^Today’s stitch meditation Here’s another path I followed away from my funk into creative mode. This time of year a lot of artists do some kind of 100 day “challenge.” I’ve participated in one of these challenges once before but it was for any kind of artistic effort and I was circling the hole of deep depression. It didn’t work for me and I went in the hole and didn’t finish the challenge. Nowadays my mental health is much better (thanks, vitamin D supplements and therapy!) and I’ve found that the way my brain works it can persist in a long term project much better with some kind of structur ..read more

Edwina Bringle, one of the leading fiber artists in our region, invited several fiber artists to play with her at Wildacres Retreat near Little Switzerland, NC in mid-September. Spending almost a week with Edwina to observe her weaving tips and tricks, listen to her counsel, and getting to know her better was one of the best uses of my time ever. The cherry on top was that all of the rest of the group were fiber artists and teachers as well. Everyone was working with different fiber techniques: tapestry weaving, loom weaving, spinning, knitting, crocheting, embroidery, and needle felting. Eve ..read more

Hopefully I won’t forget to click publish on this one like I forgot last time. There’s a lot going on and not much interesting to write about, not that I feel like I can share publicly anyway. I scheduled a lot of annual doctor and dentist visits this week and next and boy is it tiresome. Especially now that the robots send me multiple texts, emails, and calls to remind me of the appointments. Really, it is overkill. I turned my phone on to airplane mode this morning to sleep late and as soon as I turned it back on, up popped another text, this time for the dentist. Our robot overlords have fi ..read more

Spending a week at John C. Campbell is healing for my spirit. From the time I walk into that weathered door in Keith House to check in, I feel the calm begin to take hold of my stressed out body. This time I was in a room with only one roommate, and she and I hit it off immediately. It was on the second floor of Keith House at the back of the building, shaded by the tall trees around it. Here’s the path I walked several times a day from Keith House and the dining hall and my classroom in the Fiber Arts building. I spent a couple of evenings after class in my room, catching up on my rest an ..read more

I’m doing a catch-up post about the tapestry design workshop and Tapestry Weavers South retreat that I attended the first week in June. MJ Lord taught the workshop, “Birds, Bugs, and Butterflies,” based on her colorful abstract design work based on nature. It was the perfect workshop for me since I’ve really been into birds and bugs lately, and I needed a nudge to design some new tapestry. First, MJ asked us to zero in on details of photos or illustrations we brought and make at least three sketches. I knew all along that my photo would be of Jorge, the Beautiful Mexican Beetle who I befriende ..read more

I went to Asheville with my sister this past weekend to the Tapestry Weavers South get-together at the Folk Art Center exhibition of “Follow the Thread.” She drove from Lake Waccamaw, we had lunch at Sushi Republic, then she drove us to Asheville. That’s a lot of driving in one day! That evening we had dinner at the Red Rocker Inn in Black Mountain, a place that held fond memories for her as in past trips with Tim. After seeing it I’d like to stay there with Sandy one weekend. We really love Black Mountain and I would love to be able to live there one day if I don’t emigrate to another country ..read more

The latest stitchery: I’m really enjoying stitching in this section. This piece has changed in my mind from purely abstract to ruminations about paths, choices, obstacles, and flow. What we do to stitch the fragments of our lives together while attempting to create balance. Sometimes you can, sometimes there is too much disruption in the fabric, but we still give it a try. Now that I’m considering these aspects of it, it has become more meditative and much less frustrating. At the moment I’m thinking about mounting it on another piece of fabric and making it into a scroll. Next week I’ll proba ..read more

Half of Sandy’s thyroid was removed and the nodules tested. It is cancer-free. What a relief! He was in a fairly jolly mood yesterday prior to leaving the hospital – he had to spend a night there. Today he is hurting more, but all he needs is acetaminophen. He was in the recovery room for hours waiting for a room, and he called me to tell me to go home. I packed up my and his stuff and headed to the door, where a deluge was coming down, then turned around and headed back to the waiting room. It was actually pleasant once I knew that he had come through the surgery okay. I was sitting in an are ..read more

Hopefully I won’t forget to click publish on this one like I forgot last time. There’s a lot going on and not much interesting to write about, not that I feel like I can share publicly anyway. I scheduled a lot of annual doctor and dentist visits this week and next and boy is it tiresome. Especially now that the robots send me multiple texts, emails, and calls to remind me of the appointments. Really, it is overkill. I turned my phone on to airplane mode this morning to sleep late and as soon as I turned it back on, up popped another text, this time for the dentist. Our robot overlords have fi ..read more

Our class created a huge diversity of animals, including some that came into new existence. Some photos are not great – I had planned to take better ones but time got away from me and there was a crowd at our display and the end-of-week show-and-tell. I’ll go around the room in my memory – first up is Willow Daniels, a work-study student at JCCFS. She made a squirrel, a turtle, a mouse, and a parrot. Since you can see Anne Woodward’s bee up there, she’s next. It is an endangered species of bee and I’m sorry to say that I don’t remember the name. Next to it is a red kangaroo that became a mons ..read more