Resurrection

 I am getting ready to resurrect this space, although  it will be in a new direction. New posts coming soon!

PLEASE VOTE FOR OUR GRANT

https://www.facebook.com/seedsofchange/app_589705354373524

 

Our school has applied for a grant from Seeds of Change.

COMMON GROUND: Planting the future one seed at a time

follow the link above to vote for our garden

and type 28771 into the search box

you can vote once per day

This grant will allow us to refurbish our greenhouse,

build trellises for additional grapes and berries,

refurbish existing planters and add some additional ones,

built a strawberry pyramid,

and add soome cold frames to extend our growing season.

We would be able to

grow  lot of small vegetables in our courtyard garden.

The gardening would be integrated into

lessons taught in several curricular areas

including

Appalachian Culture,

Foods & Nutrition,

Healthy Living,

Science.

We currently have programs in place

that provide "weekend bags" of food for kids (Knights' Pantry)

and provide free lunch to local children over the summer.

Food from the garden would be used to supplement these programs.

THANKS!

 

White: A Work in Progress

     I have been wanting to sing up for an online workshop with Jude Hill for quite a while now. I have been a huge fan of hers for even longer. Well, I finally treated myself to "What If Diaries 1". This month we are exploring white.
     This piece was born from consideration of all the hands that lovingly stitched pieces that I now treasure. Many of the stitchers are with me only in spirit--Aunt Virgie, Mammaw Inscoe, Mama Williams. Some of the pieces have faded, developed spots, grown threadbare and worn. But they are still precious. And they will be precious to my children. And their children as well. And so, this piece, "A Work in Progress" is a tribute to them. To the legacy they have left me--a love of pieces stitched together by loving hands.
    

(Wow, it has been a long time since I posted. Still no internet at home, but it is coming soon. And, in case you wonder, the maple is still there; we just went with another provider thus the dish will be in a different location.)    : D
 

Internet Access

Right now we are in the midst of a dilemma...Internet OR maple tree...tree is winning so far...hope there is another solution...if not, Internet may go!


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Fog Lifting

Thanks to Jude for checking on me this morning. Yes, the fog is lifting. But, alas the my Internet is not cooperating with me. We have had some equipment failures that our service tech can't seem to figure out. He has replaced both the modem and the radio on the dish, but it still is not working. I hope he gets it going soon!


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blog break

away for a few days

letting the fog clear



painting with words

recently read Gathering Blue by Lois Lowry. meant for younger readers but a very good quick read.  a story woven with mending. in every sense of the word. mending fabric. mending relationships. mending society. and a search for blue. the color of peace.

the main character is a "threader". an artist. gifted.
"Kira had always had a clever way with her hands. When she was still a tyke, her mother had taught her to use a needle, to pull it through woven fabric and create a pattern with colored threads. But suddenly, recently, the skill had become more than simple cleverness. In one astounding burst of creativity, her ability had gone far beyond her mother's teaching. Now, without instruction or practice, without hestitancy, her fingers felt the way to twist and weave and stitch the sprecial threads together to create designs rich and explosive with color. She did not understand how the knowledge had come to her. But it was ther, in her fingertips, and now they trembled slightly with egerness to start."

also contained withing this small treasure

 are numerous references to dye plants and the color they yield.

 some were new to me.

picnik users: check this out

While I have Photoshop on my PC, I do not have it on my laptop or on the computer in my office. Very often I take photos of students/ their work at school and the fluorescent lighting always gives a less than pleasing photo. So, like a lot of other people I frequently use picnik.com to edit photos. When I learned the site was closing next month I started looking for an alternative. And I found something I think is even better.




Enter pixlr.com. I was really surprised when the image loaded and a workspace very much like Photoshop opened up...layers, filters, patch tool, clone, etc. And--drum roll please-- it's FREE! You read that right. You can do just about anything the average person would do with Photoshop without even touching your bank account. Will I miss picnik? Nah! Not this girl! The only thing I wasn't pleaded with is the fact that the iPad app (also free, or only 2.99 for the full pack) is nothing like the web site---cool, but not even in the same ballpark. Check pixlr out. I think you will really like it. Probably more than picnik.
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paying tribute

As I have worked the last few weeks on Indigo Dragon I have been thinking about how I got to this point. With stitching that is. Much of what I know about the basic mechanics of sewing was learned as a child sitting with my Aunt Virgie, my mother's aunt who did a lot of sewing--almost all of it by hand. She owned a wonderful old White treadle machine that sewed like a dream. I remember asking her once why she didn't use is very much. While I can't recall her exact words, it was something to the effect of enjoying the feel of the piece laying across her lap and being able to turn it and run her fingers over the stitching.

I am beginning to understand a lot of this. Getting older and slowing down a bit may contribute. But there is something quite calming about having your own creation in your hands, stitching with a needle warmed and shaped by your hands, the quiet of hand work opposed to the mechanical whir of the machine, and the perfect imperfection of stitching that bears the mark of your fingers. I took a verrry long break from any sort of sewing.

Knit Together.  Mixed Media: digital image printed on cotton fabric, altered with paint, ink, and stitching. 8 x 10 inches.
This piece is about my daughter and myself. The figure in the image is my daughter. The knitting is my own.
This was done during grad school. You can learn about the process used to create in on my Current Work page on this blog.

 But now I am back to it. And much of the thanks for that goes to Jude Hill over at Spirit Cloth. I have enjoyed Jude's work for several years. The quiet voice in her videos belies the adventurous spirit that comes through in her work. She is fearless in her "what-iffing", experimenting with fiber manipulations that I might never have considered. Her persistence in working with her slow cloths have helped me slow down and work more meditatively. I have figured out ways to integrate different techniques (some learned from Aunt Virgie and then some from Jude and some my own) into a piece that is a unified work.
So, I want to say thank you. To my Aunt Virgie for everything she was and is to me. I wish she were still here. To Jude. For unselfishly sharing. For being a true teacher. A giver . For freely giving of her time, energy and stitching wisdom. I hope that someday soon we will see a print version of Spirit Cloth (if there ever is I will be on the waiting list for its release). Thank you both for helping me get to this point.

A step backward

Well, as you can see I have gone back to the old format. It may take me a day or two to get everything back to the way it was though.


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Trying out a new look

Trying Blogger's dynamic views template.I'm not sure if I'm going to like it. I may go back to the previous template. Let me know what you think.
Thurs morning:
I notice that there have been a lot of people looking around with the new template. I hope everyone is discovering all the viewing options. The dropdown on the top left gives you several different viewing options. The black tab on the upper right of the page opens up Archives, Followers and Subscribe. Still only one comment/opinion. Just curious how you like it?

Here & Now: Progress Report

dragon is finished

on to adding some environmental elements

today just playing and thinking

dragon almost finished

now playing with edges

contemplating  borders

maybe extending existing pattern

fading away

also working on a photo

trying out landscape elements

to left and behind dragon

maybe clouds

and lightening

Power Felt

Wake Forest University has develope a new "felt" that contains carbon nanotubes which allow the material to convert heat into electricity. The uses for this new "fiber" are infinite. Just think of the possibilities!

Cold and Razor Sharp

 waves are completed

work on the dragon begun,

don't think he's a fire breather

it's too cold

maybe he's the source

of all the icy winds the past few days

cold razor sharp

like the talons

of an indigo dragon