there are still so many really wonder Full comments and thoughts on that last post, but i wanted to get these pics put here this morning incase i get pulled by the current again.    i had thought i would have a Saturday and a SUNday all to my self(ves) but it turned out to be the total opposite.  

but i also was rocked lovingly in the words of Clarissa Pinkola Estes that MO gave us the other day… the essay  "Letter To A Young Activist During Troubled Times.  you can find it in its entirety if you google,  or, Mo, if you are reading, maybe you can send a link?    there is one place where it just is,  in printable form…?????

001
this was Friday evening.  and i saw in this pic that i have Kantha skin.  but what i wanted to say was that this is the point in "kanthaing" for me that is ecstatic.  when you have gotten far enough to begin to feeeeeeel the substance of the stitching,  when suddenly, it has all changed energy and form.

002
and even more, later.   the cloth is upside down.  am working top to bottom.

001
and then reading the CPE essay for the hundrith time,  i had an URGE.  i ran out, just at first light and hauled one of the pallets over to the mirror chair, to where there is a mason jar with things in it from Wendy Golden Levitt  that sits in the grasses there and the lizards can see it.   This is my ship.  This is my desert raft and i found a branch and tied some dyed indigo cloth on it for the flag. 

and then the day ran away with me and by the time i got back out there Wind had flattened my flag.

002
this morning,  first thing,  stood it back up.   will do some work later to make it more secure and while out there

003
i saw that the little Native Plum is blooming like crazy

004
and that the Hollyhock that the fence fixing guy ran over with his truck 4 times in a week….. could care less.  a few smashed leaves, but i heard her saying  "so what". 

i will come back here later today and also go back to the previous post.  

i'm thinking the name of my Raft is      Hey Ho.

 

 

 

 

 

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41 responses to “the sea of Possibility”

  1. ;uie Avatar
    ;uie

    Kantha stitches like ripples of wind, on the water and the stationary desert raft transports in its own way, indigo flag still, then rippling in an uplift of wind…and from “Wolves…Clarissa Pinkola Estes”:
    “The creative force flows over the terrain of our psyches looking for natural hollows, the arroyos, the channels that exist in us. We become its tributaries, its basins, we are its pools, ponds, streams and sanctuaries. The wild creative force flows into whatever beds we have for it, those we are born with as well as those we dig with our own hands. We don’t have to fill them, we only have to build them.”
    as a raft with an indigo flag was built by a woman in the desert. who feels the ripple of the kantha stitch on her skin, the ripple of the desert wind…Life.

    Like

  2. Vicky Avatar

    looks like you are re-weaving the cloth…making new pathways for small spirits….

    Like

  3. Eva Ucgatwork Avatar

    Dear Grace,
    A raft in the desert…an indigo flag…
    an expedition into so far unknown terratories of textile art.
    Tell us what you see out there…maybe we can start other expeditions…that will take us to similar beautiful places.
    (I also loved your photos, the ones with the piece of fabric…)
    Have a great day,
    eva

    Like

  4. saskia Avatar

    thanks Grace for reminding me of Patti, am rocking kantha-stitching to her voice over on the other side of the Big Water and your beautiful kantha (is that what I’m doing, I thought it was called quilting) and your world I wish I could step into this screen and visit for real and hug you and I say thank you for your wonderful stories and all you show, pouring words now spilling happiness mingled with melancholy, like her voice, Vulnerable and loving and that is all that matters

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  5. Mo Crow Avatar

    oh yes!!! Grace!!! I love your raft, how cool is that? I want to see a photo of you with a lantern on your raft one full moon night !
    here’s a link to the full text of “The Letter to a Young Activist During Troubled Times”
    http://mavenproductions.com/index.php/services/dr-clarissa-pinkola-estes/dr-clarissa-pinkola-estes-letter-to-a-young-activist-during-trou/
    It has helped me find a way through the dark so many times…

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  6. jude Avatar

    a good name.

    Like

  7. nance Avatar

    the owl and the pussycat went to sea in a beautiful pea green boat! and their sister grace floated with the winds through the arroyos and over the sands of the dessert in her beautiful wooden raft. she followed her visions of kantha and cloth and made a life full of wonder and love.

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  8. grace Forrest~Maestas Avatar
    grace Forrest~Maestas

    “we don’t have to fill them, we only have to build them”
    ahhhh, Marti……………..

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  9. grace Forrest~Maestas Avatar
    grace Forrest~Maestas

    oh…Vicky……..am I?

    Like

  10. grace Forrest~Maestas Avatar
    grace Forrest~Maestas

    Eva…i will send you some Indigo…see if it can
    find it’s place in the textile territory of yours…
    with or without a beast…….
    xxooxxoo

    Like

  11. grace Forrest~Maestas Avatar
    grace Forrest~Maestas

    Vulnerable. that is another key.

    Like

  12. grace Forrest~Maestas Avatar
    grace Forrest~Maestas

    Mo…i don’t know how many times i have read this so
    far.
    so Very Perfect for the moment, more than you could
    ever imagine. or maybe not…….

    Like

  13. handstories Avatar

    if you stare at your cloth can you see it rippling? i believe i can from here. i had “the owl & the pussycat” in mind, too! another wonderful poem by “the jumblies” lear, & can imagine you bobbing on your desert waves. this is a magical post.

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  14. grace Forrest~Maestas Avatar
    grace Forrest~Maestas

    it IS, issn’t it.

    Like

  15. grace Forrest~Maestas Avatar
    grace Forrest~Maestas

    SMILE……….you became a poet!………..
    a raft on sand….how interesting, isn’t it.
    LOVE

    Like

  16. grace Forrest~Maestas Avatar
    grace Forrest~Maestas

    it’s a magical world, really…………if we give it
    a chair and let it eat from our plate

    Like

  17. judy martin Avatar

    The stitching in the first photographs is so wonderful. I just want to pet it.

