Michelle's Gift

You may remember from this post

for my one year celebration here at pomegranate trail

that Michelle

was the winner of my give-away!

A tease of a photo, announcing the give-away!

Now that she has received her gift in the mail, I can share a bit of it here.

It began with a little box I found, altered and filled with fabric.

Altered box!

It grew to include a weaving I did especially for whoever would be the winner.

The weaving part is complete, it will be a medicine bag.  I love making these and this one ends up being the straightest one I've ever made!  How exciting!  

If you like, you can read more about how I make these woven bags here.

A beautiful AND straight weaving!

Then, I started a little cloth in the week surrounding my give-away announcement.

Remember when you were in school...grade school, and the teacher would present a "story starter"?  There would be a prompt, a beginning...to get you going.  Then you would carry on, in your own way.  Everyone would end up with a different story.  Their own story.

Well, that's the idea I had in my head for this little cloth.  

Just a little something to get one going. 

So, I began the cloth.

I've seen many crafters, artists who do give-aways, giving away something they have made.  While I love that, for me it felt presumptuous of me to assume that what I enjoy making, is something people would want to win.  Does that make sense?  I don't usually sell my work (yet!) and so I don't know if anyone wants it!!!  Haha

My solution was to gift someone with something made, some raw materials and something they could either leave as is or add to it in their own way.  A 'story starter'.  

But, being the thinker that I am...I also felt it may be rude to assume someone would want to collaborate with me on a stitching project.  Forced collaboration, not so good.

So, I carefully stitched in a way that it could be left as is or added to.

I left loose fabrics and empty spaces.

I left room for additional stitches and mosaic weavings.

I left room for the story to continue!

All of these gifts could be kept or passed along in one way or another.

Gifts & Milo

In the photo above of the cloth with Milo, I thought the cloth was 'done' 

and ready to be sent along to Michelle. 

I took it on a little photo shoot in the back yard.  It was a very willing participant posing on the fence, the rosemary & lavender bushes, the apricot tree and my Mama Rose bush.  We had a grand time together :)

Gifts & the solar eclipse

However, as you can see in the photo above...the cloth wanted more!

These two gifts went on a few journeys with me, 

absorbing energy and experiences that would become a part of the 'gift'.

The moon (hiding behind the medicine bag here) was added during the super moon, we traveled to the Museum of Tolerance, the beach, the Skirball and the drum circle.

I placed a few special items in the medicine bag.

I added more stitches and some words on the back.

Words on the back

At last, I felt like I was done with my part.  I gathered all of the elements included in the total give-away 'gift' and some special fabrics I had put aside during my fabric/magazine clean-out!

Ready to go!

I have always known that I find the most joy in creating things for others.  That is why I am left with very little of my own work.  I love the making part and the giving part!

I am so happy, grateful really, to have had the chance to make the gifts you've seen here.

This was both a fun and meaningful expression of who I am.

I hope you enjoy them as well Michelle!

In friendship, Nancy

Photos by NAE @pomegranatetrail ©2012

'Rock the Rhythm, Beat the Odds'

Here is a taste of the Rock the Rhythm, Beat the Odds event.  

It was so wonderful to see all of the buses pull up and the kids in their colored t-shirts streaming in.  Two years in the making, I felt proud to see the community come together to promote/support the arts in education, especially during these financially difficult times.

                                         

College of the Canyons, Remo of Remo drums and the local K-12 Arts Education Outreach 

and local school districts came together to put on this great event.  

We are so lucky to have these organizations and companies right here in our valley.  This event was filled with the generosity of Remo Belli (aren't the 'sound shapes' he donated way cool?) and many stars in the music industry donating their time and talent.

Here are some of them:

Mickey Hart - The Grateful Dead, The Mickey Hart Band
John Densmore - The Doors
Rikki Rockett - Poison, Rockett Drum Works
Poncho Sanchez - "the king of conguero"
Gorden Campbell - Jessica Simpson, George Duke
Eric "E-Panda" Hernandez - Bruno Mars, Taio Cruz
Mike Phillips - Janelle Monáe 

HOW COOL IS THAT????

To see a bit more, there are some nice photos at the  

College of the Canyons Cougar online news source.

They really give a feel of what it was like being there.

They have also posted a video.

I personally love drum circles.  I've been to a couple others in years past.  They were a much, much, much smaller gathering being used as a fundraiser for a school I used to work for.  

Yep, even me who shies away from crowds on a regular basis...even me who generally cannot make music on her own, even me who doesn't always hold the beat real well!

If you have never attended a drum circle, I highly recommend it.

There is something magical about a group of people coming together for the first time and being able to create music together!  If you can follow directions...you can participate in a drum circle!  

I particularly like the part where we all end at once!  

BOOM!!!  Silence.

These 2 young women were signing the whole event for the deaf & hard of hearing participants.  I could kind of tell how they were demonstrating the drum patterns.  In this picture they are signing "applause".  That sign I know!

Imagine how it must have FELT to be in the stands surrounded by so much vibration!

There are so many positive benefits that come from drumming together.

Remo does a lot of work with the connection of health and drumming.

If you check out their Health Rhythms page and associated links, 

I'm sure you will find it interesting and inspiring too!

While we may not know for a few weeks if the record was broken according to Guinness's standards, the enjoyment and celebration by all who participated was a definite success!

Now, I think I'll go bang a drum!

Photos by NAE @pomegranatetrail ©2012