Wednesday, January 04, 2017

my light green heart

I stitch my soft green damask with green threads and it gets heavier and softer.

I worked on it during the family week between Christmas and New Year's,
I kept going even though it seemed every evening that I should let it drop into the pile of abandons.
I added red thread.

I stitched it while surrounded by family.

It's green like a leaf.
It comforted me like a tree, hiding my nervousness
containing my creativity
It allowed me to be present for them because it was only my hands doing busy work
I was not engaging my mind.

Or limping body.
The tucks I am adding make it shorter.

In the mornings I continued, the boys and their dad downloaded the newest star wars game,
my daughters slept.

The greenness is why I started it.
That and the old-ness of the cloth.
The softness.
April called it a worry cloth.

I often stitch while visiting with my family.

Somethimes I go too far and the cloths need to have sections erased or removed

Moon cloth is an example of a worry cloth,
Also silver water and Canadian Pioneer.
On New Year's eve I couched a red line and drew a circle and decided to add more tucks.

This piece is about adding.

Adding and erasing.
These tucks hide some of the dots I made.
Tucking under, covering up.

my light green heart
I stitched all day yesterday.
I thought  yesterday was my last day with this piece.

We drove the girls to Sudbury and I stitched all the way there and all the way back
and then again before and after dinner,
and then some more in front of two episodes of homeland
and for two more hours after Ned went to bed.
It's late afternoon as I write this, snowing really hard and here I am, continuing to stitch tucks into the green heart.

Tucks;
the texutre of them, standing proud.
hiding things within  their creases
iniviting me to touch and manipulate.
I look at the boston fern that I've kept alive - thriving - for three years.
I stare at the repetitive small shapes that line up along the leaves

and the greenness of it makes me happy this January day.

11 comments:

Vicky aka Stichr said...

The color is so refreshing. And it's so small. I was very surprised to see that.

Unknown said...

This is so very beautiful. You write with what feels to me like a real vulnerability about your creative process and the emotions involved. I truly appreciate that honesty in what you share. It adds so much to how I respond to the cloth.

Janine said...

you touch my heart when i read your blog
you're words resonate with something deep within me
you're stitching and cloths are simply beautiful
Thank you for sharing.

Occidental Tourist said...

I love to see and hear how your stitching supports your life and intersects with your activities. Thanks.
I have some old damask from a tablecloth of my grandmother. Maybe if I cut it up and put it in the washing machine
many times, it will soften up for easy stitching. Now, it is too stiff. Maybe soak in vinegar..

I so enjoy your posts.

Aara said...

Your post is a beautiful gift that makes me feel at home with myself. Thank you!

Patricia Filteau said...

Poetically textured.
thank you for sharing the experience of the creation.

Roxanne said...

Hi Judy,
I love reading your poetic words. I lay awake last night pondering just where to go on my little piece of blue and white. Then I say to myself, just stitch. The poetry will come. Thank you for sharing, once again.

Bek said...

Hi Judy,
I only recently discovered your work and this blog, so I wanted to say hello. Your poetry and reflections on your work are extraordinarily insightful. You are able to put into words, so many things that I have only ever felt or have not even fully understood. Your writing is opening up my world and helping me to understand what I do and giving me to courage to do more. Thank you

Velma Bolyard said...

that greeness is overwhelmingly gorgeous! i think it's nourishing you as you manipulate cloth piercing and hiding and almost reweaving that lovely thing. the tucks in my mind echo your wrapping...

Margaret said...

Such a beautiful green...i love seeing what you are stitching..the words and the cloth
, so inspiring

jeanne hewell-chambers said...

Worry cloths. I like that. Like it a lot. Transferring the heaviness of worrying to the cloth - where you can see and feel it.