Sweetpea Path

Some answers are not complicated

2012-01-31T23:32:00.000-08:00

This is an unfinished cloth...haven't worked on it for a long time,

almost a year and a week to be exact.

I loved it when I put it away in the cupboard, but feelings can change.

It's always a gamble to pull something out I haven't seen in awhile...

what if I don't like it anymore?

Sometimes it seems better not to know.

Do you ever have that feeling?

I guess what it comes down to is three choices...

begin again,

transform,

or continue by looking at it in a new way...

simple.

: : :

This is my contribution to 'Texture Tuesday' over at Kim Klassen's Cafe. Her texture

challenge this week was ... SIMPLICITY.

: : :

The cloth before the cupboard is back here.

If you can't beat 'em...

2012-01-26T17:14:00.000-08:00

...bend a little.

Been gnawing on a very important issue for a couple of weeks now...

this seemed as good a time as any to make a few changes, be more

proactive

about the ownership of my images here on the Path.

So I'll be adding an extra *voice* in the form of a watermark,

just to let people know it's proper birthright...the true maker.

Now when people steal my photographs ~ and this they will do, without a doubt ~ for their Pinterest boards,

or their own blogs,

or their own projects,

without even the courtesy of a polite, "may I?"

at least I'll know my name sailed away with it.

I've been resistant to add watermarks...don't really like how they interfere and

draw ones attention away from the real subject matter,

but now it's become more important to sign the work than worry about that.

I'll just have to try and make them pretty & palatable.

Painters have been signing the face of their paintings for eons...

do we ever say, oh why did he put his signature on it?

Enough ranting about that.

If you want to hear some hair raising personal stories, we can email privately :>]

Today's photo was previously seen on my December 15th post, but since it met with all the criteria for

Kim Klassen's challenge this week in her Beyond Layers workshop, I decided to roll with it...

considering my mental state and all.

The challenge was to think of a single word and then create a photo around that theme.

I used one of Kim's FREE textures, called Simplicity, which has a lovely, old newsprint feel.

The additional challenge for me was learning how to add a layer of type...

and another layer for that dang watermark.

What do you think? Can you live with it?

alight...

2012-01-24T19:15:00.000-08:00

the movies

In the movies, the new lovers would circle the city, arms roping

around each other's backs, their stride perfectly even, the tempo

of their conversation lilting like a song, and the audience, hoping

for their own sweet story, would lean from their seats as the glow

of evening descended. Time would stand still when the kiss

finally came, the swish of trees serenading, and even the hot dog vendor

belting from the sidewalk would stop to watch, and be healed. But this

isn't how it works, the heart intemperate as early spring, bruised and tender

from all the tumult it sustains. Still, the reel plays and we swim in their desire,

fused by want and lit by fire.

by Maya Stein

: : : : :

This poem was reprinted with kind permission from Maya Stein

who has been writing these kinds of feasts for the senses each week...

a series she calls, 10-line Tuesday...

I thank her for this inspiration...for how she focuses each point she makes as if on the head of a pin.

Please do read more from this collection over here...

and her blog, one paragraph at a time, is about just that...

"looking at life one paragraph at a time."

: : : : :

Photo credit: Embers, by Jason Bolonski on Flickr

remixed under the Creative Commons license

Nothing like some good conversation...

2012-01-20T17:12:00.000-08:00

I have some BIG news, Blogger folks, and I wanted to share it right away!

If you're like me, you've been envying our blogging compatriots over on Wordpress & Typepad

because their blogging platforms offered them "reply" buttons in their Comments section,

while those of using Blogger blogspots have been living in denial...

...well, guess what?

NOT ANYMORE!

Has this news just made your day?...because I feel like my entire blogging life has been transformed !

At last, I can have some good ole conversations with those of you who so kindly leave comments.

It was an easy change...the folks over on Way2Blogging.org spell it all out very clearly...

Here's how ~ click this link:

"Official Blogger Threaded Comments is Live!"

for the easy step-by step instructions.

You may note that their dashboard illustration looks a bit different from your own...for instance,

I did not have a Settings>Other as 4. stated,

and I found the "Allow Blog Feeds" spot under Settings>Site Feed instead.

All I had to sacrifice was my Comments pop-up window for Comments embedded in the body of the post instead,

but heh, well worth it...

There is also a video tutorial in case you run into problems:

"How to Enable Threaded Comments in Blogger [video tutorial]"

So go ahead, let's have ourselves a wee chin wag...

not quite as enjoyable as face-to-face, I know,

but a whole heck of a lot better than commenting into thin air, don't you think?!

I never quite got the hang of replying by private emails...(many of you don't provide an email link anyway)

so this

should fix everything ;>}

Thom Atkins, a man who beads...

2012-01-14T18:20:00.000-08:00

and...stitches THE MOST exquisite art quilts.

Breathtaking, literally.

To see his jeweled handwork in person was an enormous pleasure. If you are

anywhere near the area, I hope you'll visit the La Conner Quilt & Textile Museum

and see these beauties for yourself.

Thom Atkin's one-person exhibit, 'Ten Years of Beaded Quilts,' will be up until March 25th.

This piece is comprised of five panels, the large center one shown here.

You can see more of 'Byzantine Bezels and Borders, Oh My!' over on Thom's website,

but believe me,

there are no pictures that can come close to capturing what they look like

when they are a few inches from your face...get there if you can.

So...

what happens when you pile four bead-smitten, textile-smitten gals into one vehicle

and head off to see an exhibit such as the likes of this?

Nothing short of a totally splendid & inspiring time, that's what!

I'll show you a few things that really knocked my socks off.

At the helm of our merry band was my dear bead friend, Robin Atkins...

Thom Atkins is Robin's brother. Can you believe that all this beadiness is in ONE family?!

She's posted about Thom's exhibit over on her blog, Beadlust...go check it out, it's a lovely read.

Needless to say, she is one proud sister.

A special thrill for me was to see an entire wall filled with Thom's pieces from

the Bead Journal Project, 2007. That was one of the years that I participated

and I remember watching his pieces show up on the BJP website...

oh, how wonderful to see them in person, at last!

But before I go on, I hope you will all bear with me in regards to the color & quality

of the photos here. Geesh, it was tough shooting in there...low, tungsten light

which cast a yellow glow on everything...camera's ISO pushed to the max....so I've opted for

just getting these images up here (rather than spending hours & hours tweaking in PE).

The beauty of Thom's work will come through, even if the photography fell short...

January: It's Still Raining

9" x 13"

January was one of my favorites from the BJP (click on the name above to see it on Thom's website)

...I love his beaded interpretation of the feeling of sideways rain...

and the way that bottom edge is beaded...those rain drops are hand carved Labradorite beads.

Here is some more beautiful rain...

detail from, The Man in the Window

It was easy to be swept up in the details. Many of the quilts were quite large, like this one

which hangs in two panels...I kept moving up for a closer look.

Smoke and Mirrors

50" x 53"

Click on the photos to see the details better.

If you go, plan on lots of time for staring. I was spellbound by the iguana in The Lotus Eater...

his back is entirely covered with tortoiseshell dagger beads...splendid!

detail from The Lotus Eater

31.5" x 37"

detail from Monterey Seascape

27" x 36"

I think Robin and I were not alone swooning over this underwater habitat...truly incredible.

