truly spacious

Winter Charms

Wishing you Peace, Comfort and Warmth this Winter!

And pointing out (as if we hadn't noticed the trickster's shadow already) that Mercury goes retro on 26th.

You can check out the dates thru here. And the 2010 continuations here.

Whoooooooooop says the retro~born Tigress.  My kinda Winter charm. 

Happy Restorative snuggling, pottering, diddling and gently carrying on wishes to yoooooooooo.

Here's a fine vid for you to dance yourself warm with.

And my favourite For Now radio station - Christmas Remixed - by the wonderfully named yelo_snoman.

And my third wise gift to you and your ears is this, my favourite delicious chilled version of Carol of The Bells.

And thassaboutitfornow. More seasonality posts as and when.

As and when the impulse comes upon me, that is.

Meanwhile; Thank You to everyone who visits, comments, google-hoovers, or lurks sweetly silent overhere.

Peace Be With You!

xxx

Like Stars

It seems the Summer Break is upon me, in terms of not posting much overhere....

So for now, here are details from a card which I made for a Star-like friend recently, 

and a stitching, finished in new-departure style onto canvas, for a recently-met Stellar pal.  

Who was kind enough to fall in Love at first sight (of said stitching) and ask to purchase it. 

Flattered and delighted, I rustled up a way of making it hangable for her, 

which may prove to be a fine way to finish some of the stockpile of stitchings-in-waiting....

Some stitching-and-stencilling speriments will be happening soon - with some happy encouragement from The Divine Miss Moss.  

Hallo to my new playclassmates peeping on thru from there!

I'll be twinkling around not very far away, and will shine on through here again, 

flapping stencilry and allwhatnot around, some clear night afore very long....

And, Yes. That is indeed a Broomstick. And a Drumstick. Andandand.

Click pic to see clearer.

XXX

visible echoes

 

First I made a stitching for my friend Jane's birthday. She's a Dragon, she likes a bit of sparkle....
And then I made some collage.

And only when I posted pics of them together, did I see the echoes.

Click pics to see clearer echoes.

xxx

bundle love

 

(All pics click larger + clearer.)

Yesterday, on my cybertrails, I spotted a lovely project. I saw that things were being bundled into the elements in Beauty-full ways, by Be...Dream...Play Elizabeth, x2,  and by RedVelvet Judy, and by many others, following the inspiration of The Altered Page Seth and his 'disintegration' project.

Today I woke up thinking about it, and so this afternoon I gathered the Things which were calling me, and put them all together. O how good to get to putting things together willynilly and yet precisionengineer artfully. Knowing they were all to be soaked and transformed in breezes and freezes, beams and drops, between today and the first of May. Knowing some of the carefully-quick chosen texts might vanish inbetweentimes.

Such a joy just to wrap and stitch, easy and fast. To bundle. The original recipe was for paper only, but I reeeeally wanted to include a little stitched Thing, and some too-shiny-for-my-taste things, just to see...

And then, I hung it outside, not very far from my kitchen door, in the last of the evening light.

 

A rare forray out into the coldness, where I found another weather-beaten form: my lovely stone, cracked in the frosts. It must have survived several million Winters till this one, but today it is a changed form again. This too shall pass.

Thankyou Seth for setting this sweet elemental project into motion. Good to be fired up on a chilly Winter's day in Norwich, UK, February 2009.

While we live and breathe, eh? xxx

visible

A pic!
I posted a pic!
A little thing I made Quite A While ago.
Image found in my email clearouts just now.
Still hoping to recover some other images.... and there are new ones awaiting in the digiwings.
For now, just this.
And Happy Weekend wishes.
Sun is forecast, I have a Garden to be in, inbetween sortings and doings, now; Bliss, overhere.
xxx

stitches + nests

A little medley of stitching. Week 4 of the TAST project was a week to catch up or review. So: some chain stitches, some blanket stitches, and some 'just stitches' went in the mix, along with a little vintage lace, and fine fabrics.
Click pic to see a little more clearly. I scanned, to circumnavigate some of the process doings that come with pic-taking.

