so here's the grass leaves

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after looking a many possibilities, i am here with the original cloth for the leaves.  this is some dyed from the mexican elderberry leaves.  it is rather plain.  but it's It.  so for a while, there will be nothing exciting to picture here.   just leaf stitching. 

and in between, i am finally doing what as always,  should have already been done….plugging up cracks against the Wind.  today for a while, i stuffed plastic garbage bags in the cracks around those old wooden windows i love so much but that are so impractical.  i'd taken off the summertime curtains that made me think of young girls dancing in ruffled skirts and now, for a short time,  they are just bare.  in the next days i'll cover them with plastic.  i'm going to try masking tape this time, to hold the plastic in place.  i might have to put push pins too, to hold the masking tape in place.  and then, what to cover them with this year.  ???   over the plastic.   like, curtains.   my wish is always NOTHING.  i want as much light as possible.  but then….when it is cold in the mornings,  i give in.

last evening, late, for a couple hours, there was no internet.           there was no way for me to know if it was just this computer, or this area, or if Google was down for whatever reason.    i am still working from the feelings of that….how i realized how isolated i really am,  how this computer changes my experience of myself, my place in this world, my experience in general ……. i don't know what to make of it.

 

 

 

 

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31 responses to “nothing much really,”

  1. Snail Cloth Avatar

    This is a beautiful cloth, very subtle in color and earth.
    I just heard the geese flying over head and it reminds me that it is getting cold, like you are saying. I also feel that the internet keeps me connected too. Nice visiting you here.

    Like

  2. grace Forrest Maestas Avatar

    hey, snail…thank you for liking it…the yearly symbolic event
    of return of the cranes is trying to happen here…still, so much
    slower than “ordinary”…but some have returned. Migration.
    love the word, love what it represents as a kind of reassurance.
    Left a little word on your blog…looked but couldn’t see where
    you are?????
    nice that you visited…made a cold Thurs night warmer…thank you..

    Like

  3. Nancy Avatar

    Hey Grace…go to see the process moving along. When I first looked at the first picture the grasses looked very parentheses-like!!! I love this cloth of yours. I so enjoy watching you move through the making of it.
    It sounds like you are also moving through the needed steps to be ready for winter. We are so very windy here! Storm coming in, but won’t bring much rain, so they say. But it is warm in the house because I am cooking fabric and acorns!

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  4. grace Forrest Maestas Avatar

    they are, parentheses, aren’t they…..
    i wish i could cook fabic. we use propane here for stove and it is extremely expensive. the wood stove is what
    is used here, but that is only part of the days at this
    point. once it gets really winter, the wood stove will
    keep the stew stewing.
    you are lucky to have those acorns and oak leaves!
    xoxo

    Like

  5. Valerianna Avatar

    Do you want acorns and oak leaves? If the snow continues to melt as it seems to be, I’ll have both.
    Enjoying the slow development of this cloth – the same but always slightly different, like each day, moment, dream…

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  6. handstories Avatar

    but i will say…”muchness” again…and i know that love of old windows.

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  7. Nancy Avatar

    I do feel luck to have a variety of oaks fairly near by (day trip close) or right out front and a walnut tree on the driveway and natural gas to cook ’em with! I’d offer you some, but I remember you saying that you wanted to stay local. If you change your mind let me know!

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  8. Vicky Avatar

    lovely. more earth goodness. try vinyl instead of just plastic on your windows, clear as glass and thicker.

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  9. Michelle in NYC Avatar

    Hey ho–slow cloth just keeps evolving, and window cracks are so much more a priority–but, why not hang a rod and a blanket that tcan be pulled back for light and closed for warmth? And, oh how I know what that moment of losing the internet is like–shocking. The first time it happened, I wrote about it when it came back. I did with out it for so much of my life, but once I had it–well, it wasn’t long before I was addicted. When I go to Massachusetts, as I do several times a year, I unplug on purpose. And, I do live in a city, where one can have access to people and stores at any hour practically, but isolation is, if not physical, sometimes just a fact nonetheless. As close as we can be to one another, there is something centrally isolate about being a human. We love it when we love it, but long for the comfort of others when we do not. Anyway, your cloth is a masterpiece, and will continue to receive your ministrations, strokes and stitches till you are done with it. It’s lovely to be let in to watch. Nancy Pomegranate Trail just posted a video that speaks to the idea of ideas, and about the internet–and I know you have trouble seeing images – right? Here is the you tube reference if that’s the case–http://youtu.be/NugRZGDbPFU–she doesn’t comment on it. And, remember, there’s always snail mail. Writing letters used to be comforting, even though there was no instant feedback, the doing of served to call someone to mind, and writing to them broke the isolation.

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  10. deanna7trees Avatar

    oh yes, i loved that video. i especially related to where he talks about ‘the collision of hunches’. that happens so much faster and more often since the internet. i hope my brain has enough room to hold it all.

