If you’ve been reading my blog for a while, you know that for the past few years I’ve chosen a word to guide me through the year. This year I did not choose a word. I did not make any resolutions. I have not set any concrete goals. Instead, I have chosen 2 practices I want to incorporate into my life:

1. Self Compassion.  My definition is to basically give myself a break. I usually have high expectations for myself. I set lofty goals. I have lists and lists of things I want to achieve. And like most of us, I fail to meet them all. When I fail, I tend to start beating myself up with “should have”, “could have”, “wish I’d”….  This year, I still have things in the back of my mind that I would like to do. But I want to practice self compassion. Treating myself in the same manner I would a dear friend who has found themselves overburdened and overwhelmed and tired. I will be kind, forgiving, understanding, and encouraging to myself this year.

2. Priorities  I spent the last two weeks of 2011 cleaning out things. I cleaned out my email contacts list; my blog feeds; my yahoo groups; my Facebook friends; my telephone contact list; and I spent time unsubscribing to email lists that no longer interest me.  I’ve been sorting through closets and drawers taking all those things out that I no longer use or find pretty. I’ve taken bags of stuff to the thrift store.  All of this mainly because I want the things in my life to be meaningful and worth my time and effort.

You can imagine that with all this going on in my life, I haven’t had time to make much. I’ve knitted mittens, hats, and even a sock monkey ornament for Christmas gifts.  But I haven’t created any original art. My art these days is the flow of my life. I am appreciating each day as it comes, making decisions based on the question “What will I remember or be important to me in 10 years?”.

The thing I find interesting is that the more I have purged and the more material stuff I’ve rid myself of, the more interested I’ve become in being in my studio again. The more ideas keep popping into my head.

I am eagerly looking forward to what 2012 holds in store for me and mine. I’d love to hear what you are doing new or differently as you are beginning this new year.

THEN it took 2 days of sketching and erasing to come up with a tree that I liked (drawing is NOT my forte!).  Here is the tree cut from the brown fabric:

Then I decided it needed roots:

And then leaves:

At this point I debated whether it was done or if it needed more leaves. I was also bothered by the openess right in the center of the tree. I played with putting a nest and a critter there, but wasn’t happy. I asked for a critique from a couple of friends and they agreed it was too open and one friend said a tree of life couldn’t have too many leaves.  So I went back to cutting out leaves:

I was much happier with the addition of leaves. At this point, I started adding the  critters I wanted in my tree. There’s an owl, a squirrel, a opposum, some birds, butterflies, and dragonflies. There’s also a snail and a frog.  I want to put a nest on one of the branches, but that will go on last because I want it to be 3 dimensional.

I’ve done the thread sketching and I’ve started the quilting, but have been too busy sewing to stop and take pictures. I’ll post those in the next day or so.

My plan is to finish the quilting and then add beads, hand embroidery, and some angelina.  This quilt has to be finished day after tomorrow.  Still can’t believe I’ve tackled this challenge!

Daniel Stowe Botanical Gardens is a 400 acre garden in Belmont, NC about an hour from my home. They are celebrating the opening of a new garden area called Meadow Walk this fall. Fiber Art Options, a fiber art group to which I belong, hung an exhibit, “Meadowood Stitched” , on Friday as part of the celebration:

one gallery hall

by DeLane Rosenau

by DeLane Rosenau

by Susan Brubaker Knapp

by Nancy Cook

by Janet Lasher

by Deborah Langsam

by PJ Howard

by Linda Stegall

Fall with a Flourish began yesterday with the first day of Autumn Faire. Vendors and artists were invited to participate. I was given a space in the lobby near our exhibit where I was able to work on my newest piece and demonstrate my techniques and talk about our exhibit. It was wonderful to meet so many visitors to the gardens and get the chance to share my love of all things fiber.

If you will be in the Charlotte area, please plan some time to visit the Gardens and our exhibit.

“There is indeed a Gremlin in your head and he’s out to make you miserable. Left to do his thing, he’ll zap your health, foul up your relationships, ruin your disposition, dampen your creativity, hamper your productivity, drive you into low-down funks and wind you up into fits of anxiety.” 