Can you tell this was an exhibit filled with viewers' expletives?! That central branching

plant is constructed of triangular seed beads...must be one of finest uses of that shaped bead

that I have ever seen, so expressive of that plant's jointed structure...

detail from Coral

Although not a quilter myself per se, I have great appreciation for the skill involved in letting

fabric dictate line & motion, for taking traditional methods and making one's own marks with them...

for embellishing personal stories in one's own particular voice...

detail from Australian Aboriginal meets American Indian

For me, Thom's creations are as bold, and strong and as expressive as a very fine opera,

filled to the brim with his very distinctive voice!

Here's Robin with her "little" brother, Thom.

I'd say they are both beaming, wouldn't you?

: : :

Thom has a book coming out in the fall, on quilting with beads.

Stay tuned for that one...I'll write a reminder when it hits the streets.

And if you can't wait to learn more about his methods, rumor has it that Thom will be teaching soon-ish

right there at the La Conner Quilt Museum...

news to be posted about this ~ and the link to sign up ~ on the museum's website

starting on January 18th.

Ok...I'm going to spill some more beans and let you know that Robin has agreed to teach

two half-day workshops there herself...

it's all too, too beadiful indeed!

Energizing

2012-01-09T15:43:00.000-08:00

by beading up a storm...

needles called Size 0...six beaded stitches equal 3/4 of an inch.

Can't say I'm loving this thread...very bling-ie and a little too flash for my taste,

not at all natural to work with either.

So maybe it will be silk thread for the next one. I'm open to your suggestions...

maybe a perle cotton?

I can't even explain how energizing this process is,

how such quiet, methodical work can completely recharge that part of me that goes *flat*...

: : :

Found a list over here that sounds really good,

although it could be just my mood.

Hope you like it...it applies to any of us working towards something.

I am especially fond of item #1

and being one of those "over-thinkers" myself, I'm now thinking (hah!)

that I don't want to tie myself up with that nonsense anymore...

Wanna get more %$@& done instead!

And now I'm going to just STOP over-thinking this blog post and hit

publish.

Looking back while walking forward...

2012-01-04T15:51:00.000-08:00

So here we are...2012
...welcome.

I like that expression, "Be where your feet are,"
but I'm very glad I wasn't here the other evening when the Big Wind decided to catapult this limb
right out of the tree.
It's over six feet long (not counting how deep it's buried) and about four inches in circumference
...hit the ground like a javelin.

Think I'll leave it where it stands. Birds will use it for a perch.
Looks about perfect for the resident kingfishers.

I counted at least five different species of lichens
growing at the base...
they have charming names like waxpaper lichen (used extensively by
the rufous hummingbirds to camouflage their nests),
ragbag lichen
and pincushion orange...
sounds like a Stitcher's Dictionary of Lichen, doesn't it.

Not far away, on the other side of the pond, one of my wrapped trees
hadn't been inspected for awhile so I wandered over there for a look. Back in September of 2010,
I joined a project called 'wrapt, tied and marked by nature' - a group project that
involved leaving cloth wraps around parts of trees for a period of six months
to see what marks mother nature might provide...
sort of the ultimate natural dyeing.
A couple of us left our wrappings on much longer
since the marks were slow to develop. I saw zero change after the six months,
but at that point the whole process had been too time consuming to not persevere.
My original post about all the trees I wrapped is over here.

I think I'm the last one still standing...and now it's been one year & four months...

...and lookie here...something has happened after all !

Well marked by lichen now and the underside has withstood some deer scratchings.
Appears that the insects have been busy leaving "scat"
and there's some beautiful staining from the tannin.
Time for a proper unveiling - for all the trees - very soon. Then I can finish up this part of the project,
repurpose these textiles.

Got me some plans [grin]

Whatever thoughts we all might be having about this new year, it's good not to give up on the past
and it's even better to keep moving forward with purpose, all those lessons under our belts...

Take me home...

2011-12-31T22:22:00.000-08:00

~ by Jaime Ellsworth from the Black Dog series ~

No photo for the finale of my December Views...this is really what's on my mind tonight...

animal shelters and all the precious ones that need homes.

So I just want to speak about this, a subject that's dear to my heart.

It's a subject that has a whole lot riding on the concept of tomorrows, new years,

...yes, yours and mine, but more to the point,

theirs.

This illustration comes from the Friday Harbor Animal Protection Society website and

I get a lump in my throat whenever I see it.

The APS is located just across the water from me & they do a mighty fine job finding homes

for wayward furry ones.

Like so many animal rescue organizations, they are relentless in their efforts to garner support,

donations, adopters, volunteers, media attention - all for the sake of providing a temporary haven

until new homes can be found.

I get crazy passionate about helping sometimes, often feeling stuck within my own time frames

and lack of resources or logistical worries. Oh, and then there's the two fur gals here already

who may not understand, "the more the merrier!"

Yeah, that might be an understatement. Still,

I've had some wild thoughts the past couple of years about one day fostering dogs here on our rural property...

lots of room to run, a safe place for calming down,

for learning a tiny bit of manners before heading off to a forever home ...

a few more dogs that wouldn't have to stay in a shelter.

Just a dream ...

for now.

Let me share with you a small thing that can been done easily

(here comes the part where I sound like a commercial, so forgive me)... it's a simple "click,"

a free good deed.

It's been easy to remember since it's the first "click" I do after logging onto this glowing box each day.

Here's the deal...

the Animal Rescue Site has asked for help in clicking daily to meet their quota

of getting free food donated every day to abused and neglected animals.

It takes about 20 seconds to go to their site and click on the purple button that says,

'Click to Give FREE Food & Care'.

This doesn't cost us a thing because their corporate sponsors & advertisers use the number

of daily visits to donate food to abandoned & needy animals in exchange for advertising.

Here's the web site ...

The Animal Rescue Site

If you've read this far, I thank you for that.

Time now to raise a glass, me thinks...

to all of you,

and to all of them!

Kindness is the

language which the

deaf can hear and the

blind can see.

~ Mark Twain ~

January 5th, 2012 ~ UPDATE ~ from the Animal Rescue Site: in 2011, free Clicks helped fund a total of 68.06 million bowls of food for needy animals!

Night riding...

2011-12-30T12:04:00.000-08:00

Although not too festive myself this season, the jeep always gets a wreath

so there it is...it's tradition.

It's a wonderful thing that something so simple can raise the spirits

and one of the best reasons to carry on with traditions in the first place.

See who's sitting there in the passenger seat?

I think she likes the vantage point.

We have an expression out here called "going to America"...

it's what the islanders call the mainland and we travel there by ferry.

It's a forty minute ride, mostly in calm waters buffered by the other islands, but every now & then

the journey can get pretty hairy. On this night,

it was dead calm...

I love the night crossings in winter.

The ship's crew turn out most of the lights so you glide along across all that black water

with the hum & rattle of turbines surrounding you...

I stayed in my car and looked at the bones of the ship.

Took lots of pictures *up*...

is that an odd thing to do? I never thought so before until I put it in writing...

oh well, that's the truth of it and not the first time I've gone a bit nutty with my phone camera.

I'm addicted to my phone camera.

Yup, truly.

There's so little control over it, it actually ends up being completely freeing.

The picture is never framed as I intend it to be, rarely turns out the way I imagine,

like in this photo above where it captured some ghost images off the windshield...

I never saw them.

: : :

Only one more day left of my December Views...

what a blog experience this has been! I'll write more about the process later, when it's a new month

in a new year...

but in the meantime, see you tomorrow :>]]

the whole thing started back here...

Poof, and they're gone...

2011-12-28T13:54:00.000-08:00

...big wind came & carried them away.

~ December Views ~

to see this series from the beginning, start here...

Some notations for within and without...

2011-12-25T15:33:00.000-08:00

keep looking closely,
determine - with intent - what is important,
let all the rest go into soft focus...

and always keep the light on,
for you never know who might grace your doorstep ...

: : :

Warmest greetings of the season to all who visit here!

: : :

~ December Views ~

to see this series from the beginning, it began here...

Wild peace...

2011-12-23T11:33:00.000-08:00

The Peace of Wild Things

When despair for the world grows in me

and I wake in the night at the least sound

in fear of what my life and my children's lives may be,

I go and lie down where the wood drake

rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.

I come into the peace of wild things

who do not tax their lives with forethought

of grief. I come into the presence of still water.

And I feel above me the day-blind stars

waiting with their light. For a time

I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

Wendell Berry

~ December Views ~

To see this series from the beginning, start here...

Longer tomorrows...

2011-12-21T16:26:00.000-08:00

...they're on their way!

Remember this? One of my favorite episodes of all time...

Happy Winter Solstice, my friends!

to see my December Views from the beginning, start here...

Pulling threads...

2011-12-20T14:37:00.000-08:00

...where they may not want to go.

But I do! So we continue.

*****

Work from these hands,

and these,

keep me amazed, grateful and inspired every day.

~ December Views ~

to see this series from the beginning, start here...

Eye of the beholder

2011-12-17T15:55:00.000-08:00

Her quintessence.

~ December Views ~

to see this series from the beginning, start here...

Heaping helping of frivolity...

2011-12-16T13:33:00.000-08:00

~ December Views ~

to see this series from the beginning, it all began here...

Seven steps from the front door...

2011-12-15T13:38:00.000-08:00

...there were some very important conversations happening.

~ December Views ~

to see this series from the beginning, it all began here...

Keeping spirits bright...

2011-12-12T12:24:00.000-08:00

sometimes you just have to dance like no one is looking...

~ December Views ~

...to see this series from the beginning, tis here...

Reflecting...

2011-12-11T11:44:00.000-08:00

~ December Views ~

...to see this series from the beginning, tis here...

Nature's beadwork...

2011-12-09T17:02:00.000-08:00

~ December Views ~

Let sleeping dogs...

2011-12-07T22:43:00.000-08:00

rest.

Little dawg had herself a day.

I've just joined an irrestible get-together. The timing could not be more perfect...
intrigued? You can come along, too - it's happening all month long.

It's a q.u.i.e.t. get together for those who love to make images,
a photo challenge of the very best kind

and it's especially appealing considering the time of year.
Read the whole explanation:

~ December Views ~

So, just to say, something different is going to happen along the Path for the rest of the month
and I've no idea where it might lead...more photos definitely, maybe one a day
if I can keep my mojo in gear.
Or maybe only photos
...oh, wouldn't it be nice to not feel the need to write?
At this gathering
"...there are no rules...the intention is to allow yourself to enjoy the quiet, to allow a month
of no stress creativity and to share a bit of your world with others
in a completely different way than you usually do.
Exciting and relaxing."

Sounds pretty darn good to me.

Many thanks to hippy urban girl [hug] for being a gracious hostess
and sharing some light.

The light...oh, the light!

2011-12-05T14:58:00.000-08:00

Light is at a premium in December...

we all begin starving for it,

run out into it whenever it makes an appearance.

And because the sun stays so low in the sky, never even reaching the tops of the trees

at this latitude,

illumination happens - details appear - that can't be seen at any other time.

Seed heads show off their fancy petticoats.

Gotta love a plant that flowers non-stop for six months

and does THIS for the other six!

She's Clematis tangutica 'Golden Tiara'...and I adore her...

she was planted to cover a pergola & she's making quite the valiant effort.

After de-leafing themselves, the trees reveal some hidden plumage of their own...

so much lichen...I'm not sure how some of the trees continue to hold their arms up!

I grew some lichen in my window.

Not really.

I am finally learning to knit and this is a new project...lacy scarf...more like pea soup in color

than "lichen" but it has a similar wispy quality when held up to the light like this.

You knitters, don't look too close - it's ridden with ~~big mistakes~~ beginner's errors.

The best way to learn anything, I suppose...

keep on going.

It's been a long year of learning about stitches, of all sorts.

Stitching together and stitching apart.

Remember early in the year when we were all choosing our
Word For The Year?
I chose FOCUS.
I'm not sure why. It seemed important at the time. Sometimes you just have to stick with a thing.

I hadn't thought about that word for a long time until I took these photos yesterday...
made me ponder...
started me thinking that if I haven't gained more focus, at the very least
I know that I've paid more attention.
And that's just fine.

I hope you're enjoying the light, too, wherever you are...

Walk a mile?

2011-11-26T23:27:00.000-08:00

First question I asked of self,

would I offer to walk a mile in someone else's shoes if I knew their shoes

were as uncomfortable as this?

Second question of self...

why do I even need to ask such a thing?

Life...so damn difficult at times. Hard for every single one of us in one way or another,

all these struggles that take hold. Ages ago, while in conversation with someone,

I said that everyone bore pain in their own way and sometimes others could see it

and sometimes they could not...

that it was easy when

someone wore their wounds on the outside - obvious and hard to ignore -

like a burn or a bad scar,

but what about the wounds that weren't visible?

They're still ever present,

there is just no way for another person to know.

We often don't tell. Can't tell. But they are with us nonetheless.

So back to this shoe and the sudden avalanche of emotion...

I need to ask

because

I need to remind myself to never forget compassion

and too, when compassion doesn't come when I myself might need it most,

I need to forgive what others cannot see.

********

Instructions for living a life.

Pay attention.

Be astonished.

Tell about it.

~ Mary Oliver ~

Photo credits: Woman's slapshoe, 1625-1649 AD, England, The Greig Collection of Ladie's Shoes; The Story Teller, mural project for Fellini Gallery, Berlin, by Michael Vincent Manalo.

Hunters & gatherers...

2011-10-28T01:12:00.000-07:00

While the light continues to wane, so does the harvest from the garden.

All that remains has been cooking up mighty fine...

my favorite soups, made from everything local.

If true confessions be known, these are my personal elixirs of life.

The nights are much colder now yet I don't even care...what a year for fall color!

Such extraordinary veins on thus copper-toned ninebark...

Seed collecting is underway

for everybody who lives here.

And we are all greedy.

These chickadees are quite tame, almost TOO tame...

hard to get anything done in the garden because they will find you wherever you go.

They'll land on your shovel or the brim of your hat, your glove...and if they're not landing on you

they are scolding you incessantly, "WHERE ARE MY SEEDS???"

So I gave in and set up this impromptu feeding station on a fence post

right next to the veggie beds.

Cheeky devils.

I've resorted to some other rather drastic measures

like covering seed heads with used dryer sheets.

Who knew that one of the beloved foods of chickadees would turn out to be my

prized Angelica stricta 'Purpurea'?

I'm not alone in my ways...

if you want a good chuckle, go see what my blog friend, Kaite, gets up to

with little nylon sockettes in her garden Down Under.

We do what we must do.

Home is where your hair is.

(you've heard that old saying, haven't you?)

After many years of scattering my hair trimmings around the garden

finally,

I've discovered evidence that it's been put to good use.

It's the little things in life that make things homey, that can

make your day.

Doesn't take much to make her day...

best shotgun rider ever.

I wonder if she can pick up radio transmissions from Canada with those ears?

We went looking for these.

Well, I did anyway...she's not much for sticks.

Frisbees and wabbits, now that's a whole 'nuther story.

Hoping for good tannin in bundles...

...ingredients for more stories. This time, written with

bracken, salal, red amaranth and wild blackberries.

More end-of-the-harvest cooking.

Before I forget...the dryer sheets prevailed

and I did claim my due share of that Angelica seed (quite the bounty!)

so if you are stateside & would like to try this lovely specimen in your own garden

let me know via email.

I've plenty of seed to share.

Transparency in many forms

2011-09-22T13:04:00.000-07:00

I have been coming to some personal conclusions about transparency. I started by asking,

what else defines transparency besides the ability

to see through something?

Can transparency add another dimension to a point of view

like the turning of perception

upside down?

Since my last post about watercolor, I've been thinking a lot about this subject

so I went to various dictionaries looking for definitions of the word "transparent"
and after diving into the collection of images over on Tumblr,

finally, some thoughts are coming together...

Note: click on the highlighted word(s) under each photo to go to the Tumblr source and photo credit.

Defined as: allowing radiation to pass through with little or no resistance...

...so fine in texture that it can be seen through...

...open in texture, gauzy...

...sheer enough for light to pass through...

...diaphanous...

...neither opaque,

nor translucent.

With those descriptions in mind, I searched for examples of transparency

in various art forms from artists engaged in differing mediums,

to see how they might visualize and create something transparent

in their own unique way.

Some may not have been thinking about transparency at all

(most were probably not)

this is only my very subjective interpretation...

Photographers manipulate images with layers & textures these days,

setting opacity levels from practically opaque to almost

completely transparent,

combining subjects in such a way that new worlds are presented,

amazing worlds of the imagination...

For centuries, photographers have used the power of backlighting to create luminosity,

draw our attention to what is important to them,

and capture extraordinary moments that were about being in the right place, at the right time.

This piece is entitled "She Lied" by Jean Myers...

isn't this also transparency of emotion?

mixed media used to great effect...

and here in 'Essence' by Wen Redmond...

'The Night of Many Promises' painted by Joanne Williams...

Some may wonder at this one,
but in this painting/illustration of an owl by K. Mijadzava

there is so much depth in those feathers from the transparency of meticulous brush strokes,
layer upon layer...

Textile artists know the power of silk ~ so strong for something so sheer...

some strong crochet, like a spider's web.

This maker, Ryo Yamada, took their art installation outdoors...
'Vertical Landscape'
sways in the breeze, makes me think of ghosts dancing

while this makes me want to pick up needle and thread,
layer cloth, stitch something beautiful.
If I only had this skill.
I wonder if the woman who stitched this Edwardian tea apron would have
ever imagined that a hundred years later another woman
might look at her handwork with such admiration that she wished it were her own...

My transparent sincerity.

In a 'Paris Review' interview, poet Stanley Kunitz (then in his seventies) said this:

At my age, after you're done - or ruefully think you're done - with the nagging anxieties
and complications of your youth, what is there left for you to confront but the great
simplicities? I never tire of birdsong and sky and weather. I want to write poems that are
natural, luminous, deep, spare. I dream of an art so transparent that you can look through
and see the world.

Just add water...

2011-09-18T14:31:00.000-07:00

Somewhere in the back of my mind I had been harboring the idea of

sketching again with watercolors.

Too many uncountable years ago, I attempted this painting technique in art college

and quickly put the judgement on myself that I'd failed miserably

(why do we do that to ourselves?)

so when I learned that Jane Voorhees was coming to visit our island locale

and

was going to offer a workshop on small format watercolor painting,

I knew that's where I wanted to be...

All those technical terms I'd forgotten!

Washes, wet in wet, dry brush, lifting off, dropping in color...

back again like old friends.

Made this little sampler (above) for future reference, added some marks

and remembered what I so loved about this medium of painting...

transparency.

I mentioned to Jane that these days, while working mainly with stitching and beads,

I'd taken to the layering of silks - sheer silk - to achieve a similar transparency with cloth.

It was a definite "ah hah" kind of moment.

Jane has a killer smile...

and a very patient teaching style.

It was challenging to work directly from photographs...

how do you make the paint express what you're trying to say?

You have all the tools: a selection of brushes, an extensive color palette for mixing,

the texture of good paper...

and the single most important ingredient,

water...

which seems to have a mind of its own.

What didn't I do in school that I want to do now?

LET

FLOW

Thank you, Jane, for the very inspiring day...come back soon!

###

To learn more about Jane and see her paintings, click here

Last day of August...

2011-08-31T23:53:00.000-07:00

This may not have been the summer to write home about
(did we even have summer here in the Pacific northwest?)
and it wasn't exactly a summer destined for the memoirs.
But it was bountiful, yes,
in its own way...

To say this summer had gone to the dawgs, well, that wouldn't mean what you might think...

literally, it was for my dawgs.

They'd waited out a long spring of inactivity,

they were deserving - my most loyal friends...hangin' with me through thick n' thin.

Being of four paws, they need to RUN. It's not an understatement to say they require it

and if they don't get it, we all go a bit nutso.

That is putting it mildly.

Our local 'Agility Gang' (do you like our name?) put on a small demonstration for the community
at the first annual Dog Promenade...
this is O, running her two year old border collie, directing him to take the tunnel.
O herself is eighty.
I hope to have one tenth of her tenacity when I am eighty...O, you're my hero!

This one went to her first 'Doggy Manners' class...

she was so fearful when she first came to live here, but now

she's learning that the world is not as scary as she thought and staying calm

feels pretty good.

I'm mighty proud of her ~ a smooch on yer sweet nose, black flash.

We fit in quite a bit of exploring...
mysterious forts had shown up on the beaches

and that perennial question, "what if?" seemed to follow us everywhere.

This is a question about possibilities...

what if you ask this question whenever you think you can't do something?

Getting around is much trickier here in the summer...especially in August

when it seems like the whole world is on vacation except us.

We spend a lot of time waiting around in

looooong lines at the ferry terminal...

so I stitched me some long lines while waiting in the car...

and was treated to a few of these while in transit.

Most nights, I headed upstairs to this gabled corner where I worked late, late, late.

Dawgs slept. Baby great horned owls screeched. I cursed at tiny beads.

Do not be fooled by the seeming austerity of this view

because this is what my corner table really looked like...

a huge beadiful mess!

One big beady project consumed almost every night in August...

but all fingers functioned properly,

praise doG.

So now it's on to September...I hope I'll remember to run with it, make the best use of waiting

that I possibly can.

Make messes.

Kiss me some dawg faces.

One thousand feathers...

2011-08-18T12:03:00.000-07:00

...what if...?

This is a question that Jude Hill from Spirit Cloth never stops asking.

And this time, that question led her to create this...

...the Magic Feather Project is a collaborative effort

open to anyone willing to stitch one simple feather.

All the feathers will then gather at Jude's place, a flock of at least one thousand,

where they will be joined together into larger cloths...

for charitable uses...

for the greater good of children.

Feathers are already flying 'round the world!

The gathering is well underway and can be seen over here...

...all the info about how to participate, including a short video tutorial, is here.

There is no end to the possibilities of feather inspiration...

Double-crested cormorant
(c) Amy Marques

...the beauty of our winged companions is all around us.

Bengal eagle owl
(c) hawkgenes

photographer unknown, from my Tumblr collection

We need only to open our eyes.

unknown photographer, from my Tumblr collection

Many hands are needed and all are welcome to join...

Directional flow...

2011-07-31T11:56:00.000-07:00

Sometimes, you just have to roll with it...

drop everything and try something you've never done before.

It's one of best things about the Web (for me),

this inspiration that comes from people so openly sharing their handiwork...

I've been following the beauteous progress of Karen's circle work over on Stitching Life.

When she stitched this one,

I was upstairs within five minutes pulling out materials to give it a go.

It just happens that way sometimes.

My couched spiral didn't end up quite as solid...in fact, it went quite cattywampus.

It's not symmetrical, nor tidy, and all the couching is very uneven.

But this is who I am with cloth.

One of the most appealing aspects of the couching technique is the wide range

of materials one can use/re-use to "couch." This spiral is recycled sari ribbon but think of the possibilities

for upcycling old clothes, worn linens...

Go over here to see Judy Martin's eleven months of couching obsession.

She even stitches in her car.

Summer rain...

2011-07-25T23:26:00.000-07:00

...not a particularly extraordinary thing, but unusual for around here.
It hasn't rained in summer since I moved to these islands, far as I can remember.

And it never rained in summer where I came from (hot, inland area of northern California)...

so

although everyone has been complaining,

I am secretly delighted.

I have a story cloth project on the horizon,
one that needs parameters,
a set direction for stitching and beading,

so I had the idea today to use my phone camera as a sketching tool,
as a thought gatherer, of sorts.

I'd recently loaded a new app to play with called 'Grungetastic' and thought
why not use it to work through a few ideas...

...I'm probably more comfortable with a camera in my hand than a drawing
tool these days anyway...

so I caught some rain laden purple foliage

and some purple blooms so dark they are almost black...

...and dawg, overseer of all goings-on,
who isn't much concerned with petals and such, only concerned about where I happen to be.
A beautiful thing is that.

I see these "grunge" veils as veils of silk ~ can you see it?

There was this beauty too...who will bloom shortly and then be gone.
An ephemeral.

One porch, two dogs and a lapful of scraps...

2011-07-14T10:43:00.000-07:00

...perfect companions on most days,

especially good on a rainy morning in July.

Frayed edges are an important part of anyone's story.

This one continues on from here.

Some thoughts on variegation...

2011-07-07T18:20:00.000-07:00

It's the height of summer around here and we take many walks. You can't see it from this angle

but my fur gal is watching a river otter swim through the bull kelp.

She'd be down there in a flash if she liked to swim. Instead, she gets her picture taken

while I sit there saying to myself for the umpteenth time how much I love that soft patch of white...

Here's a plant with some varied patches of its own.
Oh, how I adore this...a sweet little honeysuckle called 'Harlequin.'
I suppose those leaves could be called tricolored?

Anywhoo,

while watering the garden the other evening I had a gander around and realized just how many variegated plants I've added to the mix. My garden is young - barely two years old - and I've already gone a little

nutso for mottled and streaked foliage.

This is a favorite way to use it...stick it in front of a plain green background.

Here in the Pacific Northwest we have so. much. green. greengreengreengreenGREEN.

Don't get me wrong...our native rose hedges are beauteous (in bloom there in the back)

and the scent is nothing short of intoxicating,

but after a brief bloom time in June they are, dare I say, nothing short of boring.

And that's why that variegated red twig dogwood came to be in that spot.

This combo is on the shady porch, a velvety coleus co-mingling with a delightful plant

that happens to go by the un-delightful name of spotted dead nettle.

Okay...I'll admit here and now that I'm a total snob about my variegation.
It must meet, shall I say, certain ***criteria*** for me to like it.

I do NOT like all variegation.

In fact, some of it is so downright hideous that I'd like to have a word with the plant breeder

and ask them,

"WHUT were you thinking?!?"

Here's one I can't stand...belongs in the compost pile, if you ask me...

unlike this sweetie which I can't live without,

a tough and extremely useful creeping thyme called 'Highland Cream.'

I have this one stuffed all around the flagstones...fluffs up the edges, if you know what I mean,

and doesn't bat a blossom from all the dawg paw traffic.

Bred in England, it has a lot more variegated restraint than that aforementioned monstrosity.

Here's my latest acquisition, Caryopteris 'White Surprise,' Since this photo it's been planted in front of a dark, purple-leaved smokebush called 'Grace.'

Everyone

needs

little

drama

their

garden.

Of all my variegated plants, this one

is my most special treasure.

It gets babied more than the dawgs - and that's sayin' somethin.

Can you blame me? Look at it!

Acer pseudoplatanus 'Prinz Handjery.'

A maple tree whose newest leaves are APRICOT colored and then become (in my opinion) divinely speckled.

But those aren't the real reasons it's so special. The real reason is not the least bit frivolous.

It was a gift...

from a friend who understands the meaning of giving me such a heartfelt present.

This is not a plant, but it's another form of variegation happening in the garden...

To my dawg pals, Let's Walk!

To my plant friends, Happy Growing!

And to my sewing sistahs, Happy Stitching!

September workshop: Chad Alice Hagen returns to the Pacific Northwest!

2011-06-15T14:27:00.000-07:00

...and we can't wait to have her back...

Resist Dyeing and the Fabulous Refillable Felted Book Cover!

September 9, 10 and 11, 2011

with Chad Alice Hagen

Lopez Island, Washington

So blog friends, what are you doing in September...want to join us?

This workshop is going to be FAB!

If you're keen to learn or play some more with Chad's method of resist dyeing on merino prefelts,

this workshop promises to not disappoint. By popular request, this year we'll have TWO full dye days,

nine dye baths each day...YAY! Plus, we'll then create a journal/sketchbook cover that we can use over & over...

Here's a snippet from the workshop description:

Join us for a delightful three days of resist dye pots and a

fabulous new book project.

Thanks to student's requests for longer resist dyeing times, we

will be spending two whole days over the dye pots. We'll do

nine dye baths each day, giving everyone more time between

dye pots to think about and design each piece of felt.

On the third day, we will design a book cover from several

pieces of your beautiful resist dyed felt, solving the age-old

problem with hand bound felted books "It's so beautiful I can't

write, sketch or make any marks in it..." Our book covers will be

fitted to your own hard cover journal, sketchbook or even

favorite book so that when you have filled one book with poetic reflections, you can slip out

that book and slip in another! Book covers will be lined with upcycled fabric or leather.

Several different closures will be shown.

To read ALL the workshop details and lots of background information on the wondrous redhead herself

including more photos of her finished books,

go HERE to Jan's website and click on the linkie.

My friend Jan is once again taking on the awesome task of organizing all the details.

While you're over on her site, be sure to check out her textile work...some beautiful stuff over there.

Example of resist dyed felts created by workshop participants, 2010

In the meantime, would you like some entertaining (if I do say so myself) background reading on previous workshops?

Here is my post from 2010...

and Robin Atkins (beading wizardess extraordinaire) posted about her experience, over on Beadlust.

Some of the fabulous resist felt that comes out of the dye pots!

courtesy of Chad Alice Hagen

Want more?

www.flickr.com/photos/chadalicehagen/

http://chadalicehagen.blogspot.com

www.etsy.com/shop/ChadAliceHagen

www.ChadAliceHagen.com

photo courtesy of Chad Alice Hagen

MORE??

You may not wanna miss Chad's own blog post about

her ~~time~~ adventure

on our little rock last year...

So if you do register for the workshop, please let me know won't you? I love having more things to look forward to!

***

UPDATE as of August 4, 2011...

this workshop has ONE spot left

Please contact Jan above if you would like to join us.

Story ingredients

2011-06-03T11:20:00.000-07:00

It's been said that telling a good story is like baking a cake.

This doesn't bode well for me...I am (utterly hopeless) a lousy baker.

There is one point that I think I understand though...

and that is,

every ingredient counts.

So, in no particular order...

one basket of tea dyed scraps,

a generous bunch of thread lovelies,

one nest of repurposed sari ribbons,

to be followed by plenty of **time outs** for the likes of this one...

(this is Quinn's pathetic look for, "I'm bored...won't you puhleeez throw my stick???")

oh, and mustn't forget to keep taking more trips down THIS exit,

to be followed by many quiet hours with a big pile of pretties.

Chapter one...

This little ditty

2011-05-30T16:31:00.000-07:00

Punchneedle embroidery has been referred to as thread painting because of

its ability to create intricate designs...

...the concept is simple ~ thread or yarn is punched through a fabric with a pencil-shaped hollow needle,

leaving tufted loops on the top of the fabric.

Viewed this close, don't the loops look large, akin to a hooked rug?

They're not. They're itty-bitty. And I wish you could feel the texture of

this.

So fine!

It is embroidery thread...masses and masses of embroidery thread
and much softer than I had imagined...

A thousand THANK YOUs to Penny for creating this little ditty bag
and for hosting such a delightful Spring Giveaway over on her blog, Art Journey
(where my name jumped out of the winner's hat.)

Truth be told, I couldn't wait to pull out the contents to see what Penny
had hidden inside...

...that's when I discovered how meticulously lined it was,

with delicate hand stitches all around the top edge

and circumnavigating the entire wee handle.

One awesome ditty bag, wouldn't you say?

Penny has been working on punchneedle pieces for some time now.

I have been fascinated by her blog posts describing her process

and progress through experimentation with loop heights, design choices and color mixing of threads.

If you'd like to see more of what she's up to, hop on over to Art Journey

and do a keyword search on "punchneedle."

Two of my very faves are this one (love the button)

and this (love this button even more!)

With much gratitude,

this little ditty has found a good home...

Next exit...

2011-05-20T19:57:00.000-07:00

This is the exit I'm taking this weekend...

see you there?

My Other Self...

2011-05-15T13:45:00.000-07:00

While visiting the other day over at Kate's blog, Chronicles of a Country Girl,

I became intrigued with a challenge she'd taken up...

seems that a fellow blogger, Karen at This Old House 2,

has invited anyone interested to answer this question:

"What does YOUR Other Self look like?"

Thought I'd play along...

***None of the photos are mine - please click on the highlighted word in each caption for credits.

My Other Self bravely roams the wilds of the earth and then

writes the most ~~heartbreaking~~ painfully beautiful poems

to tell the tales...

she has so much strength she is

powerful enough to free Tibet...

She is also clever enough to learn time travel...

she'd go back to 1777 so that she could wear this dress

if only for one day...

(ohh the voluminous fabric, all that exquisite bead embroidery!)

She would study drawing with this man in 1474...

and being tireless, she would then wander the desert with O'Keefe

for a long, long time.

My Other Self strives harder to put the world to rights...

and makes sure every dawg has a home.

My Other Self always maintains an interesting and positive perspective,

even if that means standing in the darkness awhile until her eyes adjust

or extending herself beyond what she ever thought possible.

: : : : :

If you'd like to join in the fun, please do. Just link to Karen at This Old House 2. Lots of good reads over there from many 'Other Self's...

Hope you've all been enjoying a lovely weekend,

Intertwined

2011-04-28T17:54:00.000-07:00

Does this look familiar? It's over there, on the upper right side of my blog...a detail from my avatar. I've used that image ever since joining Blogger. Probably well overdue for a change but I'm quite attached to it at this point. I can be loyal to a fault.

I decided to tell you more about this beaded piece today because my dear beadiful friend Robin, once told me that this was one of her favorites and since she was majorly responsible for setting me on the blogging path to begin with and oh heck, for setting me on the beading path to begin with, it only seemed appropriate.

We were doing a bit of catching up on the phone last night. So much has been happening for both of us, it's been easy to lose track of time. Robin's mom recently passed away (a lovely post about her mom on her blog here) and through the grieving some quiet steps forward have begun. One of these steps is to "lighten my load," as she described it, something Robin learned from her mom about traveling lighter in later years. To that end, Robin has decided to part with some of her own original beadwork. Golly.

Here is the link to her very upbeat blog post about this decision - if you've ever yearned to own a Robin Atkins *one-of-a-kind* this is quite an opportunity. She's parting with many of the miniature technique samplers she beaded for her book, Heart to Hands Bead Embroidery - 22 of them (although many have sold already). You can check them out here. Many more goodies to come, too.

So back to this piece...my August page for the 2008 Bead Journal Project, Three Shells, following on the year-long theme of exploring my relationship with where I live. Using beads and found objects collected during that particular month, I hoped to reveal what my island life is like...

and in that process, increase my connection to it...

...all about tides, sea glass, multi-colored beach stones, layered reflections of sky, sea foam.

Looking back on it now it seems a kind of beaded poem to my home. And three years on I see that I have become much more a part of this place after all.

Lovely to have you visit, my friends, till next time...

So different, yet still the same?

2011-04-23T20:22:00.000-07:00

Years ago as a child, I used to keep scrapbooks (didn't we all?) and later in junior college, journals - a proverbial mountain of them. Oh my, I was filled with so much angst in those days - I'm so glad they're over. Then it was off to art college and my whole life was recorded in sketchbooks of some form or another. Each of those venues was about the record-keeping, having a spot to put things one didn't want to forget...or was inspired by...a place to capture an idea before it flew. For good.

Lately, forced into a stretch of "down time" away from all my usual life activities ...you know, that spot of trouble with my right hand I've mentioned before...I've had a lot of time to think. Unable to do many of my most loved things, I have finally been able to type so I decided to use this big chunk of time and catch up with the art world in general and more specifically my three main passions: photography, textile art, and beadwork, all via the internet. Guilt free research. Heaven.

I'm going to blame what happened next on Robyn over at Art Propelled (go over and look at her blog, it's gorgeous) because she started a Tumblr blog (Tumblr...huh?...what's that?) I came across it by trawling one late night and one thing led to another, some correspondence started, questions were answered and before I knew it, Robyn had persuaded me to start one of my own.

She has not steered me wrong. It's been fantastic!

All the images I'm posting today are from my Tumblr collection and can be clicked over there to enlarge. The globe can be found here, girl in the dress here.

The outcome of this leap into yet ANOTHER blog (good grief, I can barely deep up with this wee blog!) is now I have a scrapbook, a journal, and an idea sketchbook all in one spot. Hopefully I will no longer be losing links to wonderful things I see online. Best of all? My image library is growing into a veritable encyclopedia of inspiration...

Images above: wagga by India Flint here, painted leaves here.

When I sat down to write this post, I wasn't quite sure where I was going with it. Generally, I love to share images, you all know that by now, but when I pulled up my Tumblr Archive today's theme almost shouted at me. Funny what happens when you mass together a group of pictures that strike a chord. You begin to see yourself more clearly. You begin to see how you see...

Images above: feather from Normandy, France, here; 17th century Ottoman tent here.

My penchant for spirals cropped up repeatedly. I must have a good twenty bookmarked so far. These two - a macro & an aerial - are favorite extremes...

Images above: spiral lacework on velvet here, Richat structure in the Sahara Desert here.

More extremes, real and imagined...

Images above: bridge here, illustration of precipice here.

Knitting - sharing some cell structure with trees? It's all about relationships really....

Images above: lace weight knitting here, photomicrograph of juvenile pine here.

Ann Wood creates the most fantastic owls from repurposed vintage clothing and bits of old quilts, utilizing antique buttons for eyes, paper mache feet and hand stitching details. The boro patching on the right was utilitarian in nature, traditional. I love these two photos together, contemporary alongside timeworn...

Images above: owl here, sashiko stitching & boro patching here.

Images above: cloud tree here, flowering tree here.

I think these two are quite extraordinary together, right down to the matching high collars..

Images above: woman with medallion here, Thomas Dodd's 'Brainstorm' here.

As you reach the end of my post and see these last two photos, you may be asking yourself, "what on earth...???" Up on the left is an inflatable bicycle helmet for the fashion conscious. And on the right? Well, that's my hand, after yesterday's surgery on the infamous finger that drove me to all this in the first place. My very own finger helmet.

So different yet still the same, don't you think?

Be sure to let me know if you're on Tumblr and I'll come by your place for a visit :>]

Images above: bicycle helmet here and here.

One should really use the camera as though tomorrow you’d be stricken blind.

— Dorothea Lange

Prayers

2011-04-13T17:32:00.000-07:00

in the snow...

on the wind...

continuing.

Photo credits: top; A Buddhist priest prays for the souls of the victims still not found in the rubble, Yamada, Japan (c) European Pressphoto Agency. Middle; prayer flags (c) mendhak. Bottom; Japanese lantern lighting for the souls of the dead (c) gomattolson.

Don't drink the tea...

2011-03-26T17:32:00.000-07:00

...when you can stuff your tea mug full of fabric scraps and end up with some *antique* color instead. These bits & pieces sat for three days in a strong dilution of Rooibos tea which I used as a natural plant dye. Mind you, I wasn't very tempted to drink it anyway - something about the smell really puts me off. Although I'm aware of its medicinal qualities (very high in antioxidants) and I generally love any plant material that comes from South Africa, this is not the beverage for me. But for dyeing? It serves a whole new purpose...

All these scraps were WHITE (or had a white background)...natural fabrics only, no synthetics. I was pleasantly surprised by how differently they absorbed color. Let me put them into groups so you can get a better feel for the differences:

100% cotton

Rayon/silk blends (top & middle), linen (bottom)

Silks

The cottons took the least color but they do have a pleasing old-world feel, much nicer than their previous stark white selves. The silks took on the most color, by far, and are my hands-down favorites. Look at that bottom one, now an absolutely gorgeous bronze! I don't know silk varieties very well but I believe that's an organza...

Rooibos literally means "red bush" so I was hoping for some of those elusive pinks that many of us have been striving for of late. After the dyeing is over, one is left with these...

Is it just me or do you find those stains on the teabags interesting too? Seems I am not alone - look what I found out amongst the cyberpixies...

abstract tea bag collage, by Armen Rotch

Tea Bag Quilt, by Charlene Hughes

by Valeria Burgoa

Should any of us be in need of more caffeine for the day, imagine this...entire walls constructed of used tea bags. Bottoms up!

Poetic Justice, by Tania Bruguera

2003 installation at the Istanbul Biennial

For all they do

2011-03-06T13:19:00.000-08:00

Our hands...they create the extraordinary...

...define a lifetime of vision...

...lead us to places we hadn't thought to go...

...speak softly, with the smallest of gestures...

...work & toil & offer a lifetime of servitude...

...lead us in prayer...

...ask questions...

...tend to the small rituals that define our daily traditions...

...help us build home...

...reach out, sometimes attaining unexpected results...

...offer warmth...

...bring the world in for a closer view...

...participate in all our explorations, however far we wish to go.

Hands...the keepers of our desires...

...and the pedestals for encouraging even the smallest of miracles.

PHOTO CREDITS - top to bottom: mendhi hands here; Georgia O'Keefe's hands here; hand between doors here; pink tulle here; dandelion fingers here; prayer beads here; questioning hands here; teacup here; hands holding nest here; reaching out here; electrographic here; girl with glass here; rock in hand here; blue hands here; black-and-white marblers here.

Wonders never cease...

2011-02-23T16:52:00.000-08:00

It began with waking up to this ~ four inches of the wet, sticky stuff and still falling.

This is the view from the mudroom door looking towards my veg growing area...

kinda pretty out there...as far as snow goes.

This is the first snowfall we've had since Thanksgiving day.

Certainly the first snow since bringing this one home...

Meet Quinn...

Hi, I'm 18 months old and I can't stay still...

Hello sweet girl, bet you want me to throw the ball, don't you?

I haven't mentioned her until now because in all honesty, it's been touch & go around here

and I haven't been entirely convinced we were going to be able to keep her. Little issue with dawg

Numero Uno who got it in her head she was not going to be usurped by this youngster

in HER territory.

Who me???? I wouldn't hurt a fly...

The face of an angel, my Isla, but she is one cranky b*&%$ when it comes to owning me.

There...I admitted it...I am owned by this dawg.

Quinn is one of those gems that comes from a rescue organization and you can't figure out

how in the world her previous owners could bear to give her up.

For those who don't know this about me,

I am passionate about adopting animals from rescue groups.

No offense intended towards those who choose to buy their pets from breeders, etc.

but my gosh folks,

the number of homeless dogs & cats is already staggeringly high...

don't they deserve first consideration?

Stop me. I could go on about this for hours.

Oh please do, I'm listening...I'm wet but I'm listening, really...

I found Quinn through the Pacific Northwest Border Collie Rescue, the same group that harbored my beloved cranky one after she was saved from running in traffic and later, with no one to claim her.

I can't say enough wonderful things about these dedicated folks!

Rehoming these wonderful dawgs is their life...and I mean LIFE.

I love you guys. You ROCK!

Quinn is a border collie mix of some kind, probably mixed with Belgian shepherd.

Then again, Isla was listed as a border collie mix and turns out she has no border collie in her...

zippo.

Thanks to the wonders of modern technology and a little test called 'Dog Breed DNA Analysis'

it was discovered that she is 3/4ths rough-coat collie (you know, Lassie type)

and 1/4th Australian shepherd. Not that it matters one little bit.

But back to unceasing wonders...

*****

It's no secret in canine circles that bringing a second female dog into a household can spell disaster.
I was banking my hopes on the fact that Quinn was still a "puppy" in many ways
and Isla had shown a lot of tolerance for puppy behavior in the past.

Do you want to know how many times I've thought I was dead wrong?

But then...{{{{{{drumroll}}}}}}... today happened...SNOW happened
and everything changed for the better.
[insert the Hallelujah Chorus]
What transpires when two dawgs who are giddy about snow end up having their first snow day together?

Let me show you.

It began with Quinn displaying "play bows" to Isla (invitations to play)...

...which Isla accepted and turned into a massive round of the zoomies

...back and forth and back and forth...

...and when they got so tired they had to take a time out, they did THIS...together...two feet apart

...and do you know what THIS is people? THIS is a bloody miracle!
This is the powerful force of nature working her magic with natural instincts
in a way we humans could not accomplish with all the worry & fretting in the world.

Amen.

One last shameless plug: if you are considering bringing home a new pet,
won't you please consider adopting from a shelter or rescue group first.
Have some hesitations? Let's talk. I'm as close as email.
Like me, you just might find that although you saved a life,
they actually have saved yours...

Where moons can lead...

2011-02-12T16:05:00.000-08:00

What if you could bring the moon to you when and where you needed it?

'Private Moon'
~ a series, created by Russian photographers and artists Leonid Tishkov and Boris Bendikov ~
2005

Stuck between some rags and a hard place...

2011-02-10T21:58:00.000-08:00

A little w.i.p...

modern day "rags" woven onto a make-do loom, once the bottom half of a box of notecards.

Light as a feather and easy to hold, just 5 by 7 inches. Splendid idea, wish it had been mine...

... Jude Hill's 'Contemporary Woven Boro' class is in full swing

and this tension technique comes from creating a small frame from whatever we have at hand.

I know I'm not alone when I say I ***LOVE*** this process, weaving without a foundation...

The warp is from torn bits of an old silk blouse...all the rest scraps from this & that.

*****

A silly question...ever tear cloth with your teeth?

I'm an expert now: chomp down hard at the place you are starting the tear

and pull strong & steady with one hand straight out in front of you.

Heh, you never know when such skills could come in handy...

They co-mingle so nicely, all those tiny ribbony pieces...

Here is the back looking much like an Apricot Surprise birthday present.

Fray heaven!

I couldn't tie bows (more on that below) so the ends are knotted instead...

*****

So what about this "hard place" I mentioned in the title of this post?

I am unable to sew. Not a stitch.

Unable to use my right hand for most anything at the moment...

The doc says he can fix me up, only a matter of time...time which is ticking faster now with my boro mates.

So this is why you are not seeing any basting...no surface embellishment of any kind.

Hope you like *puffy* as much as I do, it will have to suffice for now.

...just wanted you to know...

*****

While so many parts of our country are still covered in deep snow & frigid cold,

we were able to enjoy THIS today...

View from the Painter's Studio

~ painting by Caspar David Friedrich, 1805 ~

Till later my friends, always so good to have you stop by,

Time out...

2011-02-05T14:29:00.000-08:00

Someone is on her way to the vet today...

nothing too serious

and she's always up for a car ride...

Her favorite vet, Dr. Emily, is on duty this afternoon.

Lucky dawg...Dr. Emily always sits on the floor with her, talks real sweet,

moves gently and keeps everyone calm...

She'll tease dawg, chide her for chasing things at breakneck speed...

that IS how you rip out a paw-nail after all

Funny, the ways they have to let us know something is not quite right...

...this one will start to lick you if you happen to miss her meaning the first time.

Here's something a bit odd... I too, went on a 'time out.' Yesterday.

Laid up with a little annoyance from one of my own digits...

a wonky finger actually... ~~back paws~~ feet are ok.

No stitching, no beading, no work...all projects at a complete standstill.

Nothing but r&r now for my entire right hand

along with too much time to think about setting the world to rights...

Do our animals suffer sympathy injuries? of course not.

When dawg gets back, we can have a little chat about it...

while we nurse our right, front paws together ;>}

Weaving velvet...

2011-01-24T19:03:00.000-08:00

If ever I could find a velvet frock such as this one, something in this exact shade of green,

I just might be encouraged to change my mind forever about the wearing of dresses

(which I never wear)

Yes. Definitely. This would persuade me.

oh, and the glorious stitching details at the cuffs...

~ painting by Dante Gabriel Rossetti, 'Veronica Veronese' ~

These I would NOT wish to wear,

not one little bit...

ever.

They must have been the height of fashion in their day, worn by Lady Mary Stanhope around 1660...

blue velvet, embroidered with silver gilt thread...once tied across the tongues

with decorative ribbons perhaps...

~ Shoe Collection, Northampton Museum & Art Gallery, UK ~

Back to the future...where a wall can be velvet...

~ Capital Museum in Beijing, photo (c) Trey Ratcliff ~

where we can travel in style if we want to...these seats look comfy don't they,

but...

~ Hankyu velvet, photo (c) Sam Bowman ~

...not nearly as inviting as these velvet seats.

~ Rocks, Moss & Water, photo (c) Martin Cathrae ~

Watchers. They wear their velvet in summer...

~ Prairie Grass Bucks, photo (c) shadarington ~

and the groves, their velvet raincoats...

~ trees covered in velvet moss, photo (c) KWDesigns ~

...while here at home, repurposed velvet becomes a bit of architecture for my long cloth...

*****

What a gathering has happened over at Spirit Cloth!

'Contemporary Woven Boro'...a workshop who's meaning redefines itself each day...

over one hundred of us (imagine that)

*traveling companions* engaged in the common language of cloth:

weaving, stitching, experimenting, learning from one another...

jumping off...out...even when there appears (at first) to be no familiar net to catch us.

The humble cloths that are Japanese 'boro'...

2011-01-10T23:30:00.000-08:00

Multiple layers of extensively repaired and patched fabrics...

hand-sewn for practical purposes, for retaining warmth...

utilitarian assemblages such as futon covers

or clothing such as a 'yogi' (sleeping garment used as a blanket)

...abundant use of recycled indigo dyed rags

and handwoven cotton & hemp scraps,

repeatedly mended...

some held together by thousands of 'sashiko' stitches

transformed into something precious and valuable.

"These textiles are generational storybooks, lovingly repaired

& patched with what fabric was available.

Never intended to be viewed as a thing of beauty,

these textiles today take on qualities of collage, objects of history,

and objects with life and soul."

~ John Foster, Accidental Mysteries blog ~

tatters, telling complex stories...

"although boro has become a bit of a trend these days, the raggedy edges

and patching and primitive approach to cloth making...there is a subtle reminder

that this was not an intended art form.

this was life, mending, thrift, respect for cloth.

this is the result of living small with consciousness of means.

the need to stay warm, the patience to repair, restore and to keep going...

and the resulting beauty in that."

~ Jude Hill, from 'art, craft, and dedicated intent' ~

All photographs courtesy of kimonoboy.com

where a short history on Japanese textiles can be found here.

Spiral...

2011-01-03T14:08:00.000-08:00

...found walking this morning amidst the most beautiful hoarfrost,

an ice spiral

with a red alder leaf at its center.

This is for T...

...who is weaving some grasses on her side of the world,

stitching it back together in her own quiet way.

Uncovering a thousand threads...

2010-12-31T14:26:00.000-08:00

In 1917, some text was written about this work, The Emblem:

This fine example shows us a beautiful and graceful lady in a rich interior seated at an embroidery frame.

Her face is half turned to us as she raises the cloth covering the work. The attitude is reserved,

as of one reluctantly disclosing a secret; and indeed she does not show too much,

for her flowing sleeve tantalizingly hides the greater part of what she has uncovered.

Pictorially the work has great charm; and though there is no story to it, it suggests an idea.

We are to suppose that she has been long at work with cunning needle in secret, making a splendid banner,

emblem of a great cause and destined to be borne at the head of its supporters.

Such an object is worthy of the labour consecrated by love that she has given to it.

But the time for its display is not yet, and for the present the secret must be jealously guarded.

Sir Frank Bernard Dicksee, English painter and illustrator of the Pre-Raphaelite persuasion, seemed to know a little about the ways of women, don't you think? I wonder why, or how. He's caught this furtive moment with perfection ~ that hesitancy to reveal. We've all felt it at one time or another...isn't it quintessentially just like this?

I've had a whole year of this feeling and was not even aware of it until now. I am unsure what this means and I'm uncertain what to do about it or even if it needs having something done. But some things are percolating. My time to focus just received a rather splendid calling card.

The events in our lives happen in a sequence in time,

but in their significance to ourselves, they find their own order...

the continuous thread of revelation.

~ Eudora Welty ~

To one and all...

2010-12-23T19:54:00.000-08:00

'Tree of Life'

~ Gustav Klimt ~

Central section. Pattern for the Stoclet Frieze, c. 1905

Best Wishes of the Season!

And for something beyond lovely, go visit Butterflies on Christmas Eve...