Maria Wulf Full Moon Fiber Art

For the past few days, I was so tied, didn’t want to get out of bed.   But today I woke up full of energy and ready for the day.  I started by stacking some firewood then spent the rest of the day designing potholders.

The last batch I made sold out quickly, so I figured it was time to make some more.

I began with the hearts and eggs. I think they’re all sold already.  I had a few people ask about them the last time I used that same fabric. I told them I’d make some more and now this the last of it.

After that, I moved on to the pink and black butterflies and eggs on the top left. Like the hearts and eggs, I like the combination of butterflies and eggs together.  Although the images are very different it the subject matter I would find in my Image Of The Goddess book.

The hummingbirds were tough because the fabric they were on was so pretty and perfect just as it was.  So instead of making them better, which I knew I couldn’t, I tried to make them mine.

There are also butterflies on the same piece of fabric, but I didn’t get to them.  It came in a box that Judy sent me. She needed to make some space in her sewing room.  It’s as if she curated the fabric just for me.  Some great Potholder fabric and other colors and patterns that I can easily use.

So many of you have sent me so much wonderful fabric in the past month that I need to rearrange my shelves to make room for it.  But I’m too inspired by it all and don’t want to take the time to do it.  I think I’ll just keep working instead.

There’s a space in the barn between the doors we never open and the bales of hay where hidden things happen.

It’s in this space that I found Minnie after she was attacked and lost part of her leg.  It’s also a place where the hens lay their eggs in a clutch when they get broody.

Although for me it feels like a forgotten or neglected space, lives are lived and die there.  Things go on that I will never know.

Sometimes, like today, I remember to look.

When I did, the sun was leaking through the cracks in the barn boards lighting up the spiderwebs that criss-cross the space.  The breeze caused them to bob and bounce.

One web caught my eye because it looked to me like a bird in flight.

Feeling better but still off, now my brain was fuzzy too.  So I thought I’d take advantage of my soft thoughts which where having  a hard time forming, to start something new.  Not thinking can be key to creativity.

I had no ideas, so began by looking through my old quilts.  They have made the perfect backings for my fabric paintings in the past. I chose three, kept one face up and turned the other two over so there were two shades of quilted white to work with.

Then I looked at them.

I rejected the one face up and focused on the other two. I looked at the textured surfaces and what came to mind was a drawing I did, a few months ago, in the little book that Kitty gave me.

It was the couch and the birds that came back to me.  There’s something about the birds flying around in the house as if they belong there that appeals to me.

So I found the drawing and focused on the couch first. I knew I wanted to stitch it using my free-motion sewing machine, but first I wanted to make sure I knew how I wanted to draw it.  The couch in the drawing is the one in our living room. So I went into the house and did a drawing.

I wanted to have a feeling for it because I’d be stitching directly onto the piece of fabric that I’d be using for the fabric painting. But I didn’t want to draw the couch on the fabric first.  I wanted it to have the spontaneity and freshness of being stitched directly.

If my brain was foggy before I began, it was numb by the time I got done.  This is as far as I got, but it’s a beginning.

Maybe it’s the heat that has made my brain dull. But I didn’t need much of it anyway today to tack my Summer Quilt.

Shaded by two giant maples, my studio was cooler than the house.  I listened to short stories on  Selected Shorts as I pulled the sage green yarn through the quilt and tied the knots.

I was tired today.  A little queasy so I took the day slow, napping twice.

In a way, it was the perfect day to finish my Summer Quilt, although not quite summer, it sure feels like it today.

I had a few people ask about buying this quilt.  I take the requests for my quilts in the order they come in.  If it doesn’t work for the first person, I offer it to the second and so on.

I hope I’ve given the four embroidered panels a fresh context among the small patchwork squares that allude to gardens and windows into another more abstract summer world.

The back of Summer Quilt.