Flying Machine

                                                        "Design for Flying Machine" - Leonardo da Vinci

Going back to the desert - flying high in the sky.

I'll try to post along the way - just to let you know that I'm thinking about you as I breathe in the clear desert air, spread my arms in the openess and feel the sunshine warm my skin (even though it is supposed to be rather cool).  And of course loving our family!

"For once you have tasted flight you will walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been and there you will long to return." - Leonardo da Vinci
 

An "InVESTment"

Who would think that design of a small lined vest would be so complicated?  Who would think that after several practice pieces the 'investee' would want to tear these bits into scraps and throw them all away?  Who would think that after 'three strikes and you're out' a successful prototype would be accomplished?

 

 

Meanwhile someone is waiting patiently, with a slight smile on her face, as her creator goes through all sorts of gyrations.  And we haven't even gotten to the shoes yet!

"Practice is the best of all instructors." - Publilius Syrus

 

Symbols

In my creative life I find myself drawn to symbols - some of them over and over.


Here are my 'most used' symbols:

Bells, stars, the moon, birds, circles, dots, spirals, letters, music, metal, time.  I'm sure there are many others -- but these are the ones that usually end up in my work no matter whether I'm beading, punching or doll making.  These symbols represent comfort and joy.  They put the world to rights for me.  I never get tired of them and often read multiple meanings into them.

Here's the official definition for the word 'symbol'.

sym·bol - ( n.)

1. Something that represents something else by association, resemblance, or convention, especially a material object used to represent something invisible.

 

2. A printed or written sign used to represent an operation, element, quantity, quality, or relation, as in mathematics or music.

 

How about you -- do you find recurrent symbols appearing in your work?  I know that many of you have some of the same symbols list that I do, because I see these same symbols in the work I love to look at.
 

 

Isn't it wonderful to have a treasure trove of images flitting through your mind -- images that please you, bring you peace and make you want to flaunt them in your handwork?

"We are symbols, and inhabit symbols." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

 

Lots of Stitches

Some thoughts on the recent quilt show that I visited...  Remember the story about the Blue Ridge Parkway and the tunnels?  Here is one tunnel represented in fabric and stitch.  It looked like one could just walk right into that tunnel.

There were traditional quilts...

...there were fantasy quilts...

...and there were contemporary quilts.

I later thought about the numbers -- the teeny, tiny stitches (both hand and machine); the fabrics - in all the colors of the rainbow and beyond; the shapes and patterns.  Last but not least the hours, days, months of stitching.  It was an honor to be able to see all of this beautiful work in one place at one time.

"I found I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn't say any other way -- things I had no words for." - Georgia O'Keefe

"Star Gazing"

Taking a bit of time for star gazing!

Feeling the vastness of the inky sky above me - dotted with teeny, tiny lights (that aren't really teeny tiny at all).

Thinking that these dots once guided sailors and travelers from place to place. Could it be, that by looking at them I can also find my way?

 "Star light, star bright

First star I see tonight

I wish I may, I wish I might

Have the wish I wish tonight."