Dream Time

"Waking from a dream, . . . I determined on enveloping matters of fact in allegory. . . . The frequent recurrence of the word dream . . . in the book is in accordance with the origin of the work, and is intended to remind the reader of the author's intent."
--Cao Xueqin, The Dream of the Red Chamber

Dreams hold such power. Our hopes and anxieties play out on their stage, directed by our unconscious mind. Vivid colors and lively music seeped into my dreams when I was in a particularly creative period in my early 20s. Dream characters in unusual settings have inspired the beginnings of several stories. In the last few years, a recurring dream of mine involves an addition to our house that we somehow keep forgetting we have. The rooms and furniture remain the same in every dream, and yet they don't exist in reality. Scary dreams--these days of my kids in peril--can still wake me up in a cold sweat.

I won the lovely dream journal and cover shown above in a giveaway at Quince and Quire. Written by a poet and artist, this relatively new blog features exquisite musings on home, family, crafting, collections, and creativity. Q & Q chronicles everyday beauty in photos. Her words draw out the invisible connections that spin an even more beautiful web around what she sees. In turn, her fluid calligraphy, done in gouache, makes her words tactile. I run my fingers across the word "dream" on the journal cover, and the letters whisper like magical runes.

The dream journal arrived tucked inside the pocket of a fabric sleeve sewn by Q & Q. Kaffe Fassett's Clouds Pattern fabric recalls the gold-woven silk brocades of Nanjing, China. Produced for more than 1500 years, the Nanjing Yunjin ("Cloud Brocade") fabric has clothed emperors, nobles, and concubines. Cao Xueqin's Dream of the Red Chamber, one of the classic novels of Chinese literature, is set in Nanjing in the time when thousands of looms produced the brocade that the Emperor demanded as tribute.

The spiral-formed clouds were--and still are--a dominant motif in the richly colored brocades. In Fassett's interpretation, each cloud is rimmed in gold in the Charcoal colorway shown here. The other colors add depth to the spiral pattern, drawing the viewer inward. On the journal, Q & Q's rendering of golden clouds outlined in white echo the fabric and issue a sweet injunction to "dream."

I've set the journal beside my bed. It will hold my dreams. Thanks, Q & Q.