Monday, March 31, 2014

simple and useful card holder :)

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Card Holder


This simple card holder can be sewn up quickly and uses such a small amount of fabric you may be able to use up some scraps. I started making these card holders years ago and have used mine  everyday since then - it works great! I put my drivers license, credit card, store reward cards, and even some cash in it. The card holder fits perfectly in a small pocket in my purse or in my jeans pocket.

Monday, March 17, 2014

exciting things developing!

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I am very excited that my website is currently being redeveloped and I have a lot of new things that I will be offering. In the meantime, new "goodie bags" stuffed with supplies for fiber art and daily visual journaling. The 7 x 9 inch envelope is stuffed with small pieces of fabric, jumbles of thread, embroidery floss, papers, magazine images for collage, and an extra surprise, which all adds up to more value than the listed price! They are available in my Etsy shop.

The items in each "goodie bag" are hand picked and packed by me and my daughter (who is my studio assistant :)

*** Includes free shipping ***

The package may or may not contain stuff like this:


Monday, March 10, 2014

Letting go of control

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I've been spending a lot of time organizing all my fabric, thread, and yarns for my upcoming online workshops and for my sanity. I'm not sure how other artists stay organized - I have seen some pictures of beautiful studios with everything accessible and the work surface clean - I would love to know the secrets!

Anyway, my daughter is my studio assistant (when she isn't playing games on the computer) and she had a wonderful idea for packaging some fabrics and threads. I was getting picky about how she was putting it together and annoyed with how long she was taking when I realized that I just needed to let go of controlling the whole thing. She is very creative and there was no hurry to get these done. What she came up with is beautiful and I'm so happy with it and can't wait to give some of these away :)

Monday, March 03, 2014

The Evolution of Stitching "Family"

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I love the meditative and intuitive process of stitching - at least my approach to stitching is intuitive and meditative. The soothing process and sound of pulling the thread through the fabric again and again and again... I don't always plan things out - usually I will start with a fabric that was part of an old project, or a scrap from a friend, or even a handful of threads that my daughter gave me from her finished project. For this particular piece, I started with some bits of fiber left over from some earrings I made and the piece evolved into a symbol of family and mothering. 



My intention was to video record my process of creating one of these highly textured abstract embroidery pieces to include in my online workshop. And I did record part of the process, but then I stopped working on the piece for a few days. After a little while I picked up some more scraps and threads around my work table including some small feathers that my daughter had left after a project. I stitched these feathers down to the cotton base fabric and continued with small seed stitches in my favorite dark pink thread, trapping some loose threads as I worked.

Next, I picked up some golden beige yarn that I had used to knit a scarf for my mom. I cut a small length and stitched it down near the feathers. The colors for my daughter and my mom are similar. They are both born in the same star sign and the gold, earthy tones seem to match their personalities. As I continued stitching and thinking about my mom and my daughter, this piece became a meditation on family - on being a mother and a daughter.  These ideas brought to mind my sister and how different our experiences were growing up - the blue is for her stitched down with gray - both are the color of her eyes depending on what she is wearing.

As I stitched around the bottom edge, keeping the feathers securely in place, I realized that I had two feathers - two children - one feather for each - and this piece was telling me that it was about being a mother and a daughter. So, I chose the large pink feather to represent myself and stitched that into place using the pink thread. I added the black yarn for contrast, but then as the black swirled around the pink feather (me) it began to remind me of the difficult times of parenting. Around the time when my daughter was two years old, my husband was working on a new business venture and I started graduate school for art therapy. It was a lot to take on for both of us, and although there were times when I wasn't sure what to do and felt physically and emotionally drained, my family was always there for support.

When I finished stitching all the threads, feathers, and yarn down to the cotton I took a picture of the finished piece to share on Instagram. Looking at the small image on my phone it reminded me of a face looking down (the way I remember looking at my children the first time I held them).

I am always fascinated when my art shows me more than what I was expecting.









The progression from beginning to end

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