the holidays. just watched the holdovers with the fam. great show. might make cookies tomorrow. NFL. cleaned today. staying busy. maggie is home.
the greatest of luxuries is your secrets.
a folk artist telling stories on fabric. but stories can also be invisible. stories we never share, can’t share or choose not to share, not with anyone, not in the kitchen. and the ones we tell to keep the invisible ones that way. this work represents the hidden stories. visible/invisible.
light on in the kitchen.
in october, saw Ashley McBryde in concert in Greeley with my college roommate and a friend. best song: light on in the kitchen. relatable. have sewn my fingers raw in the last few days, finishing this in record time. tried using negative space in a piece for the first time. the hearts are hollow cut outs, revealing the inner lining (chiles) and found treasures tucked beneath.
and, two friends. talking. in the kitchen. i think i might be a folk artist. stories on fabric.
a favor returned by a friend.
13 years ago i helped a friend through a tough time. took her to joann fabrics and suggested she pour her pain into creativity. heal.
today she returned the favor. took me to joann. starting a new project called Hollow (heart). when finished it will probably never leave the box.
yellow hex shoe tread.
have decided to restart work on this project until another inspiration. patience, faith. it comes. using the yellow silk cutouts from the Voices piece, and liking how they look. listening to The Five Wounds on audible. good. story based in new mexico. i often find inspiration in new mexico.
uzbekistan, done.
election last night. well, at least i made something beautiful. shannon came over and knitted, i wrapped up this stocking.
woke up with strong resolve to love harder and lead with deep empathy in every interaction. strong resolve to have positive energy to outshine the negativity from you know who.
beads and biscochitos.
creative fuel. ready to finish.
bead olympics.
feats of pattern, texture and fabric. ha ha! enjoying some 2024 Paris olympics while relaxing after work. nice.
ride and race prep.
rest: long running miles and many pelotons, followed by audiobooks, olympics, friends, drinks, cooking, time with roo, maggie, LZ, a long drive coming up, and liking my new job. a good summer.
could use some new beads for the dark pattern and a trip santa fe. maybe a quick drive with roo or stop through before the coloradoride with dad and pete.
me-n-mom.
just heard from some friends we made while in uzbekistan, ralph and marti. not only was the time with mom great, but these two were delightful and brought joy to the time. ralph just sent a pic of me and mom. might be my favorite one of all time. thanks, ralph, and more love to mom.
also you can see the whole iKat fabric rolled out. you have to look a bit but you can see how i am beading over the weave.
uzbek + me.
this project is great. i get to think about the time in uzbekistan with my mom and be creative now. idk if the fabric is better with beads. it can certainly stand on it’s own without my embellishment. but the joy of working on it makes it great. thanks, mom, for the best trip.
the best of besties.
christy is the best of the best. we’ve been friends since college and this year, we’ve had many reasons and time to get together, more than usual. special. she just left teaching, and was an inspiring and accomplished professional. now she will pursue new things. can hardly wait to see how she’ll succeed in new ways. because that’s what christy does.
this weekend she had a party, and i was lucky enough to go. her friends and family came, and we had drinks and coffee and cake and laughs. also i got to run the Incline. basically it’s steep.
bright. ikat. varied.
have been listening to A Walk in the Park this weekend on audible, and beading. it’s a story about two guys having a crazy adventure in the Grand Canyon. decided some brights along the tines in the fabric weave was a good choice. i like it.
she's started.
placed the first beads. straight lines makes it easy. seems like that might be the best way to honor the print…have wondered if it might add interest to do some horizontal fillings though. right now the fabric is leading the way. wondering if i can find a way to add my perspective alongside it.
the first bead is the hardest one.
picked a fabric, have the beads, even added “creative time, 1 hour” to a to-do list. i’ll start tonight, and watch a show. got a great list of recommendations for audio books from colleagues, once i finish A Walk in the Park, about a guy who survives an adventure in the Grand Canyon.
the silk road.
getting to see cotton growing in the fields, then transformed into beautiful fabrics was an inspiration. what will i do with the pieces we brought home?
the trip of a lifetime.
mom and i took the trip of a lifetime to Uzbekistan. people, cities, food, mosques, history. the place was magic, but the time with mom was even more magical. how lucky are we!
go easier.
at first i was making this harder than it actually is, and it took time to see that the pattern is just a honeycomb. honestly. if you look above, you can see where i was trying to outline all the things and it was a struggle. doesn’t have to be that difficult. i think the yellow will be great. not sure how i’ll fill the middle or sides but that will come.
watching The Mandalorian, pelotons, runs, cooking…and of course working on this. good slow time. Madonna this week. like a prayer.
laurie's shoe.
i have two running besties. laurie and michelle. made a piece with michelle’s shoe tread a bit ago. started with laurie’s, but it was more complicated and i got stuck creatively. because there are diamonds and triangles and those are hard. back to it, have reconsidered and hope i have a path forward this time around.
basically this is an imprint of laurie’s shoe tread, one which had miles and miles of running together on it. so it is meaningful to me.
side by side.
all right. here’s the plan next to the final product.