Am in the getting-ready-to-go-away mode again, so there are already plenty of doings going on, or asking to go on, overhere.

I will be away for about a week, from Tuesday. On what may or may not be my last recce. Time will tell. And then I will tell.
Such alertness that comes with the possibilities of endings and new beginnings, eh.
Such presence.

And there is a blackbird sitting on a nest a few feet from where I write. (There are lovely pics of her, nesting in my camera, but I really don't want to do the mediating bit right now) It has been blissful to share some moments with her, and such a gift to witness this beautiful process so intimately. And in central London, too.  If the beakyboys don't show before Tues, I may miss the fruits of this still labour. Previous beakyboy arrivals have been astonishingly fast to fly away after showing up. Amazing. Simply Amazing.

Good week wishes to us all.

xxx

detached daisy

My wee stitching for week 3 at the stitchin fingers TAST project.
'Detached chain stitch', sometimes aka 'daisy stitch'.

And, a delicious medley from my flickrfaves.
Thank you to all the generous artists and photographers there.

1. Untitled, 2. Sand Dunes in Brooklyn, 3. Chain, 4. Chain, 5. fire-and-water, 6. DSC01115, 7. DSC01312, 8. Moon pendant, 9. Church door, Osmaston, Derbyshire

Splendid Solstice Blessings to us all. I'm savouring these last hours of geminity, 2008 style.
It's been quite a month.

Happy weekend wishes, too. xxx

retrofresh

Tuesday is here again, and so my wacom tablet and pen are deployed, as I listen to Caroline Myss for an hour.
It's a weekly Thing. (Pic clicks bigger and juicier.)

Fast fast times overhere.  Mercurial retro time is zooming on through, nearly over already. Whatcanyedo.

I'm aiming to get more of the recent trip photos visible in the next few days. There, I said it out loud.

Earlier today, I took and posted pics of the buttonhole stitching which I made this week, for my stitchin fingers project.

Creativities galore, and always some fresh ones, sprouting on up.

xxx

Happy Returns + Herrings

Getting ready to go for a big adventure. A weekend away.

For a Winter I waited, grew more red blood cell ballerinas; strengthened, stitched, waited, waited.
Spring came, I waited still. And here now it is my bright-Sun-comes-round-again weekend; my BirthDay, and I find I am able to go adventuring once more.
So grateful for the health and strength, the resources and Grace that let me do all this.

First stop Norwich, second stop Beccles. Geminian Two-stop style.
Meeting some fine folk along the way; one in a beautiful refectory. Whooooooooop.
How I love to travel, and how I have missed it. Printing maps and directions, getting excited....

And here are some presents I gave myself. Along with a fine basket and some felting equipment:

In love with these subtle colours, these textures, now.



At stitching fingers this week, the Take-a-Stitch-on-Tuesday stitch is the Herringbone.

I read last night that in 1086, the Abbot of St Edmundsbury paid a rent of 60,000 herrings to the crown, for the settlement at Beccles. It made me giggle. A synchro-nicety.
I was planning to take my stitching with me..... it'll be a homage to all those Herrings of Beccles. 

I'm going unplugged after tomorrow morning - 3 ish days, not online.  An adventure in itself.

Good weekend wishes to us all.

A Happy Return  ~ ~ ~ ~ to Health, to equilibrium, and to Wider Horizons.

xxx

stitchstitch

I do stitch sometimes, too. These are some of my recent makings. The pics all click larger, for closer perusal. xxx

triaxial, innit?

Yesterday, (via elsa's lovely weaving finlander), I found that Cally at t'katch had been experimenting with a form of weaving which answered a question I had asked myself recently. How was this beautiful old sewing-basket made?
I found it decades ago in a junk shop in Aberdeen. It was already old then.
Gazing at it the other night, thinking I had never publicly celebrated this lovely creation, I realised I had no clue how one would make such a thing. Seeing Cally's explorations gives me some sense of it.

