Autumn's Offerings - Thor and Sif

NOTE - This article was written, and should have published back in September. It seems it got lost in the ones and zeros...

At the time of balance of the year, I look to nature to see the importance of balance in our lives. In this harvest season it's easy to look to the bountiful fields and the food on our tables as proof of the benefits of balance.

In the Norse tradition Thor is, besides being a mighty warrior, the Lord of Storms. By his presence or absence we get rain and fair weather. Thus, he would be praised for both bringing rain and snow, and for sunny days. Sif, his wife, is a goddess of the fields. Her golden hair (get it right Marvel!) is representative of ripened grains.

Their relationship is a thing of Balance. If there is not enough rain the grain will not grow, if there is too much it rots in the fields. Throughout the winter the soil rests to prepare for the next growing season. Their partnership has space. This is the lesson of the Autumn Equinox,  establish balance in order to create fruitfulness.

As for the making, I placed my ring on the top half of a rectangle of linen, and started stitching! The clouds slowly filled in with undulating waves. I added falling rain drops near the end, and the last touch - a bolt of lightening from the God of Thunder.

The bottom ring I filled with the plants of the fields - vetch, bindweed, grasses, and most importantly golden ripening grain! That space of overlap is the Venn Diagram of the season - rain on the fields.

We gathered for a large feast, think early Thanksgiving, to share in the fruits of the second harvest. This piece was an offering to the Patrons of the rite - Thor and Sif. That is to say, it went up in flames. We got a good omen, and had a fantastic night of food and fellowship. Sacred stitchery has become one of my favorite things!

What are you thankful for? How do you bring balance into your life?

Works in Progress

 As summer gets into full swing the craft projects are moving along. First there's my second Wheel of the Year embroidery. I have all eight plants laid out, and I'm preparing to add words and the finishing touches.

I finally took the step that I should have done first. Seriously, before everything else. Lesson learned. I kept making marks to outline the work area, and they kept rubbing off while I worked. So I took some sewing thread and basted down a circle that will be easy to remove when I'm done. Doing this made me realize that I was a bit off center, so now I'll be adding more to some of the plants so they extend to the edge. *Sigh*

If I don't start my next project by putting in guide lines someone please shoot me.

 I of course also made a smaller offering piece. This was a bouquet of all the flowers in the wall hanging, scaled down. I finished just in time to run off to the ritual, and didn't get a picture first. That's a strange sinking feeling that must not have plagued our ancestors "Well, it's burning now. No chance to take a photo I guess."

My less flammable project is a granny square blanket. I've used an entire bin of hand-dyed yarns in assorted (read - not matching at all) colors. Each square is a unique mix of colors, and I used nearly every scrap of most of the colors too! I'll be finding a suitable yarn to pull the whole thing together (probably gray, the only thing that might not clash with all these bright colors.)

I'm going to trim each square and sew them together, which should give me a 60" x 30" blanket, perfect for a baby gift.

What are you working on? Let the stash bust continue!

Flowers in the Snow

 Today dawned cold and snowy, a far cry from yesterday's 60F. Perfect day for stitching! I've gotten behind in my seasonal needlework, so I'm still working on Imbolc's heather. But that's OK, it looks like Imbolc outside...

 I'm still working around the wheel, those big white blooms are chamomile for Yule, next will be roses for Eoster (which was cold and snowy too!) Still debating whether to make the roses red or yellow... hard choices right?

What sort of stitching do you do when you're "snowed in"? And yes, those are flowers on the table runner, it's that time of year yaknow?

I'm Excited About Napkins - Shoot Me Now

At some point tonight I had a terrible realization - I'm an adult. Not just any adult, I'm an adult who owns napkins that require ironing. *Shudder* To be fair, I'm the only one to blame for this early onset lameness, I made the damnned things. They are lovely! But they require ironing, like with steam and everything. I often have pleated skirts dry cleaned to avoid having to iron them. But I guess I'll have to buck up and embrace my stuffy adult-ness, I guess that can go on my list for the new year.

These are embroidered tea towels, dyed with onion skins to make them subtly pink. I documented the process in this post last year, made with green thread and tea-dyed. So now there's eight iron-needing napkins in my house. Fabulous.

If anyone needs me I'll be in the kitchen drinking metamucil and changing my hearing aide batteries...

Flowers Everywhere!

