a new blog

      

Please join me at my new space...Slow and Woven

Cherry Blossoms

Somehow, in the 10 years that I've lived here, I never realized that our cherry blossom tree blooms right around Valentine's Day. Perhaps it was those prior weeks of heart crafting that put me in a more romanticized mood or the drama that the rain brought to the tree, making its full blossomed branches hang way low as if they wanted to kiss us with their beauty. In any case, I just couldn't get enough of this tree today.

Valentines

Last year at this time I found myself up much too late trying to whip out a little something handmade to give to my kids on Valentine's Day. This year I got started early, and well, the ideas just didn't seem to want to stop. Part procrastination (I do have a whole house with four people to sort, pack and move in about a month) and part creative deprivation equals endless experimentation in heart making. Here are three of my favorites.

Resurfacing

It has been a while...a long while. Somewhere along the way, sometime in the middle of last year, I finally just surrendered to the busyness and chaos of what my life was for the moment and figured out where I needed to focus my attention and put my energy. It was not here...oh, how I wanted it to be here...but even my simplest pleasures ended up becoming stresses and it was best to just let go. Now, months later, and with the start of a new year I am ready to exhale and begin nurturing again that neglected, but oh so loved, creative self of mine.

Not that's it's been all uncreative mind you. It's just that there has been a house and a remodel...a bigger-than-we-realized-it-was-going-to-be remodel. And decisions...so many decisions...more decisions than I want to have to make again in a very long time. And finally the house is almost finished. And the home we have been dreaming and creating and breathing is almost ready to receive us...along with a new studio space for me. I look forward to sharing it with you. Happy New Year!

Rose studies

Although I'm an avid gardener, I must admit I really don't like to grow roses. Which is why my sister-in-law transplanted about 20 well-established rose bushes from the property of the house we are remodeling over to her garden last year. All but two plants made the transition. So now she has an amazing rose garden that she gets to tend to and I have beautiful bouquets that I delightfully receive from it. Works for me.

A long wait

Details from a vintage tablecloth I found today at an estate sale. Almost not worth the forty five minutes I had to wait in line to get into the sale. But its little graphic motifs and bits of silver metallic make me happy.

Peony

My sister-in-law brings one of these to me every year from her garden. I grow them also, in white and a couple of other shades of pink, but mine do not bloom this early and they are never as magnificent as the one's from this particular bush in her garden. I'm just realizing, after having received them from her for about the last five years, that it has become a ritual...one that I never expect or even remember is coming, but one that marks the change of the seasons more fully for me. I am slowly slipping myself into this beautiful Spring...finally.

A favorite poem.

Plain and simple

Still trying to slow things down. And I still feel like I have not really, truly sprung into Spring yet. I'm not sure why I'm dragging my heels...I think maybe because I am feeling behind, very behind. Time is flying by me and I can't seem to keep up with it. So I'm slowing it down my way...by playing around with the most simple and purest of textures. Natural hemp, soft brushed organic cotton, the exquisite rawness of linen and smooth silk. With just a hint of variation in colors. When life feels so very complicated and busy, the beauty of the plain and simple keeps me grounded.

Happy April

But where exactly did March go? Last thing I remember I was planning a very small first birthday brunch for my daughter. But even on that scale it ended up being more work and time than I anticipated. And then there was the volunteer work for my son's school, followed by kids ping ponging colds back and forth, more loss of sleep, and not many moments to pause, breathe, think, feel. Yes, now I remember March. Sometimes life just takes off and you have to hold on and ride it out, whether you like it or not.

Thank heavens I did find some time to fit in an estate sale or two along the way. Nothing like a couple of simple but awesome scores to bring some joy and peace to an otherwise crazy month.

Here's to a more calm and centered April.

One

It's all about my sweet little girl this week. She is turning one and we have been celebrating her fully...all week long and culminating with a (pre)Spring-like brunch on Sunday with some friends. This year, oddly for me, I am feeling very comfy and present in Winter and not at all in the mood to rush the season. However, she was supposed to be a Spring baby...she had a different plan and showed up a few weeks early at the end of Winter...and so I have a feeling that every year, no matter how much I am (strangely) enjoying this darker and colder season, I will be feeling the love and joy and pull of the new season...one of my favorites... right around her birthday.

Cocktail napkins

This project called out to me this week to be worked on and so I'm back to a little bit of sewing. It's nice when you start to develop an idea...over a year ago... and also remember to leave yourself some well written notes with it....because you never really know when you are going to have time to get back to it. I had already cut the strips of fabric for the borders way back when, and since I had made some clear and exact directions for myself on how to sew the frame together it wasn't such a daunting task to reaquaint myself with the whole project.

I like the simple patterns I originally chose but they are feeling a little somber for me right now. So I've put together this color story of fabrics I've been collecting...

I'll admit it seems a bit odd for cocktail napkins but I'm going to give it a shot. It will be fun to see how they will mix and match, and if all else fails I'll have an interesting collection of napkins for the Fourth of July!

Kimono buttons

Loving these graphic buttons covered in vintage silk kimono fabrics that I found today at Yasuko .

Tiny weavings

A little story about the littlest of weavings.