The book written by Rick Carson, Taming Your Gremlin, was a huge help to me in my fight with my Gremlin. When I first read the book 4 years ago, my Gremlin had tight hold on me and talked incessantly. Over time, I’ve gotten him to quiet down.

When I first started working on taming my Gremlin, in addition to reading the book and doing the exercises, I made a quilt:

The background colors represent the chaos my Gremlin always brings to my life when he’s around. When I started the quilt, my Gremlin was popping in from all directions, always catching me off guard, and was always sneaky. What was interesting was that in the process of creating the quilt along with reading the book, my Gremlin got quieter and quieter and by the time the quilt was finished, my Gremlin wasn’t popping IN, he was on his way out!

Is he silent? Of course not, he lurks around and still tries to talk, but I have the skills to make him go away and be quiet (you really should read the book!!!!).

Tonight, I realized how far I’ve come in taming this Gremlin of mine. Steve and I decided (I’m still not sure how or why!) that rowing would be a good activity for us. So, off to rowing classes we go. Now you have to understand that when my Gremlin had free reign to speak whenever he wanted, I would never have shown up for rowing classes. He would have said I was too fat, too out of shape, not athletic enough, people would stare, I would be a disappointment to Steve….. (I know what he would say because those are the kinds of things he said to me for years). 

I know I’ve made progress because I went to class in my spandex shorts and tightly fitting specialty fabric shirt and sandals, I acted like I belonged, I FELT like I belonged, I got into a boat with 8 other people and I took my first lesson in how to row.  And it wasn’t until I was half way home that I realized my Gremlin had not said a word. I felt proud, I felt tired, and I know I’ll go back for another lesson.

What’s the point of this post?  I talk to people every week who are dealing with a Gremlin and haven’t realized it yet.  I hope by talking about it and telling you how much progress I’ve made, maybe, just maybe you’ll get the book and do the reading and do the work to Tame your Gremlin. THEN, pass on the book to another person who needs it.

We purposely arrived in Portland a couple of days early so we could do some sightseeing. We really wanted to see Mt St Helens and found it to be a highlight.

We spent the entire day at Mt St Helens and got to hear 2 ranger talks about how the day unfolded in May 1980. We also got to take a ranger hike and hear about how the eruption affected the land, animals, and vegetation. Did you know it’s had 3 more smaller eruptions since the big one in 1980?

We then wanted to drive along the Columbia River Gorge. We did this a few years ago but it was in April and the snow was higher than our car (I blogged about it). It was interesting to see the area in the summer. 

This is Multnomah Falls:

And Mt Hood:

Yes, that’s snow.  And if you look REALLY carefully, there are small black dots on the snow — that’s people skiing and snowboarding — in AUGUST!

We drove back into Portland to spend 3 days. I did a lot of walking and went to Powells Books. I was told how big it was, but I was still  shocked by the size when I actually walked in. Powells books is in a 4 story building that is literally one block square. You can enter from all four roads that surround the building.

I thought for those of you still sweltering in the heat of summer, I’d show you a display at 5 o’clock in the evening:

I took the pink trolley tour on my last day in Portland.  The trolleys are painted Pepto Bismol pink! $1 from every ticket is given to Breast Cancer initiatives. We rode through town and saw parts I hadn’t seen before and heard a lot of interesting stories that I can no longer remember!  I got off at the Rose Test Garden. That was amazing — something like 64 acres of Roses!

Now, I’ll tell you. I took a couple of fiber art pieces along thinking I’d sit in the hotel room and do some work. WRONG!  Between the jet lag, the LATE nights (Steve was there on business and we were treated like royalty — late night dinners included) and really wanting to take advantage of being in Portland and see the sights….. I only got a couple hours work done on the pieces I took with me.

We flew back to Kalamazoo on the 11th and drove 2 hours north to the town of Newaygo.

