Tangled Stitch

It's been a hectic few days and only seems to be getting more hectic, so I'm here to sing the praises of Tai Chi. It was the only peaceful hour I've had in days. I've had some pretty wonderful reasons for being busy, my 20th wedding anniversary was yesterday and my inlaws are coming up to visit this weekend but it's been hectic anyway. I go to Tai Chi every Thursday and it is the best hour of my week usually. I have been going for a year and am amazed at the difference it has made in my life and my work. It allows me to go to a silent flowing place and find peace there. I'm not very good at the actual Tai Chi form, although getting better every week but the warmup and cooldown breathing exercises are wonderful. It has also unblocked a lot of blockages that have held me back in my life. The amazing part is you don't really even notice that it's happening. It's lowered my blood pressure, made my breathing better, helped me control my weight, a...

No pictures of my work, my digital camera is packed to the gills and I've been too busy to go get them developed, but soon I will have brand new ones to share with you. So I decided to let you see my beautiful dog Charlotte. This is kind of an old picture so now she looks like a Charley, but still very pretty. She's a West Highland terrier who has been man's(and woman's) best friend for 8 years now. Workwise I've been making some crochet belts as it's a direction I've wanted to go in for a while so I'm seizing the moment. When I get some space on my camera I'll take some pictures. They are quite lovely. Life is pretty wonderful at the moment. Nice and busy. Family is doing well, dog is doing well, coop is doing well. All is right with the world at the moment. I'll be back tomorrow, enjoy my beautiful dog and the hopefully beautiful weather whereever you are. Keep stitchin.

This purse is one of my closet purses. One of the purses I made that I threw in my closet unlined and unfinished because I wasn't sure anybody else would like them. As you can see it is now lined in this beautiful green satin and finished. It says a lot about me and my vision of myself. I have wanted to make beautiful purses and beautiful clothing for years but somehow I kept on making pillows and chackis because that is what sold. I would make beautiful things and either put them in my closet unfinished or sell them. I never would keep any of my creations for myself. I would literally sell other people my wares to give as gifts and not give them to anyone myself. That changed a few years ago but I realize that it says an awful lot about me. It means I was not a risk taker, that inside me is this wacky off center artist and I wanted people to think I was this subdued boring ordinary person never assuming too much responsibility or assuming to jump out of this box I put my...

I worked in the coop today and had a wonderful time there. It is a beautiful place filled with beautiful work that makes me go a little beyond myself when I work there. Sometimes I wish I could be there every day it is so conducive to creativity. I am a fan of the Artist's Way by Julia Cameron. My days at the coop are my artist's dates. I know all the artists and I'm familiar with their work being there once a week but every single week I find a little something mesmerizing and different about something. Today it was a beautiful mosaic mirror made by our lovely mosaic artist Tess. She joined the coop in the beginning of March and she is very talented. Her mirror is just extraordinary. Beyond the pieces of glass there was a lovely pattern behind it. I must ask her how she did it but maybe it is better to have the wonder of it. I think the wonder of how artists do the work they do is something I wish to give to others. I used to wish to give them something they wo...

I am a talker, always have been but the last few days I've been very silent not very talkative. I think it is a convergence of different issues settling in my soul. The questions which I've shared with you already about my work, my insistence at not commenting on the politics which I am afraid I am not really succeeding at and a general lack of peace in my outer and inner world the last few days. That explains the lack of witty and interesting repartee. I guess I have been trying to cut off pieces of myself that somehow I don't think fit with my idea of a soulful peace. I started a purse last night which I already don't like. Maybe tomorrow I can deal with it and make it likeable but for now I don't want to look at it. Then there is the tee shirt I have been embroidering for the last week on and very off. I like the colors but I have been denying myself the time and the peace to finish it. It is also a pattern I use quite often and feel like I'm cheating...

Hello All. I thought I would share another picture with you all. I picked the dragonfly purse. I've been a little busy working on a custom purse with bunnies on one side and a turtle on the other. I have finished the bunnies and am beading my turtle. No pictures yet but I will take one and share it with you when I have finished it. I like to do custom work because people usually pick a subject that I wouldn't have picked myself. That is actually how I came up with my dragonfly. I had always wanted to do a dragonfly but it took a customer to order it in the coop for me to finally make one. Now they are one of my favorite things to do. I know this post was a little boring but I've been working so hard I have nothing interesting to say. Hopefully tomorrow will be a better posting day! Keep stitchin.

I think I must have mentioned that I belong to an artist coop and have discovered an artist in my body that I didn't know was there. Some days she competes with the crafter I used to be whose designs are all my own but boring and complacent. Today there was a clash of the titans. My work in the last 6 months has changed completely, I can't do ordinary very well, my previous work although lovely is kind of ordinary to be honest. So we have these beautiful unique one of a kind creations mixed in with the run of the mill ordinary designs of my past. As I had a modicum of success in the old version I tried to straddle the horse and not give up the ordinary. I guess I am still taking those darn baby steps. Today was sort of the end of the ordinary craft show and the ordinary work. I don't know what I am going to do with all the accumulated hours of my work and whether I should find space in my new direction anywhere for them. I'm thinking of taking a scissor to them...