Maria Wulf Full Moon Fiber Art

“Winter Flowers” The Birds Outside The Window. Hanging A New Bird Feeder

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The Northern Flicker and sparrow at the feeder by my studio

Any birds? Jon texted.  Not now, I texted back,  I’ll let you know when

The problem is that when the birds come, by the time Jon gets to my studio they have either left or he scares them away by opening my studio door.

They do of course come back again, but then Jon has to wait around while I’m working and my work tables are in front of the windows where the bird feeder is.

One day he sat in my studio taking pictures of the birds when I wasn’t there.  There was something sweet about that, about him doing his working in my studio.  It’s never happened before.

But mostly I’m working when the birds are there.

So yesterday I bought a long narrow bird feeder and told Jon I’d hang it in the south facing living room window.  That way, he could set up his tripod by the window, and sit comfortably in a chair waiting for the birds to come.

I always think of the birds at my feeder as Winter’s Flowers.

They bring color and life to the landscape out my studio window when the tress, grasses and flowers are resting.

In a way it works the same as Jon’s raised flower beds.

I was going to hang the feeder today, but if it doesn’t warm up I’ll wait until tomorrow.  I’ll take the screen off the storm window and clean the windows so Jon will have a clear view.  I’ll hang  suet also, to attract the woodpeckers and maybe that Northern Flicker that comes to my feeder.

One of the things that I’ve learned about creativity is that there is always another idea. But I have act on them.  It’s only when I bring an idea into the physical world that it leads to another and another.

When Jon was concerned at the end of the summer that he wouldn’t be able to take pictures of his flowers anymore (He loves so much sharing them with the people on his blog and they love seeing them), I knew he’d come up with his own “winter flower”.

Because one of the things I’ve loved about Jon, from the time I first met him, was that he always has another creative idea.

And he’s done it again, this time with the birds right outside the window.

 

Lulu’s Icy Whiskers

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It was below zero when I went out to feed the animals this morning.  Fanny and Lulu’s whiskers were beaded with ice, but their shaggy coats were already warm from the sun.

These coldest of days come with bright blue skies and brilliant sunshine.

The Zip Note Cards Are A Success And I Have More Available

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Zip looking though the crack in the barn door

I sold half of the Zip Notecards  in the first week, thanks to everyone who bought them.  Jon and I will be using some to send as Thank you cards but I still have some available.

Each pack has six 4 1/4 x 5 1/2 cards.  There are two of each image of Zip in each pack.  Jon and I chose the best photos of Zip that we’ve been taking since he came to live on the farm.

Each pack of Zip cards is $25 + $5 shipping.  You can buy them in my Etsy Shop, just click here.  Or you can email me at [email protected].  I take checks, PayPal and Venmo.

There are two of each of these images in each pack of Zip Notecards

“Spirit Owl” Quilt, Humming Along

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Work on my Spirit Owl quilt hummed along today.  I could do no wrong as each piece of fabric fell into place.

I let go of thinking and let feeling take over.  I looked softly from the corner of my eye and didn’t linegr or second guess.

The owls that I cut from the fabric yesterday found their way in the quiet and seclusion of their own woods.

I have two more owls to work on then I’ll figure out what to do next.

Deep Days Of Winter

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Tying the feathers into the blue twine

I pull out the damper and open the door.  Inside the wood stove is a thick bed of  hot black coals.   Soon, with the influx of air, they will be glowing a deep orange.  This time of year it’s easy to get the wood stoves going in the morning.

I lay one small log across the front of the stove and lean the ends of three more on it.  I close the door but keep the damper open.  By the time I do the same in the stove in the dining room and let the dogs in, both wood stoves will be clicking and ticking with the warmth of flames wrapping themselves around the logs.

This is one of the ways I know we are in the deep of winter.

Another is that I’ve uncovered the initials “JV” painted in red on the woodshed wall.  When the initials are revealed it’s because we’ve used up three of the seven cords of wood.

JV took care in painting their initials even adding serifs to the “V”.   “DV” is scratched into the door of the barn.  Seeing them always makes me wonder who lived in the house before Florence and Harold who were here for 80 years before us.

I think about going to the county records and looking it up.  Finding out who JV and DV were.  But I doubt I ever will.  Jon and I are part of the farm’s history now.  Makes me want to carve my initials in the wood paneling of my studio.

This time of year it only takes one day of below zero temperatures to make 20 degrees feel warm.

Yesterday morning when it was below zero I put off mucking out the barn till the afternoon.  It was ten degrees when I fed the animals this morning and I didn’t think twice about taking off my gloves and tying two pieces of blue twine onto the gate post.

Into the twine I tied a sprig of feathers I found in the barn.

Its the first evidence I’ve seen of Zip catching a bird.  It’s not PC to admit that Zip has gotten at least one bird.  We know he scared the pigeons away, but these feathers don’t look like they came from a pigeon.

They’re a shinny black bustle tipped with tan.  I don’t know who they came from, but as beautiful as they are  I imagine they were more so on the bird.

