across borders…

Whilst working on the borders of the meditation piece today I have found myself thinking about some familiar ideas – rhythm, repetition and the flow of deciding where to stitch – balance

I usually stitch in the quiet, but today I was entranced as I listened to a Radio 3 concert – a Hungarian musician – cello – Miklos Perenyi playing Kodaly’s Sonata for Solo Cello Op 8.

The scissors belonged to my maternal grandmother and were in the box of embroidery thread tucked into the last embroidered cloth she was working on when she died in 1965. I have posted about the cloth before – here

My mind has wandered around, making connections and exploring tangents and wondered about borders, outer edges, margins/marginal – in cloth with this work..but in our world, our societies, our cultures, peoples. It is giving me a frame (as borders do!) and a context which seems to relate to everything in my mind and heart as winter solstice approaches.

 

 

a little progress ..

it takes slow time to begin to see the cloth – the spaces between…

 

Fledged..

There is intense bereavement. Numbness…

This week solace began through some slow stitch. A calming ryhthm again – if heard so quietly, less than a whisper.. but a felt sensation

These little birds are nesting in the eaves under the roof again.

The frame is the winding thread that wraps the tibetan incense we burn, the fracture where the thread does not quite meet barely glimpsed but highlighted here.

 

Out of hibernation…

Emerging from hibernation – slowly, tentatively..

Playing with placement for a little kantha study. Watching the birds on the feeders outside, aware of an increasing chatter and song with earlier sunrise and seasonal shifts (if to and fro). This morning sharp frost, cold cleansing air, cracked ice, fragile white blossom, a wash of blue clear skies and a walk to awaken the senses

Gentle colour, sensing a quiet rhythm begin to flow, breathing some life into a piece that has been patiently waiting in the wings…

 

Winter Solstice 2015

Winter Solstice – precious daylight and an honoured long night… A time to think of peace and connection, the rhythm of our world, and wishes and hopes and the strength of togetherness …

Solace – a project by India Knight

Have a look at this post by India Knight

Is it fluttering there still, my pennant – together entwined with others from around the world and gently moving in the breeze? I look out across the sky tonight …

(..thin cloth from an almost exhausted indigo dye bath embroidered with a single word in french knots – a stitch which for me which is about my language to represent prayers / thoughts)

Sunset…

the colours of sunset, rosa mundi petals caught with a knot, a circle in a square

the stitches my thoughts and words

Between moons…

Between moons many things happen… my best beloved burmese passed away between these last 2. I stitch.. rhythmic, repetitive, flow of concentration, absorbing my mind, allowing for some much needed inner space.

The yellow thread was stitched blindfold – of which more some other time… and a thank you to Vicky for the silk and indigo moons..

Continuing …

Day 3

Progress….

Day 1 – Cloth layered and constructed – free piecing with herringbone and a long back stitch … Suspended in the space and ready to start stitching … Such an exciting moment raising the piece by stitching thread to 2 corners, throwing the ball of thread over the wire and pulling the work up and into place and space!

Day 2 – Opening the heavy door this morning and catching my breath at the sight of it …..the first line of stitch exploring for reach and rhythm – both hands working together to complete each stitch

..a gathering of flowers which by synchronicity echo the colours chosen