continuing...

as you can see, i've been continuing to stitch.  i love all of that boro stitching i'm seeing around and i've been experimenting with it on leather.  stitching on leather like this is hard and painful on the fingers.  this leather was kind of thin, so i didn't make any holes first.  i just went at with a really sharp needle.  i wanted it to look rough and not too perfect.  i think i achieved that.  i'm working on a pair of jeans now...much easier.

it's been a crazy month of road trips.  i figured out the mileage...in one month we drove roughly 2800 miles. up to NY to leave our daughter at the Pratt Institute, then home.  then back to NY to pick her up.  then to Richmond to drop her off with our other daughter for a few days.  then back home.  then back to Richmond to pick them both up.  then home again.  no wonder my neck hurts.  but, i am getting really good at passing the big trucks...something i used to be scared of.

my daughter mostly enjoyed her time at Pratt.  she earned several college credits and has begun to get her portfolio together.  she learned a lot about painting and also a lot about some other things...an interesting bit of education to be sure.  in case you're thinking that she's spoiled or something...i have to tell you that she paid for the entire thing herself, right down to the pricey painting supplies that were required.  many, many hours of working...i'm so very proud of her.  she came home inspired and with masterpieces and the beginnnings of masterpieces.  i believe in the power of art so much, that i was willing to drive all of those miles for her to experience that.

i hope to be able to relax a bit for a few days, enjoy the sunny weather and get back to creating.  one thing about all that driving...it gave me a lot of time to think.  i have some amazing ideas that i can't wait to try out.  i do have a few more road trips planned for later this month.  a college visit...my twins are seniors now (which is really hard to believe) and then i'll be taking my oldest back to college.  she is going to turn 20 this week (even harder to believe).  time just flies on by, doesn't it?

hope you are enjoying your summer...

stitch.

i've been stitching words like crazy lately...in between making books...and little envelopes...and laundry...and all of the other stuff i do.  it is a nice portable project for those long waits at the orthodontist and during long car trips.  for some reason i seem stuck on red thread...it just pops so nicely on white.  

it has been a strange summer.  a transition of sorts.  my daughters are both at college...my older daughter working...my younger daughter at a pre-college art program...creating masterpieces i'm sure.  my older son is working many hours as a lifeguard and my younger son is working a bit as well.  even my dog, who is now 12 (or around 70 in human years) has altered his schedule...it goes like this...get up, eat, take a walk and go lay on the couch for the rest of the day.  the house is often empty and eerily quiet.  there are leftovers in the fridge...i've had to buy more containers.  there is less laundry and less cleaning up (which is kind of wonderful).  but, on the other hand, no one to fetch the mail.  no sounds of laughter.  no one to bake me cookies.  and while i still have a few years to go, it is a small taste of what an empty nest is going to be like.  of course, it is inevitable...kids do grow up and i want them to all go out into the world and become whatever it is they will become.  but still...it is a strange feeling.  one that will take some getting used to.  

meanwhile, i continue to create.  every day.  because that is what i do.  it gives me purpose and brings me joy and maybe it brings joy to others too...  

word collector...

her heart had separated from the rest of her body and landed at her feet

 among the scattered rose petals, bleeding.

-elaine hussey

i have this little poetry book by brian andreas...i have a few of his actually...they are fun to leaf through and read...you can find them on amazon, of course.  but anyway, in the introduction of one of his books he said that when he traveled he did not bring home "stuff" from the places he had visited.  instead he collected memories of people and things.  i love that idea...collecting something intangible.  if you read my last post you will know that i am trying to take up less space and this idea works out perfectly with my goal.

  one of my favorite things to "collect" is words.  words i hear or words that i find while i am reading.  when i made myself this journal last year, i decided to fill it with all of the lovely (and not so lovely sometimes) words that i find in my day to day meanderings.  of course, i have added other little treasures as well.  pieces of tattered paper, scraps of old lace and fabric and bits of string and thread.  it is almost full now and it is a little work of art just for me (and sometimes for you)...a treasury of inspiration.

  and it hardly takes up any space at all : )

life changing magic...