I didn’t like finding the feathers, but as I wove them into the twine, I thought at least it was honest.  That blue and orange twine, the knots and the things in them, that’s a record of life on the farm this winter.

And Wednesday, when I left for my Bellydancing class, it was the first time since December that I couldn’t close the door to the chicken coop.  Because it was still light out, the hens were huddled under the bird feeder, scratching at the seeds that fell into the snow.

In ancient Ireland February 1st is known as Imbolc, the first day of spring.

I get that.  Longer days, little more than half the wood left and tying another baling twine on the gatepost every other day.

The deepest days of winter means we’re half way though.

Zip’s Heated Cat House

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Zip at the back door

It was below zero when we got up this morning.  And when I opened the door to go feed the animals, Zip ran onto the porch and came right up to the door.

When I opened the door,  Zip ran back to the barn.  It was, after all, time to eat.

I’m a hard ass when it comes to our cats living outdoors.  All my cats, since I was a kid,  have always been outdoor cats.  Minnie and Flo lived outdoors through the coldest of winters and never showed any sign of wanting to come in the house until they got old. And then they only wanted to come in the house in the winter.

I have a friend who told me her cats are like children to her.  We’ve had a few disagreements about cats and at times it has led to some hard feelings.  But the last time I mentioned that I didn’t want  Zip  in the house, we were both able to laugh about it.

People can feel strongly about their cats and I’m not telling anyone else what to do or judging them for how they choose to live with their cats.

When I first moved upstate I tamed a feral cat that lived one of the houses I bought.  She disappeared after about a year.  When I asked the farmer up the road if he had seen her, he looked at me strangely and said that if I wanted a cat I could come to his farm and take one.  He had  50 at least living in his barns.

That was the other end of the spectrum for me. I have landed someplace in the middle.

Today when Zip was at our door, I just thought that he being Zip, getting into everything and wanting to eat.  But Jon, had a different feeling.  He was worried that Zip was cold and wanted to come in the house.

Jon has a different relationship with Zip than I do.  They have connected on a deep level.  One I’ve never seen Jon go to before with a cat.  And I respect that.

Still, Jon doesn’t want Zip in the house anymore than I do.

Zip is a wild thing.  Our house is small and smaller with three dogs in it.  Adding Zip to the household, with Bud on the hunt and a kitty litter box would make life much more stressful than either of us choose.

But Jon has a different relationship with Zip than I do.  So when he suggested we put the heated cat house, that be bought for Minnie and Flo last year, in the barn I agreed.

I don’t really think it’s necessary.  There’s a space in the hay bales that Zip found the first day he was here.  Hay is a great insulator and I can only imagine how warm and cozy a place it is.  There is also the attic in the woodshed that was Flo’s favorite winter hideaway.

I tend to think of our barn cats the same way I do the other farm animals.  They live outdoors and adjust to the weather.

But the heated cat house wasn’t doing any good in the attic and Zip would certainly enjoy the warm pad so today I set it up in the barn today.

I may be a hard ass, but there really was no good reason, that I could see, not to put the cat house in the barn.

It made Jon feel better and I’m sure Zip is enjoying it too.

You can read about how Jon feels about Zip and the heated cat house on his blog, just click here.

Zip in the heated cat house

Gathering The Feeling For My Spirit Owl Quilt

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Jon and I started the day with a breakfast on the way to a doctor’s appointment.  When we got back I  had to fix my printer, with was giving me trouble, before being about to make labels to mail out a few more potholders and Zip Notecards.

By the time I was done it was past lunch time.  I wanted to get to my studio, but my head was all caught up in printers, shipping, and doing a bit of bookkeeping.

I knew I needed something to clear my head between me and my studio.  So I bundled up and Fate and Zinnia and I went for a walk in the woods.

The New Gulley bridge was thick with snow with ice branching out from it into the stream.  It all cracked and fell into the water as Zinnia plowed over it.

The cold air and walk was just what I needed.

I knew I wasn’t going to get any sewing done today, I knew it wouldn’t work to rush things.   But my head was in a good place for getting a feeling for my Spirit Owl quilt. 

I cut the owl fabric to the sizes that I think will work. Then I went through my fabric pulling out the colors and patterns that felt right.

When I found my mind trying to plan, I shut it down.  One piece at a time I told myself.  I don’t want to have an images of the quilt before I start.  Only the feeling, which I’ve know for some time.

It’s about the feeling.

Asher’s Crown

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Asher with his branch crown

Even with six inches of snow on the ground the sheep and donkeys are going into the back pasture to graze.  I’ve seen the places where they have scraped away the snow to get at the dry brown grasses. But mostly they nibble on bark and branches.

I can always tell when they’ve been in the brambles because they come back to the barn with all kinds of things stuck in their wool.

Today Suzy was dragging along thorny branch and Asher was wearing one like a crown.

Buy these! YOU CAN PURCHASE MY WORK IN MY ETSY SHOP >

Full Moon Fiber Art