Tangled Stitch

Peace.  It was a beautiful morning.  She woke up with the song Homeward Bound singing in her head.  She had always loved Simon and Garfunkel.  She watched the video on YouTube the concert in Central Park.  A lovely song in a lovely setting.  She pulled her hair back, put her shoes on and took Dixie out.  It was a warm but cloudy morning but it felt like spring.  It had been cold and snowy for a few days so the warmth and the lack of the wind felt good on her skin on this day. The birds were chirping, not just one bird but she could hear the songs of many different birds.  Silently she just listened to the sounds of the birds talking to each other.  Then she heard the ducks, she looked up to see two of them together flying overhead.  I guess they were on a special date.  Silently she just stood thinking how beautiful it all was.  How normal, how sweet, how lovely a morning it was. For a moment she forgot why it was so...

Sheep are simple animals that have symbolized  benevolence, honesty, nobility and peace. I think that sums up their place as my favorite animal to hand embroider.  The simple pleasure of dozens of French knots for those times when honesty and commerce meet.  They have always been my favorite thing to embroider and a favorite among my customers.  They are scattered in the mountains of Upstate New York in far lower numbers than their living counterparts. The holidays are a wee bit of a struggle for me as both of my parents died the first week of January a very long time ago.  I’m determined this year to be a bit different and sitting down to embroider some sheep with just a little background noise was just what my soul needed that day.  They are just so simple.  A little circle, a head and some black for the bottom of their legs.  But they give me hours of enjoyment as we all know French knots are the stitch that makes the tangled stitch heart go pi...

I’m in the treetops today embroidering my latest work in progress.  I’ve added a couple of sheep ornaments to my Etsy shop.  You can see them at www.etsy.com/shop/debstangledstitches.  See you soon.

Hi All.  I have been hand embroidering since I was a child.  My grandmother taught me and it is my greatest gift.  I love to do peace signs and peace pillows because that is what hand embroidery is to me, peace.  It takes the edge off my mind and my days.  If I’m having a hectic day just a few minutes embroidering brings me right back to my center.  I used to say I’d like to live in a hand embroidered cocoon and I still feel that way.  I guess in my own way it is a hand embroidered cocoon.  What brings you peace?  These peace hearts have been added to my Etsy shop. www.etsy.com/shop/debstangledstitches.

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...

Soul Crossings After yet another near miss car accident yesterday I am going to embroider and go with the flow until I can figure out my next move.  When I embroider all feels right with the world so   I am going to embroider and hopefully that will bring some clarity to my life. I am unsure as to what I believe except I know longer think I am responsible alone for the woes of the world.   I think I am part of a collective consciousness which has exploded unto the universe.   It is therefore important that I remain peaceful.   When I am peaceful I find love.   I am going to continue to have love  as a companion in my mind.   I release it from the future but in my imagination I will work towards becoming wholly in love again some day. My mind is so unfocused not to know the direction of the future.   Embroidery helps me to focus so that is where my focus will be until I figure it out. I will start putting my work out into th...

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...

Yesterday I demonstrated hand embroidery at Blue Mountain Lake.  I had a wonderful time espousing the benefits of hand embroidery.  I would love to teach the world to embroider in perfect harmony. Embroidery is one of those vocations(in my case) in which you can lose yourself and find yourself in the same instance.  It requires focus, attention and meditation. If you are making  a french knot and you lose focus it could get messy, but if you are making a french knot and finding focus you are meditating. The world is crazy, it is chaotic, scary, confusing and frightening.  It is also a place filled with great beauty, spirit, love and peace.  The last few months have been a mix of heaven and hell, but as I was demonstrating and telling people about the peace of hand embroidery, I realized that most of the heaven was while I was embroidering and the hell was caused by not embroidering. So my solution to the masses, pick up your embroidery needles(or an...

Whitehall Fire Department and Memorial Wall I wrote a really drawn out essay about 9/11 but decided to ditch it.  I'd like to memorialize that day by asking for a prayer to bless the victims, the children, the firemen, the soldiers, the people in other countries, the government and everyone affected by that day(and that means everyone on the universe).   Life is too short, hug your kids, say a prayer and if you need a reminder of that day go read an obituary of one of the beautiful souls lost on that day.  Peace and love are the answer.

This piece is available at the Katbird Shop in Schenectady, NY.  Please stop in and say hi to Kathy and look at the rest of my work and the work of other very talented artists. I am giving a gift to the planet today.  I am embroidering.  All day, nothing else(at least that is what I intend to do).  No Facebook, no Twitter, no email checking, no looking for a "real" job, nothing, nada.  Just embroidery, just peace. I've discovered while I"m crocheting and knitting and everything else under the sun that nothing quite does it for me like embroidery.  It's probably the reason my disposition is sunny most of the time because I am content on the inside when I am embroidering.  It gives me peace!  If I add a little music it is heaven on earth and with a busy weekend with an extra hour added onto the trip both ways it is time for just a little peace and just a little embroidery before the excitement of the Albany Shaker Craft Show(please come on Sat...

