September Full Moon #3

September Altar Project

My project this month goes to Lou!  The moon is known as the harvest moon this month but I have been thinking of it as the “salmon running” month. Harvest moon makes perfect sense for most of the world as they are not lucky enough to live in an area where the salmon return at this time of the year to spawn.  Here in the NW it is definitely a salmon spawning time!

About 2 weeks ago I was out on my deck late in the evening when it was very still and quiet.  I could hear a slapping and plopping sound all along our bank.  It was loud enough that I called Peter to ask him what was out there.  He too could hear it and we decided that it must be the fish jumping as they headed back to spawn in their river of origin.  The next morning one could see dozens of fish jumping and slapping the water.  It was amazing and fun to watch.  And while it still is happening it is not with the intensity that I experienced two weeks ago.

With sorting and cleaning out all of my PO I have had ideas streaming through my head.  But the fish were the deciding factor.  I found some small  “fribbles” (fabric swatches that measure 2.5 “ by 5”) that had beautiful metallic fish on them.  And my idea took off.  The fabric was too small for the space so I had to combine two of them.  I hand quilted around the fish to give them some definition.  Then to cover the join of the two pieces I used some the prickly pear cactus webbing that I use for jewelry.  To me it looked like seaweed or sea grass.  To frame the piece and cover all my messy stitches I found some of the salmon fish leather I had collected when we lived in Juneau, Alaska (25 years ago!).  The leather was a little hard to stitch through by hand but I think it makes a nice frame.

So I hope Lou likes it and it fits into her Altar as a NW inspired piece! 

Kathy