We've Only Just Begun

The little inchie, top center, I made into a sewing charm.

I have a deadline approaching. My small group inchies need to be mailed out. From a larger group of postcard exchangers a smaller group emerged to take on the fun of making inchies and exchanging them. I don't believe any of us had ever made them. Tiny art, big hands. A bit of a problem but you begin to feel the piece and after practice get better at making them. I love it when others give you suggestions because they have been there before. They know the drawbacks and pitfalls and can offer helpful hints.


That is where my middle son is also. Today is the day his career as a police officer begins, officially. Swearing in, graduation - it's just the beginning to a bigger and longer race. The duration will be long, frustrating at times but most of the time filled with gratitude for an opportunity he has been given to serve the public. I know - I watched his father do it well. The oath he took said it all - to protect and to serve.


I'm not always good at serving others. Sometimes I just want to be left alone. But my son thrives on serving others. He is a gentle soul, a happy person with a great heart. Yesterday I had a flat tire and not only did he change the tire; he felt my car needed a good washing. He goes the extra mile. That is what I want to do in my art work. Fannie taught me to look at my art as an extension of myself and to go the extra mile in making the inchies. There is a verse I am reminded of that goes like this: if they want you to walk a mile, go another mile; if he wants your garment give him your cloak also. This is my paraphrase but you get the jest of it. Going the extra mile is where the blessing becomes yours.

"Jesus Is Lord" Challenge

Tuesday - My camera and Kodak pgm do not want to upload. Like anything in life they need to be recharged. When you are feeling your energy running low and your soul needs a bit of rejuvenation where do you go? what do you do? I go back to the Creator of the Universe, the one who breathed into me and gave me life. I quiet myself and wait in solitude, but I am never alone. He is always with me. I found SaltFaithChallenge and decided I would try to create a digital journal page to honor the topic for the week: Jesus Is Lord. I have not finished the page because I want to produce it on fabric and add it to my scrapbook about Morning Dew. I need a name for my scrapbook. Wonder what it will be called? Our artistic creations are breathed through us, brought into reality and many times they speak a name to us as we are creating them. I love the impressions when they come and where they take me to, whether back in time or into the future or just a thought for today. Enjoy your work, whether it brings you a challenge, stretches you a bit or is easy-as-pie because you have done it a zillion times.

I am so thankful every day for what The Almighty G-d has done for me.

Pink Is The Color of the Day

Here are a few more abstract postcards I have been working on. Abstract, as I mentioned earlier is very hard for me to produce in art. I will keep on working on it though. My FAT tags are due for trade in a few days. The theme was "Dream" and I know many little girls dream of becoming a "nurse". My last tag is entitled: Dream "I wanna be a...Nurse". On the back I made an inchie of the breast cancer fabric with the pink ribbon and enclosed it in a holder. I also dyed a cotton ball and q-tip pink and placed them on the back along with gauze and a bandaid.

400th Anniversary - Jamestown: Commemorated Through Quilts

My First Whole Cloth Quilt

The Colonial Piecemakers Quilt Guild, where I am a member, held its first quilt show on September 15 and 16th. 2007 marked the 400th anniversary of Jamestown, Virginia the first permanent settlement in the New World. The show was called "Jamestown: Commemorated Through Quilts". Guild members were challenged to commemorate this event by creating quilts related to Jamestown's history, and its three rich cultural heritages - Native American, English, and African American. The quilt could not be bigger than forty inches square. I created a quilt and named it "Coming Home No More". It paid tribute to Native American losses of lands and waterways. Native Americans called this continent "Turtle Island". The island silhouettes are of my home state, Virginia. This was my first whole cloth quilt and my first time using Caran d'Ache Classic Neocolor II water-soluble colour wax pastels. I appliqued the turtles on to the quilt. I dedicated my quilt to a dear quilting friend, Ruth Salzburg who lost her battle with cancer. The quilts will be on display in a special exhibit at the Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival XIX on February 21- 24, 2008 at the Hampton Roads Convention Center in Hampton, Virginia.

Smallest of Seeds - Ideas Germinating

Yesterday I received a great package in the mail from my mentor, Fannie. I received my inchies (true, measure one inch, inchies) and they are the most beautiful, little treasures. I am delighted to receive them. She even made an elegant wallet to place them in. The envelope also contained a package of beads and small trinkets, a pencil with the words "Share The Wisdom", a heart pocket and pieces of orange and sparklie white felt. As I was checking out my "goodies" I decided to offer myself a challenge. I will decorate the heart pocket and attempt to make an angel and a dreamsicle pincushion from the felt. When I am finished the challenge, I want to place the inchies, heart pocket and a pick of the pincushions in an art collage to exhibit on my wall from Fannie. I must get her signature on my piece of art. This will be a stretch for me, as I have never done anything like it before but I am up for the challenge.

The tiny little inchies remind me of the parable of the mustard seed found in Matthew 13. The least of all seeds but when grown is the greatest among all herbs and becomes a tree where birds come to lodge in it's branches. Be encouraged: from the smallest, least of ideas can become the greatest, explosion of art ever created.

??? Are you up for the challenges coming your way in life???

A side note: In an earlier post titled "Best Work Ever Produced" I placed a pic of one of my sons. Yesterday he passed his state exam through the police academy. He graduates and officially becomes a police officer on Hallelujah day, October 31. From a tiny seed to a little boy, now a grown man.

Abstraction

This morning I awoke with abstract still on my mind. Why was this concept alluring and at the same time alluding me? I had read in one dictionary "a taking away". Those words drew me back in time when we lost Papa (my father-n-law whom I only knew as "dad) in death and the void that has not been filled in our lives. Then I found a meaning that might help me make "abstract" a reality in my art -"achieving its effect by form and color not realism." But I like the word "abstraction" and its meaning of "visionary idea." The pics posted compose all of the meanings. I hope you enjoy them and reflect on the short time we have here on Earth and the meaning of your life: are you living in abstract or reality? Personally I believe I am living in "abstraction".

Yesterday I realized I liked the back of my abstract postcards as much as the front. This is the back of "Bird in A Cage" and a little picture my son drew when he knew the adults were struggling with the loss of his Papa. The four abstract cards are for Trend Setters..

techniques on postcards: foil, bamboo fiber, feathers, thread, tulle,metallic thread, hand-dyed fiber, arc-i-tec=ture technique from Carol Taylor, fireworks technique from Helen Marshall

You know....

You know when you hit the mark and when you need to keep working. Well here is my second pincushion. What I realized: in July I fractured my finger at my knuckle and it still has not healed properly. Doing handwork causes pain but I am determined to keep going. One of my sons has been to the ER twice in 7days. Yesterday a fellow employee shot a nail gun and accidentally placed a nail right through my son's right thumb. Five stitches later we are actually both laughing because we know he is on the right track drawing closer spiritually to the Awesome Creator of the Universe. He has struggled with depression and anxiety. He loves music and composing lyrics. When he sangs it is like David in the OT singing to Saul to bring comfort to others. His music, actually all my family members music, is sorely missed in my home. When they play together as a family it soothes my soul, comforts my heart and brings me joy. I miss that in my home right now. But each one is picking it back up in their own way.

I need to keep perfecting my handstitches. And I can only do that by practicing. What is it that you need to keep plodding along on until....you reach perfection?