Trees

Oh, I so much like these lines, they are written by one of my favourite authors, Hermann Hesse:

“For me, trees have always been the most penetrating preachers. I revere them when they live in tribes and families, in forests and groves. And even more I revere them when they stand alone. They are like lonely persons. Not like hermits who have stolen away out of some weakness, but like great, solitary men, like Beethoven and Nietzsche. In their highest boughs the world rustles, their roots rest in infinity; but they do not lose themselves there, they struggle with all the force of their lives for one thing only: to fulfil themselves according to their own laws, to build up their own form, to represent themselves. Nothing is holier, nothing is more exemplary than a beautiful, strong tree. When a tree is cut down and reveals its naked death-wound to the sun, one can read its whole history in the luminous, inscribed disk of its trunk: in the rings of its years, its scars, all the struggle, all the suffering, all the sickness, all the happiness and prosperity stand truly written, the narrow years and the luxurious years, the attacks withstood, the storms endured. And every young farmboy knows that the hardest and noblest wood has the narrowest rings, that high on the mountains and in continuing danger the most indestructible, the strongest, the ideal trees grow.

Trees are sanctuaries. Whoever knows how to speak to them, whoever knows how to listen to them, can learn the truth. They do not preach learning and precepts, they preach, undeterred by particulars, the ancient law of life.

A tree says: A kernel is hidden in me, a spark, a thought, I am life from eternal life. The attempt and the risk that the eternal mother took with me is unique, unique the form and veins of my skin, unique the smallest play of leaves in my branches and the smallest scar on my bark. I was made to form and reveal the eternal in my smallest special detail.

A tree says: My strength is trust. I know nothing about my fathers, I know nothing about the thousand children that every year spring out of me. I live out the secret of my seed to the very end, and I care for nothing else. I trust that God is in me. I trust that my labor is holy. Out of this trust I live.

When we are stricken and cannot bear our lives any longer, then a tree has something to say to us: Be still! Be still! Look at me! Life is not easy, life is not difficult. Those are childish thoughts. Let God speak within you, and your thoughts will grow silent. You are anxious because your path leads away from mother and home. But every step and every day lead you back again to the mother. Home is neither here nor there. Home is within you, or home is nowhere at all.

A longing to wander tears my heart when I hear trees rustling in the wind at evening. If one listens to them silently for a long time, this longing reveals its kernel, its meaning. It is not so much a matter of escaping from one's suffering, though it may seem to be so. It is a longing for home, for a memory of the mother, for new metaphors for life. It leads home. Every path leads homeward, every step is birth, every step is death, every grave is mother.

So the tree rustles in the evening, when we stand uneasy before our own childish thoughts: Trees have long thoughts, long-breathing and restful, just as they have longer lives than ours. They are wiser than we are, as long as we do not listen to them. But when we have learned how to listen to trees, then the brevity and the quickness and the childlike hastiness of our thoughts achieve an incomparable joy. Whoever has learned how to listen to trees no longer wants to be a tree. He wants to be nothing except what he is. That is home. That is happiness.” 

- Hermann Hesse, Bäume, Betrachtungen und Gedichte

http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/trees


Hier ist dieser schöne Text im deutschen Original: 
http://www.gss.ucsb.edu/projects/hesse/works/baeume.html

My trees here are full 3-layers-quilts in different sizes, pieced and quilted by hand, created without any templates to give them their individual character. With a few fine stitches I sew each one upon a piece of rough watercolour paper and fix a small loop at the back. So  they can be used as a  greeting card  for example and they can be hung upon a wall with or without a frame.

...and  I just love flowers, too, especially when they come along in a slightly unruly fashion... :-)

Belvedere, Pfingstberg Potsdam (near Berlin): Some Romantic Images

Indem ich dem Gemeinen einen hohen Sinn,

dem Gewöhnlichen ein geheimnisvolles Ansehen,

dem Bekannten die Würde des Unbekannten,

dem Endlichen einen unendlichen Schein gebe,

so romantisiere ich es.

Novalis

Flower

Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower.

Albert Camus

http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/flower.htm

Tessellation Quilt-Minis

Jinny Beyer: "A tessellation is a shape or combination of shapes which will indefinitely cover an area without any gaps or overlaps. Even though we tend to think of tessellations only as interlocking motifs, any quilt block that repeats itself can be considered a tessellation. But it is interlocking patterns that are intriguing, and once you know how to create them, a whole world of design will open up."

http://www.jinnybeyer.com/quilting-with-jinny/tips-lessons/detail.cfm?instanceId=2141577C-0324-E8C6-1F88CFCEC9808ADD

This here is an absolutely amazing book about tessellation quilts, I guess it is out of print because I only got it at an antiquarian bookshop and in German: Jinny Beyer, Tessellation-Quilts entwerfen, (Schäfer 2001) it's absolutely fantastic.

