Happy New Year 2013!

This is Kate.  She cared for my mother when my mother was a child.  She was the rock my mom leaned into.  I can't seem to remember her last name right now.  But I recall a few simple facts.  She was of German ancestry and was strong, stable and caring.  She's here tonight because the story I best remember about her is how she would wake my mom and my aunt at midnight on New Years eve and fix them hot chocolate to drink 

as they rang in the New Year!  

What a treat for a young child, to be allowed to get up after bedtime and drink a tasty treat!  

I wish I would have heard this story when my children were young, as I would have loved to carry on the tradition.
I think this story of hers should live on!

Happy New Year to all of my friends and family...may 2013 bring much goodness to all!

Photos by NAE @pomegranatetrail ©2012

Letting Go

Photos by NAE @pomegranatetrail ©2012

For days now...maybe even longer, I've been thinking of letting go.

This often happens for me at this time of year.  I'm confident I am not alone in this type of reflection during the New Year season.

Some of that letting go is a reflection on 'stuff' as I have mentioned in the past.  Some of that letting go is of feelings, attitudes or memories that no longer work for me.

Even though it can be hard sometimes, stuff is a lot easier to let go of!

I was reading over at Roz's blogplace tonight.  Her beautiful post inspired me to put something down here to depict what I am feeling, thinking, and doing.

The picture above represents that to me.  It is both 'stuff' and feelings.  I have taken action to let it go.  I have listed these vintage late 1960's wall art for sale on a local FaceBook page.  

I will welcome the few dollars it will bring in, but more importantly, 

I will embrace its absence.

These two wall plaques were sent to me by someone who should have been important to me, but never really earned that place.  I was a child, maybe 10 or 11 years old.  Now when I look at them, I think that this was an odd gift for a child.  My sister received the 'cool' ones with designs of peace or love or something.  I wanted the cool ones...I was old enough - I understood those symbols.  These made no sense to me.  They confused and unsettled me.  But this person didn't really know me, so this is what I got.  They hung in my childhood bedroom because they were mine.  They were the set that this sister got.  So I hung them.  For years.

However, I never liked them.  But I kept them.

I kept them because there was so little connection with this person who should have been important.  I kept them because I thought the few 'things' sent to me showed how this person cared.  I'm not so sure about that anymore.  I'm not sure how or how much that person cared.  It's unimportant now.  It's time to let it go.

Maybe not all of it, all at once.

But, I'm starting with this.

Finding these in a tub in the storage shed confirmed just how ridiculous some of our habits and hanging-on's can be.

Now...what else no longer serves me?

Winter Lights & Gifts

The past few weeks have been filled with light and goodness.

I was fortunate to spend Hanukkah with my family, where 3 lit menorahs symbolized the coming together of far-flung family members.  Where these family members shared food, laughter and gifts.

I completed this Christmas stocking for a young man, newly married to a gal I have known since she was a young girl.  I made her stocking 14 years ago and was happy to make one for him as well.   I still had some of the fabric I used on hers, so it was easy to make special connections for the two of them.  He is a firefighter...can you tell?!!  Haha

Each stocking is unique, individualized to the particular person.  Even when they share certain fabrics etc. ... they are one of a kind!  Her stocking has a snowperson too (but no fire hat!!)  and her footwear is pointe shoes, instead of the mini-stocking, as she is a dancer.  Little differences, yet connections...while still unique!

One of the stockings I made back then has hockey sticks because the young boy it was created for loved hockey!

He now plays on a pro team!

If you are interested you can read about him here.

There is a link to a video interview as well.   This all amazes me since I haven't seen him since he was in grade school!

Plus, I just found out that one of his classmates plays for the New England Patriots!

Shane Vereen...the two Shanes, playing on the school blacktop of after-school childcare!!

Sorry, I digress...but, this has been fun news for me to learn recently!

Back in the 1990's I made many many of these folk-art looking stockings.  All specialized, all lovingly & deeply, thoughtfully created for that One particular person.  There are over 100 of them floating around the United States, helping to bring joy on Christmas morning! 

If I can find my photo book, I'll post a few more stocking pictures soon :)

These days, I usually only make for repeat customers.  But I do have several stocking bodies cut out and ready to go.  

Email me if you are interested in learning more.

 

Last week started of with gifts and celebration!

