I spent a few hours trying to make sure the woven strips lined up with the weave of the cheesecloth. This is as good as it got. Not going to redo it again.

I like the look of it, the mix of color. I’m not sure yet how I want to stitch it down. It’s just basted at the outer edge of the weave now. Each strip is pretty narrow. The widest strip of the weave is not quite as wide as my thumb. If it ends up a blanket or pillow top, it’ll need to be very securely stitched because I’m sure they will continue to fray if they are washed. If it ends up something to hang on the wall, it might not need as much stitching.

I tried drawing over it, which I’ve done in the past, which Jude often does. It was not particularly creative. I don’t want to copy Jude, but that’s what it looks like. I just couldn’t think of anything that was/is me. I have no idea what my symbols are.

Hmmm . . .

Cats (all kinds) and elephants are my spirit animals, or the animals I most identify with. My elements are wind and earth. None of this is based on anything other than my own feelings. What else? Trees, maybe. And perhaps houses. Birds? I don’t know. I like flowers, but can’t think of any that are particularly meaningful to me. None I would say that represent me. Moon and stars are beautiful, but I can’t think of any special significance to me. Sun . . . maybe. Sunlight is important to me, being as I am solar powered. Christian symbols are sometimes meaningful to me, but I don’t particularly identify with them in the sense of “this is me.”

Now I’m wondering if this difficulty identifying with a symbol is related to my exasperation with people not separating the symbol from the symbolized. How people often miss the reality in front of them because they are trying to figure out what it means, or have already decided what it means (right or wrong), but still don’t see what it is. . . .Agggh!! This is a can of worms I don’t need to get into now.

Trees. Trees are rooted in the earth and move with the wind. I am a tree . . .

That weave makes a good treetop. This will not be the final image because it’s only part of the cloth. It gives me ideas, though.

. . . There could also be a house or houses. Houses are self and security. Hmmm . . . that reminds me of a cloth I started a long time ago, or maybe just sketched out on paper, based on a dream about the house I grew up in that was in a storm and missing part of an external wall and totally wonky inside, and swaying in the wind. At the time I just thought it was a fascinating dream, but now I wonder what it meant. But I don’t remember when I dreamt it, so I can’t correlate it to what was happening in my life. Might have been soon after we moved here from Virginia. That makes sense. Dreams can be a bit melodramatic.

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This post barely touches all the thought tangents I followed over the course of writing it.