monkey hands

Patchwork Beast

Inspired by Jude Hill's great "Beasts" course, this is in process--made with scraps from yesterday's beast(s) and a pair of shibori pants I took apart to use for an apron in my online boro class with Jude Hill of Spirit Cloth.

Seeing (and Sewing) Beasts

When I first glanced this poorly dyed (lots of bleeding and smudging) linen batik in Muxiyuan, the large wholesale fabric area in the south side of Beijing, I saw beasts.  I didn't see shapes that could be made into beasts, I saw beasts. My vision or imagination was so strong and clear that I actually thought it was screened with Jude-like (of Spirit Cloth) wild, soulful, imaginative beasts. 

Maybe I just have beasts on the brain these days. I've been dreaming in beasts since beginning Jude's Sprit Cloth Contemporary Boro 2 online course, and it was about this time last year that I was creating a Chinese folklore inspired tigercat project for an enrichment program for migrant workers' children (see more in this post TigerCats at Human Capital Unleashed). Here's an example: 

So, with beasts on my mind, I was delighted that this was a "remnant" of four or so meters, and thus I could purchase the coarsely woven, dyed cloth. Cloth in the market is usually sold only by the entire roll or bolt--typically 100 to 6000 meters--but remnants, sometimes beginnings or ends of rolls that have flaws, are often available.  I washed and dryed the cloth and put it aside. Last night I picked it up and put a 12" square on my hoop. 

This is my first creature (or creatures--is it a three-headed beast, or three beasts, connected?) from this cloth.  More are sure to follow!

Beautiful Beijing

I'm back in Beijing, jet-lagged and loopy, but wonder of wonders, the air has cleared upon my return, with big blue skies and floating white clouds. What a welcome change from the typical smoggy gray sky and thick, dirty air I'm used to seeing and breathing here. The times, it seems, they just may be a'changing here in the capitol. 

In another reminder that progress is possible here, U-Tube is unblocked, at least for the moment. Proof is in this picture of Jude Hill's hands showing a "paperless piecing" technique. It's a terrific method for piecing, especially for  squares and rectangles. See her blog, Spirit Cloth, for inspiration and online courses.

Blogger and Wordpress are also fully accessible (at least for now), complete with pictures and the ability to comment. My virtual world in China has grown exponentially!

Meanwhile, because life is a mixed bag no matter what, construction on the block-sized mega builting continues below the apartment windows, and it's rising daily, getting closer and closer, bringing noise and dust 24/7. 

It's amazing to watch the techniques and progress, especially at night when workers toil at welding stations, fusing rusty steel rebar at welding stations, and moving back and forth in unison like a well choreographed dance. 

Photos taken at dawn during a rare quiet lull between night and day shifts.

A lone tenacious tree hangs on between newly erected construction site buildings. 

I have several projects in mind, so tomorrow, after some rest, I shall return to the sewing table with focus and renewed zest. Just putting out that positive intention in the hopes it comes to pass.

Touching Down in Paris

~ a very brief two days in Paris to celebrate my oldest daughter's birthday and graduation. She's been studying there for the past year, and I haven't been able to visit her until now. This is a bad picture, but the only non-family photo I took, so here it is, the narrow street where the hotel is located:

In spite of the cold and rain, it really is beautiful. The trees are beginning to leaf and bloom, and so many apartments and commercial buildings have beautiful flowers and greens in window boxes.

I haven't taken pictures (hard to do in the rain on crutches), but the storefronts are full of inspiring modern French designs and colors.  Citron and Melon seem to be "the" colors in France this season. I am ready to land somewhere (back in Beijing for now) and start stitching once again!

New Bird, New Vista

I made this bird from two swatches of hand-dyed fabric as a surprise gift for the dyer herself; she's battling a serious illness and this little critter brought some cheer. I saw the yellow into white into teal fabric and immediately envisioned a bird's natural markings. 

I'm in New York City for a couple days visiting  family -- my sons and my almost 90 year old mother-in-law. From lush green country to concrete everywhere, this is my new view from the hotel window: 

It is a lovely blue sky, and as Grace of Wind Thread has reminded me, it's all the same sky where ever we are. As my foot heals from surgery, I find myself spending lots of time sitting inside looking out--I think that's why I seem to be captivated by whatever view is at hand on any given day. There are so many stories behind all these windows.

Stones and Critters

While I was home, I made a few little stones and sent them off to Jude for her heartwarming  Magic Feather project. 

Maddie, 13 

Peanut, 15

Nellie, 3

Thomasina, 2

The family pets, and some of the family, were together during these few days home. Now everyone is scattered again, including the animals, who live in three different homes while we're in China. Fortuantely, they're all loved and well-cared for, with new people and pet buddies to enjoy.  

The Party

 "The Party" is my donation for the SAQA 2012 Benefit Auction.  Free-embroidery (without sketch or markings) with sashiko and unraveled wool thread on indigo cotton and unbleached muslin; muslin batting and backing; hand quilting; 12" square. 

Though jet-lagged and weary, it's great to be back home in rural New Hampshire for few days.  This  is my view from the dining/sewing table. That's  Mt. Monadnock in the distance: 

Big Moon Over Beijing

view from apartment window

How I long to be home in the country on nights like this--listening to the geese, bull frogs, and cyotes instead of cars, horns, trucks, sirens...soon! I'll be back in rural New Hampshire for a few days, from the end of this week to the end of next week. Happy, happy about that.

Busy Monkey Hands

A bit of this and a bit of that...all over the place these days. Lap projects, mostly. Good for folks on crutches! Like me. 

A new bird with fabric from Shimla, India, a bit of sashiko on 8" square "snack mats" and a new pincushion. Yes, it's a tuna can pin cushion, because I needed a pin cushion, and I had tuna for lunch one day. So retro-craft, I know. In case you're wondering (as I was) pincushion may also be written as pin cushion.

Eyes or no eyes on this birdie? Usually I have an immediate sense, but not this time.  I may be a bit birded out just now. 

The wonkies are finished--the wonky blocks, that is!

For this quilt -- blocks on bed for arranging -- as conceived in this sketch: Wonky Blues quilt. 

For this quilt -- blocks on bed for arranging -- as conceived in this sketch: Wonky Blues quilt. 

Dyed sashiko yarn on muslin face with unraveled wool thread for earrings. A bit of fun today--inspired in large part, I think, by the totally engaging Contemporary Boro 2 online workshop I'm taking with Jude Hill of Spirit Cloth.

Snack time!