~Thoughts Captured on a Magic Cloth~Butterflies~Bees~and a Talking Stick~

Our camera in six years old now, and has had an incredible amount of use. 

The photo of the butterfly was taken with auto focus!!! 

I am selling my treatment couch and buying a new camera!

 My first day of butterfly sightings this year. I saw one flying rapidly, with the assistance of a brisk breeze, in the bootsale this morning, and when we came home this Peacock was beating a tattoo on my shed window ~ ready ~ like all of us ~ to be out in the warmth of the sun. It made my day by pausing for a count of five on my hand before flying away.

I am continuing with the idea, as I wrote over on sew, of ~

a year, in a nine-patch design, with most likely the moon in the centre, and the eight celebrations around it :~ samhain, winter solstice,  imbolc, vernal equinox, beltane, midsummer, lammas and autumnal equinox. 
I am finding that I am making each one as a separate small cloth....

.......Winter Solstice........

Captured Thoughts

As I sew ~ applique ~ the oak leaves around the sun, the needle picks up the first layer

of skin on my middle finger, and I literally become a part of my Magic Cloth.

I find myself holding my breath, wondering if this next stitch will be a 'good' one,

and having to remind myself to breath ~ for that too becomes part of the cloth

~ in and out ~ like the needle, like the stitches.

The 'ghost' oak leaves inside the sun ring ~ green thread? ~ to represent what they 

will become in summer? ~ grey thread? ~ more representative of ghost leaves?

Winter Solstice Cloth ~ the oak leaves are placed in a spiral pattern around the cloth as:

1. They chase the holly leaf away

2. The spiral represents the high 

winds we invariably get on the 

solstices ~ and equinoxes ~ 

The inner spiral of leaves ~ not ghost leaves ~ do them in green, for they are a dream,

~dream leaves ~ dreaming of what is going to become.

Still lots of stitching to do, and the holly leaf to make.

I have long loved the story of the oak and the holly kings

 battling for supremacy on the summer solstice and again on the winter solstice. 

......Vernal Equinox....

this is supposed to be a hare for Eostre. 

My drawing skills are really poor, so this looks more like a donkey gone wrong! I don't want to rip it out yet though, but try Jude's trick of filling in with stitch, the same colour as the cloth, to see if I can get it more hare-like. We'll see. If successful, it will be the centre panel of the small cloth representing the Vernal Equinox. 

The brown patch, is a piece of silk I had tried to paint on and did not like, so it went into the acorn dye pot. It is gorgeous.....almost a bronze sheen to it.

Two years ago, my walking friend...another Jude.....gave me a most beautiful gift, knowing that I love such things.

a bumble bee nest she found while gardening.

Isn't it an architectural work of art. All those little 

'cells' look like acorns or hazelnuts, but they build 

them using wax secreted by their abdomens and 

mixed with pollen

  It has kept me company in my shed for these last eighteen months,

but nature reclaims her own, so this week....

this is all that is left.

Something I made ten months ago....and I could not believe it was so long ago, when I found the date...

My Talking Stick

: :

driftwood, leather, copper wire, clay beads, holey stone 
and welsh crystal wand

~ For WAS and Jude ~

~ with love ~

Thank you Sandra for beginning the ring of light
for our dear friend Jude, Her Man, and their beautiful WAS.

~ Random Doings ~

Already more than a week into March, and the time is galloping away. Talking of galloping, I am really hoping to keep the promise I made myself a few years ago, and get back on a horse this year. My walking friend and I are going to visit a riding stables and go like the wind across those hills beyond the fence! I'll keep you posted.

We set up a display in our local library to advertise the Astronomy group we belong to. I made the hat...and the scarf....that 'Mr Newton' is proudly wearing. My Man painted away his nakedness and we set up everything else around him. Notice My Man's lovely illustration on the poster. He's so clever :~))

The monthly meeting was on Tuesday evening, and everyone was frustrated by the viewing, which had been gloriously clear on Monday, and again last night....but clouded out and wet on Tuesday :~((( However, the committee had prepared indoor doings....a powerpoint slideshow showing what was going on in the sky this month, many different telescopes on show, with questions answered, and a showing of the wonderful astro photos taken by our best photographer. My Man is Chairman, and I volunteer as the welcoming committee, tea maker, and biscuit provider.

Our first meeting was in November last year, with six of us in attendance, so we were really happy that twenty or more turned up on Tuesday :~)))

My Milky Way Man :~) 

with his trusty and beloved Tal 1

I love that he's a dreamer ~

Have loved the light coming in to our 

living room recently

Several stones are happy to come and live with us for a while. 

Some like being together, like these; 

others prefer to be alone. 

We love having them share our space ~

This is our trusty steed of FUN :~))))

Hope you are all having good days.

Cariad Mawr

H x

~ Whispering Secrets ~

Trees talk to my hands.

Bark~braille whispering secrets

to seeking fingertips. 

9th June, 2011