song.

Sometimes, he'd have us move to gather by the piano 

where he would play and sing this song.

I'd hold my girl and sway gently back and forth to the music at the end of the night.

It seems like a lifetime ago, yet this song, this image of us together, 

this feelings invoked by this simple ritual have lasted this lifetime.

I remember that girl.

Gifts for Wendy's kids or Wendy or...

May your days allow for moving past the crap and into the sweetness.

xo 

Photographs by NAE ©2019

Lemon Pig

Late-ish on New Year's Day night,

I made a lemon pig

☺

I had read about them here:

 Lemon Pigs

I had no lemon, no cloves and no aluminum foil either

So, I used an orange from my neighbor's overhanging tree, screws 

and a bit of chenille stem (pipe cleaner) instead.

Do you think it will still be lucky for me?

☺

The next morning, J. reminded me that 2019 is the year of the pig!

How's that for serendipity fun?

You can read more and find your Chinese Zodiac Animal

here 

EDIT UPDATE: The year of the PIG is MY birth-year!
Maybe that ups my chance for good luck!  haha

It felt nice to do something lighthearted.

Later, a blood moon came to the cloth.

Stitching and story to follow...

Until then, may your days hold a a bit of fun, a bit of softness and a bit of magic!

xo

Photographs by NAE ©2019

The beach boys - Sail on sailor

                                                                

  I listened to this on the way to work...

thinking of Hazel and the beautiful sailboat work she has been doing.  I treasure the small cloth I was able to purchase as a gift for a dear friend.

I am missing my Big Sur and mourning the way it must look after the recent flames.

I am sewing on the comfort cloth and finding comfort in that.

The beach has felt nice.

The healing has felt hard.

The roses bloom, die and surprise.

It is just life as it goes, as it continues.

White rose on a not-white bush

 We'll see if this will post or not.
I hope you are enjoying your days of discovery and just going.
xoNancy

Photos by NAE @pomegranatetrail ©2016

Cloth Garden

A handful of stitches, thick - texture filled...
forming a 'blanket' wrap around the softest velvet.

A walk in a community garden, warm and welcoming.
Growth...new life and life expiring.

Full circle.
A comfort.

Photos by NAE @pomegranatetrail ©2016

It Started Like This

The moment I began to stitch down the built in flap on the newest comfort cloth, 

a phrase jumped into my head. 

"It started with a scar".

That is what came to mind, but then I considered that things cannot begin with a scar.

There must be a wound first, yes?

Because a scar is really a healing.

The scar

What is curious to me is that I began this part with the idea to hold that flap down, 

so it does not get in the way of whatever comes next.    A technical step?  Or control.

And I chose a color that is almost hidden, because one cannot always see the scar of another.  Or can we?

Then I thought maybe (green) stitches should come out between the stitches.  Because there is always room or opportunity for growth, right?!  

Then I piled a bunch of stitches on top of one another, because sometimes a scar is thick over a deep wound.

I've done maybe a quarter of the length on the scar and it has already become a metaphor for so much.  I love how cloth does that.

Dyed and Scarred

I also relaxed in the scar stitching, letting go of perfection for perfect little lines. 

I lumped stitches, making kind of long 'thread beads' (Jude style).  

And I did random, quick stitches...some longer than their neighbor.  

A sort of whip stitch as Cindy recently mentioned.

I began this cloth because I knew I needed to.

Because there were questions that may not have answers.

It has already been a comfort to work on, a comfort to hold.

*Note: I am fascinated that the white manufacturer's stitches have stayed very white through the dye process.  I wonder why?  I notice how they stand out in strong contrast to the cloth itself and to the first stitches of mine.

In other 'scar' news...

Our apricot tree, the one we adore...

the one with the best tasting apricots in the world...

Yes, that one.

It has scars of its own.  It has been roughly pruned by others and gardeners.  last year, you may remember that we did not get one edible apricot.

This year we know why.

The tree, in beautiful bloom is dying.

It is soft, hollow sounding.

But, it still is beautiful and filled with more and more blooms and buds each day.

We don't really think it can be saved.

He says we could push it right over with one hand.

We will have to do something about this.

It makes us so sad.

We have history together, this tree and us.

But, it has its own scars, that may not heal.

And it has had unwelcome visitors.

I don't think our rains this weekend will help.

