Tangled Stitch

This is an art blog where I discuss the work I am inspired to make. Not a political blog. But in the past few weeks my inspiration has not been on my work, on my beloved hand embroidery but on Barack Obama. I have tried for weeks not to put my political views on the line for fear of offending someone who doesn't share my opinion but since I am still working on the dreaded table runner which I must finish today here goes. When John F. Kennedy was killed I was 4 years old. My mother had me watching his funeral for days. He meant that much to her. 5 years later when I was 9 she had me watching the train going through California after Bobby had been shot. He meant that much to her too. She was inspired by their vision. Now as an adult I can look back at those moments in history and realize that they were part of the history of my childhood too. The idealism, the dream. That is why they are memories of my childhood, because these men inspired my mother enough for her to immer...

No Pictures, no new news. No inspire me thursday. I'm still slogging my way through my table runner. It hasn't been my favorite project. I guess I am pretty much a hand embroidery artist. The runner is lovely and it is more than half finished but it isn't really inspiring me. It feels like work(well I guess cos it is work). Hand embroidery never feels like work to me. My other project is beckoning me everyday and I'm having visions of purses I would love to make. So I guess in a little while I will take leave of my computer and sit in my studio with the cd's playing and get down to finishing the darn runner. At least at the end I will have a table runner which is something I've always wanted but as you can probably tell have never had the impetus to make. When I first started thread crochet I wanted to do a bedspread and in fact I started about 3 of them but alas I never finished them. Now I know why! Well thanks for reading. Keep stitchin and vote ...

Not much to talk about in the art world of Deb today. Had quite a day. Took my son for xrays because he originally had to have one little unconsequential tooth pulled only to find out he has two very consequential wisdom teeth needing to be taken out at the same time. I had wisdom teeth taken out in my twenties and it was horrible so the thought of my sweet son having them out scares me to my willies. I tried very hard to hide my terror only to have my son tell me that his friends had them out and it was really painful and they missed lots of school. Well the consultation is next Tuesday so I will try to maintain(or pretend to maintain) a good attitude. I'm hoping against hope it isn't as bad as when he had his tonsils out when he was 13. Oh my god, 10 days of hell. Then off we went for my son to get his driver's permit, birth certificate and social security in hand. What a cruel joke it is for a parent to have to bring a birth certificate with them when their child...

Hi All. No picture today. Not much to say either. I've been kind of introspective and quiet. I am enjoying reading the book Eternal Echoes and once again the writing style is exquisite. I have been heartened by the comments on my beyond the comfort zone post and I have been crocheting a thread table runner for a Michaels class in March. I always wanted a thread table runner and after my class I will have one. Other then that I've just been working on my runner, working on my hand embroidery project and keeping mostly to myself. I'm sure by tomorrow I will have lots to share as my son is going for his driver's permit. I hope you are at peace and keep stitchin.

As you can probably tell by my blog I am a person who lives to be inspired. I lived in the darkness for so many years that I have literally become light by being inspired. One of my favorite books is Anam Cara. It is with deep sadness that I read on someone's blog that John O'Donohue had died recently(sorry I don't remember who's blog it was)What a beautiful spiritual author and what a wonderful way with words. I must have read Anam Cara 5 or 6 times(I always go back to my favorites)and each time I read something that gave me that warm gushy feeling that inspiration gives. All of my books have been part of my journey and a great part of my life. I read nothing else except for the one summer when I read 20 novels, lived through them all and ended up in a funk wondering what the hell happened to all the characters. But both Anam Cara and Eternal Echoes are wonderful spiritual books based on Celtic wisdom. In honor of Mr. O'Donohue I am going to read Eternal E...

The topic at Inspire Me Thursday is Beyond Your Comfort Zone. Since I don't really have a problem expressing myself while I'm working I thought I'd talk about the the rest of my life which is beyond my comfort zone. I have always stopped just short of my greatness. I've exercised and dieted off hundreds of pounds just to reach a certain weight and go backwards. I've created beautiful art only to have it sit unframed or tucked away in a drawer. I've been wanting to get my work published in a magazine but submitted one scarf pattern to a crochet magazine, it was rejected and I never tried again. I've had dozens of crummy jobs and worked in retail(which I love) but yet I have a hard time selling my own work. I have an even harder time putting myself out there to find someone else to sell my work. the coop was a lark, one of those things the universe told me I had to do. I guess it counts as going out of my comfort zone but the universal feeling I had w...

Tonight I have been blogging. I went to visit quite a few friends and I still have many more to see, but perhaps tomorrow. I love to blog. I like it almost as much as I love my needles and the work they do. We are so lucky that we've found the blog. It creates a community and somehow, someway I always seem to find something of an inspiration or someone else dealing with a trial I happen to be going through. It's a miracle. When I started blogging I truly did it as a business idea. Sorry but that's the truth but what I've found is so much more. I've been inspired to laugh, inspired to cry and inspired to read so many of the blogs that make my day. I never fail to find at least one written by some lovely person that seems to make my day, and usually much more then one. Such talented artists there are out in the world waiting to be discovered. Such wonderful souls to meet. It also makes me realize how truly connected all of us are to the world outside our ho...