"You will find that it is necessary to let things go; simply for the reason that they are heavy.  So let them go, let go of them.  I tie no weights to my ankles."

-C. JoyBell C.

i've been on a cleaning streak lately.  i read that book...The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up... by Marie Kondo.  it was an ok book and kind of funny at times.  it did made me think a little differently about my possessions.  i'm not a cluttery person.  i'm actually super organized...a place for everything.  i wasn't always that way, i became that way while living in our very tiny first house with four little kids.  our days were messy and chaotic, but every night it all got cleaned up and tucked away where it belonged.  that nightly ritual brought me great calm after an exhausting day and it's something i've continued to do, even though we now have a much bigger house with actual closets, so there is much more space to tuck everything away.  some of it is really tucked deeply away.  and has been since we moved here 10 years ago.  so i figure, if it's been in a box for 10 years and i haven't taken it out, do i really need it?  probably not.

so, i have donated a good portion of it.  treasures for others to discover.  i have some really nice vintage things i have collected over the years.  i have always tried to purchase only things that i will actually use, but somehow there were things that wound up in a box in a closet.  things i no longer wanted but wasn't ready to let go of, things i had a plan for that never quite worked out or things that were "too special" to use.  you know what i mean right?  i am going to "release" those things, like the pretty mirror above.  you can find it here if you like it.  i have a whole box of similar treasures waiting to be photographed.  waiting to be loved by someone else.  

and you know...it feels good.  i feel lighter somehow.  i like to see empty spaces on my shelves and only dust under the bed.  there is something about letting go of it that just feels so...i don't even know...freeing maybe.  and while i still have a lot of shelves to go, it feels like a good start.  i hope to be sending some good treasures out into the world in the months to come.  oh, and the life changing book...in the true spirit of tidying up, i passed it on to my mother.

warrior...

warrior...a brave or experienced soldier or fighter.  a person who fights in battles and is known for having courage and skill.  

i am a warrior.  i don't rush out with my sword to slay dragons, but i do fight.  i fight quietly.  i fight for everyday things.  i fight for my kids.  i fight school administrators.  i fight mattress stores.  i fight health insurance companies.  i fight migraines.  i fight negativity.  i fight for happiness.  i fight darkness.  i fight for hope.  i fight to live my life as simply as i can.

  the love given to me by those i love, gives me courage.  

all of the light and hope i carry within me makes me brave.

  i am a warrior.

poet's pouch...

i had this idea.  i think it started with the leather.  so rough and interesting, this piece.  i worked on it.  put it aside.  thought about it overnight.  worked on it some more.  a little more thinking.  what did i want it to be?  

i always seem to have loose bits of paper floating around me...filled with inspiring words i've heard or little sketches of ideas i would like to explore.  i wanted it to be a way to contain these scraps.  i wanted it to be a beautiful vessel for random inspirations.  i wanted it to be like a deconstructed book that can be carried out into the world and filled with one tattered page at a time. 

i gave it a head start, by filling it with a stack of the prettiest papers i could find.  rough, torn pieces of handmade paper.  and i made that even more beautiful with some silk and a feather.  because feathers are hopeful and we always need that.

i call it a poet's pouch.

i just know there is a poet or artist out there that is meant for this one.  if you are the one, you can find it here.  

of course, you might have a different idea for it...and that's ok too.

needle, paper, thread...

rain.  and rain.  and rain.  it's been raining here for a few days.  a hard driving, roof-thumping, soaking, drenching rain.  the kind that continues to drip from the trees long after the sky stops weeping.  although i do like the rain...it's been so dark.  maybe i don't like the darkness as much as the rain.  it's making the air a bit chilly, but steaming hot cups of coffee take care of that.  i started this meditative stitching a while ago and then set it aside, but i picked it up again when the rain started.  what is it about rain that makes me want to stitch?  the stitches are tiny and they go round and round.  and round.  it's just a little scrap of handmade paper and some red thread.  but it's turning into a little work of art.  i guess i like the simplicity of it.  drip, drop, drizzle.  needle, paper thread...