Leaving Winter

A time to say goodbye to winter, even though spring equinox is still a bit away.  

A time to set aside clocks and watches, alarms and beeps.

I have conquered time with this piece of stitchery, have put it in its place, and vowed to open my own mind and heart to the freshness of spring.

"In the midst of winter, I found within me, there was an invincible summer.  And that makes me happy.  For it says that no matter how hard the world pushes against me, within me, there's something stronger -- something better pushing right back." - Albert Camus

Winter Time

Almost to Spring... 

Such a strange Winter this has been.  More 'conflicted' days than 'contented' days. Even my body has felt it, as I've dealt with aches and pains more often than I usually have to.

As I write this, the sun is shining and its above freezing outside.  Perhaps I'm getting a glimpse of the Spring to come.  Perhaps my life will be filled with light instead of darkness as we greet the coming months.  

I suspect that at this time in history I need to make my own bits and pieces of joy and imagination.   I must live in the moment and make each of those small moments count.  
Spring is coming...

"Time, time, time

See what's become of me

While I looked around for my possibilities

I was so hard to please

But look around, leaves are brown

And the sky is a hazy shade of winter..."

Simon and Garfunkle

Time Without Time

One night recently I was without my bedroom clock.  Because I'm not on any schedule I didn't think too much about it, until I turned out the lights and realized I didn't know what time it was.  

How strange it was to lie in my bed, in the dark with no way to tell time.  I realized how much time rules our lives.  Every room in our house has a clock in it - except the bathrooms.  The kitchen actually has three clocks -- the one on the wall, the one on the stove and the one on the microwave.  Our respective study and studios have one on the wall and the time on our computers.  

There I lay feeling as if I'd gone into a delightful abyss - of timelessness.  Did I feel adrift in a bad way or did I feel free?  Of course I felt free -- but it was also a bit intimidating.  It was almost as if I were the last person on a silent earth.

Is time actually the thing that gives importance to my days?  Its lunchtime - must eat - its time to take pills - its time to go pick  up the mail.  My life seems ruled by TIME.  I then realized that time is really what holds a society together.  It wouldn't function at all if everyone was wandering around heedless of time.  How would we know when to meet -- how would we know when to be at work.  Time is sort of the contract we have as humans.

Maybe someday I'll cover all the clocks, close down all the computers, and see what it is like to really 'float' in time.

"The only reason for time is so that everything doesn't happen at once." - Albert Einstein

Time Keeper Moppet

Oh woe is me!  I was up until midnight on Saturday night turning all of our Moppet clocks ahead one hour!  Yes, I could have set them ahead earlier but personally I am quite  opposed to this time change so I refuse to make it any sooner than necessary

Whoever in the world thought this up to begin with?  A whole hour is lost -- just disappears with the turn of the clock hands.  Why would anyone think that is a 'good' thing.

Hmmm - first we gain a day (in February) and then we lose an hour in March.  Oh, my if only I ran the world (or at least had control of all the clocks) this kind of thing would never would happen.

"How did it get so late so soon?  Its night before its afternoon.  December is here before its June.  My goodness how the time has flew,  How did it get so late so soon?" - Dr Seuss

The History of Time

With Leap Year and daylight savings time appearing within a few weeks of each other, I just had to explore 'time' as a subject.

Deep within our history, the beginning of our 'time concept' began. The very first people who populated this earth used the stars in the sky.  From these they determined when it was time to move.  Being hunter gatherers they depended on nature to guide their days, nights and movements. 

'Water clocks' were among the earliest time keeping devices that didn't use the observation of the stars.  The ancient Greeks, it is believed, began using water clocks around 325 BC.  They were also used, in various forms, by other countries such as Egypt and Japan.

                                                                                                     'Galieo's pendulum clock'

In 1656, 'Christian Huygens' (a Dutch scientist) made the first 'Pendulum clock with a mechanism using a 'natural' period of oscillation.  Galileo is credited in most historical books for the invention of the pendulum as early as 1582 but his design, shown above, was not built before his death.  Huygens' clock, when built, had an error of 'less than only one minute a day'.  A fantastic 'leap' for timekeeping.

