Trash Bird, becoming.

a quick shot of Trash Bird. Here it is as it was a few days ago. A smattering of all these leaves. And still many many more to go. Having only bits and pieces of time to work on this makes the going very slow. I do believe that hand embroidery of the satin stitch is by far the slowest stitch to do. All that floss so closely laid together stitch by stitch. It is a very meditative passing of time. Often I listen to an audio book or music. Today I just listened to the songs of birds in the trees. Fitting don't you think? Working so close into a piece for such a long time I lose the whole of it. When I took off the hoop and laid it out it was like seeing an old friend again. There it was, the idea in my head coming "real" right in front of me!

being quiet

I keep intending to post an update to the blog and it just keeps getting away from me! I have been stitching leaves on the Bird piece. They are all quite similar so it is rather slow going and uninteresting. I can't imagine anyone wanting to see week after week the same basic leaf stitched again and again! I haven't even taken photos of the progress to post. It has been cold rainy and gloomy as spring tries to burst through and fails miserably!

I am very grateful for all the emails, comments etc. Those little pats on the back do so much for me! Thank you all! 

         I promise to get photos up soon!

A turtle gets a thrill

I recently received an e mail inviting me to exhibit this work, I Dreamed I Lived on a Sea Turtles Back, at the International quilt festival of Ireland for a special exhibit 'Under the sea'. To say I am surprised is an understatement. This is an honor of course.

But, I am not sending the work off. I have gone back and forth over this for weeks. The pros and cons. If I were actively trying to sell my works I know I would want to have them exhibited. Brings up the prestige and cost etc.

I am just thrilled to have been asked. For now that is enough!

freeing time

Handwork can be tedious. It is certainly slow. Sometimes I fall into a peaceful lull of push and pull with the needle. A very zen place where nothing exists but the doing. Thoughts fade away and it is all about the stitch. That is when it is the best. A good indication that I am happy with the work, the piece.  Trash Bird is becoming Treasure Bird as I treasure the serenity of working on it. I can see it finished. It just takes time to get there.
   Impatient thoughts do arrive though. Especially when something is just clanging around in my head. An idea that wants to be made into something tangible. The little moleskin sketch book is full of those nagging bits.( it also houses plenty of uck bits as well).
   So I am ignoring those nags for now. Giving myself the gift of time.
   Pretending that it is endless.
       How very freeing that is...

Stitching stitching stitching

Very slow going. The work on Trash Bird continues. I sit and stitch and stitch and stitch with miles of teal green floss one leaf after another.

The birds are stitched and now I face the expanse of empty background. Oh, there is so much empty background! My real challenge here is to stay with it, forget boredom and just enjoy the zen of stitch.

My favorite place to stitch is sitting comfortably in the car watching the deer. It is quiet now in the forest. An occasional dog walker and sometimes a cross country skier happen by. Glancing up from the cloth I often see deer nosing the snow around to get at the plants. It is peaceful and beautiful. A wonderful background for the steady push and pull of my needle.

We had a snowstorm that covered us with nearly ten inches of snow. The world in the forest looked nearly colorless  until this bright flash of red perched nearby.

Some of the bucks are still hanging on to their antlers. Someday I hope to find one of the discarded antlers as I walk through these woods..someday perhaps I will.

Museum trip

Took a drive up to Racine Art Museum in Racine, Wisconsin.
I spent my teen years in Racine and the town has changed much in the forty or so years since then. Yet somehow I managed to find my way downtown to the museum on Main and 5th where the museum is located.

 Parking on the street was easy and only a few steps from the entrance. The museum is small enough to go through all the exhibits in a short time, even allowing for extended and repeated looks at various works. There were no other visitors when we arrived so it felt like a private showing! The main reason I wanted to go was so that I could see Jan Hopkins piece titled "Law of Identity" a three dimensional work using melon rinds, hydrangea leaves, silver dollar pods and yellow cedar bark. You can not imagine how amazing the work is! Beautiful !
  Also show cased was a large collection of work by Rosita Johanson. Small framed stitchings of amazing detail and wonderful stories. Awe inspiring trip and well worth the drive up there!

And across the street here is Monument Square. Many a summer day was spent hanging out there. Back in the early 70's if you drove through downtown you would have seen a large group of very colorful hippies sitting on the steps of the monument, leaning on the cannons or lounging in the grass by the cool fountain pools now long gone. It seems like lifetimes ago and yet only yesterday.
Like many small cities along Lake Michigan shores it has seen hard times as factories and shops closed their doors and shuttered windows. Much of the downtown is now vacant storefronts.

Only bits and pieces remain of earlier days slowly fading, decomposing reminders of what was once there. Back then I would have loved to have had this museum to wander through.  We did have the small Charles A Wustum Museum though, and some of my earliest attempts at fiber art were shown there in the student works. I wonder what ever became of them? I wonder what I would think of that work now?