 I know, it's not the season we would usually think of for flowers. Everything is all dead and dormant right now (let's pretend it's not been in the upper 60s all week and the spring bulbs are not trying to come up...) and it's not really the time for lush bouquets.

Fortunately there is never really a time without flowers, nature keeps that ball rolling 365! I'm also working on a new "Wheel of the Year" project, this one is themed with flowers instead of trees. I started with Lavender for Midsummer, and Sunflowers for Lughnassahd. I'm now working on Marigolds for Mabon.

It's been an adventure deciding how to portray specific species, and finding suitable accurate colors for each plant. I'm behind in starting on Samhain's Nightshade plant, but hoping to catch up soon. I also had a small epiphany that should be helpful, I find myself constantly redrawing the layout boundaries on the ground, it's dark and the white of chalk pencils seems to disappear quickly. I'm going to try bating a thread along the lines to delineate the space for each one, hopefully it will stay longer!

What are you crafting for the fall season?

Wheel of The Year

I started this project less than a year ago, and followed thru all the seasons, summer, fall, winter and spring. It is finally completed, with spreading trees and bright red letters for the high days.

Spring

Winter

Autumn

Summer

So then we are faced with the task of hanging this piece. I was hoping to place it directly on a piece of wood, but I couldn't find solid woods in a close enough size, only plywood. So I bought some square dowels and started cutting!

I used my "high-tech" staple gun to make a row of connectors at each joint. It was a little wiggly but sturdy enough for stretching fabric. The fabric actually stabilized it quite a bit.

I washed the cloth gently, and hung it to dry. Then I ironed it to as flat as a piece of lumpy embroidery can be. I taped everything in place at first to center it.

Now the great challenge, which side goes up? Also, how do I get those last few pencil marks off the linen ground? It was a very fulfilling project, and really did help me to be more in touch with the changing seasons. I'm already plotting a new project, to be started this midsummer. I'm thinking about doing herbs that are sacred to each high day, giving me a chance to learn more herbcraft too! This may become a yearly ritual for me, who knows how long it will last...

Napkins

A while back I discovered that my house was very lacking, there was nothing to wipe your face with! I was also on a embroidery binge, and had plenty of left over crewel wool from my wheel of the year project. I had bought several packs of cotton tea towels to dye for use in my kitchen, and instead I set one aside for making napkins.

I penciled in swirly designs along the hemmed edge of the towel, using a ruler to make the sides somewhat symmetrical. After using all my left-over greens to edge the entire towel I cut it into fourths.
Now we all know that white things rarely stay that way, particularly if you are encouraging people to wipe their faces and fingers with them. So I tea dyed them to a nice antiqued tan. I put water, black tea bags, and a splash of vinegar on to boil. Added the napkins and kept at a low simmer for a little while (boiling wool tends to shrink it of course). I let it soak overnight, rinsed and hung to dry.
The cotton turned a lovely pale tan color, and some of the lighter greens were also toned a bit. The best part of this, if these become stained, or if the color fades too much, I can easily dye them again.
Growing up my family had a number of napkins hand made by my grandmother, a few even had embroidery and beads on them. It's such a simple easy way to add a little color and flair to your table. Have you ever made napkins, table mats, or tablecloths?

Seasons Changing

The leaves have long since changed and fallen here. The snow is covering the piles. As we approach the solstice and prepare for the cold nights of winter and return of the sun I like to curl up inside with hot tea and knitting. On the other hand, in my family everyone enjoys some kind of winter sport - skiing, telemark, snowboarding etc. It's the time of year for rich hearty soups and baking bread all day because it's nice to hang out in a warm kitchen. The changing seasons are always hard, either leaving behind a favored time of year or entering a challenging time, it's nice to reflect on the upside that each season offers.

We greet the snow with cookies, big sweaters, and sunglasses (in Colorado cold weather does not always mean clouds!). What is your favorite part of Autumn, that you will miss as the world turns? What are you looking forward to in the dark times?

End of Summer

Summer is drawing to a close, and so too is my summer section of my wheel of the year project! I've completed the tree and added a vine around the outer edge. I need to go back to the needlework shop for one more color, as I decided to add the names of the high days to the wheel.
In a few weeks when the autumn equinox hits I'll be starting the Fall tree in a new set of colors! I was pleasantly surprised at how quickly this went, which bodes well for completing each section in it's allotted season. It's quite relaxing to know I have a year to do this, and there's no rushing! Perhaps all my craft projects should have laid back time lines?