I'm on Instagram now

I'm a little late to the game, but I've finally joined Instagram. 

I'm looking forward to figuring out my way around there. I've already run into some old friends I don't see on other social networks, so, so far so good.

If you're there, you can find me HERE.

gifts

A box arrived in the mail this weekend from a very lovely woman on the coast.

She decided to make my day very special by sending me some stones gathered from the sea shore.

There were flat ones, large ones, white ones, and some whose color was only fully realized when wet. There was also this one, sporting a bouquet of barnacles.

My heart swells with happiness.

A few weeks ago this same special friend sent a parcel with crab shells and seashells.

They lend themselves to arranging on the table, and much exploration from the kitties.

I am so grateful.

first, some stitching

Last day of vacation for me, back to work tomorrow.

But first, some stitching.

a spontaneous trip

I've just returned from a spontaneous road trip to the north shore with a little bit of sunburn, a bag of rocks, and some amazing memories. We visited the Soudan mine and physics lab, jumped from cliffs into the Temperance River, climbed Gooseberry Falls, and wandered the lake shore. It was wonderful.

I will be mailing off this week's stitched stones tomorrow, as today I am headed back to work and even though it's already 8am I'm still in my pajamas, perusing photos.

Better get a move on.

Oh, did I mention I found some rocks?

Have a fabulous week, all.

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!

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. 

new stones in the shop

Three new stones in my shop.

Headed off to my day job, the last workday before a whole week off.  Family coming in to town, fun to be had, relaxing to be done.

Good stuff.

Hope you all have a great weekend!

a work in progress

I spent the better part of yesterday needling away at some wool.  Forming stones and coaxing curly locks into moss.  I had the music on and my littlest needle-felting companion with me, needling on her own creation while the cat sat in a wood bowl and watched us.  Even though we clearly bored him.

Today I'll add some other shapes and hopefully a few sewn accents.  It's a fun piece to work on.  When I make my mushroom terrariums, I always take special joy in adding all of the details to the scene so this is allowing me all of that fun on a larger scale.

But speaking of scale, check out the mini scene my little partner created.  Momma is proud.

Happy Sunday, everyone.

stones with holes

Every now and then I find these stones with holes in them.  These two are larger stones, the larger one measuring about 6" long, but I usually find them in smaller sizes.  The holes on these are about an inch and a half wide.  The one on the left has smoothed edges, as if it were worn away, but the one on the right has a sharp edge like something chopped into it.

I don't know what formed these holes, whether they were the product of nature or something manmade, but while trying to read about holes in stones this morning I found an article about the mooring stones of Minnesota, which led me to stories of runestones and of geology.  

And suddenly an hour had gone by.

I am now behind on my chores and without a proper blog post.  And a shower.  It is fun to imagine what these holes could be though... a product of glaciers rolling pebbles?  Blasting holes from foundation rocks?  Ancient artwork?  A marker of some sort?  Pure natural coincidence?

Edit: Rose suggested in the comments that this could be a Native American tool, which led me to more reading.  Now I'm giddy at the thought that the on the left could be a cupstone or nutting stone, or a fire-starting stone.  How exciting would that be?

What's piquing your curiosity today?