We set up camp and spent Friday watching the first day of the Marathon races. Friday night, it started raining – I mean a deluge! Thunder and Lightning…. I had put our food and my fiber art stuff (in ziplocks and/or plastic bins) under our screen tent. This is what I woke up to in the morning:

Everything was soaked. The rain had blown sideways with great gusto. There was water inside the bins and ziplocks! I’ve never seen anything like it in my life! Races were delayed two hours that day due to the storms.  150 paddlers got on the water and began the races; the storms returned with fury about 10 minutes after Steve got off the water. We were near the river, the ground was wet with standing water and there we were standing in all that water with lightning all around us. A friend had his pickup truck at the finish line and he shoved stuff further into the truck to make room for those of us wanting some shelter from the storm. 8 of us ended up sitting in the back of the truck for 80 minutes while the worst of the storm passed over us.

When the storm abated enough for us to get out of the truck, we headed to the campground (just a short walk up the hill from the river) so Steve could get dry. He was still wet from his race (as were 6 of the people in the back of that truck!) We only had a 20 minute break in the storm and here is a picture of our tents taken from the bathhouse in the campground:

We spent the afternoon and evening in Wendy’s, the Laundramat, and the Chinese Buffet restaurant. The town had several buildings hit by lightning and they opened a Red Cross Shelter for those camping who got washed out. We were fortunate that our tent was dry, we were safe and well, and only our “stuff” was “wet”.

Steve did well in his races coming in 2nd in one race and taking the Championship in the other:

From  Newaygo, we drove to Toronto, Ontario. We’ve spent the past 2 days seeing the sights here. Toronto is a BIG city!!! Oh my goodness!  What a difference from the small, intimate countryside of northern Michigan!

We walked to the Art Gallery of Ontario on Tuesday (no photography allowed inside)

On Wednesday, we rode our bikes through downtown and over to the shoreline of Lake Ontario:

And then we showered , ate a late lunch, and took the subway to the north to see the Royal Ontario Musuem. The ROM is similar to our Smithsonian Museums in DC:

We took the subway and then the trolley to the area of Toronto known as Kensington Market. We ate ate a small sidewalk cafe:

And walked the streets of Kensington market before heading back to the hotel calling it a night. Here is a car that someone filled with dirt and planted:

We’re off to Niagara Falls today.

All my art and fiber work is finally dry. It takes a long time for a spool of thread to dry out!!!!

Remember that saying “life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans”?  That’s what this vacation has been so far. I planned to work on my art. Instead, I have focused on Steve, the sights, the joy of being in a place that is not home. I am refreshed. I am encouraged. I am inspired by what I have seen over the past 2 weeks. I am looking forward to one more week of this. I may not go home with finished artwork, but I will arrive home with a full heart and a refreshed spirit.

Onward to Niagara Falls and Portsmouth, NH.

I have several projects in process and am working furiously to get them travel ready. Which for me means getting the machine work done enough that I can do handwork on them in the car, on a plane, in a tent….. 

All of these pieces are destined for exhibits this October so I can’t show them in their entirety, but I can give you a few glimpses:

A Folk Art Piece:

The felted wool piece I blogged about the other day:

The maquette I did to try my hand at the wet felting process:

And here I’ve started playing with a piece of my hand-dyed fabric:

When I disappear from blogging, I’m still at work in my studio.

All these pieces are now packed for our trip – each with the embellishments, threads, needles, etc that each will need for completion. My goal is to have each of them ready to bind and put hanging sleeves on when I return.

A part of me is looking forward to time away from home and time with Steve. A part of me is dreading all the riding. I was telling a friend about my mixed feelings the other day and she gave me a good idea. She suggested that I take a photograph every day of my trip as a type of journal. She further suggested that I give myself the challenge of finding one particular something every day to photograph. Her suggestion was a really cool street sign.

I like her suggestion and I’ve been pondering what item I can find every day to photograph.  I’ll be out in the country a lot, but will also get to visit a couple of big cities.  I’d love to hear your suggestions. Here’s your incentive:

If I choose your idea, I will make a collage of all the photos and you will receive a copy.

I need your ideas by July 31st.