Sometimes we end up in places and we have no godly explanation how we ended up there.  That is sort of where I am at the moment.  I am exactly where I need to be at this moment and I have no Godly explanation of how I ended up here.  A week ago I was still getting over the shell shock of being sent out into the cold hard world before I deemed I was ready.  I personally thought I needed at least a couple more days of rest and relaxation in the behavioral unit before attempting to live again in the real world again. Hence the powers that be and my insurance company decided not quite.  So I started the week of hotel, which was ultra cool having a jacuzzi and a really cool bathtub to soak in.  And somehow in desperation and a realization that I couldn't live at home(I think I can visit and probably be a friend to the experience but I can't live in my old home) I answered a listing on Craig'slist and ended up overlooking some water, eating ganache on my bi...

Couldn't we all use a little more sunshine in our lives?  Sometimes when we are stuck in the middle of a dark and windy road we can use a litttle sunshine for the soul.  A reason to wake up and smell the roses or the coffee. I have recently taken up meditation, to new age music, to silence, to chants, to classical music.  Any of them will take me where I want to go.  I close my eyes, breathe deeply and am transported to a simpler time and place.  A place of beauty and peace.  A place where even the most difficult questions can be answered peacefully. Of course then I open my eyes and I am still having a wee bit of trouble getting back into the real world, but since I've started meditating I find that the minute I become present with my breath I can make it go away.  It is one of the greatest gifts I can give to myself.  My human brain is very busy, it can take molehills and make them into a mountain range.  I appreciate the ability to...

It takes the same amount of time to live an inspired life that it does to live an uninspired life.  The difference is the focus you give to it.  If you dwell on the have nots you will have not.  If you dwell on the beauty of a birds song, the loveliness of a Mozart composition, the words of a philosopher or the work of your fellow artists you will be inspired. We are always searching and reaching for the brass ring right out of reach instead of getting lost in the moment of inspiration.  I must admit I never thought I was much of a classical music fan but my inability to concentrate with the words of just about every band I used to listen to has left me with empty headphones.  I filled them up with silence(just inspiring) and classical music.  My favorite at the moment is Mozart.  His music is just beautiful and transports me back to a simpler time.  A time when  an artist could just close their eyes, use their imagination and create....

In every moment of our lives we must make choices.   We ask ourselves the deepest questions in our dreams?   We often times find the answers in love.   What we love says a lot about who we are and what our purpose in life is. Not one of us is perfect in this world there is always something to overcome on the pathway to loving oneself and others.     We beat ourselves up daily, we are not working enough, we are not being enough and we want people to like us.   Instead of looking inside and seeing the love that exists within our hearts and our souls we look for love outside ourselves.     We all need the love and abundance of the universe.   Forgiveness is the way to find that love.   To accept that in the moment we are living in and the moments ahead we can choose to love ourselves and those who are not perfect and move on. I love my son without conditions.     There is nothing he could do that would ever change my mot...

Moody Blues is available at Valley Artisans Market in Cambridge, NY. Hand embroidery is the love of my life. We have been separated for far too long lately. Hand embroidery has been the one constant in my ever-changing life. Embroidery has been my companion since I was a little girl at the side of my grandmother. It's been there through the losses and the happiness of my life. It has taught me patience and forgiveness and joy. It has brought me closer to God then anything else in my life. I can feel his presence as I envision and create a new piece. Embroidery allows me to be colorful, hopeful, peaceful, to feel whole. It stitches together all of the pieces of my broken heart over and over again. I can lose myself in the beauty of each stitch using both my hands and my heart. When I am troubled embroidery is the first thing to go. I suppose it's a way of punishing myself, of not loving myself. It is a way that I can deny myself the beauty,love and peace that...

Today I was working up at Valley Artisans Market and I decided to go a little early and visit the New Skete monastery. What a beautiful, peaceful place it is. First there is a small pond where you can sit and look clear down to the bottom of the water. There was a family of frogs there to entertain while I sat there. I then went to the larger of the two temples. It is a beautiful square room and there are saints painted on all of the walls of the bigger temple and it is awe inspiring to see them painted in all their glory. While I was there I reflected a bit on the saints and tried to find peace and guidance from them. It is really a magical place where the cares and worries of the world seem far off and distant. There is a smaller temple a little bit further along the path and that is probably the most spiritual place I have ever been. As you walk in the door the altar lights up and it feels magical and very spiritual. It feels like the light shines only for you and then af...