A Different Sort of Prayer Bead

Last week, I came across an artist who is doing a stitch meditation each week; she's trying to use up scraps of silk that are left over from fabric dying projects.  Later, I may write more about the idea of stitch meditations and fabric dye.  Today I want to capture a different idea.

Inspired by that artist and by scraps of wool that my friend was snipping off of a shawl she was finishing for her daughter, I started a project of my own.  I looked forward to sewing with metallic thread.

I didn't have a chance to finish the project, so I left it on my desk.  Throughout the week, I've found my fingers returning to it.  I like tracing the looping tracks left by the thread. 

I like touching the tangles that I left on purpose.

I've wondered if my experience is what others experience as they pray with a rosary.  I know that rosary beads are there to remind us of where we are in a prayer sequence, but I've always found them to be soothing in terms of touching them too.

I've started wondering about creating a different sort of prayer bead.  I have a vision of a collection of fabrics and threads sewing into some sort of ball or bead.  Would they work if strung together?  Do I want them strung together?  I have begun to collect objects in jars as an art project.  That's a possibility too.

My experiment with stitching has also made me think about stitching labyrinth shapes onto fabric--and then they could be finger labyrinths.

Let me continue thinking about this.