I find it a little intimidating to attempt a new technique. I think about nonsense such as the cost of materials that will be ‘wasted’ and the time I spend doing this when I could be working on something I actually know how to do and being embarassed if I can’t achieve perfection the first time out of the box.  I call these kinds of thoughts my “gremlin”.  You know what I’m talking about: that voice in your head that nags at you about your inconsistencies, and your failures, and your inadequacies…..    My “gremlin” is actually under control 99% of the time thanks to Taming Your Gremlin by Rick Carson.

So, I told my Gremlin to hush up and started dragging all the supplies out to my patio:

Supplies I needed and gathered were wool roving, bubble wrap, netting, baby pool, bucket of very hot water, and lots of soap. I sat on the small stool during the laying out process.

Here is the roving I used. Roving is wool that has been washed, combed, and carded; it is wool in the stage just prior to spinning it into yarn. This roving was all hand dyed by my friend Sophia Parrow. I am thrilled to be using her roving in my project. I also used roving hand dyed by Smoky Mountain Fibers.

Here you can see I’ve begun separating the fibers into tufts of loosely held together bits.  I’m learning that the more loosely the fibers are pulled, the more evenly you have them felt together.

Here is the swimming pool full of layered roving. I’ve used several colors of roving and the roving at this point is about 1 1/2 – 2 inches thick.

Here I am actually doing the wet felting.  There are several steps along the way and it is time consuming! The reason it looks white is because of all the soap I have in the pool. Murphy was fascinated by what I was doing and kept walking around behind me watching. 

At this point, I will leave you in suspense wondering how it all turned out. I will tell you that once the roving was felted to what I thought I wanted, it was rinsed and allowed to dry. I decided I wanted it a bit more felted so I continued the felting process another day using a pool noodle. No one was around to get a shot of that!

I am currently doing some needle felting on the piece and will get a picture up in the next few days to show you at least a corner of it.

I don’t have a barn, but I really wanted a block. Steve built me one for Christmas and primed it with white paint. It’s been sitting for months waiting for me to make a decision on what design I wanted. I played with “Lady of the Lake” and with “Mariner’s Compass”, both of which would be meaningful to us. But both of those would be tedious and difficult to paint and I am NOT a painter!

I finally decided on “Crossed Canoes” as both Steve and I paddle.

Here are a few pictures of the process:

Here is the large white square. It’s made of 1×4′s for the sides/edges and then a 3/8″ sheet of plywood was screwed on top. The corners are bracketed on the back to prevent warping. Then it was primed white. Here you can see my pencil lines for the design and the first canoe is painted in.

Here is the block painted.

And here it is hanging on the side of our house. We chose to hang it above the garage door where we can see it when we drive in.

Here is a close up. 

We really like it. It stands out when we drive up to the house. Steve says he wants to make another one to hang on the opposite side of our house so it can be seen from the lake.

After seeing many pieces of her work, I asked how large her studio is. I was flabbergasted to hear that she does not have one! She showed me where she sets her sewing machine on the dining room table to do her sewing. I am thrilled I got the chance to meet her and see her work.  Many of her pieces speak of her heritage, almost all include bits and pieces of items she has found in thrift stores and yard sales, even trash bins on the side of the road. She laughs and says she calls herself “El Garbage” (think French accent- sort of our twist on Target). One of her favorite things to make are cloth, stuffed birds. She has made hundreds- everyone different. She uses bits of cloth, old purses, ruined quilts, lace, pillow cases, jewelry, coat hangers, the list is endless.  Before I left, I asked if she would sell me one of her birds. She said yes so I am the proud owner of a Billie McCray bird:

Today, I spent a lazy day on the beach and made a quick trip into Fernandina Beach to pick up a dress I saw on Monday and decided I needed to own.

Here is the oldest house in Fernandina Beach. The house was built by Dr John F. Lesesne in 1860. He left in 1865 to go to the Civil War and never returned. 

And finally, I have to share with you the way I am spending my days here on Amelia Island

Mine is the 3rd chair from the right. This picture was taken from my balcony. The sky is hazy because of the fires burning in GA.

And with that, I’ll leave you with a smile.