Here is why I find these tessellation minis so interesting:

The thing is that you only get an IDEA of what the pattern really looks like, not more than that - 

only a small section is to be seen, and the rest is .... you have to find out the structure by yourself: each tiny part is extremely important and is a part of a shape which is a part of a shape...and this goes on and on and is much larger than the piece in front of you, but you get the feeling: this pattern is something big and lovely!!  

I find that intriguing - and I sometimes think it's like what happens in real life, too :-)

These minis are  about 8,5 x 8,5 cm (about 3 1/2" x 3 1/2")

handmade, they can be hung up or sewn onto something or put into a frame... but there is also a piece of (removable) magnetic vinyl fixed onto the back so that they can be used as magnets.

Butterfly

a little butterfly-

It's a small quilt, folded in an origami-style and fixed on a clothes pin, to hold cards or letters or notes.

Garden Table

My very old dear lovely cat had been very sick, and she still is, but I'm optimistic that she will get strong again.
I can only say : fine and cozy and soft blankets are essential, for everyone I think, but in our case:
for her to lie on and rest, for me to lie under and rest. I'm glad I am able to make them!

So I didn't get much work done recently, only this butterfly quilt for a garden table, but I think it looks just fine, which perks me up considerably!

Fresco

This is part quilt and part painting.  I tried to find a style which is remotely reminiscent of an ancient Italian fresco. I made the quilt block and then put paint upon it so that it looks a bit like a part of a wall. The quilt was then fixed on a painted canvas.

Here is an example of an Italian fresco, it was photographed in Siena. I found this lovely picture on this site: http://www.dgolds.com/photos/Italy2002/images/Siena/007FrescoInCourtyard.jpg

Lupine's Birthday

Today I celebrate the third birthday of my "Lupine"-studio which was opened on August 13, 2010.

I still love my work and the "rustic" way I do it, it is my world and it means everything to me.

I'd like to thank all my friends and family-members who support me with their ideas, their questions and suggestions.

And oh, to hear the question out of the blue from somewhere: "Could you please make for me  … a quilt, a cushion, a bird, a teddy bear, a bookmark, a bookend, a bag, a tablerunner, 6 coasters, a butterfly….? I would like to have it with ….roses, with stripes, all in blue….. and oh, I have these fabrics from my grandma, could you work that in…..?"

I LOVE it! Yes, I can! :-)

(If you like to see examples of my work, please click on "Lupine" at the top of this site.)

For the rest of my experiences , well, I try to see it that way:

Rocks in my path? I keep them all. 
With them I shall build my castle.

Nemo Nox

http://thelightworkerchronicles.blogspot.de/2011/02/lupine-flower-of-creativity-imagination.html

For everyone who is interested in learning about why I  chose the name "Lupine" for my work and studio: please go to this lovely site and read about the children's book "Miss Rumphius" by Barbara Cooney, 1982:

http://onceuponabookshelf.com/?tag=lupine-lady

I bought this lovely book in 2010 at the wonderful "Magic Tree Bookstore" in Oak Park (near Chicago), Illinois (established 1984). I loved that place!!

http://www.oakpark.com/Shopping/Shops/Magic-Tree-Bookstore/

And this is my goal for the future: I intend to learn some new techniques of quilt making. I realize I'm rather - and sometimes too- old fashioned in my way to design quilts or quilted objects. So much to learn!!

Bookends

... they are filled with some granulate material so they are really heavy and able to stand up to some books...

“In order to see birds it is necessary to become a part of the silence.” 

Robert Lynd

http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/birds

The Joy of Quilting By Hand

It really is so much fun! 

Gradually the quilting stitches replace the rough basting stitches (black thread) on my "windmill"-quilt, 

and I like to look at the reverse side, too! 

And yes, it takes some time to do this all over the quilt, 

but as long as my hands don't rebel 

(and yes, occasionally they do), 

I really love the look of hand made stitches, 

they give quilts an individual face and character, I do believe so. 

And yes, it IS a long way to go, but even so...! :-)

Basting my Windmill-Quilt

I'm basting my "windmill"-quilt with pretty rough stitches to prepare it for hand quilting later.

