Today I am thankful for...

Laughter!!  

Especially shared laughter!!!

The kind that fills the air with joy and lingers afterward as a wonderful memory.

"I am thankful for laughter, except when milk comes out of my nose." - Woody Allen

A Trio of Teapots

My fingers have been flying in order to meet a deadline.  Not my favorite way to work, but sometimes it happens.

Teapot I  - Perhaps I would start my day with a brisk cup of "English Breakfast Tea" poured from this pot.

Teapot II - I think the whimsy of this pot calls for a cup of "Dry Desert Lime".

Teapot III - Oh yes, "Jasmine Green", curled up in a chair reading a good book.

For these designs I used reverse punchneedle.  I like the reverse stitch for something like this.  It give a detail that the regular loops can't always provide.  The design is crisper and clearer.  

Of course now that they are finished I'm headed for a delicious cup of tea to celebrate...

"A woman is like a tea bag - you can't tell how strong she is until you put her in hot water." - Eleanor Roosevelt

2nd Month Meditation

How many times, as a child, did I lay on the grass to watch clouds floating oh so far above me?  Did I dream of riding on one - soft and puffy, supporting me as I traveled over the far off mountains?  I know that I pictured animals and other objects in the shapes of the clouds.  Little did I think of how truly connected I was to that cloud passing by.

"You are made of cloud - at least 70 percent of you.  If you take the cloud out of you, there's no you left.  A cloud has a good time traveling.  When it falls down, it does not die.  It becomes snow or rain.  The rain becomes a creek and the creek flows down and becomes a river.  The river goes to the sea, then heat generated by the sun helps the water evaporate and become a cloud again. Now the cloud has become tea..." - Thich Nhat Hanh

Deadline and Tea???

I know that tea and deadlines just DO NOT go together.  Coffee is the go-to beverage for the energetic, the can-do time-inspired creators.  Tea - not so much.  Tea is for steeping, sipping, reading, listening to music and having quiet talks.
  

Early in January I listed two goals for the new year.  One was houses (we know how that went *smile*) and the other was teapots.  I love teapots and wanted to make up a few in punchneedle.  Last week, as I was finishing up 'the house' a friend sent me a 'call to artists' for teapot art to be exhibited locally.  The date for the pieces to be delivered is March 5th.  Yikes - that's less than a month away with not one teapot even on the drawing board.

A week later drawings have been rendered and the first teapot is well underway.  I'm using reverse punchneedle because I want a contemporary look and the details show better in this format.  These days I'm thinking that I need to switch to coffee however, if I'm going to get all the work finished in such a short amount of time.

"Outside of the chair, the teapot is the most ubiquitous and important design element in the domestic environment and almost everyone who has tacked the world of design has ended up designing one." - Davie McFadden

Daniel Essig

Last week I was fortunate enough to see an exhibit of Daniel Essig's work on exhibit at Converse College.  Daniel is an artist who resides in the Asheville area - therefore I often get an opportunity to see his work and each time I am enthralled (is that too mild word?).

Daniel began work as a photography student but then moved into creating artist books.  His 'books' weren't just any book as they were works of art that cannot be described by mere words.  These days his work involves wonderful figures - birds, fish, crocodiles -- and each one always has a small coptic bound book  or two or three within its parameters.  

As I write this I can't begin to portray his work with my words, nor even the pictures I'm showing.  Please skip over to Daniel Essig to be amazed.

"A symphony conductor who collects my work once told me that he hides my books in a basket every evening to be stolen during the night.  Until fairly recently all books were prized possessions -- medieval libraries chained books to the shelves to prevent theft. In those days each volume was crafted with precision, elaborately decorated and embellished with precious stones and metals.  I aim to make my books just as precious as those medieval manuscripts." - Daniel Essig

A Bit of Ho Hum

I've been working on a stand-alone cottage.  While I seem to have gotten the engineering part figured out I'm less than pleased with the ambience of the finished piece.  Not enough going on here -- the colors are too dull for me and there isn't enough surface interest. Boring!!!

That being said - at least I mastered the 'standing' technique and perhaps one day will come back to the idea of being a 'house builder'.  

Meanwhile its on to a new adventure - which you'll hear about next week... 

"Home wasn't built in a day." - Jane Sherwood Ace

 

GOLD STAR!

I'm awarding myself a lot of gold starts!  Perhaps 878 would cover it.  That's how many skeins of embroidery floss that I've wrapped over the past few weeks.  I will admit that I never meant to finish the job so quickly -- but being the sort of compulsive person I am -- once started I couldn't quit.

Here they are, all boxed and ready for drawers.  Six drawers filled and a smile on my face!

"Setting goals is the first step in turning the invisible into the visible. - Tony Robbins

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.}