Sometimes we gather things, sometimes we let them go. Our own collecting plus family downsizing have resulted in super-stuffed storage areas. Much sorting will be required — just to re-achieve pathways. Last weekend, we put two recently inherited bookcases in the basement and so much satisfying organization ensued! Candles — all in one place! Tins with no tops — in the garbage!  Our better garbage finds – neatly assembled!

All can be done bit by bit.  There’s such a lesson in that. Finally launching decades old technology? There’s relief in that.

Weeding can be a vigorous form of clutter-clearing.  One year, I got rid of all the invasive pricker bushes in our yard (that was brutal). This year, I tackled the Joe Pye Weed variant.  In a previous post, I referred to the plant as ‘Hitler Weed’ because of its overwhelming and unwelcome habits of aggressive encroachment.  The damn weed was sprouting everywhere! The lawn was at risk! Even though I don’t really give a shit about the lawn, I do care about my time and mood in the garden. Once I realized I was spending an obscene amount of time pulling the vagrants out, it was easy to sputter: ENOUGH!  It will take at least another two seasons to be fully rid of the damn perennial, but at least the major propagators are gone.
There were two more barrels, by the way. Already I have moved on to renovating too very messy beds.  It is a lot like editing. And, I am certain such progress was facilitated by ridding the yard of an aggravating eyesore.

The opposite of whittling away is building up. Here, I used techniques learned in ‘Considering Weave’ with Jude Hill to extend a map form. The print is a map, I’m not making that up.  But two islands side by side got me thinking about Ireland and her neighbor England.  I am wondering what it might be like to explore a history of oppression that is in my blood — as opposed to a history of oppression which is not.  The map fabric was last used in the Middle Passage series.

Less seriously (always good to be less serious!), I tried out eyes. The base fabric matters, always, doesn’t it? The foundation. This loose weave — a former sweater — made needle weaving its surface more complicated than it needed to be.  Still, I like the result.

Santa bobbin and screen easel. Such is the living room of a stitcher!

Lastly, I finished two Star Maps yesterday. I can’t figure out why, but I love these little scrappy things. How they relate to each other. The suggestion of a vast universe in a six by eight inch composition. And, I suppose a faint echo of the ‘Book of Hours’ (which I always loved) adds to their appeal.