Later on came the spring assembly.  This brought a much 'truer' technique of keeping time.

Oh how I loved to look at my grandfather's pocket watch.  It would be considered an antique today, but to take off the back and watch it mark the seconds and minutes with with its little gears was an adventure to a young girl.

For the most part, today our clocks and watches are digital.  I'm sure they keep much better time than those that required a clear night sky, water, pendulums and little gears and springs.  But somehow along the way,the mystery and wonder of 'time' as an essence, has faded into the past.  Did it not seem a bit more precious when we had to wind our watches? When it was not a thing to be manipulated as it is today?    

As I reset our household clocks for Daylight Savings Time I will question our tinkering with time. And our apparent quest to 'tame' it to our own desires.  

"By putting forward the hands of the clock you shall not advance the hour." - Victor Hugo

Oh what to do...

...after what you were doing becomes undoable???  Isn't that a question we sometimes have ask ourselves?

In my case the answer is - make a doll.  But what kind of doll am I in the mood for? Definitely something simple, definitely something fun and definitely something small.

Lots of wasted cardboard, lots of drawing and redrawing.  Use of some previously used techniques and materials.  Lots of time, which I had happily given myself at the end of the last year.  Much more to do -- but now I know what I'm doing!

"All life is an experiment.  The more experiments you make the better." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Time Passes...

...and hasn't it been fun!!!  Tuesday, September 1st was  my 6th year blog anniversary.  When I look back it seems like a long time ago that I took heart in hand and went 'public'.  I was beading then but if you've come along for the ride all these years you know how much (and many times) that has changed.  

I thank each and every person who has given up a few minutes of their time twice a week to stop in for a visit.

There are some who have become quite good friends.  You know who you are and please know how very much your long-distance friendship means to me.  

Each reader has  given me a window to the world -- to your world and to your wonderful art and craftsmanship.  

So here's to another six years -- of fun, frolic, imagination, creativity, and success in whatever WE all take your hands to.

"Time is the most valuable thing a man can spend." - Theophrastus

On Years and Time and Stuff

With a birthday between Christmas and New Year and then the turning of the new year - my mind drifts these days.  Drifting to the past -- all those many years behind me -- all the love I've had in my life, the joy and the pain, the laughter and the tears and just think, here I am - beginning a new year all over again.

Each year I write in a journal.  Earlier on I did it on the computer, just for ease and probably readability too - since my handwriting is awful.  For the past few years I have written each year's journal.  These aren't the 'art journals' that some of you create and that are so beautiful.  These are just no nonsense writings, usually of ideas for future projects or what I worked on that day.  Interjections of something good happening or something bad happening.  

At the end of each year I go back and read the current year's entries.  But then sometimes during this quiet lull at the beginning of the a new year I'll go back and read past years too.  Sort of fun to see where my art journey has taken me over the years.

But now, today, this moment, its time to look ahead.   I hope for all of us its a magical, mystical, marvelous year.

"The best thing about the future is that it comes one day at a time." - Abraham Lincoln

Tilda Timeless

Earlier this summer Miss Tilda Timeless tendered her resignation from her long-time teaching job at the local elementary school.  Thus ended thirty years of regimentation. Each morning the alarm clock rang, then the school bells and buzzers  rang off and on throughout the day.  When the bell rang at lunch time, she would herd her little scalawags into the cafeteria while she ran to the teacher’s lounge to grab a bite of a sandwich – seemingly before she’d taken even one bite, the bell rang again and she gathered up her charges to go  out onto the playground.  Every minute, every second, monitored carefully each and every day.

On the auspicious day of her retirement (at which they gave her a gold watch) she stepped inside her house with a mission.  She promptly removed the hands on all the clocks and watches that she owned.  She smiled and she sang as she rampaged through her drawers, jewelry hooks and walls – taking down clocks, pulling out watches (some of which didn’t even work anymore).  She carefully unscrewed or snipped off each and every hand and then proudly hung one 'handless' watch face around her neck to show off her freedom.

