Wonderings & Wanderings

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The Cardinal Rule

25 Feb

I have been staring out the window, seeing nothing but brown, brown, brown. Its winter and there is no snow. The sky can be a soaring blue, but it can all be a dismal gray that sits right on top of the trees and pushes down slightly. I am embarrassed how long it took me to really see that ... View Post

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Stitching
Tags:
bird, handstitching, nature, slowstitching, storycloth

City thoughts

18 Sep

Jim came home from a conference in Seville, Spain, and his stories & pictures got me thinking about historic urban spaces. The way that buildings were built first, and the space that was left over became the public space -- the buildings defined the pathways between them. Cities that established ... View Post

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Categories:
Stitching
Tags:
architecture, handstitching, ideas, iwonder, slowstitching, storycloth, travel

Art Retreat, Day 1

6 Aug

Welcome to my own art retreat. I am retreating a few hundred feet from my house, into my cabin. Where it smells good, there are no dishes to wash, and it is quiet. The kids are at camp, and I have a rare 5-hour stretch of time alone. The first day I spent working on this piece which I call, ... View Post

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Stitching
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handstitching, ideas, moon, slowstitching, storycloth

Art & Math

5 Aug

I have been making lots of English paper pieced squares recently, and the grids are bringing my mind to math and ratios and angles. I found this video after spending some time reading about the Fibonacci sequence and the golden ratio. The three videos in this series are fascinating (and so ... View Post

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Inspiration, Stitching
Tags:
epp, fibonacci, goldenratio, handstitching, ideas, math, slowstitching, video

Scrambling

4 Jul

I had a storycloth that wasn't meant to be -- the figures were meant to be in different stories. I started it while in a class with Jude Hill, and I was following along with her process. I reworked the central figure a few times, but it just never felt right. So I cut it each figure apart and tried ... View Post

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Stitching
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current, design, handstitching, iwonder, slowstitching, storycloth, trees

Under the Clouds

27 Jun

I spent the last week in and around Glacier National Park in Montana. Spring mountain weather being what it is, there was a lot of rain on the western side of the mountains. We could see, very clearly, how the mountains caught the clouds and there they would sit until they had dropped enough rain to ... View Post

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Categories:
Stitching
Tags:
bird, compass, fog, handstitching, lost, slowstitching, storycloth, sun, travel

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Who is this Raheli lady?

Raheli is a creative problem solver and fiber-lover in the Hudson Valley. She sews, knits, mends, spins, homesteads and writes, all while trying to get outside a little more often. (She/her) Read More…

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Popular Posts

Time to make the doughnuts!

This is my favorite doughnut recipe - but surprise! It’s actually a no-knead brioche recipe! This ... View Post

Map No. 1 – The Swamp

I have been captivated by Helen Cann’s book Hand Drawn Maps. My kids and I each take it in turns - I ... View Post

Meanwhile, on Instagram…

raheliharper

Wishing I could curl up in this robin nest for a n Wishing I could curl up in this robin nest for a nap.

We saw the robin build this nest in May. It was on our porch and we watch her sit on four blue eggs. One was taken and one was damaged (by the egg thief - we caught them on video) but two eventually hatched. They were cared for by their father, who brought them worms and other tasty treats, until they finally fledged the nest. 

We left the nest all these months, wondering if anyone else might use it (until it started a slow slide off the beam it was built on). For now it’s on our table, and we finally get to see how dense it is, and how smoothly packed the interior is.
I stitched this a few days ago, after a day when I I stitched this a few days ago, after a day when I was feeling pulled in all directions at once - by urgent tasks, by the daily mundane work, by my own wants, and by a few missed deadlines. I was feeling overwhelmed and stuck even though a step in any of these directions would have been helpful and progress.

But today I am seeing this through a new lens. #inauguration2021
Somehow this year is already feeling harder than l Somehow this year is already feeling harder than last year. I am hoping that this is the tough work of change and reflection that is needed in order to build and heal... but, I don’t really want to finish that sentence.

In other news, we made smoked wings for dinner - these are our home-raised chickens! So, this dinner was started in July when the meat flock arrived. While we had the smoker going, I tried out something I have been wondering about for a while - smoking liquor.
Fixed up my favorite sweater - it’s a cashmere c Fixed up my favorite sweater - it’s a cashmere cardigan that I got at a thrift store, maybe 5 years ago? It has pockets and it’s soft and I wear it all the time and last week I wore through one of the elbows. I have this plaid wool that I got from a woman who was a tailor - I am guessing this bag of felted, woven wool must have come from lined trench coats? I have a few other colors, but i knew right away that plaid elbow patches would have me living the (visible mender’s) dream! 

I may even go ahead and stitch the other elbow now before I lose the rest of the plaid wool... or not, but it would be a really good idea if I was into planning ahead...
This kindling was still a little wet, and I find t This kindling was still a little wet, and I find the moisture boiling out so mesmerizing.

It was hard getting the fire lit in the snow, and just as it caught, the kids wanted to eat their lunch inside. I can’t blame them, since they are soaked from playing in the melting snow... so I brought my lunch out and am sitting here by myself. Not the worst thing... 😉
Morning stitching on a new day. Morning stitching on a new day.
Goodbye 2020! I stitched my feelings, ate my feeli Goodbye 2020! I stitched my feelings, ate my feelings, wrote down my feelings, and took some feelings out on my family. Some feelings even transferred into action. So many feelings. But there was also health and good people and enough money and delicious home cooked meals and four seasons and an amazing family. ❤️
We walked down to see the river after our big Xmas We walked down to see the river after our big Xmas rain storm. It was at least 6 feet higher than it is in August (that tree usually has a bank below it). That storm melted all the snow, plus it dropped a lot of rain (not to mention the strong wind - which seemed like it was coming from the south). We saw some trees down in the woods, but none by our house, fortunately.
This blanket is fixed up. It is a family heirloom This blanket is fixed up. It is a family heirloom (for someone else’s family - this was a commission) and now it has more stories to carry into a new generation.
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