New un-thoughts

loving this red and tan palette

natural plant colour plus red

inspired to make a series of large quilts in this colour way

cloth is a language that connects us

 

cloth provides a continuous under current between cultures

common to all cultures - and culture-specific - both

it is a shared activity and stirs both conscious and unconscious memory

it is a language that connects us

pare away

 

pare away the hankies from the path quilt, and replace them with madder dyed wool-silk.

get a wool batt for this quilt

use welsh quilting patterns -

Welsh quilters developed a quilting style which remains unique to this day.  The quilts are distinguished by the practice of outlining throughout the quilting design and the use of geometric and stylized patterns.  a common layout for a welsh quilt is a large medallion surrounded by motifs and borders.  the different parts of the design are filled with a variety of geometric and stylized patterns.  Patterns common to Welsh quilts include hearts, leaves, rosettes, spirals or snails and Welsh pears which we know as a paisley.  Welsh quilts are one-of-a-kind creations of the individual quilters and were seldom copied quilt for quilt. Utility quilts often were filled with old clothes or blankets but lambs wool was frequently used as batting.  It is through their wool quilts that Welsh quilters have made the greatest impact on the quilt world because the neighbors of the Welsh immigrants in Pennsylvania were the Amish.
from Welsh Quilting Pattern and Design Handbook by Marjorie Horton

dust clearing

I am ripping out my luminous halo path - removing all those multi-coloured memory cloth bits, and replacing them with plain plant dyed wool and silk, leaving only the red geese, flying in straight rows around the edges of this large square.  A simpler, purer look, but not the original intent.

Or is it?

Isn't my original intent to make a quilt as beautiful and compelling as I can?
Doesn't my 'new' aesthetic thake things away - pares away - all the dust from my old ways and my old cloth is part of that dust.

wall sized journal page

I'm driven up against the wall to write these.
I don't decide to do it.
They save me.
This is not paradise.
I don't have the equipment to penetrate the range of human activity that confronts me.
I can't figure it out.  can you?

Leonard Cohen  March 20 2014 CBC radio interview

path work

First I have to fail.
Get lost
Get bound up in what I think is right
When it fails I feel trapped,
stuck.

I cut through the tangle
to make an opening for my heart
to receive the light and air.

The whole is the most important thing

red thread

my wall is my journal page

do not worry

 

 

You must recognize what you have already seen
to get used to it, to use it as best you can
do not fear what you find new
do not underestimate it but
do not over estimate it either.  LB

plunge in and go slow

 

my quilting is not political
it is aware