These last few months

Thank you all for bearing with me.  What a crazy 6 months this has been in my life.  We started our homeschooling year out with a big bang.  India began a school that she goes to one day a week and the rest of the week she works at home.  Turns out there was a tremendous amount of homework we were signing on for - more than we ever thought.  Kalib is continuing to do the Grey Fox Wild Intelligence program and between working, homeschooling, kid activities, something somewhere had to be let go of.  Unfortunately, quilting and blogging seems to have fallen into that space.  

Thankfully, with a lot of support from a wonderful husband and willing children, I am back on track and back to quilting and hopefully, working my way back towards blogging.  I'm not making any promises that I will get here every day.  I've been totally hit or miss since September, but what I AM promising is that I'm working on getting back here more and more often.

What have I been up to?  

Well... I believe in constantly reinventing myself, so that's what I have been doing.  Trying to figure out what I want to do with my life and what direction I want to take in the future.  

Many of you know I study homeopathy pretty consistently, so I explored going to school to do that "officially," but when I saw what it would take - like 8-10 years of schooling - I thought... well, I won't tell you what I thought because it would be inappropriate... so I kept having to dive in deeper to figure it out - and I still haven't, but what I do have is a clearer vision of where I want to be.

A few months ago, I had the great opportunity to see a movie called "Mother Nature's Child" and while watching it I found myself  coming full circle to many of my own childhood dreams of becoming a teacher.  The movie was the beginning of a workshop being held at Orange Twin, in the woods with writer and mentor Jon Young. He spoke about community building, nature connection, grief healing, transformation and the mentoring work he does. The lights began to come on inside of me and connections began to get made within my heart about my life.  The sparks really began to fly!

I had the opportunity offered to me to join in the Year of the Coyote Program through the Institute for Wild Intelligence (this is the adult version of what Kalib does weekly.)  Evan McGown is the director of this program and he was mentored by Jon Young and co-wrote the Coyote's Guide with Jon Young.  He took the lessons he learned at the 8 Shields Institute and has brought them to the South.  

In the coyote program, we go to the woods one weekend a month and immerse ourselves in community building, nature connection, and earth skills.  It IS the most transformative thing I have ever done in my life and I feel lucky to be sharing the experience with many dear friends and most of all Jason.  It is a mentor training program and through some seriously good fortune, I'm getting to put that training into practice with the Grey Fox program that Kalib attends each week.  

On Tuesday mornings I also get to go and spend my day tromping around in the woods learning with the children and learning from the other mentors how to be a better mentor.  It is a dream come true.  All day in the woods, playing, exploring, and learning... I'm not sure who learns more - me or the kids.  

And now... I'm looking forward again and seeing many options for my future and I'm excited to see where they take me...

So, what does all this have to do with quilting?  I've been busy working on myself.  Seeing myself as that swan I made so many months ago.  I gave a lot of thought to transformation and the story of the ugly duckling.  I wanted a new beginning - a new path.  I wanted to transform myself and do something different with my life and it has taken a lot of energy - more than I ever imagined it would - and it will continue to take a lot of energy, but I'm re-inspired and I'm ready to get back to quilting and creating works from the earth that inspires me so deeply and where I'm going.

The future is uncertain, but I'm not spinning in circles, I have direction and vision and that's all that matters...

Now, my vision is turning towards forgiveness and further opening of my heart... something I will get into another day...

For now, I'm a bit obsessed with this weaving one might say... I've woven a sky...

And I wanted ground, so I wove 3 different shades of brown and cut them up to create ground that has a little movement. I see this going somewhere in the future, but I just don't know where yet - future projects.  

And a close up... For those who are really curious about my insanity... Yes, this is only the background.  The strips are 1/4" in the two darker browns and the lighter shade I combined 1/2" and 1/4" strips. 

Until next time,

Sarah

Transformation through Swan

When I got home from the beach, other than seeing Jason, I was most excited to get back to work on the quilt I had started right before leaving.  

I had a crazy dream about a swan and it immediately moved me to want to make one.

