Weaving Together

I wore, as is my habit, one of my Spirit Cords to the Women's Herbal Conference this past weekend. It serves as a lanyard, as well as a reminder of my intentions. But I also packed my finger-spun Prayer Cord... the one made with vintage fabrics that came from my Aunt Mary, and leftover fabric from a shirt I made in the 1980s to wear when fishing with my father-in-law (and awesome friend)... the one with thirteen prayers knotted in between the closing knots of creative intention. As I was packing, I was compelled to bring it along, though didn't know why, yet the feeling was so strong that I - as I so often do - trusted the feeling. 

You know what I'm talking about. ::nods::

Then came the drive north, and the homecoming (arrival, if you prefer) and settling-in, and eventual wandering-about. And then there was this... hanging sticks and twine, and waiting scraps of fiber and fabric... a sacred community space waiting to make manifest within a sacred community space along a well-traveled pathway at the conference (within a sacred community space, and so on. Right)? And there it was. I knew why that Prayer Cord came along.

I recall the verve of those thirteen prayers and feel such deep sweetness that it's now part of this community weaving that made manifest over this past weekend. It was magic to be witness to its evolution... to be witness to the beauty that all those prayers, all those intentions, all those wishes and dreams, tears and laughter, hurts and forgivenesses, to all that LoVe weaving together.

The whole weekend.

And still.

::nods::

Peace.

The Seasonal Medicine of Spirit Cords

As November nudges us ever closer to the apex of winter (in "my" hemisphere, anyway), I find myself craving solitude. At the same time, the season that we collectively share slings me into my community. You know what I'm talkin' about.

For me it is a time of beautiful contradiction that begs me to center my intentions on the harmonics of balance, as I tend to my own needs and cravings while tending to the collective demands. It's a time that reminds me, like clockwork, of the potential hardships innate to our universal connectedness. And the extraordinary gifts born of those hardships.

It's no wonder I'm drawn to spinning my pendant Spirit Cords in this season. Working with fibers is a given, and as we move into the expanding chill of the season the activity sits comfortably in the duality of my cranial hemispheres. But the attraction to the pendants, each carrying energy, representing personal and collective meaning, is a tug that serves both the communal challenges and my desire for solitude.

Generally, I spin my Spirit Cords when I'm home alone, just me and the dog. The practice is always meditative for me. I always chant mantras, channel reiki and spontaneous blessings as I spin, yet working with the pendants seems to add to the wandering element of focus (know what I mean?) that this creative act offers to me. And this ... this consequential interplay acts to intensify the solitude for which I hunger, offering me exactly the Medicine I need in this season.

I like to think that the Medicine I experience in this creative process is carried with each cord that I spin and then, in turn, is translated to the needed Medicine of the ultimate holder.

To me, this meditation, these thoughts born of a creative ritual, offer an extra dimension of consideration and wisdom as I reflect on the challenge and the gifts, the self and the collective. This is the seasonal Medicine of my beloved Spirit Cords.

Peace.

Flavors of Creation and Gratitude

Every year, as the darkness of night grows longer and the days grow cooler, I'm drawn to fiber. So it's no surprise that I've been busy in the sacred act of creating my little Spirit Pouches. And Spirit Cords, too.

There's something about lighting a fire, brewing a pot of tea and settling into the act of this flavor of creation that settles me, grounds me, and offers me a stable space of peace.

It offers me a quiet time of inner-stillness to ponder the mysteries of life, not the least being consideration to this concept of linear time that we all bought into and share. I mean, it's mid-November. When did that happen?

And I realize that in three short weeks the community of Creatives at Whiting Mills in Winsted, Connecticut will be collectively celebrating our Holiday Open Studios and Guest Artists Event. I still have much to do to prepare for this, but I'm not stressing over it. I'm just looking forward to throwing my doors open that weekend to all who choose to explore some inspiration, empowerment, and more.

I feel blessed for the studio space I have there, for it supplements my home work-spaces, where my full dispensary is rooted, and offers perfect space for classes and workshops.

