Hot has arrived.  and the swamp cooler isn't wanting to work so the computer which is i guess a cousin of the swamp cooler is making that odd buzzing sound it does just before it just goes blank and shuts down.  this limits my time here to early hours.

i am still very much content withing the Sun Moon and Stars Whispering.  i have not had enough yet of watching and listening, thinking, imagining.  so still being so much there, i wander in to the possibilities of Whispering Magic.   A Large Cloth.  one that might take forever.  i like the image of that…me, sitting different places, different times,  … adding something,  mending something else.

one of the thoughts that has come is that there is a consistency of a ground color of Jude's Magic.  Indigo.             

beautiful and magnificant Indigo.   

but i don't have so much Indigo…only small pieces.  so what will i use as the consistent cloth that lies itself down to receive all that will come?   what i DO have is a LOT of muslin, all kinds and so while i am thinking about all this, i began stitching together some 9 patches of tea dyed.  the intense sensual pleasure for me of stitching muslin is a good sign.  and then,  on a whim, i took one out and put it in the cast iron pot with onion skins.  after a day/night/day, it was a deep and interesting greenish color.  into the copper pot…all of it; cloth, sludge.  another day night a different shade.  but i'm thinking, black.  how can i make black.   the little bottle of  ColorHue from Glennis' class so long ago.  float the greenish 9 patch, swish, float and here we have it

003
 

the dark one.  the color isn't quite true.  but i like it.  a lot.  the piece to the right is a tea dye that i just floated in the left over ColorHue water.  a lighter variation and i like that a lot too.  the one at the bottom is a piece of linen/cotton that took the very last of the dye and is beautiful sky cloth with clouds.  i think i can repeat this dye process enough to create a good amount of muslin to begin this Large Cloth.  and then, i found all the most loved pieces that i have learned with since the beginning of It All….put them together with this dyed muslin and yes. 

002

it feels good.

In Sun Moon and Stars, Jude's latest post is about Theme.  how will i think about this???  especially in terms of the beginning of this cloth?  but then, in general too.   and i realize that it's already there, has always been, really.  when i was i think 4 years old, my mother took me to the Museum of Natural History in Detroit.  i would have to be 4 because we moved from Detroit when i was 5.  i saw something there that became the leit motif of Me and how i see myself in this life.  over time i have tried to replicate what i saw in different ways, but there is a consistent bottom line, a Humm that has remained the same.  it's the image of Diorama, the small illuminated still moment of something happening.  small doings in the lives of human beings within the larger context of humanity as a whole.  within the larger context of their Place on the planet. within the larger context of Sun Moon and Stars.  within the larger still context of the Universe.  and too, within the small personal context of self.  in this case, one woman's life. 

so…i have gotten to some place with the cloth making.  i feel a shift.  i learned things i don't know really from making the Daughter Cloth.  and as i continue now, with small cloths and with the beginning of Whispering Magic                                                                                                                                           it's the image of the Diorama that i think of as Theme.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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25 responses to “transition, one Point to another…or is it the same?”

  1. Suzanna Avatar

    How you put it all together Grace is so beautiful to me. A story, a reflection of where/how you are and how it all is one. I’m still in the beginning of Jude’s sun moon and stars…these teachings are making their way into my sense of life as it really IS, and then the surrender to that constantly shifting evolving place of deep knowing. It’s quite a journey…

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  2. grace Forrest Maestas Avatar

    Suzanna…it’s been that under current of my whole life, even
    childhood, the trying to “put it all together”. it’s what interests me beyond all the details of what we are “supposed” to pay attention to.
    SunMoonStars…yes…that’s where i’ll stay too. will come and go from there for the forseeable future. so much to take in, look at, work with. i just love it. layered.
    and over and over, like we all do, i marvel that i have company
    in all this…FINALLY. no need to explain things. everyone
    in this cloth world just Knows. what a RELIEF!!
    love to you

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  3. helen salo Avatar
    helen salo

    Your theme: Diorama can (will) be a composite of the deeper side of you. The before, the now, the future. So there is a feel of “anything goes” and it can continue until……
    It will be of great interest to view and ponder.

