Search Results for: meditation tree

I got back to sewing my Meditation Tree today.  Sewing the fabric this way makes me want to do more with it. I love the way it looks and feels.  How the fabric responds to my needle and thread.

I made more Meditation Trees, because people asked for them and because I enjoy making them.

The idea came to me when I was meditating while at the Dentist.  I saw the tall sturdy tree, with the big trunk grounded in the earth.  The leaves at the top were so far away, I could just make them out.

When I came up with the drawing for my tree, I included an earth energy spiral under it.   You can read about and see pictures of my process making my Meditation Trees here. 

When I think of my Mediation Tree, I  become the tree.  I can feel the earth energy coming to me through the soles of my feet.  I am the grounded, towering, sturdy tree.

Maybe you can feel it too.

Some of the people I sold a Meditation Tree to hang them on their walls, place them on an altar or hold them while Meditating.   A few people have bought more than one to give as a gift to friends and family.

However you use it, I hope it brings you peace and a sense of grounded balance.

My Meditation Trees  are 7″x 11″ and are $40 each + $5 shipping.  Each comes with four 3M Soft hangers you can stick on the back of the wall hanging.  They won’t damage the fabric or your wall.   The are for sale in my Etsy Shop.  Just click here to see them and buy them.  Each one is individually stitched and painted so they are all unique.

Or you can email me at [email protected].  I take checks, PayPal and Venmo.

There are too many piles of fabric scattered around my studio.  It took me a while to find the right fabric for my Meditation Tree.  I went from too dark (the first one looked like a Halloween tree) to fabric that paled on the old quilt background.

After lunch I found what I was looking for in a brown scarf with purple iridescence. Then I added two other pieces of fabric to it.  A patterned silk and a reddish-brown cotton.  I like the mix textures.

When I pinned it altogether I could see that it was what I was looking for.

I didn’t get to stitch it down, or even get it pinned to the right shape. But at least now I know what I’ll be working with.

This is how it works.  One idea leads to another.  As I was making my Meditation Trees, I saw in my mind another Meditation Tree.  This one bigger made from fabric and sewn onto an old quilt.  I couldn’t see the leaves, I still can’t, but I know they will come.

This morning I went looking for the ground for my tree.  I pulled all the old quilts that people have sent me over the years from the top shelf where I keep them.  I easily found what I was looking for and cut it to size.

What I didn’t see was the “Star” on one end of the piece I had cut.  It would be the perfect placement for my Earth Energy Spiral.  But it was a bit too close to the bottom.   My first mistake and I’d hardly begun.

But it’s one of those mistakes that adds to the piece.  Using old pieces of fabric there are always going to be imperfections.  It’s one of the reasons they work for me.  They bring something to the piece that I wouldn’t or couldn’t have.

My second mistake came when I sewed the extra piece of fabric on to the bottom the wrong way.  I wanted to use the back of the quilt because the front of the quilt has some pale pink fabric on it.  I considered if this mistake was fortuitous like the first, and decided the pale pink wouldn’t work.

So I got out my seam ripper and removed the stitches being carful of the old fabric which rips easily.  But even this mistake had its purpose.  It slowed me down, and reminded me not to get ahead of myself.

There is no hurry, I told myself,  making my Meditation Tree will take the time it takes.

Once that was done, and the piece sewn on correctly, I got out my fabric paint. I did some experimenting then chose a purple to paint the quilting threads of the star.  I painted it on the back of the quilt so the paint will stain the hand stitching on the front.

But it wasn’t quite right.  The paint was uneven.  It obscured some of the star and made other parts of it stand out too much.

I wanted to the star to be subtle enough so I could stitch a spiral over it.  So I worked on it some more until I came up with something that looked just right to me.

And that’s where I left it for today.  Next I will  hand sew  the fabric tree.  That needs to be in place before I do anything else.

The purple star that I will stitch my spiral over.

The first two batches of Meditation Trees sold so quickly I thought there might be more people who wanted them.  Then when I got a few emails asking if I was making more, I knew for sure I would.

Yesterday I cut the fabric and tea stained it overnight.  This morning I hung them out to dry. It was such a warm and sunny day that it didn’t take long.