My dear friend sent me two Mary Oliver books.  I will treasure them not only for my love of Mary Oliver's work, but for the deep friendship they stand for.  I recently turned her on to Mary Oliver's poetry, which it seems she likes as well!  Ha!

Thank you Judy!

My dear elder family friend sent us a fruit gift basket, with a 'golden pear'.  What a surprise this was.  I have never received a food basket in the mail!  

It's from Harry & David.

Thank you Helen!

I also received a package of fabric treats from Sandy over at Discovery Cloth, thanks to Jude's alert sharing her give-away.  Silks and velvets...Yummy!

Thank you so much Sandy!

The last 'gift' in the photo is the corner of my new name badge for my new job!

this gift comes with a lot of hard work and deep appreciation.  

As I move through my days, with all of the bounty coming forth, I will continue to notice nature...and patterns...and light.

I will embrace family and friends and new opportunities.  I will relax and soften into 'change'.

I will touch cloth and books and healthy fruity foods...and loved ones.

I will keep an open heart and open eyes.

I will remember, but I will not dwell.

I will walk with gusto, with reflection...with energy and with patience...and with gratitude through my days.

For whatever season it is, be it natural or our own personal season...

growth happens, things shift.  There is darkness and there is light.  

Embracing it all...living it all...appreciating it all...this is a way to move forward.

I am ready for 2013 and all that it may bring.

Random sunflowers out back.

I wish these same things for each of you. 

May the new year bring you many blessings, large and small, important and touching...and everything that you need right now.

Photos by NAE @pomegranatetrail ©2012

Memorials Are Growing

Let us take care of the children,
for they have a long way to go.
Let us take care of the elders,
for they have come a long way.
Let us take care of the ones in between,
for they are doing the work.
~Nelson Mandela

 

Photos by NAE @pomegranatetrail ©2011

Acorns Glue Stitch Collage

Things around my place have been very busy...busy with change.

I have a To Do list a mile long and a old brain trying to keep track of it all.
I do have this to share though.  It is a Very Simple cloth.  I made it in one night, because that is all the time I had.  It was gifted to two gals and some children & their families...but really to the two gals.  I won't see them again.

It started with the big, bottom, brown acorn cloth.  I've had this cloth forever and have always adored it.  When I went to pull it out, I found the green acorn cloth too.
Obviously, I love acorns!
The fuzzy wool & white burlap was a gift from a clothmate.  As I began to lay them out, a tree formed, to the left of the acorns.  The last choice I made was was adding the lighter bands along the bottom, sort of a grass, greenery, ground type of thing.
I rather like the acorns being on the side, instead of the logical place of falling under the tree.
The whole thing is glue stitched and nothing else.  I wanted to add even more fabric, like a black velvet oval on the 'tree' trunk (fuzzy wool).  I had thought of muslin stamped (and then stitched or left as just the stamp marking) with my acorn stamp being placed on the acorns fabric...maybe just one or two acorns.  The stamp is a bit larger, so I was liking the idea of the proportions being off. 
I wanted to fuss with the burlap lump from being folded so long.  But, time will have to do that now.
I ran out of time to do any more and not because of my usual procrastination habit, but because the need of this came up suddenly.
I added a braided-driftwood hanger and called it a night.  The driftwood is of course from our favorite beach!
I really like the map-grid-like lines on the back.  So geometrical.  
I'm really not OK with having it feel so unfinished (to me), even though it was well-received by one of the recipients.  I wanted to play with it some more :)  To make myself feel more satisfied, I dreamed of different ways a seemingly unfinished piece could be used.
1. As a 'story starter'...new owner could add more stitches. (I don't think they will choose to do this).  I love the story starter idea.  A collaboration of sorts.  Both Michelle and Grace's grandson, Julian, have story starters from me.  I think they have chosen not to add any stitches at this time.  This is fine too, for the story is still held within the fibers of the cloth.
2. As a place to pin announcements, photos etc.  A type of bulletin board.

A good lesson in 'enough'.  Because it kind of is 'enough' as it is.  A good lesson in time considerations when making to give away (even though this was not the case here, it had to be last minute).  A good lesson in letting the cloth lead and using what is on hand.
Over in Diaries, Jude commented that it is an "honest cloth".  That it is....that it is.
I enjoyed working on it and she enjoyed getting it...and that is what counts, bottom line.

