Tangled Stitch

I’m gonna veer off the beaten path today and speak about Jo.  Jo was my mother in law.  She was such a vibrant, loving woman.  She was a collector of quilts and needlework and loved the needle arts as much as I did.  I think that is how we bonded.  She was not a maker but she really appreciated them.  It is because of her that I sell my art, she was so supportive of my talent.  I would make her Scarlet Letter Samplers, so much harder than my usual fare.  I would make her embroidered gifts long before I tried to express myself through hand embroidery.  I used to make christening outfits and she bought a couple of them too, she used to say even the princes of olden days wore christening gowns.  The longer the better.  She framed them and they were on her walls.  Everything I made she loved, she was so very supportive. She loved my son and my son adored his nana.  The sun rose and set on him.  She adored him from...

Well it’s been a while.  And what a strange trip it’s been.  This lovely pillow is available on Etsy. https://etsy.me/2vscg6l .  Now for the strange trip so you can move on if you are only interested in my art. I had a short lived Grub Hub career.  Making money delivering food is both easy and very hard.  I had quite the adventure culminating in a weekend that saw me delivering food to a recycling plant with hard hats and trucks and backing out about 200 feet, driving the wrong way on a one way street in Albany and locking my keys in the car while in a desolate mobile home park in the freezing cold.  I kind of loved it anyway and can see why people do it and why I might still do it after getting commercial insurance policy.  You can’t make a claim on your insurance if you are a driver for hire in NY state.  Luckily it was dark and there was hardly anybody else on the one way street. I’ve been kind of putting my art and pillows on the back bu...

Love is always the answer, Even when we don’t know what the question is.  Is it knowing that they are always there even when you are alone. Is it the laughter you hear, the kisses down your back, the body next to you in bed, Love is infinite, unending, powerful. It can move mountains, transform, protect. Love transcends togetherness, it’s always there.  It never ends. It’s the words to s song that plays in your head. It’s the journey to wholeness in ourselves. Love is the motivation for change. Love is our hope and our promise for the future. Love is our bond and our connection to the past. Love is always the answer, even when we don’t know what the question is. This lovely heart can be found on my Etsy shop.   www,etsy.com/shop/debstangledstitches 

Hi All!  It's been a while but I think it's time to come back and try again so here I am.  I've missed all of you and missed writing too.  I've continued to make work and embroider and have a few tricks up my sleeve and lovely pictures to accompany them but that's for another day. It's very hard to admit that you've been stuck in 2 feet of snow in your mind.  But I've been stuck in two feet of snow in my mind.  My mind was so jumbled for a while, I couldn't really find my way out.  In the meantime I've made many beautiful pieces, found many beautiful friends both old and new, loved my beautiful son and added a dog to the mix.  I've got a lovely part time job doing work I really enjoy with people I enjoy doing it with. My life is so much better and I have so much to be grateful for. But writing on my blog was elusive.  It was a failure really. I guess when you are stuck in the negative mindset of your mind and everything you love becomes in yo...

I Need You   I need you to be here to pick me up when I fall, I need you to be here when I hear the children cry, I need you to be here when I see the waters overflow the shoreline, I need you to tell me it will not start raining and never stop, I need you to kiss the back of my neck and remind me that I am loved, Unconditionally, totally. I need you here in body not just in spirit. I need you when I see the connections everywhere and do not understand what they mean, I need you to find me when I am lost. I need you to bring me to heaven on earth. I need you to remind me that everything will be all right while the world collapses around us. While children go hungry, while woman are victimized, when our brothers are angry and need comfort themselves. Show me you are real when I need to believe in something. We all need to believe in something. We are all one and when one of us is in chaos we are all in chaos. I need you when I look into the eye...

This piece is available at Valley Artisans Market in Cambridge, NY. I've been working on peace ornaments and peace pillows trying to bring myself some peace the last few days.  It has not been easy but try I must.  I believe the world is in a whole heap of trouble and we need to end the chaos within ourselves to fix it.  I don't watch the news anymore.  I monitor very carefully what I let in, but you really can't avoid what is going on unless you live in a cave in the middle of nowhere or a Tibetan mountaintop. The latest is yet another mass shooting.  Why do these things happen?  I will never know, we can blame it on guns, we can blame it on mental illness or we can blame it on ourselves.  We are a society that likes our toys and our beliefs and when the two mesh together bedlam occurs.  But we are the masters of our own ship, the captains of our destiny.  At least that is what we wish for, but how many people live the life they've ima...

Butterfly Available at Valley Artisans Market This is another poem.  I am not quite polished as a poet YET!  But I will never be a writer if I don't write, I will never be a hand embroidery artist if I don't hand embroider, and I will never feel alive unless I figure out a way to be myself without needing to be perfect.  Make peace with yourself, fall on your face and hope to get back up tomorrow morning with a loving face looking into yours.  That's my plan.  Here's my poem. Wake Up Wake up, be counted, Don’t wait for the why, Wake up, be counted, Before we all die. See the beauty of the sun, Hear the sound of the waves, Take the day off tomorrow, We are not born to be slaves. Give a shit about living, Your neighbors and friends, Make sure they know you love them, In case the world ends. The world is not perfect, And neither are we, Perfection is an illusion, Meant to keep us from who we wish to be. E...

When you are alone, I’m here. When you are in pain, I’m here. When you are forgotten, I’m here. When you cannot see the light, I’m here. When you feel you cannot go on, I’m here. When you are lost, I’m here. For you always, I’m here. God sent me to help you, I’m here. Unconditionally, I’m here. Eternally, I’m here.

Love comes and goes and sometimes it stays.   Sometimes it is obvious and sometimes it is hidden beneath the surface.   Love is felt as a glance, a touch, a meaningful conversation.   Love lives in the eternal.   It is hidden away from the masses but right under the soul, unseen but yet felt. Who can explain why we fall and love and with whom.   What makes it possible for two people to live a lifetime together and not really understand each other and what makes it possible for two people to meet and fall in love instantly. Love is unexplainable.   We are all shaped by those we love.   From the time we are born we are shaped by the love of our parents or the lack of their love.   We are shaped by our first loves, we are shaped by our in-between loves, we are shaped by those we share our lives with and then finally we are shaped by our last loves.   The one we find when all hope has gone, the one we can’t live without.   ...

All the people who I have loved since I am a young girl who are still with me in this lifetime are under the gun in New Jersey and Long Island, please send them your love and prayers and hope that when this horrible storm is over I can go and rejoice in their safety.  Prayers and love to everyone in the danger zone and may we all be able to dance and sing and rejoice in their safety when this storm is over.  I believe in a loving God and a loving and abundant universe so it is my hope that the loss of life will be little.  Possessions are meaningless, it's the people who are life blood and the reason we love every day.

Be the love you wish to see in the world. Find it in your own heart. Love is really all there is in the world.   Try to fill each of your days with something you love, try in every moment to find something that speaks to you.   Something you love.  I am currently working on this piece, it is called Running Away.   This piece is bringing me focus and color and light.   It has brought me out of my very conflicted head and back to the basics of loving what I do.    I am using the running stitch which is a small little stitch which run consecutively in a straight line.   It is also referred to as Kantha stitching.   One by one, inch by inch until they fill up the muslin or canvas.   They are peaceful beautiful little stitches and they allow me to focus.    They are an easy meditation. I am so grateful that I am able to find love in each stitch and I am finding the peace I am looking for in my life, even if it is only ...