monkey hands

Flying Turtles, Rainbow Quilt, Leaving Soon

flying across the moon

Stitching continues on my Diary Cloth  (one of  Jude Hill's inspiring online course at Spirit Cloth). It's a relaxing way to begin to process change and transition. 

part of the diary cloth

I think flying turtle is leading the way home!

rainbow quilt for, and designed by, a very special niece

The top is finished, and just in time to pack and thento pass along to Phyllis Dewey, longarm quilter at Quilter's Pantry, when I get back.

stuff accumulated over the past two years

workers from Roundabout picking up donations for migrant workers and their families

Roundabout Organization is an NGO in Beijing. They run a store similar to Salvation Army or Goodwill in the U.S., and also donate goods to people in need, which includes the 14 million migrant workers living and working in Beijing.  

The so-called "migrant workers" are Chinese, but don't have a hukou (offical government papers allowing them to live in a city other than their rural hometown).

Migrant workers have few rights and often little access to public schools, healthcare, or other social services. These guys were great sports who pick up our air filters, my post-surgery-for-the-broken-foot gear, household goods, and so on. 

Plodding Toward China

I've slowly been making minor progress. Turtle now has claws to cling more firmly to the freshly seeded (stitched) ground, and also newly embellished wings for soaring.

my view from a Tucson coffee shop

Meanwhile, I've been working my way back to Beijing via some family time in Oakland, Ca, Tucson, and now San Francisco for a night before taking off for China tomorrow morning.

cacti in post office parking lot

Next steps may be a cactus behind Turtle, and an ocean in front...ongoing work as part of Jude Hill's inspiring Spirit Cloth Diaries class at Spirit Cloth.

 

Covered Buttons and Flying Turtles

My friend Terri Lipman gave me this great fabric she'd dyed. I was inspired to use it for a couple things (in process) and to cover these buttons:

And then, 

Just before my hand surgery, I pulled together some scraps from this big scrap box (origins, unknown/remembered) for possible stitching. 

Most the scraps were 1.5 inch to 2 inch strips, and I picked a few that felt turtle-ish to me.

My first post-surgery sewing, inspired by a class I'm taking online with Jude Hill at  Spirit Cloth.