Tangled Stitch

I Won’t Give Up I won't give up on us Even if the skies get rough I'm giving you all my love I'm still looking up Those are the lyrics to a song by Jason Mraz.   It’s one of my favorite songs.   It speaks to the dreamer in me when my own words say something different.   It reminds me that anything is possible if we just believe in ourselves, the power of love and the hope of a dream. I am a writer and an artist.  I write my blog to inspire and make art to inspire myself.  I am who I am.  I will not give up until I reach my dreams.  I am going to make art the rest of the day and write about it later.  I had a completely different blog post written one in which I ranted about how hard it is to be an artist and a dreamer, but realized ranting only takes away from the beauty of art.  So off I go to find my artistic soul once again.   If you are near Altamont, please come visit the Canal Fest tomorrow and Sunday ...

I saw mommy kissing Santa Claus and she was wearing this. They were out dancing at the company Christmas Party.  Cha, cha. This piece is only available on the blog at the moment.  Email me if interested

Moody Blues available at Valley Artisans Market in Cambridge, NY What is peace to you? I think in these times of universal chaos, the greatest gift we can give ourselves and the planet at the moment is peace within each and every one of us.   We give the planet a gift when we find a few moments to just get out of our own way and find something that brings us peace. For me there is no greater peace than hand embroidering with my headphones on and some bluesy music spinning.   So when I finish this post that is what I’m going to do, to bring peace to the countryside of my chaotic mind. What brings you peace?   Is it a walk around a lovely lake, a couple of hours in the library just looking at books, a yoga class?   Or are you worrying about all the things you have to do today and not thinking about giving yourself a moment’s peace?   It’s hurting the planet; it’s making a planet full of frenetic type -A personalities afraid that if they even...

Every day we use our hands to show where our heart belongs.   When we are children, our parents hold our hands while we cross the streets. Our hands are held with another in young love.    We offer our hands in marriage.   We shake the hands of the people we meet. We hold the hand of the loved ones who are dying. We use our hands to eat, to greet, to love.   The touch of a human hand is the most important gift we can give to each other.   It can console, it can love, it can caress.   We can wave hello or wave goodbye.   We eat with our hands.   We hold a book in our hands.   We embroider with our hands. We never give a lot of attention to all the things our hands do.   We do most of these things without even realizing the important of hands, touch, and movement. I am a hand embroidery artist.   I give a lot of attention to my hands and the hands of other people.   You can tell a lot about the hands of anothe...

This delightful little rainbow fish is looking for a wall to hang out on, preferably near a fish tank so she isn't lonely.  She is available in my Etsy shop now.  She's on groovy watery blue fabric and even has a little heart hand embroidered right smack dab in the middle of her chubby little body.  She's framed in a 4 x 6 simple black frame so she'll fit in anywhere especially in a child's room as she loves to watch over children too.  As usual she is more impressive in person as my photography could use a few lessons.  Keep stitchin.

This is dedicated to Uncle Jerry who is not really my uncle but who always made a sad little girl laugh.   Speak to me of death is a line from the book The Prophet by Khalil Gibran.   That line is the beginning of my spiritual journey.   That page in that book was the first time I looked at death as anything more than an utter and complete tragedy.   I felt my loved ones were in peace. I want to talk about death because nobody ever wants to talk about death.   We don’t like to think of our own and we don’t like to talk about others and we don’t want to think it could happen to us. But it does happen to us every single day, someone dies and it affects everyone in their lives forever.   We can dismiss it and cry about it in the middle of the night but god forbid we talk about it.   We don’t want to admit we are vulnerable enough to be completely devastated by the loss of someone we love and the pain and the sorrow that accompanies it sometim...

Robert Redbird had a new home before I even got a chance to share him.  I hope he is happy, which I know he is and the lovely lady who took him home smiles every time she sees him. I'm thinking of hitting the road in a big way so if you know of a craft or art show looking for crafters or artists please email me and let me know.  I'm ready willing and able to do the work needed to find myself a new place to live and a new attitude.  I'm also offering my services as a hand embroidery teacher.  I wish I could teach the whole world how to hand embroider as there is nothing quite as satisfying as looking at a project that you have made with your hands and your heart.  Hand embroidery also has the hidden benefit of making those around you calmer(thanks to the lovely patron in Blue Mountain Lake who told me she read that).  So if you wish to learn, just email me and if there happens to be a craft show that weekend even better. I will be honest and admit that...

There is a parable in the New Testament about talent.   God gives us talents and he expects us to use them.   He doesn’t want us to die with our light still undiscovered within us.   He wants us to take our skills, our strengths, our passions and build a life with them. A life in which each person cooperates in the bigger picture of life and stands strong and firm with others   to bring our world to a more perfect union. We seem to have forgotten this parable somewhere along the way and appearances of wealth and class and stature seem to have taken over the day.   Our ancestors survived for centuries without computers and IPhone yet it seems like these are necessities this day to do just about everything.   Including using or selling your talents and that is probably God’s plan for the IPhone and computer too. I am a hand embroidery artist, a writer, a talker and a listener (except it seems when it is advice being offered to me).   Hand e...