    Like

  18. sewing susan Avatar
    sewing susan

    Love love love your kantha stitching Grace

    Like

  19. yvette Avatar

    grace runs with wolves……….

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  20. Eva Ucgatwork Avatar

    Oh, that weould be terrific, Grace!!!
    I will visit a Georgia O’Keefe exhibition next week in Munich – going to think about you and send a postcard (hopefully not to be added to that shameful collection of the unknown person who took my kitschy-Christmas-card…)
    I think, this post will look different than my usual ones – I wasn’t able to sign in with facebook from this computer…so maybe no signature photo)
    A calm sea, a gentle wind and lots of good wishes for the fearless pirate Grace!
    eva

    Like

  21. Robyn Ayaz Avatar
    Robyn Ayaz

    Oh Grace you are just the best, I want to hug you, I can just see you (well, sort of, because I don’t know what you look like) but I CAN SEE YOU dragging the raft, hoisting the flag, there, world, see this, I am HERE. And the stitching is so precious – it is my favourite stitch of any, simple, the first one we learn, but so comforting and yes, blissful. I have been reading about Bernini’s sculpture of The Ecstasy of St Theresa as described by Simon Schama in The Power of Art – same kind of bliss.

    Like

  22. Doris Avatar
    Doris

    you make me smile imaging you on a raft in the desert. A free spirit can travel every where. ๐Ÿ™‚
    ( I hope this comment isnยดt vanished in the air as some others)

    Like

  23. grace Forrest~Maestas Avatar
    grace Forrest~Maestas

    i think sister to the beautiful stitching in your Post
    clumsier, but related…….

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  24. grace Forrest~Maestas Avatar
    grace Forrest~Maestas

    i do too. i just love kantha like this…just it’s
    heartbeat

    Like

  25. grace Forrest~Maestas Avatar
    grace Forrest~Maestas

    yvette, yes and you too

    Like

  26. grace Forrest~Maestas Avatar
    grace Forrest~Maestas

    i should be a movie sometimes. would inspire
    everyone else who gets an urge to do dorky things
    to just GO for it….
    am going to look up what you refer to…..

    Like

  27. grace Forrest~Maestas Avatar
    grace Forrest~Maestas

    Doris..it’s here. what happens that they vanish????
    i wouldn’t want to lose any of yours….
    i am working now on the little seat for it. a little
    stool that got broken…

    Like

  28. Eva Ucgatwork Avatar

    Thank you, a hundred times…I’m going through some real rough times right now…not easy!
    BUT: Thank you, I’ve read it and felt understood and supported! Well, it’s not so much as changing the world – but dramatic personal affairs can be difficult enough to deal with!
    Love,eva

    Like

  29. Eva Ucgatwork Avatar

    Nance, that’s beautiful … and funny!
    Hey Grace, cover your ears – praise coming!!-
    I think her ideas as well as her textile pieces are unique and wonderful. I may not always be able to choose the right words of praise, but …yeah, she’s great!!!
    eva

    Like

  30. Eva Ucgatwork Avatar

    Grace, I just read that an hour ago…”Letter To A Young…” …you know… great article!!!
    eva

    Like

  31. Doris Avatar
    Doris

    For some reasons it doesn`t show every time I open it. But it is o.k. now.
    Iยดm traveling with you … ๐Ÿ™‚

    Like

  32. ali Avatar

    ah , Grace, I want to join you on the Hey Ho some time–we can stitch as we sail–a meditation of sorts–no talking…

    Like

  33. grace Forrest~Maestas Avatar
    grace Forrest~Maestas

    no…your reply was just as it is.
    love the oKeefe in Munich…will look forward to the
    postcard. the flag was down again today, but it has
    been righted now, again. again is becoming a very
    familiar word.
    love…

    Like

  34. grace Forrest~Maestas Avatar
    grace Forrest~Maestas

    EEEEEvaaaaaa……..

    Like

  35. grace Forrest~Maestas Avatar
    grace Forrest~Maestas

    Pinkola Estes is she who gave me courage to live the life
    i have found…the Women Who Run With the Wolves
    and since…i go back and back to her words for
    “reason”. have you read that???? you would like it, i
    am sure.
    the the Letter…..i cannot be more direct and perfect
    to me in this time. in my deepest self, i can not
    stop being a Young Activist

    Like

  36. grace Forrest~Maestas Avatar
    grace Forrest~Maestas

    yes you Are

    Like

  37. grace Forrest~Maestas Avatar
    grace Forrest~Maestas

    the great thing is we can sail anytime…it’s that kind
    of raft. no talking is good.
    coming over soon about geckos and lizards……..
    there has been a death in the extended family. need to
    attend there in the moment.

    Like

  38. Robyn Ayaz Avatar
    Robyn Ayaz

    Ola Grace – I know you are busy and will come back. Amazing, I am just now reading (among a thousand other things) Women who Run with Wolves – it is something else. Now I understand more about the raft; thanks Mo I just read that essay and it is just so, SO.

    Like

  39. Drucilla Pettibone Avatar

    yes i was thinking of the jumblies too with this raft! i love having jumblie sisters, and bringing it up too.

    Like

  40. Toni Avatar
    Toni

    I am smiling over how you make meaning with stray bits of stuff you find (such as cloth bit butterflies, salad dragon, pallet raft, etc.)

    Like

  41. grace Avatar

    to animate everything. when my mind is clear of dross, it happens

    Like

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