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  4. grace Forrest Maestas Avatar

    am so glad to see you here…was just going to email you
    to make sure i got my hope across….
    i really like having company here, helen. like any kind
    of comments, direct to what i seem to be thinking about
    or sometimes even more, what they make someone else
    think about….
    really would like it to be just an easy conversation.
    xoxo

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  5. nance Avatar

    this is pretty darn exciting!!! the dyeing of pieces to receive the work that has been going on for around a year now. a good way to honor all those individual pieces of story which all of course is the same story. this will really be a diorama of cloth. i thought you might have worked on the denim cloth for the big cloth but this is much more exciting. will love watching this progress. and too since you are piecing the back it doesn’t have to be a big cloth to start with like the daughter cloth. i like that you can piece the back as you go. have you decided what will be the center motif? grace this makes me happy!

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  6. Peggy Avatar

    Beautiful and dreamy — both the words and the photos —

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  7. Nancy Avatar

    Grace, I love how you communicate story, both in words and in stitch.
    “lies itself down to receive all that will come”…you paint such a vivid picture. I agree with the comments above, this is way exciting – but peaceful at the same time. If that makes sense. From the bits I know of you, it seems just right. I too love the the muslin and the many colors it becomes. This will make a fabulous ground to travel on. I am curious about the feather & moth (?) fabric peeking out. Will you show more of that and tell us about it? I love your idea of gathering older stories (cloths) to create a newer, bigger story. Diorama…yes…a moment in time. The Museum of Tolerance in LA has an exhibit of the Holocaust that tells the story in a audio/diorama style. It is Powerful and unforgettable.
    Years ago a friend taught me of ‘life projects’. She was a basket weaver who, upon her husbands suggestion began a ‘life basket’. The tightness/looseness/fibers woven and so on tells the story. I have a ‘life project’ too. A moment and the current whole. It is made of paper and memories and…
    You can see it here on my blog: http://pomegranatetrail.blogspot.com/p/shoe-project.html
    A cloth ‘life project’ seems inviting!
    I look So Forward to watching yours grow, change, evolve over time!

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  8. judy keathley Avatar

    dioramas—one of my life loves–
    all that cloth on your table—a pile of beauty–
    questions ( if i may ) :
    when you dye in copper or cast iron pots –do you cover them ? do they go in the sun?
    so will the base cloth be the muslin that you weave in sections as you go along? if so will the base vary in color as the dyeing happens?
    then will the finished pieces on the table be stitched onto the muslin base ?
    or am i trying to get concrete when you’re still in conceptual ?
    i’ve been mulling around the thought of a larger cloth–& also of using things i’ve already made —
    so wondering about process —
    isn’t it fun to realize you’ve learned something ( like from the daughter cloth ) that you didn’t know you’d learned–
    & of course this this would be true—but i still am surprised when i discover that life works this way–
    what about the blue house ?
    love–

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  9. nance Avatar

    i went to look at your shoe project nancy… it should have been included in the current exhibit at boise art museum “the perfect fit/shoes tell stories”. thanks for sharing that project… i really like that you made a list of what you incorporated.

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  10. deanna7trees Avatar

    i love seeing all your pieces out for viewing. i take mine out sometimes trying to find a way to put them all together. i get frustrated and put them away again. i know you will find a way to do it. was surprised to see that you were able to use the colorhue dye for muslin. the package says it will only work on silk, wool, rayon and linen. i will have to try it since you were successful. i, too, love working with muslin–wish it came in colors.
    i remember a while back that Nat dyed some beautiful cotton pieces using Rit dyes. she says they have an indigo color.

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  11. handstories Avatar

    hello grace, i don’t have time to say all i’m thinking, but this is all so SOMETHING. those cloth colors, and dioramas, themes in cloth and life- very good stuff here. i remember the first diorama i made in 5th grade of a favorite story. they are magical windows & i’m sure your cloth will be too. xo

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  12. Nancy Avatar

    Wow…thanks for the compliment of it being worthy of inclusion in something formal! I also wrote a brief piece of prose explaining to my mom the process without product idea of this. She was really bothered that each layer was covered up never to be seen again! Ha. She felt a bit better when I explained the photo/journal. One day I will add that to the blog, I think. Thanks again for visiting my blog.