I guess you could say that day was the end of time for Miss Tilda Timeworthy.

"Clock watchers never seem to be having a good time." - James Cash Penney

"Timepiece"

You never know where a bit of thought and meditation might take you.  This time it took me on a walk through 'time'.  

Using the door symbol I thought about walking through it, either inside or out, just as we walk through time all of our lives.

Numbers can rule our lives -- and if not rule them they certainly play an important place in our everyday activities.  I've come to think of time and numbers as a tool we've used to enhance civilization.  When there are large numbers of us we must have some way to control it all -- thus we keep time and we count the days.

As for me -- my studio work often takes me away from time.  For a bit of each day I am lost in ideas, thread, fabric and color and I treasure each moment (while not counting it).

"What then is time?  If no one asks me, I know what it is.  If I wish to explain it to him who asks, I do not know." - Saint Augustine

Fourth Month Meditation

My meditation this month is 'time'.  It fills our days.  The sun comes up, the sun goes down, the earth rotates and the universe continues moving through time.  As humans we have managed to 'manufacture' a lot of our time.  We have rules for it, we try to tame it, even change its parameters twice a year.  We worry about having too much time on our hands or not enough time in a day or a month or a year.

Recently I had the opportunity to take a drive with my hubby where he was to attend an a half day meeting.  It was held at a beautiful lodge in the mountains but it turned out to be a grey, rainy, wet day.  I settled myself in a chair, opened my book and started to read.  I had a cup of tea beside me, my book and a beautiful view.  I wasn't 'filling' time while I waited for the meeting to be over.  I was letting go of time. There were no errands to do, no deadlines, no responsibility I had to fulfill.  Just a block of unregulated space and I realized how seldom I allow myself that kind of freedom.

A word such as 'time' is literally a never ending source of meditation and thought for me.

"Meditation is the soul's perspective glass." - Owen Feltham 

One Punch at a Time

Do you remember the Hansel and Gretel story where the children tried to leave bread crumbs so they could find their way in the forest?  That's where I felt as I moved ever so slowly through this 'house' design.  Because I'm using reverse punchneedle I can actually delineate each stitch one by one.  My own personal crumbs.

And slowly but surely it starts to take shape.  The end is actually in sight.  My story is being told with hundreds and hundreds of punches.

"It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop." - Confucius

Frost Flowers

In the midst of any season - even though we are tired of it and wish with all our hearts for the next season to appear - there is always beauty.  These 'frost flower' pictures show just how truly beautiful cold weather can be.

Ice sculptures like this make me shiver when I look at them, but they also make me thankful that there is beauty even when comfort itself is hard to find.  Its sometimes difficult to value the moment, the day, the season while it is here - but soon it will be gone and new sights, sounds and temperatures will be here.  Meanwhile, these visions are saved for posterity.

Dust of Snow

The way a crow

Shook down on me

The dust of snow

From a hemlock tree

Has given my heart

A change of mood

And saved some part

Of a day I had rued

Robert Frost

{I thank my friend Dot for sending these images to me - she too received them from a friend and I'm following the tradition by passing them along to you.}

Journaling

I have been keeping this journal handy over the past few months. Noting my progress (or lack thereof when that happens) with my latest cloth doll figures.  Reminding myself with notes of what worked and what didn't work.  I've found that reminding myself to write out what I did of a day is a way of slowing down my life - letting me reflect in a way that I was not used to doing.

Several times in the past I've started art journals -- but  have never gotten very far.  I always spent my energy on the making of something and didn't take the time to notate it (at least after the first few entries).  But now I'm working on pieces where I can allocate my time into segments.  By doing this, I find that after each segment, noting my progress - problems - successes is easy to do. 

This year has been quite a change for me in the way I'm working  and what I'm working on.  Truly, I have such a peaceful feeling about what I'm doing right now and how I'm managing it that I wonder what in the world possessed me to work like a mad woman over the past years.  Perhaps I should note this in my journal in BIG GIANT CAPITAL LETTERS!

