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happenings

something i'd not expected.   it seems as if watching this large cloth,   i am somehow  very easily imagining small cloths.     maybe because the large one will be a   ummm,  collection of images?   and maybe because i have been rooting around to find those ever so small scraps that i could never have used before;  this cloth is perfect for them.  and they are all so different.  so…the Room is full of Maybe for two days

002

and i am looking at things with new eyes.  this shirt for instance.  from the thrift shop, mens department.  i couldn't tell you why i brought it home.  it is the most GLARING orange…ack!, but something about the flowers in spite of the orange003

and then, i remembered this morning to check out the "wrong side"004
which is     beauty Full.   and then getting happy with that,  i re-looked, and even the right side of the flowers are beautiful on the large cloth!  001

and then..in the midst of it all,  i began working on Acey's Rooster Flower.  and this is most amazing of all.  having pulled out such an array of scraps,  suddenly,  the possibilities for this small cloth become Huge!  and i find myself pinning then changing, pinning then changing on and on until i arrive at this005  

which is so completely different than anything i've done before.   the choices of the little pieces Do represent certain things  [her essence bowl, the pond of the frog nation and its eggs,  the highest hilltop…….and then i searched to find the brass key hole]  but just the same,  the combination is very very different.

so..happenings.  coming of their own accord.   

 

which 
 
 

 

 

 

 

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36 responses to “happenings”

  1. Jeannie Avatar
    Jeannie

    I love this! The keyhole and then the eye peeking out. I always forget to look at the back side. You flowers are beauty full. Have a great day.

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  2. Drucilla Pettibone Avatar
    Drucilla Pettibone

    the room looks like such a happy playground! and so lush, with those flowers on the orange. isn’t it so strange how a fabric can completely change character when reversed, or reshaped, or cut. i love that you found the beauty in this shirt. and the rooster-flower… every piece looks effortlessly in place and each adds to the whole. i’m glad you shared more about what each piece means – it really adds to my enjoyment in viewing!

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  3. Nancy Avatar
    Nancy

    Oh Grace…
    Your words carried me along, your photos led the way…
    but when I spied the ‘eye’ piece…oh gracious, what do I say?!
    That eye has such depth. Have I said that already? But it is just striking! This Small Piece is really Big (Just like Jude said they could be in her size of cloth comment).
    Is the keyhole fabric? I couldn’t quite tell.
    I long to work in such a deep organic spirit cloth way. That is one of my goals for this cloth I’ve started. For me it is hard to not plan from an aesthetic place. I mean I want that part too, but…well you get it.
    Question: Last line just the word ‘which’…means???

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  4. deanna7trees Avatar
    deanna7trees

    that keyhole is ‘choice’. the eye could also be looking through a keyhole.

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  5. Acey Avatar
    Acey

    i am very deeply moved by both description and the image of how it’s coming together. full and sparkling – like the bowl itself.

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  6. grace Forrest Maestas Avatar
    grace Forrest Maestas

    Jeannie, it’s sometimes great…that back side. sometimes
    nothing much. this time i lucked out.

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  7. grace Forrest Maestas Avatar
    grace Forrest Maestas

    yes…this time it was easy. ever since she looked at it
    and saw what she saw, i knew it was what i would send
    as a thank you for the flower essence. i love reading
    her blog about the frog pond. and this reminds me that
    i NEED to learn how to make links….

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  8. grace Forrest Maestas Avatar
    grace Forrest Maestas

    Nancy…i have no idea where that last which came from????? i went back to edit it out but got some kind
    of warning box,
    the key hole: i know she likes using beads…this little
    keyhole is from way back when i was making the fiber
    figures. sometimes i would put little things like this on them. it’s brass and i tarnished it with bleach and vinegar. it’s smaller than a postage stamp. this cloth
    is 6X12. and yes, i do get it. i have almost a rigid
    aesthetic in its ODD way…that’s why this was such a
    surprise and actually deeply satisfying…i would never
    have imagined using these fragments together, and they are
    still a little odd to me, but i feel good with them as they are. it will be interesting to see how Acey thinks.
    will finish tonight and in morning and send off. this is
    the first one of a kind for me. so, a milestone.

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  9. grace Forrest Maestas Avatar
    grace Forrest Maestas

    i really like the eye thing. think i might continue
    with them but in very different cloths…

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  10. grace Forrest Maestas Avatar
    grace Forrest Maestas

    Oh YAHOOOOO!!!!! will be in the mail in next day or so….
    i feel like i have ….. have …… well…i don’t know what
    words describe it. but i am so glad that the RoosterFlower remains
    good with what all else i surrounded her with….
    xoxo and i hope you regain your endocrine equilibrium soon

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  11. handstories Avatar
    handstories

    as always, love reading and viewing your process, your process of process. that shirt fabric is fabulous, on both sides. i just discovered the back side of one of my fabrics…was loving it, wondering where it came from, then turned it over & realized it was the back. and how your rooster flower has come together and grown, such a great collage of fabric and feeling. what it is, what it represents- yeah, you!

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  12. Herm Avatar
    Herm

    hi grace – love those flowers on the orange shirt!!!

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  13. grace Forrest Maestas Avatar
    grace Forrest Maestas

    HERM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    OH HERM !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    OH HERM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    oh!!!!! it must be a bouquet for you!!!!!!!!!!!
    Oh again, i am so so Happy to see you here. was just writing you
    another little letter with ink on paper….but this is so good
    that you are pecking away at the computer!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    oh, i love you and this is just so wonderful
    THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!
    XOXOXOX

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  14. jude hill Avatar
    jude hill

    herm! oh joy!

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  15. jude hill Avatar
    jude hill

    well this is just grand. the friend circle widens….