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  13. grace Forrest Maestas Avatar

    i really have no idea. and don’t want to think too much
    about it until the Diaries begins…but for this effort
    at creating the base color(s). and if it goes as it
    seems now, there would really be no center, or
    any where on the cloth would be the center as it happens

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  14. grace Forrest Maestas Avatar

    daydreaming. what i’m best at

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  15. grace Forrest Maestas Avatar

    Nancy…i can’t get the comment to click on your blog???
    or the Followers? i think it’s something you need to
    “allow”? anyway…yes…layers. i’ll go back and check
    to see if you found a way to change it….
    these particular cloths won’t be on this one that’s
    beginning…i just wanted to look at them all together
    at this point in time…looking for Theme.
    i’ll post another pic in a minute…
    and YES, am looking forward to meandering along together~

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  16. grace Forrest Maestas Avatar

    will put a pic of the dye event on in a minute..
    Vary in color:…well, that’s what i’m going to know in
    another day or so?…i’d like it to be relatively the
    same…we’ll see if it repeats….
    the Blue House…well, as it turned out to be, most of
    the 9 acres was a RAVINE. remember, slope was ok, but
    vertical descent not so much. Funny. almost had to PRY
    info from the real estate guy. good that it was forthcoming tho before she got a plane ticket to go look at it.
    so now we are on Plan F give or take. a place has been
    rented that will allow saving and going about finding
    another blue house in a more leisurely manner.
    love back

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  17. grace Forrest Maestas Avatar

    well…we’ll see if i can repeat that result…don’t know
    yet. maybe on Tuesday?
    beloved old Rit. everything in my old kitchen in
    Michigan was stained with Rit.

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  18. grace Forrest Maestas Avatar

    they ARE magical windows
    i can see that first one i ever saw so clearly to this
    day. it set so much into motion for me. odd paradox
    in that, huh. xo

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  19. Deb G Avatar

    I just went back and listened to the “theme” audio again. Was sitting here thinking about how my favorite blankets have carried a theme. There is something more to them and I know that everything I make going forward from this will have one. I’m thinking a lot about this too and am gathering fabric for another blanket… And, I’ve gotten some pretty black fabric from pomegranite (sp?) and my cast iron pot.

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  20. grace Forrest Maestas Avatar

    Deb…YES!!!! pomegranate (sp?)…yes…oh where is that
    other pot?????? THANKS FOR REMINDING ME!
    isn’t that audio just something….
    so many ways to think about it…and what is always most
    amazing to me is that i can follow the thread all the
    way back throughout my life so far

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  21. Deb G Avatar

    Yes, I was going to write about this later on my blog, but…when I started thinking about my “cow boy quilt” and it’s theme, “don’t fence me in,” I remembered one of the books my brothers and I had as children…so yes, it does take me back to childhood too.

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  22. Nancy Avatar

    Grace thanks for alerting me. The comments seem to work on the posts, but the two pages at the top won’t work, even though I have it set to accept all comments. Mmmmm…something to work on! Thanks for visiting. And I had to laugh as I did not know how to spell POMEGRANATE either until I named my blog! lol

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  23. Nancy Avatar

    Also, as for the ‘followers’ – I see you there and it works when I click on your photo, so I am not sure what the issue is. This stuff is so confusing. UGH.

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  24. Nancy Avatar

    OK- got the comments going. I had to switch it to a pop up window (which is fine with me) instead of embedded in the post. Learn something new everyday, eh?! Again, thanks for letting me know.

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  25. linda Avatar

    well, as usual, I’m late in coming to this. too much work this week.
    so i got so excited. i am also thinking of a big quilt, which is something i though i would never do. so a theme is still in process and color too. i love the indigo and don’t have a lot, but it will be a life work, so might keep adding.
    i am so glad we are all in this together. wouldn’t be as much fun sitting here alone..
    ps.. have you talked to herm?

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