Find peace. Peace of mind: quiet children, sleepy pets, making the mortgage payment, enjoying the spring blossoms and their incredible scents, lovely soft clean sheets, recognition for the extra effort you put into a project, the soft lullaby of a gentle rain, the smell of towels right from the dryer, the beckoning colors of a fabric stash . Please let me know where you find your little moments of peace. myc
When you eat summer pears, do you stand over the sink? That way, when the juice drips down your chin, you can contain the stickiness, and cleaning your face means reaching for the faucet.
When you peel a perfectly ripe orange in the winter, do you then place your fingertips in your nostrils and inhale that heavenly aroma? Then neglect washing your hands all day to repeat the inhale?
When you splurge (calories not $) on chocolate chocolate chip cake from the grocery bargain bin, do you drench the dry cake in rum? And then eat 1/3 of it in one sitting because nobody is watching? Tip: turn the cake upside down before applying the rum, it will be absorbed better that way. Not that I have any experience with this…
Everyone needs love. Open your heart and home to a rescued pet. It will change your life, and you will live longer. Meet one woman changing the world, Bernie Berlin. love (and a strong vacuum)
Bits and pieces. It is that simple. Use your scraps! The boring beginnings (May5th and April 25th posts) have now been enhanced with scraps of sheers, shiny fabric, and machine embroidery. (I talk a good game, but truth is I didn’t do this step, mom did). Almost finished. In fact it looked finished until I saw the picture on screen, but needs a tiny bit more…
More creatures in the works, I hope to update them this weekend. love (and grilled cheese sandwiches on rainy days)
Second step in finishing a mini quilt with ceramic button card. Thought I forgot didn’t you? but not far along as you can tell. Next I will try more layers of “stuff” to jazz it up - not good at the next step, may enlist the parental unit for ideas… love (and honey bees)
The last apple blossom on the tree at the studio. We had thousands of tiny apples in 2007. For 2008, Bubba and I have a bet: he says we won’t get apples this year, but I believe we will. Lotto tickets hang on the outcome. We’ll take progression pictures during the summer. I hope I win cause the apples were super tasty!
A finished project! a fun little reminder we should all heed: the crown reads, I am gorgeous, with hints to imagine and giggle. Make appropriate combinations of all three to your own liking and moods. love (and donuts).
Perfection pressure: how fortunate we are to have mass publications of every art/craft outlet. How unfortunate we are to have mass publications… Think about it, we have unlimited images of wow-art created by people just like us, but now our creations have to measure up to what we see. If we experiment and the end result is lousy, we feel failure; it isn’t as WOW as the sample in print.
We’re taking away our privilege to fail, to experiment, to make something ugly, to grow as artist.
Remember, what you see in print is the best, the cream of the crop. They don’t publish the rot of the crop. Don’t berate yourself for rot, it is necessary to the creative process. Let yourself go crazy. Give yourself the challenge of an ugly theme. You may be surprised at a creative leap you make. love. myc
Avoidance. When I don’t want to finish a task, I get a lot done. I usually clean when I’m avoiding- ick, but yesterday, instead of working on the finished project of the April 25th post I embellished a new cubby for my office wall. Instead of button holes, I left the embellishments as tiles and glued them on to a really cute cubby (stolen from my poor suffering mother).
And did you see how adorable Jack-the-studio-cat is? look on the left hand side of the site for my over- indulgence in cuteness.
Leap! Kickin’ it to California. We decided out of the blue to commit to vending at IQF in Long Beach, July, 2008. Since Chicago’s IQF, we’ve been sluggish and morose, (apologies to anyone reading my posts, it might have been obvious how blah I’ve been) now we’re hyped and creating anew. WhahHoo!
More upbeat news: Bubba’s working on purchase availability right though this site. And an awesome alternative to the photo albums that I am crazy about. Hope to have them up this week. (evil ploy, hee hee)
I’ve mentioned Lynn in a past post and just added her to my new Favorite Links on side bar. She is witty and entertaining and a blog of fresh air. Her blog has introduced me to Skulladay which I love, and she admits to a tote bag collection; I have yet to own up to my bag adiction. Lynn has inspired me to attempt more finished projects with our buttons, because hers are beautiful and have a calming effect on me. But trying to flesh out a thought process from my head is anything but calming to my nerves and maturity level.
Auditioning fabric for the beginning of my first wall hanging: working title “sun warmth”. I intend to post a small photo album here of the steps I take, successful or not. I also hope to include other’s finished projects. Nancy Smith of Great American Quilts has one or two in process and we are anxious to see the results. Stay tuned…
See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil. I’m really good at starting projects, not so good at finishing them. However, by posting the process, perhaps guilt will push me. This panel is an embellishment card that has been adhered to an old filing card that TT painted to coordinate. It is one simple solution of how to incorporate the button cards into finished work. I will begin working on another project to show more options with fabrics, so please check back and help me stick to my commitment. thanks, myc
Earth day, but with minor effort, could be earth week, month, year, century. I am the proud new nurturer of 2 tiny little twig crabapples, that I will watch with unbridled glee, grow to be beautiful trees.
The above card may be an odd pick for today, (and it does look much better in living color) but I like the idea of seeing beauty in everyday nature. The way the light bounces off the curves of bell peppers, the smell of fingers having just peeled an orange, the splurge of a bowl full of lemons on the counter. Respect nature, revere our resources, appreciate and preserve. Love
Many of us work 2 jobs in addition to care-taking, housekeeping, and creating or working on our craft. Why not hang up a little affirmation to allow yourself a wee luxury? Take your coffee back to bed. Soak in the bathtub till the water cools. Splurge on take-out. Sit and sip that hard earned martini without doing chores. You deserve it.
tickling the kids, cats purring, dogs sassing, paintbrush shushing on canvas, sewing needle in motion, sizzles from the wok, Joplin from the stereo. How do you make music? The soul needs it as much as the ear. Don’t forget to celebrate the magical qualities of the everyday, ordinary, music. Feed your soul.
