My “Blue Moon” Holding Pillow

I wandered my studio looking for a color to begin my next Holding Pillow.  When I couldn’t find it with my eyes I closed them to see what I felt.

Blue came up, soft blues.  Once I found the solid blue I was looking for, I started gathering fabric for the strips.  I had a few false starts, but when I decided on the owl and the blue and red flower print, there was no going back.

And at some point while sewing the strips of fabric together, the name Blue Moon popped into my head.  I stopped what I was doing and typed Blue Moon into Spotify.

A long list of different versions of the song appeared on my iPhone.  When Ella Fitzgerald started to sing, I started to dance.   Drawn out and full of feeling it was wonderful to bellydance to.  And it put me in a blue moon mood.

I listened to the rest of the songs as I worked on the pillow.  And when it was over I began it again.

I chose a piece of fabric for the back that needed to be washed.  But on my way into the house, I all but walked into the blanket sized woven fabric blowing in the wind on the clothes line.  That’s just right I thought, blue with bits of red and a lovely soft weave.  It was in the bag of fabric that I picked up yesterday from Judy.

Not only was it perfect for the backing, but it was already washed and line dried.

A blue moon is that extra full moon that occurs every two years.  The thirteenth moon of the year.  And the song, which I always thought of as melancholy, is really a happy song about finding love.

But I wasn’t thinking all those things when I named the  Holding Pillow and came up with the small drawing for the circle.

It was more the feeling of the night.  The comfort I’ve always found in the moon and the mysterious wonders revealed when the moon is bright.