Observations on life & art and the inspirations I see around me

Sunday, December 23, 2012

Community

Like most everyone in the world I have felt a rollercoaster of sadness, stress & confussion this last  week. The world mourns the senseless killings of 20 young children & 6 adults at their school in Connecticut on Dec. 14th. "This is NOT supposed to happen" & "We deserve better" I have heard people say. Still I wonder can we really change things to reduce the liklihood of this happening again. I pray that we can & I am committed to working toward that end.

I was sewing at midday on Friday when the tv came on of it's own accord & the horror hit me. I had to take it in in small bits. One of the themes I kept hearing was "community", small town USA. 

The work I was finishing was a group of small quilts for MY community, 7 wonderful women artist friends in north Texas. Before I left that area in June this group feted me with a fabulous birthday/going away party. Knowing my propensity to work with small bits they presented me with tokens of their friendship and support in the forms of bits & pieces for creating art & boxes for storage. I was overwhelmed. It took me until Dec. to create tokens of my gratitude.

As I sewed these pieces and then cut them apart into seperate unites I feel the connections that scissors can't cut.



Monday I traveled north to attend the Christmas DAFA meeting, potluck & auction & stay with Lu. I won a few goodies but the best was yet to come when the WONDERS gathered on Tues. for lunch and our annual gawking trip to the downtown Dallas Niemans store. I'm more of a country chic girl but it's always fun to check out the fashions & Flo entertained us with her pose in VERY high heels.  It was a great 2 days.

I came back with a super bad cough and it's no fun. I hope no one else gets it. I'm doctoring up for Christmas and then we travel back north to pick up our cabinets, counters, & doors. We'll also extend our celebration with Ashley & Frank. I wish everyone a beautiful & blessed Christmas and an abundantly creative New Year. I'll be back here in 2013.

Sunday, December 9, 2012

Thankfulness

The weatherman says that it's about to get cooler. It's been near 80 the last few weeks and doesn't feel at all like "Christmas is coming".  Last night Karl & I walked around the Winter's Eve event in Wimberley & he wasn't the only guy in shorts.
 
I'm slower than usual getting into the Christmas spirit as there's not much room in the rv to decorate & that's if I could find stuff from storage. Today I decided to check out the lights I saw the other day in tool shed. If they work I'll string up a few. We saw Karlie today and some of her excitement rubbed off.
 
Before jumping to Christmas I wanted to share the Thanksgiving weekend adventure & what fall can look like in Texas. This is a very special place near Utopia (yes, a real Texas town). Our friend April lives and works out here and we are privileged to get to visit. This area never fails to nourish my heart & soul & inpires me beyond measure.





 Thanks to April for sharing her world. She is the kind of friend I would wish for everyone to have.
 

Sunday, December 2, 2012

Change, Constant Change.....

December already, the beginning of the holiday season and almost the end of 2012. Turn, turn, turn; nothing is more constant than change so we have to remember to find joy in the moment. November was a whirlwind and not just swirling leaves. On the 3rd I got a break from construction duties to play with Jo, visiting from Dallas. We spent a lovely afternoon at Old Oaks Ranch, www.theoldoaksranch.com, in Wimberley, an alpaca ranch, sculpture garden, and yarn store.  Jo really enjoyed that last part; I enjoyed the day with a friend.  



 Along with changing leaves, I found time between house building assignments to change fabric with rust & vinegar. This is something I can set up fairly quickly. I want to do more patterns (sheets of steel "waste" from manufacturing). I look forward in using it in quilts in the future.
 My favorite change is watching Karlie grow. She has gotten really interested in sewing and I hope I can feed her curiosity & creativity for a long time to come. She & Mom & Dad are moving into a new house soon so I'm looking forward to helping her decorate her room & yard.
In the meantime we've got walls & insulation & the porch roof. Sheetrock starts tomorrow. 
 .

 See those white spots on the cactus. At first we thought it was disease but research said it's Cochineal bugs. Ah ha - Another "between house projects" project. I'm collecting them and hope to use them to dye soon. More change to come.....