I'm grateful for the supportive community of creatives there, and for the intimate and extended community of creative, healing, botanical-loving folks that fill the well of Life to overflow.

I feel blessed for it all.

And I'm excited to have two inspired friends sharing my space during the Open Studios weekend, Kim of Raven's Edge, LLC and Doreen of Soul Threads. I'll be telling you more about them in the days ahead.

So if you're in the region of sunny Winsted, Connecticut, I hope you'll join us at Whiting Mills in December ... and I invite you to start your visit at Studio 336!

And if you're on Facebook, join us at our Open Studio Event page!

Peace.

Love with Fiber

Between studio and garden work I finished up and listed three Spirit Pouches. Making these little mojo bags has been my latest creative obsession. And I'm having loads of fun choosing the buttons for them from my vintage button stash. I have more that I'll be listing in the days ahead, so keep an eye out, and of you're local, stop by my studio to experience them in person!

I spun some Spirit Cords today, too, since the fibers were out and around me. This cord, called "Harmony" is a blend of lovely coral wool and acrylic boa yarn in shades of turquoise with a hint of green throughout, and is one of a limited edition of six cords. I spun others too, and they'll make their way to my ArtFire shop and studio soon.

In addition to these creative delights I picked up the winnings from our Open Studios at Whiting Mills raffle (which I foolishly neglected to blog about last week) and contacted the winners. That's always fun ~ saying "you won!" I also transplanted some of my greenhouse babes, watered my garden seedlings and perused my little acre for the next wild harvests, and discovered some that will get my attention tomorrow.

So, yeah, that's what I made today.

Peace.

Spirit Cord Page Savers

Today I finished up some new Spirit Cord page savers. I got most of them up at my ArtFire and my Zibbet shops, but still have a few more to get to listed. I also have more pendants ready, so I'll get to  spinning them into the cords in the coming days.

This evening The Boy and I will be making sushi together. We haven't done that in a while, so it will be nice. I think a fire and a little saki is also in order.

Peace.

Cords and Cookies

I've been dismantling and reassembling some old jewelry pieces - some of my own and some pieces that have come from others. I'm using these to create some new Spirit Cord Page Savers. I've been busy baking cookies and spinning with these upcycled pendants and some new ones too.

So … that's what I made today.

What did you make?

Peace.

Spirit Cord Page Savers

I had a custom order for Spirit Cord page savers to work on today, so while I had the cotton floss out, and my collection of pendants, and while I was spinning like crazy and had a hard time stopping, I spun a few extras. I figure I'll keep the floss and pendants out for a few days and spin more. It's a groove that's so nourishing it really is hard to stop.

That's what I made today.

Peace.

Harvests to Seed

Autumn arrived to my little acre early this morning and I was awake, up and ready to greet her. Rains fell, off and on, all day, so garden harvesting was kept to just what I needed for lunch and dinner. I made packets for my keeping seeds and spun more Spirit Cords.

That's what I made today. Peace.

Merry Autumn, or Spring as the case may be!

A Fresh Batch of Spirit Cords

I was expecting to be on the road today, but a change in travel plans opened up the day for me to do … whatever!  It was chill and damp, with some pretty steady rains throughout the morning, so I pulled out my fibers and yarns, expressed gratitude for the opportunity, and began spinning some new Spirit Cords.

That's what I made today. Peace.

Spirit Cords

The weather was a bit fickle today, so while I waited for mama Nature to make up her mind I pulled out the yarn and spun some new Spirit Cords while listening to The Boy play guitar. It was a pleasant meditation. That's what I made today.

Peace.

.

Spun Order

I made a morning of managing bills, invoices and numbers, making order of things, and doing some business review and planning. I'm still procrastinating the last leg of the income taxes though. All in good time. I made time to go back through the list from the brainstorming meeting I had a while back and started to plan and plot more herbal and art workshops for spring, summer, autumn and beyond. In years past I would have had such things planned and "inked-in" long before now. I suppose I'm just a bit more fluid in my rigidity now than I've ever been, and I'm cool with that.