Amazing, Grace. That I should find an answer within days of asking, by following a Scottish link. Like I keep saying; Mercury Retro is Juss Fine by me.

Today I visited the British Museum, and met with all manner of exquisitely crafted treasures, including some divine basketry. While working on pics to post, I sense a new gallery coming on. Digital weavings continue...

These pics all click bigger, for closer study.  xxx

loveliness galore

New-to-me blogs feeding me richly this week: 

My new pal Paula's The Beauty of Life.
+
(via jude's wonderfilled Spirit Cloth) the wonderfilled Wild Thread Studio, by Denise Aumick.
+
(via some comment somewhere, lost in history now) Morna Crites-Moore's BitterSweet.

So much juicy creativity to enjoy. I'd like a parallel Life so I can do all the stitchings and playing which looking at their work makes me want to do....

This pic is a detail of a gifty which I made for my pal Martin, a few months back. More of it in my new makings gallery. 

xxx

made up

This is what became of the little hand-sticks weaving which I showed a few posts back.

I was delighted about the driftwood - it's the first piece I've used my new mini-drill on, to make it stitchable.  Where there's a will, and a drill.... xxx

new gallery

I just made a new gallery. Recent makings. Enjoy. xxx

woven 2

Another recent woven-based Thing. It was a gift for a friend.  xxx

woven 1

For my new weaving friends at stitching fingers:

This is weaving I made recently, on my new weaving sticks. 

These are a more fixed loom set up than the hand-held ones in the previous post.

The backing is now more finished than it was in this pic.

Here it was on the sticks:

xxx

stitchin fingers +

Via the wonder-full Spirit Cloth, I was alerted today to the new stitchin fingers textile networking project, set up by Sharon b.

I joined already. I am going to use the joining as motivation to get some more stitching documentation posted soon. I've a big backlog of things made and given, stitched and snapped, and not yet posted.
So, I hereby commit to getting on it soonsoon.

Anyone who is strictly-textile and popping overhere for the first time may find my stitchings pics via links in sidebar - particularly at spaciouscraft.

And in spacious makings, I documented a lovely course which I took with Sharon b a while back. 

Welcome, if you are new overhere, and thank you.

This pic is a little bunch of hand-weaving sticks I recently acquired. There is already a Proper Finished Piece involving the one here...  p   i   c   s   s   o   o   n .......

Happy creative weekend wishes to us all.   

xxx

making in time

This is a started-long-ago little piece which just fits my posting mood right now.

xxx

spaciouscraft newness!

Newness Galore over at spaciouscraft!!!

I've just opened the cyberdoors to all the newness over there,
and I'd love to welcome your visit. xxx

active snowy Love

I have a heart on my fridge which says "Love Actively".
It was a promotion for a gym, a press-out from a postcard whose humour I liked, years ago. Today C. came round, stood at my side for a moment as I finished doing the dishes, and asked what it said. (She's six.) I told her, and we agreed "be Loving" is another
good way to put it.
Then she and S. and I made some snowy sparkly things
in the playroom.
First we enjoyed a slideshow I'd rustled up, of inspiring Beauty-full gathered images, on my easy-peasy active Joy Lavinia Swift laptop. Nice. Or: 'coowol', as C sometimes exclaims.
The six-pointed time is here in a big way.
I'll do a linky-rich post very soon.
Tonight I just want to post some pics.

Glittery things we made; a Butterfly I rustled up 
- and which C. made off with - I love how she is brandishing it
in the pics. My iconic pal.
And finally the current stitching, which is pleasing me,
and coming along well.
It's going to be a cover for the larger Moleskine....
Can you spot the skelly within the snowy?  *click pic for more pixels*

I'm so glad I've got creativity in my Life. Tis the best thing I know for getting me through times of fierce bodypain.
Along with Sweet Healing, of course. And pals.
Big Thanks to Seka, to dear Y, and to so many others, here + there.
For being t/here: actively, Lovingly, helping me keep on keeping on.

xxx

good stuff

I added some more fierce pink lovely pics found on my flickrtravels,
over at my faves page. I was glad to see that it comes Naturally, too, with the full pure quality of bite to which I am so drawn currently.

