Thursday, January 30, 2014

kantha stitching


I'm slightly daunted by the idea of finishing my knitting project during the month of February so naturally a little sewing diversion is in order. I haven't given up on the knitting already, just decided finishing a smaller piece first might build confidence. I've resumed kantha stitching a woven heart cloth made with cottons, eco-dyed silks, and a strip of Rumi cloth. A few of those tiny rose quartz beads might be included, too.

The pineapples at the grocery store were $1 each. Not huge, just right, and perfectly sweet. I decided to try growing the leafy stalk as a house plant -- the way to do this is to twist the stalk out of the fruit, remove two rows of leaves and then make thin slices with a sharp knife until you see root buds around the edges. Then it needs to harden off for two days at room temperature before being planted in soil or rooted in water. I'm going to root it in water to watch the magic happen. I've never done this before although the project was probably in every kids' science book I ever came across. Which is pretty many because we home schooled.

That's my daily kefir-straining ritual up there -- it never fails to grow -- you can see the lumpy-looking kefir grains if you look closely. I combine about a tablespoon of kefir grains to fresh raw milk in a pint jar, shake it up and set it on the counter to thicken and kefir-ize itself. I haven't had a bad cold since I started making and drinking kefir, close to two years now, I think. Whatever works, right?

I've been waiting in the darkness, so to speak, for today, the beginning of a new moon phase. The last few dark moon days have been quiet and dreamy -- reading, nesting, cleaning, and imagining. But now it's time to awaken hopes and dreams. It's time to believe in things imagined, but not yet seen or felt.

Thanks for visiting and a happy new moon to you. xo

6 comments:

  1. thanks for mentioning the Rumi cloth. i so want to do something like that sometime soon.

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  2. Hi Deanna, writing your own cloth would complement your art beautifully. If I was to do it again, I'd write much smaller than I did on the Rumi cloth.

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  3. Isn't eco-dyed fabric fun to stitch with? Those pink rose quarts beads are sweet! Good luck growing pineapples, what a good trick! Happy new moon day - Hugs Nat

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  4. Your heart-cloth is beautiful, Love all your stitching and your piece of Rumi cloth.
    I'm feeling this new moon phase, ready for new beginnings in the earth, but here in Michigan it is not happening, 8 more inches of snow is predicted for tonight! We have so much the plows don't know where to put it.

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  5. I love your Kantha stitched cloth and the quartz looks beautiful with it. I can tell that winter has over stayed its welcome here. I made bird pudding (suet aka squirrel Snicker bars) again hoping it would be the last batch of the year. Then I looked at the forecast. It looks like there will be more cold and gloom. The seed catalogs are arriving and my desire to dig in some dirt is high. Soon!!!

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  6. Love the cloth...the Rumi cloth. I like Rumi too, but I wonder whose words I would desire to set to cloth?

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