(((sigh)))

Another part of life, I suppose.

I hope your week is filled with whip stitched living,

~Nancy

Photos by NAE @pomegranatetrail ©2015

Noticing

The tan is stitched now.

Thick running stitch

All stitching on this cloth is being done with 6 strands.
I have not sewn with all 6 strands since starting with Jude.
But, for The Cloth Called Comfort, I want the texture and feel-ability
of thick embroidery floss.

This special project calls for that.

I came across this on a work walk and for some reason, the red really jumped out at me.

Magnolia seed pod

A red thread, seed pod version!

A couple of days later...
sitting in the yard at work, I glanced up
to see this:

OK, look again...
yep, a 9 patch!

The light coming through the fence was just right, in that exact moment.
Perfect!

For some reason, I felt a deep comfort in noticing that and
for thinking that many of you would have seen it too.

It's nice to have a tribe out there!

I am forever grateful to Jude for creating her special place, that has grown to become our special place.

Off to bed, more another day...
~Nancy

Photos by NAE @pomegranatetrail ©2014

Now and Then and Back Again

Where have I been?  Here, but in my mind - floating between now and then.
This is probably not the best night to write and share.
I'm tired and fairly grumpy.
People.  Finances. Lack of time.  A big question.

If I haven't stopped by your place lately.  I do want to, I just don't seem to get there.
I spend time trying to sell stuff, without a lot of luck.  I look at pretty or funny, but not things I have to really focus on.  I've been chatting online with an old friend and some family.  That's nice.  I drive and I work.
Then I start again.

I've been listening to John Denver in the car.  It takes me away to a time when I was young and had my whole life in front of me and it was sure to be filled with promise and dreams come true (right).
When this song came on the other day, I had to laugh when he sings, "it turns me on to think of growing old".  How 'old' could he have been?  Twelve?  But, what is funny, is that when I first heard that line as a teen, I knew it in my bones...I felt the same way.
Why did I want to be a grown up so much?

Sigh

So, this attempt in putting it all down here, may read like a possessed pendulum!  Some times are like that.

Oh and for some reason, I can't access my Picasa account, for days and days now.  So let's see how successful I am with photos here.

And if you're here, thanks.  I will be by your place soon!
   

If you are like me, and some folks I know...if you have ever had the run-away-from-it-all dream...come Wander With Me ~ these two are doing just that, with gorgeous photographs and no bugs!!

2 geodes

The geode on the left has been mine since my teens.  The snow and lake of it symbolizes my John Denver years, my youth...my wishes and dreams.  Rocky Mountain High, I Guess He'd Rather be in Colorado  or something like that.  The one on the right was a gift to us from the boy and the girl.  Isn't it beautiful?  What does it look like to you?  I see space.  I see light.  I see a sense of freedom, of letting go.  I joke that there will be room in the tiny house for these!

sign

As I was going through those old magazines that I mentioned a while back, I saw an ad that held this symbol.  So the quiet circle on the comfort cloth morphed into this.  It's still quiet, but it is a little bit more too.  And yes, I did inadvertently use two different colored threads here.  It is a very subtle difference, one which I could not see in the light of my car while stitching.  I decided it was fine as is and I left it.  Something very nice about doing (or not undoing) that.

X on the cloth

X on the weave

 I decided to add a couple of red threads when I found this one while doing the laundry.  As the bathroom towels become smaller, I discover a new use for those loose threads!

Towel Thread

I may add more.  We'll see.

I passed this book along to a young family recently.  Mom is part Choctaw.  So is my guy.
This book sat here long enough to be too young for the grandsons!
While reading through it one last time, my eyes rest for a long time on this woven ball.  Isn't it beautiful?

 Every morning, before heading out, I stop for a hug and a long look at my trees.  You've met them many times before.  These are the trees on the other side of my neighbor's property line.  I love them.  They are tall, old, stately, beautiful, rugged...

Hawk vs Crows

They provide me with deep solace and great wonder.  When birds perch at the very top, they for some reason look larger than they truly are.  It is some odd optical illusion.
We are forever exclaiming in delight that there is some Giant Bird in the tree and running in to grab the binoculars and the camera!  Usually it is a hawk or a crow or something we've concluded is a large partridge type bird.
On this day it was a hawk with two crows harassing him (why do I associate hawks as males?).  It is amazing to watch them, doing what they do.