I love gathering images of just what I fancy looking at now, there.
And seeing the progressions through time.
The shifts, and the threads running through.
Sometimes a new pic shows me something I wasn't quite seeing in a previously gathered treasure.

The pic here is of some recent acquisitions - some of which are already transformed, and some of which made me very happy earlier as I pottered around and got on with some more making. It's so great to have good stuff to make with, to hand.
Such a privelige, really.  All of this.

I've started gathering gorgeous Winterness about me recently too.
I'll make a post soon to share all manner of chilly Beauty and frosty fascinations, once I've reached another pause in this new stitching.

Good weekend wishes to you.
Say hallo if you haven't for a while - I'd enjoy that contact.

xxx

Cozy Whoooop!

Ooooh! This bag which I made
is featured over at moleskinerie today!
Thank you, Armand!
(I love that its new name is Cozy - with a Zee!)
It's the third post down at the moment,
and here if you want to zoom in post-specifically...
Also more visible in my gallery of bags,

and, of course, at spaciouscraft.

xxx

more carrying on

I've ventured into the terrain of the TypePad photo albums...
now there is a gallery of bags for your perusal...

And yes, the colours have changed a little here!

xxx

Gift to Go

A going away present: a stitched ButterFly wallet full of photos, for "Mamma", who has been my neighbour for a year.

She came over to be with her new grand-daughter.

Mamma flies back to China today, and I am going to miss her.

Wyn See is going to miss her GrandMother very much, too. Wishing Mamma a safe flight, happy landings, and all Good things, always.

*click pics to see more*

xxx

studio friday - toot -

Studio Friday invites some 'Tooting' this week. As in: "may I proudly present and celebrate what I do?".
In deference to my unwell laptop, I will post only this pic here, now.
There are many more tootpics of the stitchings I've done over at the spaciouscraft galleries, too.
And there will be many, many more pics, both here and there, of new stitchings, new drawings, new allkindsofthings, once The New Laptop shows up. Oooh it's gonna be Good.
SoonSoon....

xxx

studio friday - a floral treat

This is a little three-page soft book which I made a few weeks back, for a one-year-old friend.
A treat to make - I did it in one (long) don't-stop-till-it's-done day, and I loved what that gave me. The 'good-enough' relaxed making mode that came with the time-squeeze.

I found this proverb:
"All the flowers of all the tomorrows
are in the seeds of today."

More of today's flowers.

Good day wishes to you.

xxx

handheld

Georgia O'Keefe is quoted
(in 'changing patterns' - 'discovering the fabric of your creativity' - by Daena Giardella and Wren Ross):
"When you take a flower in your hand and really look at it, it's your world for the moment."
I don't take flowers in my hand very often, but I do hold and look at my stitchery. Sometimes photos of a snippet of stitching represent something I've lived with, seen, while I was working on it, more truly resonantly than a pic of the whole finished Thing. Snippets can sing so sweetly.

One of the appeals of restarting bloggery is to focus on, and to show, snips of all kinds of this and that. My momentary world-details.

And the development of ideas, new-angle seeings and connections that come with making blog entries, bring a particular nourishment, I find.

I enjoyed reading a few chapters this morning of this book: copious quotes may follow shortly...

And I am really enjoying the Holosync experience. Only a few days into that, so I'll simply mention it briefly and linkingly, for now...

Now. There are many, many things which I want to bring to this page.
And new things to learn, in order to do so.
I'll be taking the flower that is typepad in my hand for a wee while....

xxx

moreplay

"Everything has to happen somewhere" said Y, once upon a time.
My new project is happening right here.
Fiddling with all the new Things for a while.....
xxx