Soon I will be having a picnic here at my home for quite a few children that they might

see what I do here, in this place.

My home is my happy spot, my King's X, my sanctuary.

This is where my studio lives.

Later, this summer, I am hosting an indigo dye day for a group of adults. We will explore

shibori techniques utilizing PVC poles and pleating.

I met a wonderful woman in Floyd, Virginia, the day after the big storm.

Sometimes I believe in fate. She was playing music in the dress shop of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band with Taj Mahal. "Gone Fishing" was the song. She teaches Appalachian studies at the college there.

Listening to her tell it, I found anew an interest in this region where I live.

It was a very GOOD thing.

I am all into embracing the good, the bad, and the ugly. 

The mayor of my town

made me think about the fact that this is what it is,

this town, I mean.

There have been three filming crews here lately doing documentary videos which will be seen on

television, soon. 

On to my other

items. . .

This is a visual portrait of me.

Beyond Basics assignment.

This is how I see me.

Using Kim Klassen's epiphany texture

As I see it. . .

what I do is who I am

Is how I look. . .

Have a day to remember!

xoxox

Look What Happens

Just when you think you have it all figured out. . .

this will work for this class

and

that will work for that class

and

don't even think about wasting time. . .

your are prepared,

right?

this is when the xxxx hits the fan. . .

You know. . . I AM a trouper!

for sure. . .

then

the wind blows

this wind blows like no other wind blows

no power

no lights 

no water

no phone

no nothing

for a week

it is high high humidity

and high high temperatures

but

I find beauty, anyway.

I took pictures of the damages

on the blue ridge trail

came home and the road. . .

our driveway

covered in huge trees.

Have you ever had to dig your way out of a hole?

My great aunty M used to say

that a house will die

if no one lives in it.

My great aunty Elsie

used to tell me that when I see the leaves on a tree

flip upside down

that rain will surely come

soon.

It will 

it did.

10 days later. . .

I stuck this linen fabric (above) upon the wall with stick pins

of an abandoned home.

It is dead, for sure.

But, to me, it is beautiful.

I printed a photo I took onto the linen.

A beginning for a work.

We shall see?

Hugs to all of you!

Now I have to play catch-up!!!

"Were it possible for us to see further than our knowledge reaches and yet a little way beyond the outworks of our divination, perhaps we would then endure our sorrows with greater confidence than our joys. For they are the moments when something new has entered us, something unknown; our feelings grow mute in shy perplexity, everything in us withdraws, a stillness comes, and the new, which no one knows, stands in the midst of it and is silent." 


Rainer Maria Rilke


Yesterday, I began the first page of my embroiderer's ledger with enthusiasm and that great feeling of beginning. That is such a good thing. always to be a beginner. I learn that while teaching my class of little one's and when I am visiting with my Mom.
I had to stop working on the ledger, to go to the center where Mom stays, now. I took her for a drive to Blacksburg, Virginia, to buy her some lipstick and we had a sweet time sitting outside eating lunch at Panera's.
I picked this restaurant because I have to help her walk and she can not do that very well, anymore, and to show her the blog Karenruane.blogspot.co.uk  on my Kindle Fire that has wi-fi. She loved seeing the work of Karen. My mom is losing her memory and is confused, sometimes. She is blind in one eye and has lost her sense of smell.
This past year has been filled with so many sorrows, sometimes I could hardly bear it all. But, the good thing is that she is so happy, now. The center is just wonderful and they are well equipped to deal with the physical and mental disabilities that Mom has. They take her to concerts and even the Senior Olympics. They helped her stand-up while she putted in golf competition. She won an award for her putting. The funny thing is that she never did that before, in her life, she just watched my Dad all the time.
So, you see, if I would have known, I would not have hurt inside, I would have experienced the illness of my mom with anticipation of the newness.
When I returned home in the evening with my needles, the package of yarn that my honey picked-up at the post office was on the kitchen table:

So, this is a snap of my morning coffee with the beautiful tools

and materials I have to work with today.

Let not your heart be troubled, and even if it is

there is something hidden in all of that.

Just wait upon it.

