This is for Marti

~ Liz A

I saw this painting posted on social media by Kate Dardine …

and the dancing figures (or so they seemed to me) made me think of Marti.

I remember the early days of my entering the community of kindred spirits gathered around Jude Hill, that there was one person who didn’t have a blog herself, but who left the most wonderful comments.

The day came when Marti left a comment on my blog … I’m guessing it was sometime in 2015. And since then, more than once, I’ve thought it would be grand to collect the wit and wisdom that Marti has contributed to so many of our blogs.

As I stitched this latest patchplay, based on our own Kate Dardine painting, I smiled at the notion that Marti would likely approve of the greens …

It’s rather an unorthodox log cabin, but it made me smile as I added each strip.

Then it occurred to me that I could also stitch an homage to the first image in this post …

so I did.

17 thoughts on “This is for Marti”

  1. I have been quiet, reading blogs but stepping back from commenting as I deal with my husband’s on going health issues. For me, it is essential that I go, and remain quiet as this helps me to center my energy but I had to respond to this blog post. In fact, it startled me to see my name but oh my, how kind to post this Liz. Regardless of what occurs on a daily basis, I do find time to dance, maybe not every day, but several times a week for it is a great stress release as well as a bringer of Joy..

    Equally a bringer of joy are your colorful log cabin strips, echoing the art in your home and YES, I so approve of those soft green strips.

    Finally, as a way of having some time for myself, my daughter Erika recommended a book that she is reading so now we are sharing this pastime and I think my daughter Shelley may join us as well. The book is North Woods by David Mason.. It has been compared somewhat to Richard Powers, The Overstory. Here is a link to a review of this book on NPR and some of the review as well:

    https://www.npr.org/2023/09/19/1200166912/book-review-daniel-mason-north-woods

    “North Woods manages, impressively, to balance both the narrow and the long view, intimately focusing on the lives of each of the house’s inhabitants, yet expansively encompassing American history, natural history, and the relentless march of time and the cycle of the seasons.”

    “Mason enhances the sense of ongoing change through lush descriptions of the natural environment and ghostly presences that at various points channel Nathaniel Hawthorne, Henry David Thoreau, Richard Powers’ The Overstory, and George Saunders’ Lincoln in the Bardo. There are “logs, fungus-feathered like turkey,” he writes, and March dankness, with “the bare trees, the mists, the mud like folded slabs of potter’s clay.”

    Those words above about this book ,struck my Celtic sensibilities, fungus and mist and moss and life and trees and the wonder and mystery of it all…

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    1. I placed a hold on North Woods as soon as I read your comment … it is quite popular judging by the number of holds, which is not surprising as comparisons to The Overstory would certainly lead a large number of people to read it. In the meantime, I just started reading This is Happiness by Niall Williams, set on the west coast of Ireland in the mid-20th century … the writing is lyrical, but I can’t yet say whether I would recommend it as the story hasn’t come into full view.

      always you and yours are often in my thoughts … may you be well, may you be happy …

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    1. I know you’re “not supposed” to use the floor as a backdrop (so say the judgers of all things internet), but I don’t much care … my living room is my studio and I love my carpet

      P.S. This comment got caught in the spam filter, even though your other comment made it through yesterday … go figure

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    1. my mind is brimming with ideas, even though I’m sometimes thwarted for want of a particular color … the long seams of wonky log cabins give me such joy

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  5. I just love seeing the color associations and thinking behind your patchwork (I still call it that). It is storytelling at its finest.

    And thank you for drawing Marti out. I have been missing her.

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  6. Liz~ This post is so love-filled. The Marti Cloth…that drippy purple!! Holey Moley! Gorgeous. Please do say how you like the book. I was sent a gift book yesterday…that I’m actually reading! Yay! I can’t see what or who you honor next ❤️

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  7. I really love seeing what you are doing with the colors…especially knowing that you’ve been looking at Josef Albers’ book. I am finding the charts at the back fascinating. And yes, that top painting…Marti. 🙂 P.S. I have In Kiltumper: A Year in an Irish Garden by Niall Williams and Christine Breen in a stack of “to read” books.

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    1. I’ve put a hold on Kiltumper … and have given quiet thanks yet again that the Austin Public Library provides free library service to any Texas resident with a TexShare card

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  8. wow your patches are literally Inspired! they’re simply gorgeous.
    you have such a sensitive eye ánd the ability to translate what you see into cloth, amazing Liz

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    1. I had to chuckle as it almost seems like “cheating” to use art as inspiration … almost, but not quite as the art is simply another kind of story to tell in stitch

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