erosion bundle book completed project

Earlier I posted a glimpse of my progress on the altered book I've been working on with the contents from my erosion bundle.

Since then I've created a small quilt, cut it up, added it to the book, and continued to alter the book in a variety of ways.

I further altered some of the fabric, cutting it into strips and staining it with coffee and blueberries.

Here are a few of the pages.

In addition to quotes I've added a couple of poems.

This is the top view.

This is the back.

trying to stay cool

in this record-breaking heat with some stitching on cool whites and off-whites. I've started three in a series of nine which will be assembled together.

Still practicing bead wrapping. It turns out that it's something I can do while riding in a car. But I can't actually concentrate on a design or assemble the pieces together. Interesting. I can sew and piece and applique while riding in a car but not do embroidery or add embellishments.

The flowers I started from seeds and finally transplanted outside are doing well. There is also a volunteer pumpkin plant.

I really like the mottled look of these roses.

dyeing to be blue

Last week I experimented with dyeing a few strips of fabric to be used for a project scheduled for an August 1 unveiling.

Staining would probably be a more accurate description than dyeing. This is a coffee and blueberry mixture.

I'm pleased enough with the results that now I plan to try it with some old linens I purchased at an antique mall a few weeks ago.

a small key

“The key to your universe is that you can choose.” ~ Frederick (Carl) Frieseke

“In oneself lies the whole world and if you know how to look and learn, the door is there and the key is in your hand. Nobody on earth can give you either the key or the door to open, except yourself.” ~ Jiddu Krishnamurti

“A small key opens big doors.” ~ Turkish Proverb

path with heart

a few additions to one of the cuffs, including wrapped beads

a button,

pieces of an old necklace

walking along a path,

finding a heart-shaped stone     

  

the steep path

started a new textile cuff bracelet . . .

bought a few buttons and pieces at an antique show . . .

and added some of them to the first cuff . . .

practicing wire wrapping after forgetting how to do it . . .

walked through the woods . . .  

Remember when life's path is steep to keep your mind even.  ~ Horace

textile cuff

 a new project.

Finally there is a break in the weather. A little rain. A drop in temperature.

I can breathe better and have started a small new project.

A few years ago I started making textile cuffs but only made a couple. 

This is a new one . . . still in progress . . .

just playing around with some elements and a new (to me) hardware store finding: screw rings.

practice stitching

it is still hot
but I've managed to do some stitching

"practicing"
on a couple of
leftover blocks

dock and lillies

Our guests have returned home and it's time to figure out a creative routine. It hasn't happened yet.

the slow choice

While Karen has been thinking about definitions of story cloth or picture cloth or poem cloth, I have been questioning the why of my work at all. I've been doing this, making quilts or cloth pieces, for many years and I've always done it by hand. I don't have a machine. I've never considered having one.

I've always enjoyed the process of creating with my fingers and hands and preferred the flexibility of the mobility of the projects. I still do.

As the subject continues to come up and even my husband is wondering, don't I want a machine, I've started to question what is the point of what I am doing? So I haven't been doing much of anything creatively.

Today I read a post about folk art by Pam, whose blog I regularly read. While nothing I'm working on is as spectacular as what she's working on and she uses a machine and I still choose not to, I was reminded of a quilt I started a few years ago and then put away.  I need a new project and maybe embroidering, embellishing and finishing this old one will be it.

collecting instead of creating

Lately it seems I've been doing more collecting than creating.

no regrets

While we still miss our large tree, after last Thursday we no longer have any regrets about the decision to take it down after a limb had fallen. This is the view from the front of my house last Thursday.

Looking to the right:

Across the street and looking to the left:

Our neighborhood of tree-lined streets is not looking the same.

summer solstice

Happy first day of summer!

This is the back of my altered erosion bundle book and features my latest favorite quote.

erosion bundle book sneak preview

My Erosion Bundle project has become an altered book.  It's about metamorphosis, a book of change. I've been sewing quotes (about change) to pieces of the bundle contents along with some paper pieces and fastening them into the book.

While change is constant sometimes it is more drastic. Losing this last tree was a loss. Nothing looks or feels the same about our house. Of course, there is more to it than that. Our family used to sit under it on the patio, often having dinner out there. First we had fewer family members and now we no longer have the tree. I've been thinking about the cumulative effect of loss and (finally) it occurred to me that there is a difference between moving on and moving along.

dream pieces

This is slowly coming together. A few additional elements added each day.