See?

xoxoxo

Make Good Art

You know, I question myself a lot
I just wrote a bunch of stuff and deleted it
while it was disappearing
I noticed how amazing
the visual image was
and
that that in itself would make a great video. . .
Tools are important,
not to change the subject, but,
they are.
Above is a tool I found once
that someone a very long time ago
used to grind corn or something.
Tools today are beyond anyone's wildest imagination.
I think about this a lot.

This link to a speech given to graduating students
entitled "Make Good Art"
is something I wish I would have seen
a long time ago.
You simply must watch it.

Tools again:
I need to buy some needles.
I do not want to stop doing what I am doing
to go to a store.
Maybe someday,
what I need
will suddenly appear
as soon as I think of it.
STRANGER THINGS HAVE HAPPENED
IN MY LIFETIME
LIKE
THE
INTERNET

Things In Common

Today we are contemplating things we have in common
for instance
what it feels like to be a comment junkie
or
 is my art good enough
or
should I just do it anyway
who cares
do I care?
do you care?
do I do it just because it is fun
or
can I just not help it if that is all I want to do?
It must be important to me
one way or another.
Is it important to you?
Do you like to see if I see
what you do?
I like to play
around
with
what
I
see!
It makes me see
even
more.
I then want to see
more and more and more
Look at what I did
SEE?


 

Beyond Layers assignment for this week
is above.

Ok I am switching gears back to embroidery ledger
now.

xoxoxo

The Detour

"The fifteen-year old daughter of a friend once addressed the old Jung as follows: "Herr Professor, you are so clever. Could you please tell me the shortest path to my life's goal?" Without a moment's hesitation Jung replied, "The detour!"

Richard Kehl  quotes this in Silver Departures - Quotations to set the mind traveling

So, here I am again, off onto another adventurous detour.

Once, my husband and I were on our way to Lake Powell in Arizona,

we had come the back way over the Three Mesa area of the Hopi

reservation and came to a road that would be a shortcut to save hours

of drive time. So, we turned off that road onto the new road.

I could see it on the map. (I always slip into a passive voice, hmmm)

So, here we are driving a brand new Cutlass Supreme down the middle

of a dry river bed when coming our way were three Indian cowboys

riding on their horses when they stopped to ask if we were lost.

Well, no we were not lost. . .was this not the new road?

You see, I am such an optimist.

Of course, I will never hear the end of this!

It is a super highway, now.

Anyway, back to the detour idea. Starting today,

I am taking a class online, to compliment my detour into embroidery.

I know for sure that this is truly a road worth travelling and it does

complicate  my life, a bit, at this point,

but hey, who knows?

Is this just another jag in the road that is getting me closer to my destiny?

below are some shots I have taken of things I work on:

I hope you have a wonderful Monday!

xoxox

Meditation on the color GREEN

Just 

B  R  E  A  T  H

In the mix

the three above photo's

+

a little type

This week has been extremely busy

I am working on

Sothia shawl

Robin Ulrich

using Twist and Twine

I ordered more yarn for Katriel shawl, too.

Not to mention gardening, cooking, 3 Birthdays, visiting Mom,

photography, embroidery, Fathers Day,

Reading Fall of Giants,

visiting friends, whew. . .

I hope you have a weekend

filled with sunshine and happy days!

hugs to all of you!

Foto Friday

I keep working on embroidery and knitting and gardening

and painting fence and and and

photography experimentation.

I wish for you the warmth of the sunshine

the crispness of New Mexico Air

the blueness of this morning sky

the blueness of my periwinkle fence

and in the details of seeing every little thing

joy

Have a nice weekend xoxox

Ten Things

The Beyond Layers Experiment with Kim Klassen is something that makes me

realize again and again that just like everything else you will

get back exactly what you put into any effort.  We are to share

10 things that one might fear so here is my list:

1. That my fourth grade teacher was right when she told  my Mother that I am consistently inconsistent. I can change that, right?
2. That I will not have twenty million things to do every single day.
3. That I willingly, lately, share way too much.
4. That I willingly, will not share way too much.
5. That being a teacher that I do not take every opportunity to make a difference.
6. That I spread myself too thin when it comes to doing the very best I can.
7. That I can not decide what to do with the yarn pictured above because it is so pretty.
8. That I might swatch myself to death. For those of you who are not knitters, a swatch is when you try out stitches to be able to gauge what exactly the yarn will do when knit with particular needles, etc. It is important so that you will get the correct size in a garment or whatever.
9. That Jiminy cricket will stop telling me what to do. That I know that Jiminy is really just human and makes mistakes, too, and that I loved him, anyway.
10. That I will not live long enough to do all that I want to do or experience.

