a pillow and a pouch...

i had a little pillow that i was ready to put into the Goodwill bag but then thought i could cover it with another part of my magic diaries cloth. i chose the part i stitched when i learned about the Chauvet cave. it all started back here and there's a link there going back a bit to the original post about the movie 'The Cave of Forgotten Dreams'. really worth watching if you haven't already seen it.

click on the images for close-ups.

animals on the walls within the Chauvet cave. the pillow measures 14" x 9". that's purple velvet up at the top and a hexagon walkway at the bottom with animal paw prints stamped on.

i used left over fabric pieces for the back...some of it hand dyed. the animal face is scrim manipulated with hand stitching. the pillow is edged with a green piping.

and then for a completely different type of stitching that started out here with a watercolor design  (scroll down the link). it developed into a small pouch that i guess could be used for a wedding bag. it measures 10" x 6½" and is made of dupioni silk with a cotton lining.

that's some vintage lace on the flap with some bullion knots stitched on it to hold it in place.

the reverse side has the bumpy bits with all the bullion knots, french knots and some web stitches. i added a thin, spaghetti type strap.

the lining is a Patchwork (x-stitched down the center) of cotton and embroidered pieces. there is a thin cotton flannel between the outside and the lining which gives the bag some body.

there's still time to enter my giveaway. if you're interested, the post is here. the winner will be picked tomorrow.

stitching on the cave walls...

A few weeks ago I wrote about the movie "The Cave of Forgotten Dreams". That post is here if you missed it. A couple of my hand dyed pieces reminded me very much of the walls of the cave.

hand dyed cloth with leaves and wrapped around a tin can, simmered in oak leaves and acorns.

















I cut and arranged and stitched all the layers together. Some sections are 4 layers thick but it feels so good as the top layers are the dyed silk. I made some stencils and templates and added beasts to the walls of the cave, made footprints on the floor and placed some trees in the night sky at the exit of the cave. So here is what it looks like so far. I plan on doing more stitching on this section. This is my favorite section of the magic cloth so far. The fact that this section doesn't really blend in with the rest of the cloth is not really bothering me. I'm going to make it work somehow. Click on the images for a closer view.

inside the cave with the drawings of the beasts on the walls

paw prints

Cave of Forgotten Dreams

If you haven't seen this film, put it on your list. It is showing in the theatres in 3D but I saw it on my TV through Netflix. It is about the Chauvet Cave that was discovered by some French hikers in 1994. It is an amazing film and I so wish I was one of the scientists that was allowed to walk through on the special platforms laid down as walkways to preserve the ground beneath. They were not allowed to touch the walls or anything on the ground and had to film with LED lights. The cave is 1300 feet long and the paintings on the walls have been determined to be 32,000 years old. The goal in collecting all the data is to create stories of what might have happened during that time.

part of a painting on the walls of the Chauvet Cave

Scientists and Archaeologists filming in the cave

 Here is a link to a video where the director talks about the film. There are lots of good videos about this film, as well as some great images of the paintings on the wall. Just google "Chauvet Cave", if it interests you.

I imagine seeing this film in 3D is an experience in itself but I enjoyed it immensely just seeing it on my 32" TV. There were several people interviewed (in the film) about the research they were doing with all the data that was collected and it is just amazing what info they glean from the little data that there is. I can't remember the exact circumstances of this conversation but someone in the area of the cave was painting and he was asked, "why are you painting"? he answered, "I am not painting. It is the hand of the spirit". That response just sticks with me, even three days after hearing it.