"Still, what I want in my life is to be willing to be dazzled -- to cast aside the weight of facts and maybe even to float a little above this difficult world." - Mary Oliver

One Thing at a Time

Most fairy tales begin with 'Once upon a time...' my work seems to start with 'One thing at a time...'   How I envy those who have one, two, three or four projects going at the same time.  I would love to walk into my studio and say 'eeny, meeny, minee, moe...' and choose between this one or that one.  Am I in a 'blue' mood - okay let's go with the blue today; am I feeling like I need to work with silk threads - okay let's go with this one.  But I have learned, especially over the past couple of years that I am hard-wired to start work on one piece, work it until it is finished and then move onto the next one.

This doesn't mean that I don't think about what I'm going to be doing next.  I do gather colors and textures, threads and embellishments for future pieces as I work on the current piece.  But for the most part that is all I do.  While I might have a few ideas in the back of my mind - a picture I want to convey or a feeling I want to translate it doesn't really come to the forefront until I have finished what I'm working on at the moment.

I guess if there is one thing I've learned through years of fiber work it is to accept myself and my work habits for what they are - it increases my creativity to not have my mind wandering off on all sorts of paths.  That doesn't mean I won't have 'creativity envy' for people like Loralei at Whimsical Mermaid *smile*!

"Remember life's magic by the trail you've already blazed." - The Universe

Time to Reflect

After non-stop 'production' work for most of this year -- after creating for self-imposed deadlines over the past three years -- I take a pause to reflect.

Is it because my whole life has been a series of 'due dates' that my mind thinks this pattern must continue.  Am I addicted to creating something that will be shown, exhibited or sold?  Is it possible for my can-do personality to create for art's sake alone?

These are the questions I've been asking myself.  As I finish up what has been fun, but demanding, thoughts of purely 'me' designs that I could develop fill my head with possibility. 

Is it possible for a person such as myself to be working on several totally different designs at the same time?  Is it possible for me not to say 'I want to finish this in a week, or a day or a month' but to let the work flow at its own speed?  Is it possible for me to turn the whole thing over to the inner me, instead of the outer me (since that outer shell seems to demand a 'schedule')?  Will I be able to relax and 'go with the flow' - no destination, no time line - lots of exploration, relaxed creativity, starting and stopping with no clock nor calendar to guide me? 

Stay tuned - and to anyone who has overcome this 'compulsion' thing I welcome any and all support and suggestions *smile*.

"Art for art's sake...it is the best evidence we can have of our dignity." - E. M. Forster

"dalliance" - November BJP

When I drew the word 'dalliance' from my word jar I wasn't even sure what it meant.  Pulling out my old dictionary I looked up the definition - dalliance: a trifling away of time; dawdling.  There is a second definition 'amorous toying flirtation' but since I'm happily married I decided to skip that one!

I love the whole idea -- 'trifling away of time; dawdling'.  Often my days are filled with to-do's that have a time stamp attached.  Clock watching becomes the norm.  And even when there is nothing on my calendar for a day I find myself checking the time asking myself if I have 'time' to do this or 'time' to do that.

And so, with this November BJP I decided to completly 'dawdle' my way through it.  Amazingly, it finished up quite quickly and now I'm wondering if my clock watching might indeed make each piece seem to take forever.  Without any time frame this bookmark just sort of appeared beneath my fingers.

The colors, fabric, beads and thread that appear in this BJP are completely different for me.  I stitched beads along the pattern of the batik fabric - which happened to be flowers.  At first I wondered what in the world I was doing - using pink and green, wandering all over this fabric without a plan (or a time frame).  But it soon took hold of me and became what it wanted to be.  I had to include a clock face to the design because after all we are talking about time.  But I tied that clock face up in fibers to keep it in its place and to tell it that the fantasy surrounding it had taken its powers away.

I'm hoping now to continue my dawdling and wait to see what comes out of this non-time sensitive period.  Hope you're all getting a chance to dawdle a bit too!

"Without this playing with fantasy no creative work has ever yet come to birth. The debt we owe to the play of the imagination is incalculable". - Carl Jung