I was to do a black and white photo and I added the Oh My texture from Kim Klassen.

Again, I am not satisfied with the photo, but, I will try try again.

I hope you all have a very wonderful day! xoxo

Snaps

Working this past week has been filled with experimentation and 

frustration and satisfaction. Is that not the way it goes when one

is in the push me pull me mode?

As usual I am working on twenty two things at once.

But, when I stop to think about it . . .isn't everyone?

Control seems to be an issue for the week.

Machines. . .the culprits.

My computer has been acting up and the internet connection has been 

in that mode, too. It seems that Thundershowers have something

to say about all of that.

The mystery of it all!

Above is something I am thinking about at the moment. The layering

of time and space in life as I live it.

The fear that I will not have enough time to do all I think of doing

is always in the back of my mind.

I have a lot to say, I guess.

What I do when I just follow wherever something leads is more than 

I could ever want in my wildest dreams.

But then I am left with editing and making choices. . .We all know that is not my strong suit.

Just let it be, for now, just BE.

Two things at once.

Two things, again.

Hope you are having an interesting week.

xoxo

Just In Time

Hunting and Gathering

for

a new work

Beyond Layers

I find it is such a comfortable feeling

to be integrating

elemental ideas

considering possibilities

making it work

wondering

where it will

end

If I already knew the answers

I would never do anything

Hope your weekend

is more than interesting

xoxo

The Ten Things

This is how

I do it

up on the mountain

10 Things and a Piece of Artful Beauty

 

10 Truths You might not know about me. Photograph follows tomorrow.

1. I had reoccurring nightmares my whole life. It was of being in a car going up a very very steep hill. The car turns over backward. I never could figure out where it was or why it was until I moved to San Francisco. I made myself learn to drive on the hills to overcome my fear. It is a good thing because I can drive where I live, now, and I know when and where my dream came from. I was about two years old in the car with my grandmother who loved me dearly and I was afraid of going up steep hills. I have seen the exact place I saw  in my dreams, near here. Mystery solved.
2. I love Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz. It took a long time until I discovered that all I ever had to do was click my heals and I would be home. The power lives inside us, always.
3. My bluejeans set off alarms at Barnes and Noble. I have worn them more than 100 times and washed them as much. Whatever it is does not wash out.
4. I love to write stories. I love to live stories.
5. I designed a classroom in a box. It is a large wooden structure which is a puppet theater and a blackboard and there are hooks inside to hang up all of the painting smocks. I have an old travel trunk with drawers full of art supplies and places to hang costumes on built in racks for hangers. I have lots of props and puppets hanging around the top inside.And a box full of musical instruments. Art should be in every persons life. It is crazy that that is the first thing that is cut from the budget. I am a traveling show. This time I landed for 6 years at this school and still going strong. Just use your imagination.
6. I love being able to download books onto my 4th Kindle. The last one is a Kindle Fire. I was one of the first users of the Kindle. I live 75 miles from the nearest bookstore which is the one I set of alarms in every single time I go there. I have thousands of real books. I love books and I love to read.
7. When I want to know something or how to do something I  get a book and teach myself.
8. The most wonderful thing I have learned in my life is how to learn.
9. My father used to tell me to create my own excitement and to let my conscience be my guide, It was like having Jiminy Cricket for a Dad. I listened to him. When I saw the film Pinocchio it stuck in my mind. The temptation to join the theater is always a great thought. My life is like a theater. Sometimes I just want to close the curtains and be whatever I want and really am.
10. I love my family and my friends and sometimes I try to love my enemies, too. My cat is my constant companion; he is a crazy baby kitty, still.

I could live anywhere I choose, within reason, of course. I choose to live on top of this mountain. Heather Masse sings "Over The Mountain." where one can be free. This says it all. 

