Tangled Stitch

This is a hand embroidered tree that I made last fall and only framed this week. I worked on a few new pieces which are also in this bunch of photos but the tree spoke to me. So hence I decided to share it tonight. I love trees. I love to look at them with or without leaves and they speak to me. They tell me how I can look at 10 of them standing next to each other and notice the uniqueness of all of them. When I embroider trees I try to remember that. Trees are very strong but can be easily broken under the right conditions. They get sick, they bear fruit, they give us shelter and when they are broken they can be chopped up and give us warmth or even a house. They also give us paper. Today as I was getting into my car I looked at a tree near my driveway with a scar where a branch had been taken off either in the ice storm this winter or because it was damaged. The scar looked like a scab and made the tree look like a human or at least signified it was a living being. Sometimes ...

Hi All! Hope you are all well and happy! This is one of the new crochet bags I've been making and the most experimental. I am still enjoying crocheting and knitting and I'm getting all these wonderful ideas from friends and the universe alike. I'm also still working on my jeweltone circle hand from a few posts ago. I've made a decision to go for it. To try to express myself through my work and focus on things I love to do. Instead of playing spider solitaire for hours(which became my form of escape over the past few months)I'm crocheting, knitting or embroidering. Kind of decided if I can't make it as a business doing what I love and making work that I love that I might as well do it as a hobby and get a real job. I've kind of given myself to the end of the year(or even a little longer) to make it or break it. In the fall I'm going to try Etsy and also if you read my blog and want to purchase something just email me and I'll give you the sp...

I have pieces to take pictures of I just haven't taken them yet so stay tuned. The craft show saga continues with no tears and a little more optimism but still not my day. I had a lot of lookers and a few people took cards and asked about prices and there were less people today then there were last week(a lot less). So although still haven't validated my life path, I had a great creative time knitting and crocheting all week. I made a couple of cute bags. I'm loving working with texture and color and chaos my favorite trio. My friend Cheryl did pretty well today, she makes the most beautiful glass work which in my opinion is the perfect gift for anyone as it is lovely and funky and delicate and well just lovely. She's also got this craft show thing and marketing her work thing down pat. I was hoping she would rub off on me but as of now all she does is inspire me greatly and give me hope that you can do something you love and make it profitable. I whittled my wa...

Another show another weekend filled with tears. Ok the writing is on the wall, whatever I end up doing no more tears. I didn't get too many knit and crochet purses done but I enjoyed making them immensely so that is my starting point. I also worked on another hand embroidered hand(beautiful jewel tones on watercolored muslin) I enjoyed that immensely too. So the going gets tough the tough get going. More knitting, more framed pieces, more crochet. I have all the hand embroidered table fill I could possibly want to get me through the current craft season so I now have nothing to lose and no more things to make just to make money(which isn't working). I've wanted to experiment and spread my wings for a while but kept on doing the well whatever you get the point. You've never seen my run of the mill work because I don't even share it on my blog. Something I don't want to share on my blog is something I don't want to make anymore. Now to get off the pity...

This is the finished piece Zoom, Zoom, Zoom or Floating Turtles framed and now in residence at Katbird Shop in Schenectady along with Flamethrower both on watercolored fabric as of today. Now for the continuation of my previous two posts(one should never write on a blog after a particularly bad outing). My life is changing so much almost in every minute between my son and my self and my work, sometimes when the process is completely chaotic the artist is chaotic also. Thankfully I still have both ears! I've been crocheting and totally enjoying the process and the product and how ideas are just flying into my brain. I had breakfast with my friend Emily who is the best friend I think I've ever had in my life. She just let me go on and on and on about my show and the encounter with the lady there. She gave me wonderful advice and a wonderful ear to listen(as have my bloggy friends) and asked me why this woman's comment had such an affect on me. After a really long conve...

All my lifes a circle sunrise and sundown. Sung by the wonderful Harry Chapin who I had the honor of seeing in person when I was a teen at a community college. I loved him and bought a few of his albums and oddly enough settled in Huntington Long Island where he was buried. He died on a July 16th in an auto accident the same day I returned from the one week I tried to sell ads for bookcovers about an hour away from where I now live. That trip changed my entire life as the beauty of the area which I now live in was probably seen from a beautiful hairpin turn while during that one week in my crazy job experience thing(I had dozens of jobs before I had my delightful son and retired to stay at home mom). So what does this have to do with now you are thinking? I can't really kid myself and pretend that I am going to be this great hand embroidery artist. Of course I'll still hand embroider and try to sell them but reality says I have to change course as I can't really even ...

Hi All! I'm in the midst of a 2 day craft show at the Albany Shaker Museum(stop in if in the neighborhood) and it is wonderful to be around friends. It is my favorite craft show in the world because I know so many wonderful people from the craft shows and volunteering during the holiday season. Unfortunately it isn't going very well on the business side of the blackboard. Lately I'm wondering if I am on the wrong life path. I love to hand embroider, I still love, love, love doing framed pieces such as hands, trees, flowers(since I have a black thumb in the real garden)but whatever I am selling people aren't buying. It seems to be a common trend among all of us artist/crafters that business is down but it still can be a bit of a letdown. But then again what else could be on the horizon? The job market is slim to none. I can't possibly work any harder then I have been(lots of small projects) so back to the hand. I love to embroider hands, because as in the ca...

Hi All! I know it's been a while but life is still a little hectic over here. This is my latest piece. It's a hand embroidered eye hand surrounded by french knots. I have a new camera and I just love how it picks up the details of the embroidery. You can actually see the variations in colors(at least on my end anyway). I'm so happy that I have a new camera and that it takes better photos then the old one. It's kind of appropriate too that the first picture of my work with my new camera is an eye. Whenever I think of eyes I think that they are a window of the world. When I was a little girl I once went to my grandmother's church and some lovely old woman said she could see the whole world in my eyes. I never quite forgot it. It's true you know , people can pretend to be happy or they can pretend to be mad but in the end the eyes always give it away. You can tell a sad person if they have sad eyes no matter how big the smile on their face. It's als...