'My Waterfall'

So, to make this a round trip, I will close with a recent picture of my waterfall.  I know it is not a natural waterfall, but part of the man made LA Aquaduct.  I may have mentioned this story in the past, as a child at camp, we would hike to this 'waterfall'.  I thought it was amazing to be hiking so far from camp out in the wilderness.  Little did I know.  I still look at that waterfall with a forever fondness.  This day I am perplexed by the amount of water coming down during this huge drought we're having.  I wonder what landscape we are robbing.  What does it look like there?
Sigh

That's all I've got for tonight folks.  Tomorrow morning I will again, be on the road...sewing basket on the front seat and dreaming and composing on my mind.
May you all have a week filled with goodness....
~Nancy

Photos by NAE @pomegranatetrail ©2014

9-Patch and The Comfort Cloth

Today I start with this.  It's the back of the book I read on my lunch break today.

I thought the 9-patch on the right was timely and I considered that by adding a triangle

to the center ...you could have a triangle/diamond 9-patch there too!

This is the front of the book, which I got at last year's pow wow.

 

It has many beautiful colorful and pencil drawn illustrations.

I just started looking through it, so I haven't discovered much else yet.

 

So, I've been working on the cloth, "Comfort". 

It's pretty slow going right now.  I keep placing things there and 

then not feeling sure about them, so I wait.

I slid the two green pieces on the right under the velvet first.

Then I added the tan and last, the two green on the left.

But, it didn't sit right with me.  It looked so...so, stripey.

Mmmm...

Some days later, I moved them around, gathering the greens together 

and resting the tans to the edges.

I like this much better, but still I am looking a bit longer before stitching.

Then after listening to Jude's words about 9-patch, 

in particular the 'disappearing 9-patch'...

I thought to add this little bitty 9-patch.

I had thought of having the cloth itself be one of the patches, 

but then I tried having the tiny weave stand in for a patch.

This is not stitched either, I'm still looking.

I am enjoying this cloth.
I am enjoying the stitching and the looking.

Thanks for looking with me.

Photos by NAE @pomegranatetrail ©2014

Turkeys and Cloth

Comfort is a Circle

We give to others, they in return give to us

The cycle of caring.

I added this circle by merely outlining a circle in the dye pattern.

It's already changed a bit, but i don't have a picture yet.

I also added some of the special green velvet  that you saw on this post, stitched into a pale desert cloth.

I am not sure how I like the look of it here and I was actually going to do another shorter row beneath this one.  But, I'm going to leave it here for a while because I really want the soft feel of it on this cloth.

(As always, click on photos to enlarge)

The dye patterns are different on each side!

 

I had planned on adding (weaving) some bits of color/texture with this.

We'll see.

Something I have been seeing is more wild turkeys!

It turns out they are everywhere, close by in my neighborhood this summer.

I'm not sure if it is the same ones or if there are just lots...

but they're here and very comfortable!

Driving home one night, I see them at the house on the corner of my street.

All I could think of was:

Oh, their poor paint job on the roof of the car! -and-

I wonder if they sound loud in the house as they walk up the roof?

Do you see the one in the tree?

The next night the guy and I walked up to see them and spoke with the homeowner...

who is not at all charmed by them.

It turns out they've been roosting in the oak in his back yard and have made such a mess with their droppings, that he can't let his 2 year old go back there to play.

I felt bad for him, as he moved into the house not too long ago 

and I bet he wasn't bargaining for this!

Who would have thought to ask their realtor about the wild animals of the neighborhood!

Somehow seeing them against the neatly trimmed lawn speaks volumes to me.  They seem so dinosaur-like and out of place.  

The guy tried his turkey whispering skills, but this is about as close as they got.

I stood back, as in years passed I've had the males puff up and spread their tail feathers heading towards me to protect their females.

I don't want to be the victim in that 'funniest video'!!!

We left a few minutes later when another neighbor (also clearly not enchanted) came out and began yelling at them, herding them down the street.  

Well, maybe it was more like chasing them!

*End Note: Before my internet connection mishap...someone very generously offered to dye one of these cloth diapers in their indigo vat...for the life of me, I can't remember who it was or find the email.  If it was you and your offer stands...please let me know.
Thank you in advance!

Thanks for stopping by the trail.

Have a great week!

Photos by NAE @pomegranatetrail ©2014