Marti may not have her own blog, but she is well-known to all of us from the thought-full comments she writes. So it was with some surprise that I learned of her recent move in a comment on this April 6 post, aptly named Taking the Challenge.
As sometimes happens, our conversation about moving continued behind the scenes via e-mail. Marti sent pictures of her new digs and some of her Kokopelli collection. So I asked if I could share them here and she graciously said yes …
The two I liked best were of Marti herself (sipping her morning coffee on the deck where she most recently spotted a hummingbird and a jackrabbit) and her hand-dyed and stitched collage cloth …
I zoomed in on the Kokopelli image on my phone and photocopied it on my home printer (which was running out of ink). Then poked holes around the Kokopelli outline and traced with erasable marker on muslin dyed with wildflowers at our Hill Country house …
At which point I decided to (finally) try Jude Hill’s wrap stitch with Deb’s threads in shades of New Mexico desert sand, prickly pear tunas, chamisa flowers, and autumn cottonwood leaves …
Best of all, I just let the colors fall wherever they happened to appear …
dancing to their own music.
I'm Going to Texas (version 2.0) 
love this whole post and mostly…your kokopelli….your stitching has reached new
heights in the last long while, this one leads the dance of it
LikeLike
my needle dances best with a story to tell and Deb’s thread in its eye … and always, Jude
LikeLike
Oh, I so love our community! Your take on Marti’s Kokopelli is charming Liz. Her collection is grand! Hi Marti 🙂 Have a nice day ladies.
LikeLike
we are together apart
LikeLike
This is a spectacular New Mexico Kokopelli Liz, the glow of the threads used, makes him come alive, light and dark, the trickster. He pops and leaps off the page, dancing to the music from his flute and I dance along with him…thank you so much for this most special patch. After I sent you the photos, I decided to highlight the Kokopelli on my cloth by tracing around the shape, using a black shapie, don’t have inktense pens but it worked…the threads that you have chosen all have an autumnal feel and why not because Kokopelli is also the god of fertility, especially associated with the harvest time. I have menitoned this story before but I will put it here again:
In the 80’s my brother and sister in law hosted a family reunion in Albuquerque, where they lived. An uncle came from Germany, Uncle Berndt and a cousin and his wife from Canada, Cousin August and his wife, Hannelore all came to meet us. On an outing, in a gallery I saw my first Kokopelli and fell in love with the statue. When I took it out of the bag, Uncle Berndt, who didn’t speak English, asked my husband Rich, who spoke German, about this statue. When he was told that Kokopelli was known as a trickster and the god of fertility, Uncle Berndt laughed and laughed and then asked me if I was pregnant again because I am the mother of twins !! So you can see why Kokopelli holds a special place in my heart and in our family stories.
LikeLike
A good story gets even better in the retelling … thank you for all that you share here and elsewhere in the ether
LikeLike
(((Liz and Marti))) what a beautiful post!
LikeLike
nothing like a little collaboration 😊
LikeLike
And, those threads fell so well! Brilliant, my dear.
LikeLike
trust the process
LikeLike
The minute I opened this post I thought of Marti .. love this little block so very much. And the wonderful pictures .. thanks for this post 😘
LikeLike
love having you come by … and delighted that the patch was so readily tied to Marti
LikeLike
This is wonderful! 🙂 Love how connections form…
LikeLike
like any relationship, the connections take time and care … and return the investment many times over
LikeLike
How very wonderful to see Marti and pieces her world! Of course your wrapped stitching is so smooth and even, beautifully executed.
LikeLike
Marti’s world … New Mexico is a magical place
LikeLike
I’ve been so inspired by your use of Deb’s threads and scraps that I finally set out in earnest to order some for myself. Was lucky enough to get to her page quick enough to order a beautiful set of thread before they were gone. My order arrived this weekend and more than ever, I can appreciate the @mentions every time someone shows how they have used them and her cloth scraps.
My gratitude to this circle of stitchers…your impact ripples out further than you may imagine, inspiring many and encouraging us to keep pulling needles & thread through cloth.
LikeLike
Your comment made my day … if you have a blog or other online presence, please let us know so we can see what you’re up to!!
LikeLike
Thank you Liz for asking but my day job is IT-related so I tend to stay away from doing anything similar in my free time – to the point of not even having a smartphone to take pictures with. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person