Tag: dailiness

Evidence Explained

January 17, 2017 / jeanne / 3 Comments

Evidence 2017, Day 1

Inspired by my friend Judy Martin’s marking of time and dedication to her art, despite a full family life,
Inspired by my friend Jude Hill’s dedication to daily stitching and reflection, interwoven into her daily life,
Inspired by my new friend Kathleen Warren‘s mindful noticing of her surroundings and honoring of her creative process . . .

Evidence 2014

I revamp my abandoned 2014 attempt and a previous attempt at daily stitching that I can’t even find now into a version that will see me through to the champagne. I just know it will.

Evidence 2017, Day 2

Being an accomplishment-oriented girl, I like to track how I spend my life.

Evidence 2017, Day 3

I first ask myself: how do I want to fill my days, and the answer hasn’t changed significantly in the past 4 years:
stitching,
moving (as in moving my body through space – walking, yoga, exercise, etc),
writing,
mirthing (think: awe, wonder, laughing).
This year I add 2 things:
prospering (in every way a girl can prosper) and
connecting (as in with people, friends, family, strangers)

Evidence 2017, Day 4

Then I assign each a color. (There is a story behind each hue. I’ll tell you later.)
stitching
moving
writing
mirthing
prospering
connecting

Once that is decided, I make my way to the local thrift shop and purchase clothes in those colors to use as fabrics. Storied cloth, my favorite.

Evidence 2017, Day 5

I track everything in my handwritten journal, and each morning I look back at the day before, free-cut strips of fabric in the appropriate colors, then I turn my Improv Self loose to stitch them together into a 6.5″ square block.

Evidence 2017, Day 6

The method of stitching the daily blocks will change each month. For January 2017, I’m using wedges – something I’ve long wanted to try my hand at, but never made the time to try. (Wait’ll you see what the daily blocks will look like next month.)

Evidence 2017, Day 7

You might ask (I know I did) Why is there not a color representing The 70273 Project? The answer: Because The 70273 Project touches every part of my life, and every verb I want to have in my every day touches The 70273 Project. Writing? Multiple writing projects each day are for The 70273 Project. (Know anybody who wants a guest blog post?) Stitching? I stitch several blocks each day for The 70273 Project. Moving? I move so I can keep up with The 70273 Project! Connecting? Oh good lord, such marvelous connections are made daily because of The 70273 Project. You get the picture. Right or wrong, there is no separation between The 70273 Project and me . . . something we’ll talk more about later.

Evidence 2017, Week 1

Each week will be stitched together, then each month, and finally . . . the year.

One thing that eludes me right now is how to finish the back. Ideas?

of legacies and living

January 28, 2014 / jeanne / 0 Comments

Rinsecycle4d

The day came when she realized she was no longer just a limb . . .

Rinsecycle4dante

. . . now she was the tree

Rinsecycle4full

The Rinse Cycle 4
made from the back of a jacket that’s now finished

i get lost in the starts and stops of life. interruptions distract and derail me. i devour blog posts, magazine articles, and books that advise me to trust the process, trust the journey, just do what i love and everything will fall into perfectly minted alignment. but that’s all i do: read . . . then get lost some more. it seems to me that at this point in my life, i ought to be able to tell you what my life has been and is all about. but i can’t. is that because i was a career mother and caregiver? did my life get lost under everybody else’s?

doesn’t matter. i’m now the tree, so it’s up to me to decide how i’m going to live my life and what kind of legacy i’m going to leave.

one of the few things i know for sure: how you spend your days is how you spend your life, so i’m creating and practicing daily habits. it’s the only way, really. that’s why i keep my book of amazements to track how i spend my days, and that’s why i created the keepsake writing tribes. perhaps you’d like to join me? it’s gonna’ be three months of creative, productive, legacy-making fun. i promise.

///

my friend rhonda died this week. she had multiple sclerosis which, of course, made it difficult for her to do most anything, but she didn’t let it stop her. she went to graduate school, and she published the book that took her eons to write. she wouldn’t – she couldn’t – she didn’t – stop until it was done. she is a role model for us all.

three hundred sixty-five

December 14, 2013 / jeanne / 6 Comments

Heartrock4

it’s taken me a while to discover what i want in life,
to sort out the song of my heart
from the tunes of everybody else’s.
oh sure, i can tell you what They want in a snap,
but ask me what i want my life to look like,
and i drew a blank.

until now.

Chakracolorcode

because when you get right down to it,
every day is a new year’s day,
and because like my friend says,
dailiness is alchemy,
i began keeping a Book of Amazements on 11.12.12
charting daily accomplishments
in a color system that coincides with the chakras.

this year,
wanting more clarity
and more simplicity
as well as something tangible
and visual,

Evidence1b

i’ve pared down from 7 colors to 4,
each color representing an element of a perfect day
and ultimately a life of accomplishment:
red = moving
orange = making
aqua = marking
purple = laughing
and in addition to the
Book of Amazements,
i am creating an accompanying cloth called
Evidence.

i started on 11.12.13,
of course,
and now
one month and two days later,
the cloth measures
26.75″ wide by 60″ long
you can check my math,
but the answer i get is,
60 times 12
equals substantial
IF i color in my days
the way i want.

(and just so you know,
i happen to like substantial.)

. . . more soon . . .

my true childish heart

April 9, 2013 / jeanne / 0 Comments

Agespotsvase1

Came a package bearing a gift from my son. The handwritten note said he was late because he had trouble finding something special enough to commemorate the Big Birthday I celebrated on Valentine’s Day last. So what did he decide on? A vase. A shiny, gorgeous, handmade vessel.

Agespotsvase3

Though he didn’t choose it with this in mind, the small opening is perfect for a woman who’s now in touch with her own mortality and firmly committed to being quite conscious and selective about what comes into those remaining years.

Agespotsvase4

The somewhat extended neck, perfect for a woman who now feels tenured and firmly committed to speaking her mind without regard to being found pleasing or worthy or even sensible.

Agespotsvase2

And oh my goodness, the glaze. The beautiful glaze of rich blues and greens – my favorite – peppered with small circles resembling crocheted doilies.

Or maybe . . . probably . . . Age Spots.

I feel another cloth project coming on, y’all . . .

[ ::: ]

“I learned to value only that which truly activates what is in my heart. I came to value those experiences which activate my heart as it really is. I sought, more and more, only those experiences which have the capacity, the depth, to activate the feeling that is my real feeling, in my true childish heart. And I learned slowly, to make things which are of that nature.“
[Christopher Alexander: The Nature of Order, The Luminous Ground]