random thoughts after an absence

I don't really mind the Creeping Charlie that surrounds my fish pond. Many shun this interloper but when I approach our patch and hear it humming from the bees that visit, it makes it okay. I'm a fan of diversity, so I don't want my entire yard to be full of it, but I can deal with this much.

We took a camping trip out to the Black Hills of South Dakota last weekend, stopping in some of our favorite spots, old and new. The kids got a kick out of Wall Drug, we all marveled at the changing scenery, and were amazed at the world beneath our feet at Jewel Cave. The highlight of the trip for my wee ones was a stop at a rock shop in Hill City where they got to "pan" for gems and fossils. They shook their screens in the sluice and pulled out some beauties that they traded and bartered for hours and hours. The simple things are the best.

I was talking to my friend Heather today about balance. Specifically when it comes to incorporating art time into our lives. Though I'm surrounded by art in my day job, the opportunities for my own arting time are slim, and the balance feels off. And that's never good. I took advantage of the long drive last weekend to do some needling while my husband drove. I now have a pile of pieces, and some day, perhaps something will come of them. We shall see.

My youngest picked me a bowl of Columbine flowers today to nibble on together because when she saw the "honeysuckle" she said it reminded her of how much she loved me. Normally I encourage the kids to leave the flowers for the bees, but when your baby brings you a bowl of honeysuckle out of love, well, you reckon the bees can have some of that Creeping Charlie for now.

I've been holding on to two finished stones for some time now, anticipating that I would have stitchy time, any day now! and I could get a batch together for a shop update. Well, since that isn't in the plans right now, I've put them both in my shop in hopes that they will find a home that loves them.

This one with the pale purple beads reminds me of lace... that bit of great, great grandma's that is in my dresser drawer, the dried Queen Anne's stalks at the roadside, and the trembling webs of spiders that lace the morning grass.

This stone is also in the shop and it's just joyous. When I look at it, I feel joy. Color, excitement, joy. I hope it evokes the same feeling for someone.

The stones can be found in my shop, and with luck, I can be found in this spot with more frequency soon.

If any of you are still out there, reading...thank you for hanging in there with me. 

rather, autumn

No dandelion seeds showed up in my stitching. Rather, autumn. I think I'm ready.

In my shop today.

a shop update and a giveaway, as promised

10 days of stitching all lined up.

10 stones will go in my shop Friday morning at 9am central time.

The proceeds from which, if they should sell, will go right back into my wool supply. :)

Now, how about a little giveaway?

During my challenge there were two days that I was able to make extra stones. I'll give them away, one here and one on my facebook page, so you have two chances to win.

How to enter: This giveaway is now closed

Leave me a comment here on this blog post (and/or on my facebook post) telling me what you would do if you had the time.

My kids will pick a winner, randomly, from both my blog and my facebook page on Saturday morning. That's it! The winner here will win the stitched stone pictured below. I will ship worldwide.

Good luck!

Day 8 stone

Day 8 stone. Capturing a certain palette, rather than a form, I think. Fluffy clouds or speckled eggs? Definitely the color of budgies.

We took the kids to Safari North, a wildlife park near us, today. Our favorite part is always the budgie enclosure. You get to walk in with a stick covered in bird seed and a hundred sweet little budgies land on you and eat the seed. I love seeing the kids grinning with birds lined up on their arms. These wild, unruly children of mine are so soft and gentle with these feathered gems.

We also witnessed a mama kildeer defending her nest full of speckled eggs. When we approached she got all dramatic and pretended, pretty convincingly, that she was injured as she tried to lead us away from the area. We gave her space after getting a quick peek at her lovely eggs and she wiggled back down on her nest.

The weekend has drawn to a close. 2 more days of my challenge left.

Day 7 stone

Day 7 draws to a close. A drop of golden sun at the end of a glorious day.

I spent much of my day working on a project but couldn't resist making dandelion stem bracelets and playing in the grass with my youngest on this cool but sunny day.

I feel a sense of accomplishment and it's a good thing.

Day 6 stone

I finished Day 6's stone late last night. I really wanted to go to bed. My tired self reasoned with the rest of myself that it would be okay if I just went to bed. But in the end I stayed up a little longer and stitched my stone.

Just a simple design that hinted at the morning's rising sun.

Have a lovely weekend, everyone!

Day 5 stone

Day 5. A freeform stone. The color is reminiscent of my clematis, but the design was a free-flow, organic thing that happened just because I liked the feel of the stitches.

I was in town 3 hours early to drop off a child for a field trip so I spent some time at my desk this morning stitching. I finished up the last few stitches after work with some of my best artsy friends while we shared a glass of wine and art talk.

I'm looking forward to the slower pace of the upcoming weekend.

Happy Friday, everyone!

Day 4 stone

Day 4 stone. Iron-rich like our soil and stones.

Today is the kind of day that I find the most challenging. I missed out on sewing time before work today because my oldest was sick. Strep. I knew it as soon as I heard him talk. I just had it myself, the first time in like 15 years. Yuck. Off to the clinic, 25 miles in and 25 miles back, then 20 miles back in to work. After a busy day I came home with a head full of work and feeling oh so tired.

This is usually when I get back into work email and end up tense for the evening.

Instead, while the (healthy) kids went to splash in the pool (it's way too cold for me yet) I sat down and sewed. And you know what? There's still time for work email, but I tended to myself first, and that's the way it needs to be.

Onward.

Day 3 stone

Day 3's stone, full of moss.

Started this morning after the kids got on the bus. Finished tonight before dinner.

Instead of launching into emails and getting sucked in by pinterest, I went directly to my stitching. It was a good choice.

back in therapy

It has been over 2 months since I've stitched a stone.