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  16. Tammy Avatar
    Tammy

    ITs so nice to see all the excitement here .. I love the cloth with the orange and flowers. I love the collaged cloth .. with the eye and keyhole .. very beautiful. And even though I don’t know Herm.. glad she is feeling better.. 🙂 now to sleep I go…

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  17. Vicky Avatar
    Vicky

    oh grace….that eye is the mostest….
    and the small cloths worked into a big one makes it so fun!
    on my blog~ i didn’t even see the tie between the braids on my daughters head to the braids in the fabric…all with my little ole hands.
    and the orange flowers…i want one baddddd…..it would go so well with my cloth…..my son would have worn that shirt in a heartbeat!

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  18. Penny B Avatar
    Penny B

    Wow, Grace, you certainly are in a “happening” place! It is very exciting when the creative energy flows with such strength isn’t it.
    I’m envisaging you as a conductor standing back from your design wall directing small pieces of cloth/story with your wand.

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  19. Eva Ucgatwork Avatar
    Eva Ucgatwork

    Hi Grace,
    On Saturday a friend surprised me with a huge shopping bag full of cotton scraps – some larger some very small. What a treat!!
    I have been stitching quite a lot during the weekend – and I followed your (and Jude’s) example and put some pieces (“work in progress”) on the wall. It works so well: I have just taken one Sun-Moon-Stars piece down (it was my first posting on Jude’s page – I can still remember my excitement ) and added some details and also cut some unwanted parts off.
    I am learning soooo much these days! Thanks to Jude’s class and all your encouragement!
    Enjoy your day,
    eva

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  20. grace Forrest Maestas Avatar
    grace Forrest Maestas

    well there is a folded piece of ORANGE and flowers in a
    mailing envelope in this moment! all it lacks is your
    mailing address…?
    email to grace.porvida@gmail.com
    if your quick, i can drop it at the post office when i’m
    in town today????
    xoxoxo

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  21. deanna7trees Avatar
    deanna7trees

    so glad to read your words Herm. thinking of you.

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  22. Terrirhapsody Avatar
    Terrirhapsody

    Hi grace! Funny how different colors feel to us at different times. I don’t find the orange glaring at all, I absolutely love that orange. It is calling to me. But we know what chakra that is!

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  23. Vicky Avatar
    Vicky

    sweeeeeeeeeeetttttttttt……..thankyouuuuuuuuu.
    addy on its way, but considering you wrote this in the am and it’s now after noon pacific time….

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  24. helen salo Avatar
    helen salo

    Cloth also changes greatly when one weaves with it. I’ve used some “ugly” stuff, cut it into strips, wove it and it came out “not ugly” and “usable”. Thanks to Jude and her weaving!!

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  25. helen salo Avatar
    helen salo

    Grace, I noticed the magnifying glass on your table, and felt compelled to mention that you don’t want to leave it lying around where the sun’s rays can reach it. My sister’s inlaws house burned by leaving a magnifying glass in front of an open curtain, on a summer day. It started a fire and I had someone else catch their briefcase in their car on fire from a crystal in the windshild and the rays hitting it and creating a fire with the papers and I know how HOT your sun can get. Just thought I’d pass it along.What’s that old saying “an ounce of provention is worth a pound of cure”?xoxoxo

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  26. nance Avatar
    nance

    helen…how observant! unless she has moved it from when i was there 3 years ago, and i don’t think she has… it won’t have the sun on it. but that was three years ago and i am answering for grace… but i didn’t want you to worry.
    sorry grace for answering for you… i could just see poor helen worrying like i would have…

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  27. nance Avatar
    nance

    nance you silly old bird… that is a different magnifying glass… if it is a magnifying glass…. than the one she keeps on the dictionary… under the window by her computer that never has the sun shine on it.

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  28. grace Forrest Maestas Avatar
    grace Forrest Maestas

    yes…weaving it. also, torn in the smallest possible
    strips. sometimes i wish i had a washing machine here
    so i could fray these narrow strips even more. i
    suppose i could pin some together and take to laundromat

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  29. grace Forrest Maestas Avatar
    grace Forrest Maestas

    am getting more and more interested in process…
    process that is unplanned

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  30. grace Forrest Maestas Avatar
    grace Forrest Maestas

    went to look at your photographs and again…am
    amazed by your gift with them

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  31. grace Forrest Maestas Avatar
    grace Forrest Maestas

    today is Tuesday…sent it. she said it should arrive
    Thurs. i am happy thinking of you having it at your
    house

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  32. grace Forrest Maestas Avatar
    grace Forrest Maestas

    did you ever see the movie
    Wings of Desire a Wim Wenders film?
    it’s more like that, like the scene in the library
    when the angels can hear everyone’s thoughts…the
    constant mumbling mumbling mumbling
    the cloth

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  33. grace Forrest Maestas Avatar
    grace Forrest Maestas

    Eva…i hope that continues…people keeping an eye out
    for cloth you might like. also, you mentioned going to
    UK for holiday…i think they have shops there?….
    resale shops?
    i am so in love with used cloth because of the feel of
    it…the loosened weave, softness.
    sometimes i go to the fabric store in Albuquerque but
    it all feels so
    stiff

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  34. grace Forrest Maestas Avatar
    grace Forrest Maestas

    you always were an orange girl

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  35. grace Forrest Maestas Avatar
    grace Forrest Maestas

    helen…i don’t think that can happen when it’s lying flat.
    i do know what you are talking about tho. it happened
    to my Alz. person. caught her calendar on fire.
    i appreciate you keeping track of me tho. don’t stop.
    and nance..yes…there are two. that dictionary one
    and the mobile one.

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  36. Penny B Avatar
    Penny B

    Havent seen that move….but I know exactly what you mean.
    Ive added Wings of Desire to my list of movies to look out for!

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