creating a softer edge...

I've been working on the portal (not porthole, as I previously posted) that will be on the front side of the magic cloth (The Play Ground). I tried several different things but I think I will settle on this one. I wanted this portal to have a softer edge to provide a soft, gentle entry to the other side where the harsh realities of life are experienced in a more linear fashion. Click on the images for a closer view.

the spiral is on a hand dyed silk and the edge is a sari silk strip.

This is the beginning of the portal on the back. If you missed that post, you can find it here. The portals will be placed back to back.

portal on the back. center is japanese silk stitched into a hand dyed silk cloth.

I'm so anxious to start putting the front and back together but I have lots more stitching to do on the front before that can happen. Things are moving quite slowly but progress is being made. I like having different areas to move to on the cloth when I run out of ideas of how to proceed. I have never worked this way before. Jude has been the inspiration for this new method of putting it all together.

bits and pieces of this and that...

It was time to do some yard work this morning even if I was just mowing weeds. The front yard looks better now and another day I will work on the back. Amazing that there are already some flowers appearing here and there. The poor trees and flowers are so confused these days. I think clicking on these images will give you a closer view.

Spring is on its way

Started some work for the back of my magic cloth...The Play Ground. Its story is about the concept of time which has been a kind of obsession with me since childhood. More about that another time and more of an explanation of the cloth's story as it progresses. The last cloth I double dyed seemed like a kind of porthole to me so that is what it has become...a porthole to the front of the magic cloth where there are no boundaries, no order, a kind of timelessness. The front of the cloth will also have a porthole to the back.

just the beginnings of stitch...

Several years ago, I made a small quilt whose story was also about time...music taking you to another time and place. That one was called An Other View. It is quite small...just 12" x 14".

mostly machine stitched

a little mirror is stitched in...you can see my hand holding the camera here

the back...this little one was made in 2007