new year

 old year

silk, cotton, indigo, eco cauldron

 strings left from summer dyeing

 canada goose from saranac lake

balancing

where the threads are going

where are yours going?

~~~

happy

new year

a very good one 

to you!

leah's snowflake

you!

~~~

what is joy?

 illumination

 being stunned

 connecting

 rainbow

 clouds

 green

 moments before flight

strength and vulnerability

nothing much...

...to say. 

this just appeared.

no kidding.

i am working,

pulled out a cutting mat, set it up, 

and there it was.

 i wanted to show you my new journal

 and the bag i put it in

 and on the other side of the table i saw this

 there are a four circle sheets from st. armond

 and this amazing journal

mohawk superfine pages, 

case paper cover

 seeing, sometimes it's so rich

even the dishes

 touching, sometimes

 learning, in this case to use flash 

to capture the fugitive greens

 oh, the endbands

do you make endbands?

i can't wait to use this

almost everytime i go someplace,

start something new, 

beads appear.

~~~

blue oatmeal story, because i was asked.

i was a student, dyeing at home on old sheeting

with rit dyes, layering color, shibori when it was tie dye,

subtle when subtle was OUT.

aluminum pan for cooking the dyeing cloth

(you can see where this is going)

in the morning i made oatmeal

served it.

bleary eyed, not believing, i realized the truth about NOT 

dyeing in kitchen pots.

rit blue oatmeal.

poison, maybe. i learned my lesson.

brown cloths

when the amazing india's eco colour appeared

i had been playing for some time with rust

and mold

and alternative dye processes, 

not knowing what, exactly, i was up to.

since the days of college and extreme frugality

i have been

using old cotton sheeting to dye on.

in those days, i used rit and procion dyes. 

there is an unfinished quilt in the trunk--

in soft reds and blues

(the story of the blue oatmeal comes from this time)

anyway, 

not long after i commenced reading eco colour 

i was dyeing

bundling, adding metals, plants

(and a frond of eucalyptus from the florist)

several days ago i pulled out this cloth

and studied it. 

it's fine. 

 the old cotton

sucked up the available pigments

in tidy patterns  

for christmas, my daughter hannah

knitted a brown cloth. a scarf

to keep me warm. 

her friend jody's pattern

apparently available on ravelry

(i don't do ravelry...)

two brown cloths.

both made from a few fibers...

beautiful

a little snow

on christmas, we went to the mountains

 there was caroling on christmas eve

 and goodies, but on christmas

 we drove in order to be THERE

 where i feel both welcome and a little rebuffed

 the snow came and went.

 we returned home to delicious eating

 and today there's sugar coating

 too

 and milkweed is decorated

(see that front moving through?)

 and there were some strange stained spots on the snow

 the origin, perhaps?

and melt chilled now. 

 waiting for the weather to change.

snow fall

and deepening dark

 except for one small spruce

 here the cold deepens

 not very much snow, actually

 the old barn softens and freezes

 so does the woods

night falls, the day after solstice

a bit before chirstmas eve.

this tree on a hillside, north facing

always surprises me

as i go home.

hugs to you all.