marking time

during these strange, stressful times I have become acutely aware of how fluid the passing of time can be

as the days rush by, at times, it seems like an hour takes forever

and I try to fill those hours with something meaningful

another hexie – another week

24 weeks – 168 days – 4,032 hours

marked by the change of seasons

outside the window the mountain ash is loaded with berries

when I was a young bride, in England

the wise old farmer I bought my veggies from told me

when the berries are plentiful in the hedgerows (and the rooks are nesting high)

it’s going to be a hard winter

the final four book pages are finished front page – with the book title stitched in the center of the hexie

and last page – hexies from all the scraps

Japanese shibori patterns each have a descriptive name

extensive patterns of small dots are kanoko (fawn spots) shibori

these are my very crude spots – I need to practice shown with a silk haori (kimono jacket) I bought in Kyoto 30 years ago

the haori spots are square and known as square ring dots (yokobiki kanoko)

there are several different variations of dots each with their own name

skilled artists use a tying stand with a fine hook on the end (yokobiki dai)

picture from “Shibori”  by Yoshiko Wada, Mary Kellogg Rice and Jane Barton

still the best book on the subject

this pattern, that looks so faded and worn

was created by stitching, gathering and capping the white squares

I used a double layer of plastic wrap, tied tightly over the gathered square, to resist each white area

the stitching and wraps were so close together the indigo didn’t completely reach into the dyed squares

lessons learned

and now I off to wind a warp for woven shibori