The Month of Hearts

I welcome this month of hearts.  First and foremost my own which seems to be pumping along the way it is supposed to. *smile*

Secondly the whole symbol that the heart shape means to me. It means love and friendship and caring and beauty.

I wish for each of you a heart happy month filled with love, and joy -- fun and laughter.

As you can see my hands and heart have drifted back to punch needle! A perfectly quiet way to fill these cold winter afternoons.

"Let my soul smile through my heart and my heart smile through my eys, that I may scatter rich smiles in sad hearts." - Paramahansa Yogananda

A Heart Winging Its Way

The winner of the February blog give away is Barbara.

I love passing along bits and pieces of me.  I'm already thinking ahead to a spring celebration!

"We are each of us angels with only one wing, and we can only fly by embracing one another." - Lucretious

Tree of Life Heart

I celebrate trees in this most recent heart.  Here in the mountains of western North Carolina we are surrounded by trees.  Sometimes I almost feel smothered by them - especially during summer when it is impossible to see further into the woods than a few feet due to the dense vegetation.  There is green everywhere! 

I love to touch the bark of trees, thinking of the years and years that an individual tree has stood in this forest.  The years go by one by one and the trees stand strong - almost like silent witnesses.  What have they seen through the years, what stories could they tell me?

"A tree growing out of the ground is as wonderful today as it ever was. It does not need to adopt new and startling methods". - Robert Henri

"Trinket" Heart

This heart was inspired by one lone earring -- found long ago, recently rediscovered.  I love the square with the openings, the dangles of beads and metal pieces - a perfect center for my latest heart.

I keep gravitating to the peach/light rust/gold - deserty colors.  Recently a friend, who hadn't seen any of my recent work, told me that the 'new' color this year is dark peach, even for fall/winter clothes.  Could it be - for the very first time in my life - that I'm right on top of the latest fashion???

"All the windows of my heart I open to the day". - John Greenleaf Whittier

"Rusty Heart"

Why are we so fascinated with rust?  I know that a lot of us like rust and even go out of our way to create it, or to use it in some fashion or another.  There are chemicals that will give a rusty appearance to almost anything.  Some of us carefully nurture rust by wrapping fabric around rusty nails and other implements.

Although this most recent heart is fashioned from un-rusty thread, floss and felt -- you'll notice a rusty heart dangling in the center.  Hopefully while this small metal heart may be rusty -- its is still a symbol of all that is good within us.

"It is better to rust out than wear out". - Edwin Markham

"Moon Beams" Heart

Shhhh - its night time.  The moon is shining in the dark sky and I am wishing on it.  Wishing for those things we all wish for - peace and pleasure, laughter and loving, conscience and caring.  As a girl I never realized that there was an actual 'man in the moon' until I put on my first pair of glasses.  I've been talking to him ever since.

I'm afraid my camera just could not capture the delicacy of the colors in this heart.  The loops are punched in palest lavender with Wildflower thread 'pale lilac' as the trim. 

"There is nothing you can see that is not a flower; there is nothing you can think that is not the moon". - Matsuo Basho

"Country Garden" Heart

This year has given our whole neighborhood a bumper crop of Hydrangeas -- and the most spectacular fuchsia color that I've ever seen.  Of course I had to use this color in a heart loop-pile embroidery.

Add to that the finding of this marvelous dragonfly charm - hidden in amongst my stash of 'found objects' - the heart practically made itself.

Somehow hearts and gardens seem to go together -- perhaps it is a bond with the earth and its bounty that we each have.  While I myself do not have a green thumb, its with delight that I can translate the natural world into stitchery.

"By plucking her petals, you do not gather the beauty of the flower". - Rabindranath Tagore

An "Earthbound" Heart

Of the four elements – earth, water, air and fire I am of the earth.  Sometimes, when I feel too unimaginative or too organized or too predictable I wish to be of air or water – floating and flying free and clear.  Other times I love being earthbound.  I love the feeling of planting my feet firmly upon the ground, of taking each day a step at a time.

This “Earthbound” heart holds deep earthen colors – those of the rocks and red earth, of the sun being soaked into the ground.  This heart is ‘my’ heart as it is attached to this beautiful earth.

"Forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair". - Khahil Kabran

"Light and Shadows" Heart

I've completed another heart - this time calling it "Light and Shadows".  The fibers that I recently acquired made this story easy to tell.  I couldn't resist combining the Wildflower shade of 'winter wheat' with warm gold and soft lavender.  As I punched this heart it seemed to speak to me of canyon walls with their warmth and the depths of the shadows within.  The button in the center (which unfortunately reflects light so that you aren't getting a true picture of its color and richness) looks like a glazed tile piece - also in a rich, warm gold color. 