I found this beautiful book.

And in it, a sweet little way to weave ribbon onto fabric.


But I didn't like the sheen of the ribbons and I soon got bored with their size.

So I switched to a gauzy fabric

and bigger and bolder ribbon.


And then to yarn...just a little chunky of course.


I like that they look like little cushions sitting on the fabric.

The End.

...or maybe to be continued.

Growth

Bits of growth everywhere these days. With the baby. With creativity. With patience and perseverance. And with these, found in the winter garden.

Feeling Chunky?

I am...and, no, I'm not referring to those 10 months-post pregnancy-extra pounds I've yet to do anything about. What I am talking about are the many different pattern and textural moods I often go through on a monthly, weekly, sometimes even daily, basis. I guess the pom poms got me started on this one last week when I was playing around with some of my chunkier yarns. This week I'm still feeling it and the chunkier the better! Top two images are carpet samples from Merida (and wouldn't they make fantastic giant pom poms!), and bottom image is of marshmallow-sized beads I made of felted wool roving and sewed together. I was thinking of continuing it into a small rug. That, however, would require me to make, oh, about 200 more beads...perhaps a cute little sample is all I need right now.

Pom poms

I feel like I'm off to a good start for the new year. During these first two weeks I've been getting my ideas organized and working on a plan of action for what I hope to explore and accomplish with my work this year, including putting myself on a more disciplined schedule rather than a whenever-I-can-fit-something-creative-in type of routine.

That said, I also wanted to start off the year as more of a maker than a thinker and dreamer. And although I was having a lot of fun sewing at the end of last year, I've really been missing playing around with yarn. I started making these pom poms just for fun...they are simple, fast and gratifying. But I soon discovered that it is also a great way to get to know a yarn. Out of the process came a new and different understanding for each of the yarns that I used. Most of them are made from knitting yarns that I have been collecting to try in weaving. To my disappointment, I found that many of the weaving yarns I have just aren't soft and supple enough to create the fluff that is needed to hide the cinched, center of the pom pom. Some good info to have when planning out future weaving projects, especially since I've been thinking about creating more lofty type fabrics. Making pom poms is also a great way to see how the colors of space dyed and multicolored plied yarns start to blend when used, beyond the obvious pattern created when they are wound into a skein or on a cone. I think I've found a fun new little way to create quick color "studies" that can then be developed into color stories.

Where I've been... and where I'm going

Where I've been...
birthing. nursing. transitioning a newborn into the world and another child into kindergarten. transitioning myself through it all. watching time and seasons fly. growing out of one home. designing the next one. waiting to move. putting pieces and fragments of life together as best as possible. trying to stay grounded. at times just getting through it. reorganizing everything. trying to accomplish something, wanting to complete anything. putting things on hold. falling behind. falling into ruts. giving up. giving myself a break. frustrated by a lot of it. questioning some of it. loving most of it.

Where I'm going...
forward. to new creative places. to a quieter, inner place to "hear" myself. to capture as much as I can in writing, photos, craft, design. to be in rhythm with the seasons. to break out of ruts. to find inspiration. to bring ideas to completion. to a new home. to an organized space. to a new creative space. to a productive place. to beyond just getting by. to where frustrations and resentments are mended. to the fullness of it all. to a nurtured self. to loving the chaos and messiness of it all. to the present moment.

All the while...
loving, nurturing, mending, guiding, and trying to stay patient and present with the two little ones and the one bigger one in my life.

Favorite Obsessions: Estate Sale Finds

I love estate sales. They are one of my favorite places to find vintage fabrics, old sewing notions, out of date sewing and crafting books, and of course great collectibles and retro furniture. I know for some it seems odd to be going through a newly deceased person's house and things, but I like to think that the person would be happy that I am appreciating the things that they loved and am bringing them into my life to continue to admire and use. Above are some finds from a recent sale I went to. The little looms are only 2 1/2" and 4 1/2" square. Now if I can't find time to weave on those than there's something wrong with me!

Hoping to get to these soon.

Some projects waiting (not so) patiently in the wings...

I found this at a thrift store. It's a vintage, round, cotton tablecloth. Kind of funky with the fringed edge, but I love the weave. I want to use it to make a modern baby picnic blanket.

And this project I actually started last Christmas but never had the time to make a set. They are going to be linen cocktail napkins trimmed with these simple, coordinating fabrics.

More to follow soon on both of these!

Mandalas and Labyrinths: The Work of Whitney Krueger

I'm finding fewer and fewer moments these days to do any of my own work. So in the meantime I am staying inspired by admiring others work. I'm loving these mandalas that my friend Whitney Krueger creates as offerings to the earth and to all living things in the world of nature. This one is made of honey... you can see who happily accepted this gift! It's worth a click on the image to see an extra close up view of the honey and the bees.

I want to become a gnome so I can have a party with all of my friends in this one below, aptly named "Gnome-ndala".

Whitney is an environmental artist, healer and sculptor. Another popular theme in her work is the labyrinth. This beautiful one was created from oyster shells.

You can learn more about Whitney and her amazing
work at her blog, Enchanted Living Arts.
Thanks for the inspiration Whit!