Often when I make an image over and over I get tired or bored with it.  But that hasn’t happened with my Meditation Trees.  I don’t know if it will.

There is something calming about making them.   And when I’m sewing the Earth energy spiral, I get mesmerized watching the variegated thread as it turns from turquoise to purple to indigo.

I’m making nine more Meditation Trees and will have them all done and for sale next week.

A close-up of one of my Earth energy spirals.

I finished sewing my Meditation Trees and now have 4 for sale in my Etsy Shop.  As always, since I draw each one individually using my free motion sewing machine, they are all slightly different.

Each is made on a tea stained piece of cotton fabric.  Then I stitch the tree and earth energy spiral.  The last thing I do is paint the leaves.

My Meditation Tree, is based on an image I saw while meditating. A towering tree, with a wide grounded trunk. Leaves like my fluttering mind. And earth energy begin pulled up the roots.

I’ve already sold 13 Meditation Trees (a good number).

One person said she will place it on her lap while she meditates, another will hang it on the wall in the Meditation Space in her home.  Vicki sent me the photo below of hers.  For her it’s a reminder to practice meditation.

Each Meditation Tree is about 8″x11″.  They come with four 3M soft hangers that attach to the fabric and the wall without leaving a mark.

My Meditation Trees are $40 + $5 shipping. You can buy them in my Etsy Shop, just click here.

I finished sewing eleven Meditations Trees this morning.  Now I’m packing them up and putting them in the mail.  I tea stained a few more pieces of fabric yesterday.  I’ll make some more Meditation Trees to put in my Etsy Shop since all the ones  I made last week are already sold.

I’ve found that there are people who prefer to use Etsy or don’t know to email me if they see something that I am making that they are interested in.

I do love making the Meditation Trees. As you can imagine it’s very meditative to create them.

When I was walking in the woods a few days ago I visited a tree I know well.  I realized as I looked up at the tree growing out of rocks on the hillside that, subconsciously, it was inspiration for my Meditation Tree.

I backed my Meditation Trees with fern fabric.  How could I not?

I’m not sure exactly when the idea of making a Meditation Tree came to me.

At first I thought of making it into a potholder, but that didn’t feel right.  I knew it had to be longer than a potholder.  Also my potholders are functional as potholders.  I felt a Meditation Trees function was to be used for Meditation.  An image to meditate to or to be used on a Meditation altar.

I had a vague image in my mind about how my Meditation Tree would look.  I did some drawings and came up with a stylized tree that had a grounding trunk with its leaves cradled in two branches.  The earth energy would be a spiral coming up from the ground and into the tree.

Next I had to figure out what kind of fabric I would use.  So I walked around my studio looking at the fabric on my shelves and trying to picture using some of it as background.

Eventually I decided it should be  a piece of muslin but the solid off -white color was too stark.

That’s when I pulled the book Tantra Song by Franck Andre Jamme  off my shelf and leafed through it.

These are contemporary Hindu paintings based on painting from the 18th century used for meditation.  I had my image, but the background was what I was interested in.

Looking at the soft collages that are the ground for these paintings, I decided to tea stain my fabric. I wanted the random feel of a collage, some texture and depth.

I cut twelve pieces of fabric to the size that felt right.  I boiled a big pot with teabags then left the fabric in the pot for a five or six hours.  I hung them to dry and ironed them the next morning.

I left some of the wrinkle in the fabric, I like the crinkle as much as the tea staining.

Then I stitched the tree onto the fabric using maroon thread.  Next I stitched the spiral using  variegated tread of blues and purples.  After that I painted the leaves.

When they are done each Meditation Tree will be about 7″x11″.  I considered a bunch of different ways to hang them and decided that I wanted to keep the design simple by not adding a hanger.

I have used 3M hanging strips to hang some of my fiber pieces and they work really well.  They don’t leave any mark on the fabric or the wall and they easily hold a piece this size.  Each Meditation Tree will come with four strips for hanging.

Now I am waiting for my Meditation Trees to dry and next week I will sew backings onto them.  They will be $40 each + $5 shipping.