    Like

  11. jude Avatar

    well, plastic is good. layers of it, and you might try sandwiching some cloth between the layers, it looks so cool. i am trying that idea this year in the studio, i did it a few years ago, but didn’t take a photo. maybe windlessthread.

    Like

  12. Linda Avatar

    grace watching your cloth grow is like watching jude’s. you are doing such a wonderful job. i love it.
    i think the internet keeps all of us stitchers close. i would be here alone too without it.
    we have some wonderful glass windows that are gorgeous, but they are also cold. it is so good to see the light here in winter. too gray for plastic.
    love to you

    Like

  13. Sandy Avatar

    grace- love the grasses- they look like they grew there all on thier own. Hoping you find a way to keep the wind out while allowing the sun to shine it’s warmth in. Stiill madly in love with your yellow flower, sunflower on your cloth. GORGEOUS!

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  14. nance Avatar

    i loved the video too… “chance favors the connected mind”… of course… so is the converse true, that the more we are connected, the more ideas we will generate? i don’t know.
    we are just connected so much faster these days. and let’s face it… a lot of us here are older and haven’t grown up with the internet. speaking for myself anyway, i am just not as fast at thinking through things as i used to be. i’m ok with that. i don’t have to be fast. i can actually go without internet for a few days and be ok with it. i get overwhelmed at having so many people in my life…and trying to keep up with them. i love all of jude’s people, but it is a lot… even in my non virtual life i get overwhelmed with too many people. so i have to choose to be less connected. not totally unplugged but more moderate than i have been. i am not going to as many blogs and not going as often. i am more calm like this. i just hope i am not offending anyone.

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  15. nance Avatar

    the grasses are fabulous. they are bringing cohesiveness. i am looking forward to seeing how you stitch the leaves.

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  16. grace Forrest Maestas Avatar

    nope, thank you…sticking to what is at hand. a pic
    of that later, but that too is not much what is at hand
    and can’t be repeated.
    xoxoxo

    Like

  17. grace Forrest Maestas Avatar

    no… part of me says YES!, but the larger part says no.
    the slight difference in All….interesting

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  18. grace Forrest Maestas Avatar

    yes. those old windows. which actually FIT where they
    originally were…but here, not…so, the gaps.

    Like

  19. grace Forrest Maestas Avatar

    i washed them today…or, really a third of them. continued stuffing the cracks with shopping bags
    NOT garbabe bags as i first said…
    i poke them in tightly with a screw driver.
    maybe i’ll just let it be this way? depends on the winter.
    last winter was HARD, but not the ususal.
    it might not repeat.

    Like

  20. grace Forrest Maestas Avatar

    i am so ambivilent. i still do snail with people. i
    send my daughter stuff that way.
    just yesterday, i asked her if she still can’t eat
    scrambled eggs with any brown on them…mailed it to her.
    i exchange ONLY snail mail with some women from my long
    ago
    and love that
    but, it’s the cloth thing for me

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  21. grace Forrest Maestas Avatar

    there seems to be plenty of room in this head

    Like

  22. grace Forrest Maestas Avatar

    hmmmm. you do have many people, like people, in your
    life. you have your cloth people, classes, the guild, etc.
    i think that makes a difference.
    Enjoy your trip tomorrow to the Gardens to Sri!

    Like

  23. grace Forrest Maestas Avatar

    it is never Windless here, no matter what i do
    Wind Rules.

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  24. grace Forrest Maestas Avatar

    hard to know what you love more……..

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  25. grace Forrest Maestas Avatar

    need to stitch that sun flower down soon. i look forward
    to doing that…am saving it.
    thank you for loving the grasses

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  26. grace Forrest Maestas Avatar

    i did some today. kind of helter skelter
    like stuff is, out there

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  27. Nancy Avatar

    That’s what I thought 🙂

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  28. Nancy Avatar

    That’s how I felt when I lived in Northern Nevada, in the Carson Valley – east side of the Sierras. So gorgeous there and always the wind!

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  29. grace Forrest Maestas Avatar

    i imagine myself….once i am gone from here, and if there is not much wind where i go,
    i imagine myself going in search of it. taking little great grandson Julian with me…telling him how we are going to look for Wind.
    a really really long time ago, when my son was maybe 5 or 6 years old, (he’s 36 now), he had the flu and was very very sick. he asked me if little boys die from flu. i said well, i guessed some might, but i didn’t think he would. he thought about that and then said
    if i do die, i’ll come back as the SouthWest wind and
    blow in your hair because i know you like that.

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  30. nance Avatar

    well one can get spread too thin at times. and i admit i am one who needs a fair amt. of alone time.

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  31. Nancy Avatar

    Goosebumps Grace…looking for the wind – it sounds like a wonderful children’s book…
    And…your son…oh my priceless…(((sigh)))

    Like

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