I made time in the kitchen to get some osso buco (from The Farm) simmering and got the dough ready for tonight's pizza. In between I journaled words and spun some new Spirit Cords ... in the colors of winter.

That's what I made today.

Good Medicine

This afternoon I spun some new Spirit Cords for assorted requests, to replenish my stock, and simply for the meditative joy of it. The experience was made all the sweeter by the sounds that came from a CD ordered a few days ago. It arrived in today's mail ... Medicine Walk, the debut album of my dear friend C.W.Wolf. It was an afternoon of good medicine.

Peace.

You Could Win This

Be sure to head over to Mrs. B's 31 Days of Halloween on Friday for your chance to win this handspun Spirit Cord! The charming glass flask has a lovely lead-free celestial goddess pewter topper and is filled with one of my handcrafted frankincense oils.

So, enter there and leave a comment here - and if you're the winner you'll get an extra surprise - but only if you leave a comment. Mrs. B isn't the only sneaky trickster, you know!

A Little Spirit & Hope

All of my "Pure and Simple" Spirit Cords are being offered at a very special price of $5.00 and each sale will result in a $1.00 donation to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.

This is part of the Forest Folk Festival, a Connecticut event that takes place every May in order to bring community together and raise funds for the HOPEful works of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. I will be selling these at the Festival, and for those who can't make it, but would like to be with us in spirit - you can purchase you very own, one of kind "Pure & Simple" Spirit Cord exclusively in my Walk in the Woods ArtFire Studio!

Peace.

Springtime Spirit

I spun and spun and spun ... cord after cord after cord ...

More

Today I made more headway, more Spirit Cords, more listings on ArtFire and I made myself stay out of the garden. It's still too early for so much and I just planted quite a bit over the weekend.

More later!

Things from Shiny Objects

My friend Sherrie dropped by today. I love the drop by. Folks rarely do it anymore. Anyway ... she brought me a garbage bag full of ... cast-aways. Shiny cast-aways! I may have the story wrong, I was so blinded by the treasure, but I think she said that a friend asked her to deliver this bag to the thrift shop--or something. In any event, she thought of her trash-loving friend (bless her heart) and brought the bag to me.

Look what was inside! So ... I got busy spinning ... under another shiny object - the sun of a glorious spring day!

So ... Sherrie, if you're readin' ... pick out a couple of these Spirit Cords for you and your friend! If nothing else, it will give you an excuse to drop by again! Ashe. Ashe. Ashe.

Fresh Spirit

It feels so good to be home and I thank you all for your sweet words of safe travel and happy returns. It is taking me some extra time and effort to really settle back in from this last adventure. I still have loose ends to tie up, as well as plans in the making, but this morning I promised myself a block of time and space to ground, center, meditate and create.

So I created some fresh spirit cords with my Paperclay "impressions of nature." This time I used not only the usual cotton floss, but some synthetic textured yarn I had left over from an old project.

 

I am pleased with the outcome and feel more at home now. Peace.

This & That & More

Today I made lists. I made time for healing. I made time with a friend. I made beef stew. I made time to watch/listen to Enron - Smartest Guys in the Room and Super Bowl XLII - NYG (Tomorrow I'll watch Super Bowl XXV Champions - NYG). I also spun some new Spirit Cords and have more pendants to spin tomorrow. 

That's what I made today.

Mermaid Goddess

I sat down with the idea to add a pink layer over the pale green of yesterday's mermaid goddess. The voices piped up and anyone who knows me at all, knows that I do what the voices tell me. Creation - of every kind - is a spiritual act, and so I honor the spiritual support that guides me, and I heed their counsel. So out came the art pens ...

I may still add that layer of pink over this. But they tell me to sit with it for the moment. And so I will.

I spun a new spirit cord with one of my impressions of Nature pendants and got it listed You-Know-Where. This one is wild carrot (better known as Queen Anne's Lace) with hemlock on the opposite site.

You can see more of it here.

That's what I made today.