I rolled up the three layers (lavender colored cotton for the back, a light 60%cotton/40%polyester sheet for the batting and the finished hand sewn patchwork top) around an older quilt to form a big stable roll, put it all on a wide table (two ironing boards serve the same purpose) and now I baste it row after row, slightly rearranging and stretching the layers when necessary.

Many quilters find basting very tedious, but I like it somehow because now for the first time I get an idea what the finished quilt might feel like, as the three layers now begin to form some kind of integrated whole.

(Originally this pattern is called "Pinwheel", but like the image of windmill sails better.)

Grandma

Well, obviously I grew infatuated with making these single-letter-minis, I love what happens when they are combined to express something, and I love how each letter is an individual.

Well, here is a little story:
A very dear person (slightly older than me and feeling very young, mostly) once told me: You are a 

!! So. I must admit, at that point I was a bit thinking: what the hell ...?? , means: I didn't feel particularly flattered, considering the fact that I don't even have children and I don't feel so very old (mostly), only being a bit over fifty....
( I love these lines in "To Kill A Mockingbird":
"Nome, I mean the folks on our street are all old. Jem and me's the only children around here. Mrs. Dubose is close to a hundred and Mrs. Rachel's old and so are you and Atticus."
"I don't call fifty very old," said Mrs. Maudie tartly.)

So, we couldn't clarify all implications right at that time, but maybe this very dear person will shed some light on this remark one of these days...

So well, - I hope something like this was implied, that would be nice, because I can absolutely relate to these rules:

http://www.nnhs65.com/NNHS-NEWS-B/SGT-grandparents-house-rules.jpg

Magical

"Our Bookshop Manifesto

WE BELIEVE IN THE BOOK. We believe in quieting the noise and listening to the stories. We believe in traveling far and wide between paper pages. We believe in touching the words, scribbling in the margins, and dogging the ears. We believe in surrounding ourselves with books long finished and books not yet read; in revisiting our younger selves each time we pull old favorites off the shelf.

We believe in five-year-olds inking their names in big letters on the flyleaf. We believe in becoming someone else for four hundred pages. We believe in turning off the screens and unplugging the networks once in awhile. We believe in meeting the author, reading the footnotes, looking up the words and checking the references. We believe in holding our children on our laps and turning the pages together.

We believe in standing shoulder to shoulder in comfortable silence with our fellow citizens before a good shelf of books; we believe in talking face to face with friends and strangers in the aisles of a good bookstore. We believe that together, readers, writers, books and bookstores can work 

If you believe, please join us: SAVE THE WORLD. BUY A BOOK."

Gallery Bookshop & Bookwinkle's Children's Book, Mendocino

http://www.gallerybookshop.com
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Gallery-Bookshop-in-Mendocino/295139709224

I've been to this Californian bookshop twice, for the first time in 1987, and then again some months ago, and all I can say is that they really live up to their principles which are written down on their website as this manifesto. I have quoted it here and took the liberty to emphasize the word "magic" ...  which it truly is when - as they say - readers, writers and bookstores work together and combine their efforts to establish a garden which then stands in full bloom. It is always worth a try.

Letters

These are some of my three-layers-mini-quilts showing letters so that they can be grouped to form individual messages. 

They are 8 x 8 cm / 3,14" x 3,14", the letters are appliquéd, it's machine and hand sewing. Each quiltie has a small loop at the back, so it can also be fixed onto a pinboard for example. 

I came across this quote here just at the right moment :-)

"Writing for the page is only one form of writing for the eye. Wherever solemn inscriptions are put up in public places, there is a sense that the site and the occasion demand a form of writing which goes beyond plain informative prose. Each word is so valued that the letters forming it are seen as objects of solemn beauty."

James Frenton

http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/letters_4.html

What Fabrics Can Do: Christo

The BIG AIR PACKAGE by Christo in Oberhausen, Germany:
I had been there and it's marvelous.

You are kept away from everything outside and enter a room which consists of light entirely. The brightness of the light depends on the season, time of day, weather. This BIG AIR PACKAGE sits inside an old tower, an industrial monument from the time when coal-mining was an important economic sector in this area.

This creation is more beautiful than words can say. For me that is exactly what I wish for art to be: moving, touching and uplifting!

Outside of the package - but still inside the tower - you can touch a sample of the fabric used for this installation, it is surprisingly soft on the inside and strong and rough on the outside.

Gorgeous!

Here are some pictures: