Why not?
No. I guess the real question was is How? How can I do it? How will the form emerge? The imagined vs the possible?
This is Michelle's embroidery hoop. She sent it to me. Some of the newer folks here didn't know her. She is still a ragmate. We miss her.
I don't use a hoop much. I mostly like to feel the cloth, sense the tension, and use my hands carefully. But this was different, very thin, very small, no stabilizing behind, just to try.
I only used the hoop for the nine patch embroidery. And the eye. There was a struggle but I wanted to create a very thin component that I could move around from here to there. I posted this to Instagram Stories yesterday because my computer was acting up.
What are we really, but a bunch of loose threads, held together by intention?
My original thought here was to do a few of these on this thin cloth and cut them apart to use as components. Skitch Skatch style. That thought remains. But I also look at this lone self on this thin expanse and , well, I am still looking with new thoughts surfacing. Things didn't go as imagined, it is tiny and it didn't totally work out but I did my best, patching over the glitches and it is good enough, which makes me love it more in its honesty.
You help grow my own imagination….freeing it to be what it’s meant to be. ….a few steps at a time.
I cannot imagine any greater help than that.
thanks, that’s a nice thing to say…
Ahhh yes Michelle . . .
Good use for her hoop ! Maybe she knows . . .
Probably…
Miss Michelle too. Her walks
Yes. .
It’s wonderful, and I can’t wait to see what you will do with it!
Thanks, I imagine quite a few of these… so I might use them in a few different ways…
I love the experimentation of it. You being in the thick and thin of it. I came across a memory yesterday where Michelle had commented. In fact the first three comments were from people who had passed. We still hold them close.
It is such a long time now, we are beginning to see lifetimes in it…
It is more than good enough. I love things in miniature. I’m still not used to not seeing posts from Michelle. I think of her often and sense that she is still with us …just not visible.
yes small is so amazing… always worked very small with my paintings too. now being pushed to smaller!
Michelle is here.
I love the little beast!
So much lovely energy here!
I’m new here. What an amazing space this is, not just the sharing of your visual language which I am finding fascinating (as I am trying to sort out my own right now) but the comments are always thoughtful and not just fawning, like some other blog communities I am part of. And now I find out that you forage real friendships here as well? I need to stop lurking here and become tangible I think.
Hey Heather, welcome.
This community reaches way back, this blog being an extension of my old one, gee maybe 2006? It was way back when blogging first started and quite amazing that a lot of us kept in touch and became good friends. Some stay, some have go but overall the conversation has continued. Quite amazing really…
I was looking through my bookshelf recently and found a book that Michelle had sent me, with a little message to me in the front. It hit me, wow, she’s been gone years now. She was a treasure.
Yes, and how time can fly…🌊
Ahhh…Our Michelle. sigh.
She has been much on my mind, as Fall has become her season in my heart. In the midst of weary and survival and sanity…in the middle of color drawing and the Railroad Bridge, I’ve been thinking of her…missing her – and meant to say so in my last post, but the words got left behind. I am grateful for your remembering here today.
This very fine beast, within its thin world feels so fitting as to how we travel on. Going. Period. I looked at its tiny being and thought I’d like to have a beast in my pocket…A Pocket Beast, to keep me company and love and strength for the going. Thank you for these gifts today. xo
Yes, the fall, Michelle.
Things we can carry with us. I’m working on shrinking it all down…
Michelle would approve.
I missed her intensely a few weeks back because our B&B hostess was thin, moon-faced and so sweet. She reminded me of her.
So many great questions here. As always.
So many things remind me…
Seeing Michelle’s hoop brought such a bittersweet memory. Several years ago, I was gifted with metal peace leaves from the Australian sculptor, Barry Smith. I sent one to Michelle and in return, she sent me one of her whimsical leaf cards. Tour little beast brought that memory to the surface. She dried leaves and then drew bodies and faces on them. Michelle was a woman of many creative talents and deep caring. Autumn is a spirit filled time, a quiet time. Michelle left us in September 2020 and she left us much too soon…
Your, not tour…!
Yes autumn always brings her back…
There is no wind here today, the oaks turned red almost overnight and leaves are just falling, like we are in a leaf globe.
I like the idea of tiny beasts. They can go where larger beasts cannot. Love the rich, shimmering quality of this little one on an almost transparent piece of cloth. The veil between the worlds.
ha, they can go where larger beast( selves) cannot. love that.
Such a delicate little cloth. Embracing glitches with alternatives. Like brush strokes, some work, some don’t. We just keep going as you like to say. I love cutting things apart & using as components; making connections. Most times the result is better than I had imagined.
the puzzle is always gratifying.
One can sense the goodness coming in this one… the connectedness.
❤️
I like it a lot.
Autumn has always been a bittersweet melancholy time of turning inward, of great reflection and a thinning of the Veil …
…Michelle’s hoop 🧡
your tiny beast, thin cloth, russet tones …
Love all the textures in this wee beast. So nice that you have Michele’s hoop, I think of her sometimes when I read certain poems. Wendell Berry’s poem “The Peace of Wild Things” comes to mind this morning…
I have planted things in the garden for her. We meet each morning. The change of season creates conversation.
I love how your needle work flows and circles thru your entire world, head to toe, up and out.
Love the “loose threads with intention”.
This is how we find voice I think, through connecting to all we experience and understanding how this shapes what we can say, share.
His tiny but bold Animal Spirit fits with the thinness…
…and I love your first paragraph, Jude. It deeply moves me.
why is such a drag sometimes
it strikes me as ephemeral and weighty
That was great, thank you!
💖
It’s wonderful 💙💙💙
and I agree good enough is what I strive for!
the best we can is really what we got, ha! Gotta love it.
💙😁