Black and White and Red all over.

Well this might be a good time as any to introduce you to a mistake.
I sometime get really excited about making something and only after about half way into it do I realize that it is going to be a flop.  This was what happened with this tea cozy I decided to make for Ancient Cloth.

She had mentioned a special cloth that she bought from the New England Quilt Museum. Oh boy, I thought I have some 'special' cloth and I hadn't figured out what to do with it.  I will make it into a tea cozy for AC.  Right. Here is the cloth.

I got this fabric from Alma Stoller before she was featured on the cover of Quilting Arts Magazine.

I had entered a quiltie in a contest that she was having on her yahoo group.

This is called Emotions.

It is really my first slow cloth in the sense that it was done slowly...lots of hand work and I discovered a lot of wisdom in it.  I explained this when I posted it on her yahoo group.

The orange lady is joy ad the green is fear but in between these two is the one that could either be anger or depression (anger turned inward).

When we are depressed or angry we are not really expressing our fears or joys.

We are stuck.

The other 'special' cloth is this nice red cloth.

couldn't really see it?

I took a class with Ann Johnson on Quilt Design.

She passed out a scape of her hand died fabrics to each participant.

I have never found just the right place for this piece.

I had just the motivation I needed to overcome all obstacles of fear.

But then realized this isn't going to work.

Will show you in my next post what I decided to do to "make it work".

To be continued in next post.

January has become a CLEANING month

I know the new buzz is Clearing Space...but to get right down to it I have been wiping, washing, dumping, re-organizing and deep cleaning.  Not only that, but I have been developing new habits, clean habits.  The first habit that I put in place was that I wasn't going to wash another child's dish.  In exchange for not washing them I have told them that they will have better thought out meals.  Which I have been able to do since I am not behind the eight ball in cleaning all the dishes. (We have a dishwasher...but I have a religious objection to using it, which my kids do not understand.  Plainly it is this; if I have to wash the dishes clean so that machine can throw soap all over them and rinse them, then why shouldn't I just go ahead and wash them.  So I do.)

Today Louise Bird wrote in the comments about how important tea was to British way of life.  I went down determined to have a cup of chia tea.  I could nearly smell it.  But when I went to look for the canister I couldn't find it.  The water was boiling and still I couldn't find it.  I started cleaning out the kitchen cabinets and wiping them down with a rage.  I clean one shelf then another.  Then I found a small bag of the left over chia tea mix that I had made.  I had enough to make a pot of tea.  I continued to clean and search for my container of chia tea mix.

I have done almost two cabinets and four drawers...and four hours later I figured out where it might be.  It had rolled under a metal rack that we store jars and can food.  Well I tell you that there is nothing that modivates me to clean than losing something.  So I feel that I am headed in the right direction for Januaray.


Erika C. at Each Day is a Present has been writing a lot about creating a vision for herself this year.  She has posted about making a Vision Calendar .  I have been thinking about making one...but I have decided to devote 12 pages of my new journal, when it gets here to the task.  She also talks about Choosing Three Qualities that you want to see this year.  I have had a lot to meditate on while I am cleaning...and I think that cleaning is a great way to meditate.  So I am going to be jotting down ideas, goals and qualities on as I work, to write into my journal.


 

I like to keep a journal.  I don't write a lot about what I am doing in the journal.  Sometimes I do but mostly I write about things that are important that I have read or that I heard that I don't want to forget.  I also write reflections of what I think about a certain situation.  I have been reading over my journal the past couple of weeks and have revisited some things that I had forgotten about.  I found they hold some incredible truths and are like a time capsule of the year.  I could just write in a blank book that doesn't have any date.  In fact I do this when I am writing my morning pages.  But I like the fact that it is a journal and that there is a sequence of time that keeps you going forward.

I usually buy a weekly planner.  One that shows five day/ or seven days on a page and then has a few photos through out.  This year I decided to try this Moleskin Artist Collection which is a blank page for each day.  Perhaps sometimes there will be art or sometime a Mind Map for a page. 

Have you been inspired by the New Year to make some changes, create a new habit, or change your focus by  giving you some new direction for the new year.  I wish you would share it with me.  It feels like we are all starting again at the starting line.

LETS GO!!!

Having Tea!

I have been slowly emerging from the holidays.

I have been cleaning and rejuvenating.

I have been rereading my journal from last year,

and contemplating the directions I would like to take in the new year.

To help with all this, I have been drinking tea every day.

Sometimes in the morning, and sometimes before bed.

Sometimes it has be a tea bag

but often it has been mint tea or chamomile tea out of my garden.

The best part of all has been having this tea cozy to help celebrate the ritual of having tea.

This tea cozy was given to me for a Christmas present by my friend Ancient Cloth.

How many different words are there for how much this means to me?

I love it!

  It so represents my heart and my journey and our friendship.

She sent me a note with the meaning of the different symbols,

and a special note about the moon fabric.

She wrote, "The butterfly emerges from the pain and fears we face.

Of course the stars are all connected.

The moon fabric I used is from the New England Quilt Museum for In The Beginning.

(I thought that was kinda cool)"

So do I, as I have been thinking about this new year and each day,

as a New Beginning.

Art Swap, Barter and Trade

Today I have officially lunched my new blog:

Art Swap, Barter and Trade.

You will find three of my hand carved linoleum cut prints.

I have traded different kinds of art with artist before.

Some of the trades I have been involved in included ATC, art dolls,

quilted pages, tip-ins and postcards.

It is fun and inspiring to get art from other artist.

I am really excited about starting this blog this year!!

Happy New Year!

Miro Page 13

It has been a while since I posted any of my Miro pages from my study book.

I like the exagerated arms and gestures.  I think it is very daring and shocking to have

the caracter sticking out his tongue.

"Gradually Miro became more and more disgusted with the commercialization of art, with "the guy who buys a canvas as an investment."  He even burned some of his canvases, in part for "the joy of being able to say merde to people who see art only for its commercial value,"   he told the journalist Santiago Amon.

    Through out his career, Miro had considered the artwork itself as being only the means to a spiritual end, "Besides," he onced asked,  "do I have to remind you that what I detest most is what is lasting?:  What is lasting, in this centenary retrospective, is more than indivual works; it is the evidence of Miro's uncompromising path toward self discovery."

from Arts and Antiques October 1993

Joe's Stocking

I did this stocking our second year of marriage. 

I started it in November and got it done in a month.

It wasn't easy either for the thread is wool not DMC embroidery thread. 

Christmas Day

With Nicole and Bree.

Under the tree.

Handmade ornaments hanging above.

A bird's nest long forgotten

Making memories that will last.

And remembering those of Christmas past

A visit from a Christmas mouse

Wishing you a Merry Christmas!!!

And a Happy New Year!!

Winston's Stocking

 

I cross stitched this for Winston when he was an infant...but didn't get it finished till he was 3.

We were living in Oregon and so I thought a Douglas Fir would make a good motif for the back.

Mosaic Monday

1. Abstrait, 2. White is White, 3. Soleil Rouge, 4. Untitled

I am featuring one artist today, Cecile M.'s.

You can see more of her work here as well 

as visit her blog here.

Driftwood Tree

Isaac is drilling out the crown of our driftwood tree.

Here he is putting on the finishing touch.

Here is our driftwood tree ready for decorations.

We are planning on making decorations out of drift wood and other found object through

out the year.  I will show you the ornaments as we get them made.