Photos by NAE @pomegranatetrail ©2012

Landfill Harmonic (teaser)

                                                                                                                                                         
Today, I offer this.
Seems this is the season of falling upon amazing people doing amazing things.
I am grateful to those that share with me, so I may share with others.  Passing along the goodness!


~side note: If you have had notifications from blogger about running out of space for photos...read this great post, over at Mulitcolored Pieces,on how to deal with that!!

A Finger, Two Dots Then Me - The Short Film

                                                                                                                                                         
Just this for today.  My words are not needed.

Rilke on Wednesday

 

“Worpswede, near Bremen,

July 16, 1903

…I want to beg you, as much as I can, my dear sir,

to be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart

and to try to love the questions themselves

like locked rooms and like books that are

written in a very foreign tongue. 

Do not now seek the answers,

which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them. 

And the point is, to live everything.  Live the questions now. 

Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it,

live along some distant day into the answer.”

-Rainer Maria Rilke

Albuquerque Bound, September 2009

Recently I was listening to "Widening Circles" by Rainer Maria Rilke, translated and recited by Joanna Macy.  You can find it here.

This reminded me again of the Rilke quote above.  It has been one of my favorites for many, many years now.  Sometimes I can hold on to the meaning easier than other times.  Some days I really want the answers!

Anyway, I thought I'd share these here.  They may have special meaning for some of you as well.  I'm still having computer pains, so enjoy this photo from the archives!

Photos by NAE @pomegranatetrail ©2009

Dyed and Pinned

 

Talents are best nurtured in solitude;

Character is best formed in the stormy billows of the world.

-Goethe

OK, well, again...please excuse the photo quality (and don't ya love the vacuum cleaner in the background?!  Haha)
This is what I've most recently begun.  I sure hope I get past the 'begun' stage.  It seems I'm better at starting than continuing or completing.  But maybe that is OK.  Maybe that will be my legacy!
Anyway, this is how all of the recent weather has been making me feel...kinda swirly with care and concern.  The beautiful colored fabrics swirling and the sky & sun are from Deb Lacativa.  Thank you Deb!  The rest are dyed by me.  They represent how I've been feeling...seeing the swirl of the weather maps, filled with storms and the remains of people's lives.  The photo out of Seaside Heights, New Jersey with all of the houses surrounded by sand...just boggles my mind.  My heart breaks for these families, for all of those affected by the storms.

The large background piece I dyed in pomegranate remains.  I liked the little markings left & wanted them to show (at least for now), so was led to the thought: "Who says the smaller piece HAS to BE centered?"  I love them milky-calm yellowish color from the pomegranate.  The background of the smaller piece was dyed with too far gone to eat blackberries and pomegranate juice (left-over after eating all the yummy seeds!)  I folded the berries inside and smashed them with an old wooden meat tenderizing hammer!  Never actually used on meat I may add!  It was my hammer for years, for hanging pictures and such.  Everyone thought I was nuts, but it worked!  OK back to the story...
The blackberries left it BRIGHT pinkish.  Super-Duper filled with color.  Then I sopped up some pomegranate juice with it and it kinda went fluorescent!!!  Looked way cool :)  Washed out all of the expired berry smell and it went gray...like the recent skies for many on the east coast (and even here for a couple of days!).  So, there it sits...stormy. 
The only part actually sewn down thus far is the band of dark sky with the left-over from its previous life holes.  I'm playing with the idea of using those holes somehow.  I also am considering having some blue sky and sun poking through, which I sorta pinned in.  I love how a stormy sky looks.  I love how it looks when it begins to clear.  I bet many fellow Americans are lifted by that feeling as well.
The swirl is made of more of Deb's fabrics and an old cotton white on white leaves print, also dyed in pomegranate.  Not sure if the 'look' of it settles with me, although I do like the raggedy, torn up edges.  That symbolizes the lives of the folks back east to me, along with the storms themselves.
What will become of the remainder of the larger cloth, I have no idea.  Maybe it will remain covered in 'sand' without much else.
I'll look at this one some more.  Thanks for looking and reading. 




 

Photos by NAE @pomegranatetrail ©2012

“Birds sing after a storm, why shouldn’t we?”

-Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy