What next?

 I have to wonder about the business that goes on inside my head.  The thoughts and ideas roam around up there willy-nilly.  Sometimes they make perfect sense and I feel as if I'm guided. Sometimes they make only some sense and send me down another road.  I envy those who find their voice early on and follow it with a devotion to the art they have chosen.

I do know myself quite well however.  You know how sometimes your throat feels scratchy and you just know you're coming down with something?  How you almost foresee a fall, immediately before tripping on the pavement?  That is how it is for me with my creativity.

Recently, as I worked on a house-to-be, it came over me - is it a shadow or is it a window opening?  I'm not quite sure.  But I knew that this house that I was stitching was not to be, at least at this time.  That I needed to break out of house building and move on to something else.  Could it be that when it comes to the work of my hands I'm just naturally capricious?

"We must let go of the life we have planned, so as to accept the one that is waiting for us." - Joseph Campbell

Absence vs. Fulfillment

Walking into my studio one morning recently -- looking at the most tidy of work tables.  Everything was 'put away', everything was neat.

A feeling of the blah's came over me.  Instead of being happy with this neat and tidy area I felt like something was missing.  It was not a feeling of satisfaction about having cleaned up a mess but a feeling that I most definitely needed to make a 'new' mess.

And so I proceeded to do just that.  I put 'stuff' here and there, I played with colors and images and thoughts of what I wanted to do next.  I made a joyful mess.

The next time you chastise yourself about not being 'tidy' or 'organized', pat yourself on the back and let your imagination take over. Each piece to be 'put away' may inspire you to start something new.  It worked for me...

"The happiness of  a man in this life does not consist in the absence but in the mastery of his passions." - Alfred Lord Tennyson

A Walk in the Garden

No day is complete without a walk through the garden. At least during this part of the year.

Each day brings something new and special and definitely colorful.

Some, like the Flame Azaleas, look like a bit of sunshine.

Others, like these purple and white Irises are bits of velvet standing tall against the rocks.

"Beauty surrounds us, but usually we need to be walking in a garden to know it." - Rumi

A Spindle/Bobbin Tribute

Most of us, being stitchers, value fabric and thread.  Textiles have been an historic tradition, throughout the world.  Most of what we, here in the United States, work on today came across the oceans from far away lands.

So this little spindle/bobbin is my tribute not only to the early textile workers, wherein almost everything was done by hand - but to the men and women who continue to work the needle, thread and fabric in all its forms of craft.  Thank you!

"A gentle heart is tied with an easy thread." - George Herbert

Fifth Month Meditation

While scrolling through book images (for an upcoming house design) I found this treasure.  Reading the title aloud made my heart sing.  A meditation subject of gigantic, uncountable proportions.

How will my mind and heart and spirit even be able to contemplate this in the silence of my own small space.  Much to ponder...

"When we try to pick out of anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the universe." - John Muir

What is it?

Living in North Carolina we see lots of these spindles in antique and thrift shops.  They were used for the threads that were created and then woven into mostly utilitarian items such as sheets, towels, socks, etc.  The textile industry has all but disappeared from this area, unfortunately robbing many people of their work and livelihood.  

This spindle attracted my eye several years ago.  Although as you can see it was not originally from this area, it was so lovely that I brought it home.  Today it is becoming a tribute to those many people who worked in the textile mills throughout this area.  It was difficult work and took place in mills that operated with none of the 'comforts' of today's factories.

Of course my tribute will include punchneedle embroidery but who knows what else. What kinds of embellishments will I use?  I find that it is sort of creating itself as I go along.

"Humankind has not woven the web of life.  We are but one thread within it.  Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves.  All things are bound together.  All things connect." - Chief Seattle

Today I am thankful for...

Sunshine

While walking these days, I'm aware of the warmth of sunshine on my shoulders.  I feel it sinking into my body, warming my bones.  Thankful am I.

I have been blessed to see the sun rise in the desert...

...the sun set over the ocean...

...the sun filter through the sheltering trees of the woods and forests.

Oh yes, I am ever so thankful.

"Keep your face to the sunshine and you cannot see a shadow." - Helen Keller

"Garden Cottage"

Who lives in this quaint country cottage?  

I think its someone who loves spring as much as we all do.

I think flowers are on her mind all year round - gathering seed packets over winter and then strewing the seeds come the warmer spring days.

I wish her a long growing season.

"Earth laughs in flowers." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Meadowood Trail

Just up the street from our house there is a street called Meadowood Trail.  I love to walk it because it goes down a hill to a small stream and it gives me a nice walk up hill afterward.  In the winter I often have to skip this lovely street because it is the last to melt after snow or ice.  Right now, at the bottom of the hill, the trees are still looking a lot like winter.

But - earlier in the walk, before it dips down too much, spring is definitely here.  What a wonder to walk beneath these flowering trees - showing up beautifully against a perfect blue sky.

The Forsythia, one of my favorites, is already preparing its yearly take over of any area where it might pop up.  No one has been along to trim it so I get the full beauty of its bright yellow color.

Every winter I feel like a caterpillar wrapped up in my cocoon and every spring I feel as if I'm awakening as a butterfly.  Its obviously time to spread my wings.

"Spring has returned.  The Earth is like a child that knows poems." - Rainer Maria Rilke