Anytime I am inspired so profoundly by a dream I try to pay attention to the why it stood out for me. 

While I was at the beach with all that free time on my hands I did a lot of thinking and reading about swans.  I looked into their stories, mythologies, and how they live.

For me, swans are all about transformation - much like a butterfly short of metamorphosis.

Most of us know the story of the ugly duckling who becomes the beautiful swan and that story resonates with a lot of people. They start out as relatively ugly little chicks and become giants of the water, yet they are graceful and peaceful.  The ugly duckling has to over come his being different and finally he leaves his family where he finds his own beauty.  When he returns, he is changed and he is beautiful.  

I'm not leaving my family, but much like the ugly duckling, I have truths I believe about myself that I am working on transforming and leaving behind to see life as more beautiful and to see myself as more beautiful.  

The growth is the process.

Swans are strong birds - yet they don't appear to be on the outside.  To me, they seem gentle and peaceful.  A swan could easily break an adult males arm with their strong wings and beaks.  They are typically not aggressive birds although when disturbed or threatened (especially in protecting their young) they can be.

Another interesting fact about swans is that they tend to mate for life.  There are not many animals or birds that mate for life.

Throughout mythology they are associated with shape-shifting.  Another form of transformation. The ability to change in various circumstances.

I am eager to get to the piecing of the swan, though I still have quite a ways to go before I get there, I've finished the weaving and am ready to move on to the next step of this quilt which will be poppies! 

I am working full time for the next three weeks so quilting will be coming in extra short spurts, but thankfully, I have momentum and drive on my side. Hopefully, there won't be too much lag time on this one.  

I was planning on calling it Momentary Grace, but I have decided to call it Transformation.  Feels like the medicine this quilt has in store for me.

Until tomorrow!  

Enjoy your day!

The Beginnings of a Ring Bearer's Pillow.

Things have been busy around here. We adopted a PUPPY and I got a new TATTOO!! (Posts coming)  Not to mention it has been BEAUTIFUL outside and it is hard to be inside when we are getting our first tastes of Spring here in Georgia.

In the evenings, after dinner, when night begins to fall I have been working on Ashley's ring bearer's pillow.

I am thoroughly enjoying exploring weaving fabric. I decided  this was the direction I wanted to take with Ashley's pillow. (Honestly, it is about all I am thinking about with fabric these days and how to get more out of it because it just looks so cool - I've got some great ideas in my mind of pieces I want to try making it work in.)

I cut strips of wonder under 2 inches X 8 1/2" wide (this is half the length of wonder under by the yard - it seems to be a great size for me to work with.)

Then, I iron it to my fabric and cut it out.

Since it is going to be a ring bearer's pillow and Ashley's dress is off white, I'm using a few different shades of whites and off whites to make it more interesting rather than just off white.  

I then pull the paper off the back of the 2" strips and trim them down to 1/2" strips.  I like getting the paper off earlier rather than later because it's easier to get off.  You do not have to pull it off until you are ready to iron, but I like having it out of the way before I start weaving.

I starched my muslin -heavily.  And I cut it a little bigger than I want the pillow to end up. Then I lightly made a line 1" from the edge of the fabric to have a starting point and began weaving.

I decided while gathering supplies for the pillow I wanted to make it even fancier looking, so I'm adding strips of ribbon in.  If you look closely, you can see them in this picture.  They stay put when the wonder under sticks to them.  I am using an ironing cloth over everything when I iron to keep them from melting under the heat of the iron since some ribbons do this.

It's coming along nicely.  I should be done with the weaving this weekend and ready to do some stitching on top and get it made into the pillow.

My plan is to add the ribbons that will hold the rings on by hand so they can easily be removed when the love birds get home.

Now, it's opinion time... I can't decide whether to add an image to it or not.  I like it just as it is because it looks more traditional, but since she's going to be using it in her home, it might be nice to have one.  I don't want to tell you what I am thinking of doing IF I do one because I want it to be a SURPRISE, but I would love to hear what you all think - especially YOU, Ashley!