Now for the best part. . .My friend Sara sent a surprise in the mail. I sure needed a pick me up the day it came. Funny how that happens, sometimes. I have been trying to work out a design problem and am unable to make up my mind so I go in circles and never get anywhere, lately.

Above is on the outside table.(FROM SARA) A handmade book some hand spun yarn which is full of yellow feathers and tiny pieces of paper spun into the black and white fibers. Way too cool. A tomato shaped pin cushion. . .fun stuff. And. . . what I am experimenting with today.

The amazing art piece with happiness written all over it.

Click on the photographs to see the detail of the stitching.

I am thrilled to be the recipient of this.

It is just beautiful and I will treasure it always.

Thank you Sara!

xoxoxo to all of you!

They go. . .

I know you must be thinking. . .

where is the fiber art, right?

Trust me

it is in the works. . .

I took a photograph of another art piece

this morning.

I then treated it with

textures and brush stamps.

I have a new logo stamp (watermark) which I created

in Photoshop elements, too.

Kim Klassen's Beyond Layers

class is a challenge.

I am learning lots of new things.

The funny thing is. . 

is that I worked very hard to get super sharp

images and now I am softening them using the

techniques for the week.

hugs to everyone xoxox!

They weigh nothing at all. . .

"Forget you are forgetting. . .

'How about a place where things are as light as the breeze,

where things have no weight, where there is no remorse?"

"Yes," . . .

"a place where things weigh nothing at all."

words are Milan Kundera's
The book of Laughing and Forgetting

That place is here.

xoxo

 

How To Draw

Common objects

things you see

every day

we tend to forget

what they are called

this is a good thing. . .

just look for the shapes

look at the space

between whatever 

it is called

see

how easy?

Texture used in this photo is shine from K Klassen.

Just keep looking

until you see.

xoxox

Lightness of Being

I see us, two little  girls sitting on a handmade table just showing off our pretty dresses in the photograph that is stuck in my mind. Toeheads is what they called us, explorers of the whole world is what I thought of us, even though it was just our own back yard. She would catch honey bees in her hand and never get stung. She loves nature.

My best friend is my sister. Her nick name is Twirly, she loves to dance.

I always feel lonely, you know what I mean, like something is missing.

We live across the entire country from each  other. 

My sister is the beauty queen of the family. She won the most beautiful baby award. That started it.

She was homecoming queen, Miss whatever town, Songleader instead of Cheerleader, etc. You get the picture.

We have traveled all over the world together and have seen almost every Vermeer painting together.

Last week I wrote about mothers, today it is sisters.

I am tall and thin and she is short and very thin. She weighs 95 pounds. That is why I am writing this.

I would not want to miss the chance to tell the world about her. Even if it is just a little bit.

She is a breast cancer survivor.

She is getting lighter and lighter and lately I worry that she is going to just float away.

I throw out a string across the universe to tie her to me, just in case I need to pull her back to this verdant place we humans call home.

She makes me laugh.

She makes my cry.

Being near her makes  me whole.

I wish you all a very nice weekend. xoxoxo

What's On Your Table?

This morning, I am off to the end of the year Pic-nic

at the school.

Child As Artist certificates to give out!

I took a couple of snapshots of my kitchen table

covered with my daydreams.

Hope you are having a great week!

XOXO

Revisiting Knit Cafe book which I dearly love. . .

I am looking for some more colors from my stash. . .

Mohair HMMM

Have you seen the New Vogue Knitting Crochet?

I am not a crocheter but the cover blew me away.

Cat Koyle's LaLa Scarf is a fantastic pattern, so I am making

another, soon.

Revisiting more Last-Minute Knitted Gifts

The pattern for 

Big Lace Scarf

is perfect for the Magnolia Handspun.

Who cares if it will soon be hot.

I am thinking about the fall while I am enjoying the 

Spring.

Part II for today. . . past and future

A Polaroid of my minds eye.

Quilt design.

Contemporary
is it temporary?

deja vu all over again?

Danish Modern . . .
pop art?

What are we saying?

agsin?

marching up and down?

Carried forward on the Wings of Delight?

I like this perfect package.

Which first?

Good day!