To embroider is to express yourself

Saturday, December 22, 2007

What a great morning. I slept late and feel refreshed. I took time to sit and read a couple of the books that came while I was out of town with my folks. The first is this short book of Margo Duke's on Needle-Felting. It has some really good projects that are great jumping-off places to start my journey into needle-felting and I plan to do that ASAP! As I read, I made notes and a shopping list of base fabrics I need and other tidbits for the creative process. My DH and I are going into the big city (Houston) this afternoon. He will drop me at one of my favorite fabric shops and he will go on to his favorite coffee shop so we will both be perusing our favorite environments. Before relaxing with these books this morning, I read some of my favorite blogs; always inspiring. Some ladies are off for the holidays, some, like Lesley Riley are facing sacred challenges as her Mom has just been put into hospice care, and some have beautiful quotes from recent books they have read that speak to your soul....thanks, Judith! So, after visiting online friends, while awaiting things inside me to bubble up and ask to be created, I decided to read.
Here is another book I ordered. This one is quite unique and inspiring...over 500 beautiful pictures and illustrations. It is by a french textile artist, designer, and teacher, Francoise Tellier-Loumagne and features patterns and design style drawn from the natural world. It focuses on composition and design of textile surfaces, showing a large range of creative effects with all different kinds of materials and techniques that emulate those found in the environment, which of course, is right up my alley. Francoise says, "To embroider is to express yourself. To embroider is to look, analyse, choose, explore and translate. To embroider is to create, innovate. To embroider is to develop and elaborate. To embroider is to express yourself and communicate."
First things first. I can't believe I am showing you my cluttered work area in my, ahem, "studio". This is a space that continues to evolve. My DH has built it for me in the third section of our three-car garage. I keep asking for new cabinets or nooks and crannies to put things as I work and discover new needs. I clean it up and think I am organized, then, as I work, I tend to pull from everywhere and voila, a mess again. So, I must clean my work space before I begin to sew again, but that is fun too. You get to caress things, get inspired by things and reconnect with things you haven't seen in a while. It's all good!
My word for 2007 was "SIMPLIFY" and I even have a plaque in my kitchen to remind me every day! I believe it will be my word and desire for many years to come. As we are in the Christmas season, I hope you will all take time to simplify - slow down - relax - reconnect with your soul.

Remember when we were kids playing outside. We would watch the clouds in the sky and see them take on the forms of animals and other imaginative beings. Often I would lay in the grass looking up at the sky and just listen to the wind moving through the branches of the trees. In those moments of quietness, it was like listening to the whisper of God. I went outside this morning and stood listening again for God's whisper. He is still there - how comforting! This is a large oak tree in my backyard - the wind was gently swaying in the tops of the branches - so peaceful.
"There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots. And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him..." Isaiah 11:1