13 acres

this is what the land looks like..

 this is that tree in the middle of the old well-house

it's an evergreen (obvs) and full of berries!

anyone know what kind it is?

and this is one of three sisters out in the pasture

Sarah thought it looked like an apple tree

anyone else? 

and this is the old barn.  i think it'll do just fine for the bunnies

and the lean-to will be good shelter for the donks and sheepies.

hub thought it might fall over, but i figure it's been here a while.

and we found this old trunk in the barn, how exciting!

this isn't who we bought from.  i love picking in general, but from our own land is the best.

i think we'll use it as a coffee table. 

and the sand!!  the sand is so weird!!  

this area of NC is called the Sandhills, but i'm so shocked to see it everywhere

at least we won't have so much mud and muck like here

i do love drainage.

a little antiquing

some of my favourites of the day out with mum..

although the only one of these i brought home was the good shepherd.

which was irresistable at $10

i also got a vintage hat with a large black bird on it.  

will have to show you that soon!

old friends at mum's

in the spirit of jude's boro 2 class, i give you this much-loved apron..

she needs some care and i'll give it. she tears a bit more with each wearing. i'm embracing what i use (although i would prefer to always be dressed as ms. havisham) (although perhaps using and mending could eventually produce the same result!) i've been longing to work more with clothing and recently made an alabama chanin dress that turned out wonderfully well (her patterns are brilliant)... martha beck, in her book "Finding Your Way in a Wild New World" (first spied in India's book stack), refers to those of us searching for new/old ways as "menders" or "wayfinders." i'm trying to hold this idea gently as i find it so powerful and comforting... and clothing myself in it is just the way.

prayer beads and indigo altar

Lapis Lazuli by Yeats, my very favourite poet

I have heard that hysterical women say
They are sick of the palette and fiddle-bow.
Of poets that are always gay,
For everybody knows or else should know
That if nothing drastic is done
Aeroplane and Zeppelin will come out.
Pitch like King Billy bomb-balls in
Until the town lie beaten flat.

All perform their tragic play,
There struts Hamlet, there is Lear,
That's Ophelia, that Cordelia;
Yet they, should the last scene be there,
The great stage curtain about to drop,
If worthy their prominent part in the play,
Do not break up their lines to weep.
They know that Hamlet and Lear are gay;
Gaiety transfiguring all that dread.
All men have aimed at, found and lost;
Black out; Heaven blazing into the head:
Tragedy wrought to its uttermost.
Though Hamlet rambles and Lear rages,
And all the drop-scenes drop at once
Upon a hundred thousand stages,
It cannot grow by an inch or an ounce.

On their own feet they came, or On shipboard,'
Camel-back; horse-back, ass-back, mule-back,
Old civilisations put to the sword.
Then they and their wisdom went to rack:
No handiwork of Callimachus,
Who handled marble as if it were bronze,
Made draperies that seemed to rise
When sea-wind swept the corner, stands;
His long lamp-chimney shaped like the stem
Of a slender palm, stood but a day;
All things fall and are built again,
And those that build them again are gay.

Two Chinamen, behind them a third,
Are carved in lapis lazuli,
Over them flies a long-legged bird,
A symbol of longevity;
The third, doubtless a serving-man,
Carries a musical instrument.

Every discoloration of the stone,
Every accidental crack or dent,
Seems a water-course or an avalanche,
Or lofty slope where it still snows
Though doubtless plum or cherry-branch
Sweetens the little half-way house
Those Chinamen climb towards, and I
Delight to imagine them seated there;
There, on the mountain and the sky,
On all the tragic scene they stare.
One asks for mournful melodies;
Accomplished fingers begin to play.
Their eyes mid many wrinkles, their eyes,
Their ancient, glittering eyes, are gay.

i'm finally getting somewhere. breaking open and spilling out. the new therapist, the move home, the blue hands, they are all working. the beads are from mum. and this is my first indigo vat, thanks to glennis!!

family photos i've never seen

except for this first one of me and my parents, xmas 1969. i was one.




the others, my brother just scanned and emailed me today. so odd and melancholy that there were these dear ghosties out floating, stuck somewhere in mum's stash. glad to have them more solidly here now.

archaeology of elders

i had a big surprise once i started removing the binding from this quilt. i had planned to just use it as the center of my elder cloth and expand around it with the wool blanket and other pieces, but as it turns out... it had been a larger quilt at one time, and had been folded in half and re-bound and quilted... presumably due to the wear on the top side, now the inside...







so strange how i've had this quilt for a while and had no idea what treasures were inside. some of the patterns look 30s or 40s with their dotted designs. i still love the back, it reminds me of hobo fabrics, but with this discovery, i'm rethinking the whole design.

i find all these tatters and bits of batting incredibly beautiful. i'd like to just tack most of them down rather than patch over them, but some of them i'll patch with the elder-dyed muslin. i also thought about trying to felt some of them down.. i'm assuming the batting is cotton, but perhaps i could add some wool. although i don't want to do anything to further damage the fabrics, so i doubt that would work. i'd have to remove the top layer of piecing and apply it to a prefelt, and i don't know how much of it would survive. i've seen quilts that looked almost as delicate as this one in places, but i do want it to be strong and usable as a blanket, preferably even washable. would a million quilting stitches on top of the batting accomplish that?

for the new year, inspired by jude, i've started to set a course. the theme is 'wild' or 'the wild.' i don't have a colour or shape yet. brown is feeling good right now, but i'm not sure i've fully explored grey yet. and then blue has been coming up for me a lot lately, and that is new. i don't have a shape yet either, i'm not sure i work that way.

things are weird here right now. the beginning of fall has me looking inward and wanting to go deeper. i always want things to stay the same and am reluctant to take things apart, get rid of or improve anything. wabi-sabi is such a fabulous, comforting philosophy and aesthetic, but i worry that so much nostalgia keeps me stuck, disempowered, and keeps me from taking part. always obsessing over what to keep, what to mend, what to give up... and too much inertia. i feel the need for some deep healing and release and think i'm ready.

why i have too many things..

a baby quilt, another estate find by mum. i couldn't resist showing you. hope you're enjoying such sweetness & light wherever you are.

a new heirloom

a yard sale find.






at first i thought it was knitted, but now i think it's crochet. anyone recognize the stitch? and then at first i thought the colourwork was intarsia, but all the designs are actually cross-stitched on top! so much work, P.S.D. i'll mend the holes, and be a good caretaker in this lifetime.

everything is better with dinosaurs

i was paging through a vintage knitting magazine the other night ... this was from a collection inspired by the new york state fair!

more dish fetish

i've been forgetting to show you my other stitchy-dishes.. these have a cross-stitch design in the center. i love that the design on each plate is at a different stage of wear ... kind of a reverse stitchy-progression. it's a huge thrifted set complete with sugar, creamer and gravy boat. then more recently i found a newer, unfaded version with the same design to round out my set. j'adore.

i'm feeling terribly drawn to traditional designs right now. am obsessing over shakespeare's peddler. i found her when i made my first treasury! even if i could live forever, i still wouldn't be able to do all the stitching i'd like to do.

p.s. oh, there's also a sneak peek of my recent woodstove-top dye experiment.