My husband gave me the silver medicine bear many years ago to protect me. I have worn it every day for ten years. The design is by Ray Tracey a Native American artist who makes beautiful jewelry. I look at the stars and see these constellations: Orion, The Hunter, Pleiades, the Seven Sisters and Ursa Major, the Great Bear. All of these constellations have appeared in my poems and I have memories of learning of them from my young father, the sailor, who could probably navigate by the stars. Maybe someday I will dig up the poems and share them here.
For the last few days as I was mentally preparing for the meeting we had today at the school, I put togeher these bear paw blocks. My plan is to make a quilt for me. I love the dark blue backround and the bear paw pattern has many layered meaning for me. I have a Roberta Horton book on Amish quilts on loan from the library and I am in love with the colors and the quilts. I have been buying beautiful hand dyed cottons and tucking them away for just such a project. But I was vascillating between a double nine patch and the bear paw and I guess I needed to borrow strength from the Great Bear.
And I got it. I was a bear today in the meeting and Katy is back in school as of tomorrow. We will still have home tutors in the afternoon so she can make up credits and next year she can attend the alternative school full time. So Mama Bear made an appearance and the day was good!
2 comments:
cool - I started a bears paw once blue & yellows with a dark blue background, so so me of the blocks would have been lower contrast than others... Then I saw one that had the 1/2 square triangles made in such a way that the claws "could" not get chopped off - I abandoned mine & never started over....
MY GF did one where she used bear prints for the bear paws!
I loved the bears paw block before I read your blog, but now it is even more endearing to me. I am the definetly described as the Mama Bear for my 3 children, my oldest having a learning disability. Unfortunately as a young mom, I didn't know that what the Administration was telling me wasn't always the best for my child. Gee, naive me, I never consider that they would put the almighty dollar ahead of the education of a child. You Go Girl! I am still fighting for that child and he is now 24.
Post a Comment