Mlle Fleur

 

We've caught Mlle Fleur in her garden.  She has picked some flowers, still with the early morning dew on them. 

Surrounded by color and life June is the perfect time in the garden. The dragon fly was flitting near the pond. A spotted bird's egg waits..

 

"If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need." - Marcus Tullius Cicero

Collecting Faces

I'm collecting faces these days.  Looking at expressions and thinking about what each face tells me.  Someday soon I shall make up a story for each of them and present it in cloth and stitch.

"After a certain numer of years, our faces become our biographies." - Cynthia Ozick

A Whole New Space

It was time!  Time to find different ways to use my space. I decided I'd like work stations -- especially to use the window at the end of the room for natural light. Also I needed more shelving for all of my 'stuff' - but then who doesn't! 

With the help of IKEA and my trusty handiman husband (thank heavens for him) we embarked on a major readjustment.  Tom says that the worst words in the world are "some assembly required" and when I opened this box where my soon-to-be chair resided in pieces I almost flinched back in horror.  There were all these bits and pieces, several screws of different sizes and everything in black so it looks alike.  YIKES!

But with effort and patience it all came together.  I now have a space where I can divide my work properly between visits with you at the computer and joyously stitching in a special spot.  I love having my sewing space in front of the window, with natural light in the morning and the frogs in the little pond outside serenading me.

"Change brings opportunity." -  Nido Qubein

A Path Often Taken

What draws me back and back to figure/doll making?  For my path always seem to take me that way - or perhaps it is not back as much as sideways.  Like forks in the road, I work on one type of craft for awhile and then take the turn and head back into the realm of figure work.

I am most attracted to work that tells a story of one kind or another.  It can be a story-story or it can be the tale of the artist and the thought of seeing the world through the artist's eye.  For some reason using the figure as my medium always allows me to tell a story -- it forms in my mind as my hands are working.

Perhaps it is the 'personality' that develops as the work progresses.  Perhaps it is the 'mother' in me that wants to shape and create a new 'life'.  Whatever it is - when it hits it is best for me to go along for the ride.

"To learn something new, take the path that you took yesterday." - John Burroughs

"Waiting"

"Waiting" -- this young woman is just beginning her life.  What awaits her?  She is anticipatory thinking that all things bright and beautiful will be coming her way.  Will someone come along and unlock the key to her heart?  Will each day bring wonder and magic?  All is before her.

I so enjoyed working on this figure - which includes painted fabric, snippets of special fabrics, a couple of my 'trinkets' and of course a few embroidery stitches.  Pure joy!

This figure was inspired by Daryle Cook's 'stuffies' submission in a 2009 issue of "Cloth Paper Scissors". I am so grateful for this guidance back into figure/doll making.

"The world is full of magical things patiently waiting for our wits to grow sharper." - Bertrand Russell