I find that totally unacceptable, especially since I consider the act of stitching these little meditations a form of therapy. It's little wonder I've been so off-kilter.

Life is very busy... busier than I'd like. Things get moved off the to-do list, shoved to the back of the line, to make room for the most pressing and noisiest of tasks. Regardless, stitching is going to have to be one of those things that is always on the list. It just has to.

In late 2013 I was poised and ready to make the leap into full-time art. My youngest would soon be in school and I had a plan in place to make a real financial impact by working in my chosen craft. Then life laughed and winked, and threw us some curves which necessitated my going to work outside the home. I ended up in a job as an arts administrator, one I'm proud of and often humbled by. 

It's worthy work, but work that often drains me, physically and creatively.

So it becomes even more important that I keep up with the practice of self-care which for me includes time in the woods, stitching, family, and working towards that goal of being a full time artist, even if it's years away.

I'm starting by committing to 10 days of stone-stitching. No matter how busy or tired I am, I will stitch at least 1 stone every day for the next 10 days. At the end I'll have a shop update and a giveaway. I hope you'll be here to celebrate with me.

Day 1's stone seems to have taken its theme from my dandelion-covered yard.

Wish me luck, friends. 

eggs of shimmer and earth

I've been channeling my inner magpie. Building nests and filling them with shiny things. (I know they don't really collect shiny things, but I love the imagery anyway) My wandery mind grew interested in the idea of giving birth to the things one has experienced and I daydreamed about birds who saw glittering snowflakes, the smallest of ferns; who then laid fantastical eggs full of shimmer and earth. 

Imagine what our own eggs would look like, imprinted with our memories.

These special nests and stone eggs, my offering to Spring, will be in my shop today along with some new nest brooches and a couple of stone necklaces. I'll be working on putting them in this morning so you'll likely see them pop in there, one by one.

found the color

I finished that stone I was working on.

I was looking for color...I definitely found it.

I hit a point with this stone where I had "just enough" going on, then barreled past it, and you know... I'm totally okay with that.

I'll work on the "less is more" concept another day.

gimme color

Another foggy morning in the north woods.

Such strange weather. A month ago it was so bitterly cold I didn't want to leave the house and now the snow is almost melted and my ducks are happily wandering the yard, splashing in puddles.

In need of color (and finished work for my Jan. 3rd show), I started growing flowers on this stone. We'll see how it ends up.

Happy Monday, all. I hope your week is colorful and bright.

a big batch o' stones

All set for this Sunday's shop update. I hope to get them loaded into the shop for a preview on Saturday night and then they'll "go live" Sunday at noon, central time.

Hope you have a great weekend, all.  Happy Friday!

almost there

I added a few new stones to the growing pile on my worktable.

I'm planning on putting these in my shop next weekend, Sunday Oct. 12 at noon, Central Time.

There will be stones in many sizes and it's my hope that everyone who has wanted one will be able to get one.

Thank you to all of you who "get" and appreciate my work.  Your kind words and support have meant so much.

Have a great start to the week.

work continues - stitching stones

Work continues, in between lots of life stuff, work continues.

Bandaging an accident-prone (fearless) boy, supporting the arts in my region, getting our homestead (as it were) prepared for winter, worrying about loved ones, and soothing myself with comfort food (lasagna, chicken and dumpling soup, pumpkin cake) have filled in the rest of my time, but still there grows a small pile of stones on my table.

These will go in my shop once the pile has grown a bit more.

Hope you're all have a good week. Happy Wednesday, all.

work in progress wednesday

I used to do "wordless Wednesdays" but wasn't always successful at the "wordless" part so today I'm going to say this is a "work in progress Wednesday".

A small pile of stones is starting.

A collection of tones that remind me of the changing foliage outside my door, the richness of Autumn.

I'm hoping to get a sizeable stack of these completed before I put them in my shop.  I'll share photos in the process.

The maples and cherry trees are already glowing with color here and the light has that warm golden glow.  I could live in Autumn, but the joke here is that Fall is the best week of the year here in MN.  The only way I know how to prolong it is to spend as much time outside as I can, capture the moment in color, and eat lots of caramel apples.(side note: I stopped in at Fancy Pants Chocolates in town yesterday because I had heard that Nancy had caramel apples, and caught her right in the middle of making them. She handed me a honeycrisp covered in still-warm thick handmade caramel. It was wonderful.)

How are the seasons changing by you?

skipping stone

Someone recently asked me if I sketch out the designs on my stone first, or if I had a concept of what they would look like.

The short answer is no.

The longer answer is that my art is an organic thing. I value the process as much as the end result. So when I sit down with a stone, pick some colors, and start to stitch, I do it without an idea of where the stitches are leading me. 

Sometimes I find out pretty soon into a stone but some, like this one, take longer before I know where I'm going with it.

I began by capturing a small stone under stitches, a technique that signifies an embracing of something precious. Knots and beads started to surround the stone and then some thin green plants appeared. Next came small circles, then a line, then another. Soon I knew where I was going. I added more plants, the hint of movement, and ripples at the surface and what I had was a skipping stone.

A small stone skimming the surface of water, leaving bubbles in its wake, a view of the watery landscape beneath it.

It will settle at the bottom after its wild ride. After losing momentum. But not until then.

In my shop today.

The wool a mottled mix of watery hues, more subtle than the photos are showing. (why must you mess with my photos, blogger?) Stitches in blues, greens, russet, and gold. A bit over 3 inches long.

What can you tell me about your process? Do you always know where you're going? Are you a sketcher? What do you leave to chance?