I'd love to know what you see when looking at this design?

"Shadow is a colour as light is, but less brilliant; light and shadow are only the relation of two tones". - Paul Cezanne

"Journey" - Heart

This heart became what it is in spite of any preconceived ideas that I had.  I began with the spiral button.  You probably already know that I love spirals - a circle that is open - never closed, always moving (just as hearts should be).

As I worked, the whole 'planned' color scheme changed - more toward 'jewel' tones than I had planned.  The design spaces also lost the boundaries that I had originally planned for them.  My lesson learned is that no journey, not even a thread journey, should be overly planned.

"What you are comes to you." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Looking Within"

What if I put the key in the door?  What if I turn the key?  What if I actually look within to see what is there?  Do I hesitate to open the door or do I turn the key and hope for wonders and magic.  I'm on the side of opening it - of looking within to see what is there.  I may like it, or I may not like it - but how will I know unless I look?

This heart is 5-1/2" long x 4-3/4" at its widest.  For some reason I am drawn to rose and green these days.  Perhaps it is the time of the year, perhaps I'm just becoming a romantic.

The back is embroidered felt -- I love working with felt, don't you? 

And here I'm sending along x's and o's just for each of you.

"Nobody has ever measured, not even poets, how much the heart can hold". - Zelda Fitzgerald

This Moment

"Music of her World" by Deborah C. Kracht

This image is posted above my work table.  Each day its bright colors welcome me into my little nest of a work area.  The words help me remember to use each day, each hour, each minute, each second to nourish my soul and to help all five senses plus my hands bring forth efforts of gentleness and beauty.

Sometime I actually manage to heed these words as my both my mind and hands keep busy.  Other days I'm not quite so able.  On those days my mind whirls around like a hamster on a wheel in a cage -- all sorts of random thoughts that usually have no significance whatsoever.  On those days my hands move - but not in any direction, doing this and that and that and this.

So here's to more days where I can be 'in the moment' and let the 'music fill my soul' and I wish the same thing for each of you.  After all we're all in this moment together!

"Clean out a corner of your mind and creativity will instantly fill it". - Dee Hock

February BJP

Here is my February BJP -- all decked out with a heart (what other symbol could I use in February?) and lots of beads and fibers.  This bookmark is based on the word 'intertwine'.  When I first pulled the word out of my 'word jar' and looked it up in the dictionary I found the definition of 'to twine together'.  While I was working on this bookmark I went back to the dictionary to pull out the definition of 'twine' and found this: "Twine n. a strong thread or string composed of two or more strands twisted together."  Now if that isn't the most perfect word for this Valentine's Day month.  It made me think of all of the connections we create in life and how each is composed of strands twisted together to make a strong thread.
   

And so, I dedicate this bookmark to all the strands of my life that are tightly twisted together becoming stronger every year.  To my husband, my son and grandsons, to my '
best sister' and to all my friends -- may we stay intertwined together forever.

"Life's truest happiness is found in friendships we make along the way." - Unknown

The Second Month

It is February and this month looks like its going to fly by.  So better get busy on my February BJP bookmark.  The word for February is "Intertwined".  I'm not sure why I pulled out 'interlude' and 'intertwined' one right after another.  Both words start with the preface of 'inter-' which according to the dictionary is: a prefix meaning "between," "among," "mutually", "reciprocally", "together".  I like that 'intertwined' means "to twine together." 

And so I have started this month's BJP with a heart at its core (only fitting for February) and one that has a twining of ribbons and beads.  Who knows where this word will take me during the rest of the month but I hope that I end up conveying 'intertwined' as a twisting together. Already all sorts of images are floating through my mind.

Intertwine v.t. to twine together.

"RSVP"

After completion of the white glove I had to decide how to display it. Display was never a problem for me when I was creating book art -- finish the book, stand it up and voila!! However for beaded pieces the display is a whole new world for me. As I beaded the hand I had the thought that this was a bride's glove and I wanted to display it to portray that kind of image. I had pictured the glove laying on top of a vintage wedding invitation which was in turn atop a vintage plate. I was never able to find a vintage wedding invitation - but I did find an old photograph of a bride and groom. The bride is wearing white gloves and holding a bouquet of pink flowers.

Now to the plate -- which I found at a local shop "Honeysuckle Hollow". The owner makes these serving plates by affixing old plates to glass bases. The one I found had pink flowers on it which was perfect. While in the shop the owner suggested that I might want to make a small beaded heart to place in the palm of the hand - good idea!

What started out as a vague idea of what to do with this long term project became a romantic assemblage. Don't you love it when your art takes on a life of its own and becomes what it wants to be?

"Let us celebrate the occasion with wine and sweet words." - Plautus