Susan Barrett Price's Blog, page 11

Spirit Cloth 101: Work In Progress (cont’d)

[Cont'd from 6.6.14, Spirit Cloth 101 project, aka “Pocket Haven”) Between work sessions, I fold the cloth up along the breaks between the pockets, horizontally, then vertically. When I unfold it, it feels like a ritual — a priest unfolding his stole. Maybe I should kiss it or murmur an incantation before proceeding to work. My only prayer these days is: “Energize!,” the first word in my journal every morning after the date and time. But maybe unfolding and refolding the pocket haven needs a prayer of protection for all of you anxious souls who need a safe resting place, a respite from life’s woes, to re-energize before fighting on.  Continued here>>>

Spirit Cloth 101: Work In Progress (cont’d)

[Cont'd from 5.29.14] I continue to work on my Spirit Cloth 101 project, aka “Pocket Haven.” I was thinking that the end was in sight the other night as I add some stitches to the upper left pocket and tried a couple star stitches to add body to the in-between (see photo below). Then it started to look like a big jumble, not a well integrated composition. It’s a sampler, yes, an experiment, yes, but I’d also like it to be an experiment of the whole, not a mish-mash of random embellishments. This led me to pause and consider a border… which led me into my current “just shoot me” status. - Continued here>>>

Eight-Pointed Star, Found On My Way To Looking For Something Else

On my way to looking for something else, I discovered this star. Sometimes I can just doodle, whether with ink or thread. Sometimes I have to research the meaning of the little symbols and doodads that dribble from my fingertips. It’s the storyteller in me, I guess. Or better, the story lover in me — “What are you saying to me? What’s your tale?” - Continued here>>>

Appliqué Magic

At the end of September, 2013, a clean-out-the-closets attack coincided with a craft attack (see 10.6.2013). I pulled out a t-shirt that Jim had purchased at a Hilltribe artisan center in Thailand in 1990. The hemp t-shirt had been worn throughout our trip and was stained — and it isn’t the type of think Jim would wear around here anyway. Sewn onto the front of the shirt was what turned out to be an old Hmong tribe textile — lots of appliquéd triangles on resist-dyed indigo cloth. I was inspired. Really, I was seized, like some magic jumped out of the fabric and into my soul. – Continued at Mad In Pursuit>>>

Spirit Cloth 101: Work In Progress

[Cont'd from 5.10.14] I continue to work on my Spirit Cloth 101 project. In fact, the more I work on it, the more obsessed I become with it. It’s an experiment, it’s practice — kind of a wild sampler. An idea strikes and I test it out. On the road, I decided to call it “Blue-Pocket Hideaway” but now I’m referring to it as “Pocket Haven.” I’m trying to stop my brain from overthinking it and let my hands tell the story. But you know: Overthinking Is Me. - CONTINUED>>>

Textile Design: Lookout for Color

My design came back from Spoonflower. I’m soooooo full of myself. – See more at: http://madinpursuit.com/Journal2014/20140527.html#sthash.gB5UnYzH.dpuf

Meet “Jewel” (Doll #9)

I wanted to make a special birthday present for my friend Pat, who has given me so much of her wisdom and her heart over the past few years. A doll. My shoulder pundits gave me a hard time about this: “You’re too slow.” “Your work is still too sloppy.” “What if everyone starts expecting dolls from you now??” “She probably won’t like it, anyway.” I had to distract them with M&Ms and carry on with my plan. Continued here>>>

Spirit Cloth 101: The Beginning

5.10.2014 I kept tripping over the “spirit cloth” work of Jude Hill on Flickr and in my Feedly feed. Her handstitched quilty-applique-embroidered collages are full of texture and magic. I was happy to discover that she had online classes. I had to try.

 

Her work appears all raggedy and intuitive — out of my comfort zone. Usually when I just throw things down, I wind up with an unsatisfying mess. But I’m learning there is a process here, a structure. Yes, of course: an opening ritual — the invocation that summons the Muse.

Continued>>>

Handstitching: The Book

5.9.2014 [cont'd from 5.1.14] I “finished” my handstitching practice. I’ve only made 8 blocks so far but (a) wanted to try something in a different format and (b) wanted to see what they look like in the foldout book format suggested by Carol Ann Waugh.*

 

Doodling with embroidery stitches is pretty easygoing and doing a 3″ square goes fast. But turning it all into a cloth book gets a little complicated. First, because embroidering the lettering seemed to take longer than the image, I decided to teach myself how to do free-motion handwriting on the sewing machine. Continued>>>

More on Handstitching

5.1.2014 [cont'd from 4.25.14] I’m continuing with my evening hand-stitching, aka embroidery. I was going great guns, finishing one each night and posting it on Flickr. Then I had to get complicated. First, when I post on Flickr, I like to caption my photos. Who stops to look at “DSC03516″? While I’m naming, why not get a little poetic? The piece above — where I added the complication of reverse applique* –is obviously a sun. But no, I had to squeeze my eyes till is became a sea urchin. Continued>>>