~ The Tilly Keepers ~

Continuing from last post.....

I am now playing with the moons...

The cyanotype feather in the centre is Tilly supported by her keepers and flying free

The moons were quite a challenge with many different blues tried, but not quite right, until I finally found this piece hiding in my shed. The white moon was initially on a blue background, but it looked wrong. I wonder if the grey, which is a piece of silk I dyed with black beans, works because this is the colour of sky we are so accustomed to here!

 The two moons, one of them blue, are included as she died in August and it was a blue~moon month.

It is nearly finished now. The leaves represent the four of us, with the two (young) green ones being Tilly and Our Boy, and the two (older) brown ones, me and My Man. 

The hills she sees from where she rests.

I included the heart for the white heart~marking she had on her forehead,  and because she lives on in ours.

I have loved working on this. It has kept me close to Tilly during these months of missing her.

It has also made me realise just how much I have learnt, and continue to learn, from Jude. Not only techniques of stitching and composition, which I treasure, but the gifts of stretching my thinking, looking with new eyes ~ deeper into things;  encouraging the confidence to tell my stories in the medium of cloth.

~ Joy~Making ~

It started like this.....

My Man had pulled into a lay-by on the bike, and saw this (rather nice) jacket. He knows of my love of fabric, so he went to investigate, and saw a little chrysalis on the cuff (left side in picture). He brought it home, and I put it for safe keeping in my shed.

The chrysalis was its own glowing little jewel with gold iridescent highlights.

On Monday I went in to check how it was, and saw this....

and the breathtaking, newly born Red Admiral was close by, with wings still wet, and trailing butterfly watercolours on my hands when it crawled on, for me to take it to safety outside. There are many spider friends and sticky webs in my shed.

Look at those beautiful "magic thread" antennae.

 It quickly tucked itself under a large

raspberry leaf....

 

and stayed there....

until yesterday (Tuesday) afternoon, when it came around to the top of the leaf....

I missed its flight, so I hope it goes safely to wherever it needs to go, and lives to lay its eggs in the Spring.  I almost felt like a midwife.

We are back to the grey and wet today, but we have been so grateful for some of this....

 On Sunday we went to the beach. 

The sea was galloping with happiness 

The pebbles were smiling at the sun,

This little moth flew by and carefully chose a safe and sunny stone to rest on, staying for the whole time we were there.

People and dogs were enjoying the sea and the beach, and we....

we sat and soaked it all up, drinking aromatic spicy Chai tea that I had prepared that morning.

My Man

We stayed for about three hours, taking photos and film, lying back against surprisingly comfortable stones with eyes closed, writing, mindful of each moment, as days such as this have been so rare for us here this year.

We went to the library book sale and found
a few treasures.

and picked up a bag of gram flour from the
excellent Indian shop, for making pancakes :~)

We met a lovely, friendly feline...

The grasses and mosses on The Tilly Keepers
turned into the hills she sees from where
she rests. I've grown to like them...I 
wasn't sure for a while. I did enjoy cutting
the pieces to fit...like making a jigsaw puzzle. 
I am now playing with the moons.

~ Moon of the Turning Leaves ~

Happy Full Moon

We have a 'wedding bell' crystal hanging in our window......

.....as I was stitching on 'The Tilly Keepers' Cloth today

~ a crystal rainbow cast its colours over Tilly's

Spirit Feather ~

~ A Little More on the Tilly Keepers and Playing Catch~Up ~

 How it began.....

 'The Tilly Keepers' now have eyes, and the beginning of grasses and mosses around their roots (now extended).  The cyanotype feather in the centre is Tilly flying free. There will be two moons, one of them blue, as she died in August and it was a blue~moon month.

Sorry about the poor picture quality. The light has been poor here for days.

House sitting at the Willow farm in the Spring.....

Gorgeous and adorable Axle

Zoomed in on lovely donkeys in a distant field

A mini Faerie Waterfall.....

in a mini Faerie Wood

Brand new oak leaves

 

Ghostly underwater world

Lunchtime notice from a colourfull and eccentric shop owner 

in Newcastle Emlyn

Cenarth Bridge

Such a dramatic sky

Apple blossom buds

and flowers

and fruit
from our garden.
Two apples last year, ten this year :~)

The River Teifi at St Dogmaels

From our garden....

Our Boy had friends staying over. I couldn't resist taking a photo
of these shoes.

Clasped in a tight embrace....

An early Autumn visit to
my favourite local Cromlech

We walked through silent woods to get to it, stopping to
absorb the peace, breathing deep.

My Touchstone

So happy to be in this magical place ~
a ring of Beech trees surrounding the
burial chamber

One from the archives
2006