Passion

I just finished a felted wool sculpture for a gallery display. I've titled it "Savior Creator". Before Jesus was attached to the backboard frame, Dawson's friend Connor was holding it, hugging Jesus and saying he was cuddly. I got the idea of the mobile extended from the book The Shack, in which Jesus says, "I don't want to be first among a list of values. I want to be at the center of everything. When I live in you, then together we can live through everything that happens to you. Rather than a pyramid, I want to be the center of a mobile where everything in your life--your friends, family, occupation, thoughts, activities--is connected to me but moves with the wind, in and out and back and forth, in an incredible dance of being."

Wire provides the internal structure with foam, wrapped with batting before adding the wool I needled into shape. I had several pictures to look at for the shaping. I looked at Rembrandt's face of Jesus, but people are telling me he resembles Monte. I have looked at Monte daily for thirty five years. In trying to think thru what I wanted hanging from the mobile, creation is where I ended the process. The background in the frame is felt, and various yarns embellished with my needlefelting machine. His outstretched arms are the same width as mine.

I decided to also post a picture I drew in college from my sketch book.

Felting Book Entries

I Googled "needle felting machine" early January and found a felting blog forum. From there I found a call for entries for a book being published on Felting and the deadline was soon looming. So Dawson took photos of some of my favorite pieces (had to first bring them home from where they were on display).

This felted face is my niece Leah. I need to finish her. I don't want to do an entire felted body - thinking I do a metal frame. I'd cover it with a felted dress using my embellishing machine. And I'll hand needle hands to add - hands clapping are so Leah!

Since my blog/website is hosted away from Google's Blogger, I'm not able to keep posting pictures here and will soon have to be moving and reconfiguring everything. I will be writing again. I need an actual website page rather than just a blog, tho I don't want the site to be static. But I don't want to take the time right now to get it done. I'm "working" at my textile art rather than writing. So check in later ...

Since I'm unable to post many pictures here anymore you'll need to check out more of my art at my photoblog ... which I'll be changing to maybe Flicker in the near future.

Studio

Monte built me shelves and a great large desk for my new studio. The room used to be our living room, which we called the "Parlor". It still holds the piano and musical instruments and music paraphernalia. But now I've been able to organize stuff accumulated around the house and garage into a 'home'.

But I've several spaces beyond this room. For now, my batik tools are stored in the laundry room - now named "sitting room". Heather's old bedroom holds a drafting table and lots of colored wool is all over the floor. It's been organized as the paper crafting and mat cutting for framing space. I'm currently working on a large dry-felt, needled wool sculpture. Dawson is going to weld me a stainless sink counter to replace the old sink and wood counter in the greenhouse. Along with a stainless steel table he found at a yard sale, it's my dying and wet-felting space (and still my seed starting and nurturing space).

More photos of my studio are posted on my photoblog.

Tie-Dye & Will

I finally took pictures and downloaded them ... I said in an earlier post that I'd post pictures of recent tie-dye projects. Since I've not tie-dyed since my teen years (that wonderful hippie era!) I read the new info for review and see what's new. Then I practiced. The goal was curtains Sarah bought for their open stairwell tall window, and I didn't want to practice on them!

I bought a soft 100% cotton queen-sized sheet set - a great thing to practice on. Some parts I swirled and rubber-banded. Some parts I pleated and rubber-banded or wrapped with a waxed string. Some parts I just banded in a circle for the typical tie-dye bulls-eyes. What did I learn? You think you've soaked the material (it was already wetted in a soda ash solution) and no white is visible, and you worry that it's all just soaking together and going to be a solid dark mess.

I left the sheets: top, fitted, and pillow cases in separate plastic bags (and did a pair of socks too - ordered these really soft bamboo socks that I think I'm going to get more of) to sit in a warm spot while Monte and me flew down to drive Heather and Will here to Colorado, stopping and visiting some old friends along the way. Once home I rinsed them, unbanding them ... and oh ... so much white! So I retied them and squirted more colors on and let sit 24 hours, then rinsed and washed them. My original trials got covered so I couldn't really see my patterning, but that's okay. They are just sheets and going to be slept on. The picture is them on the guest bed at Travis and Sarah's (her family came to stay over the Thanksgiving holiday).

At Travis and Sarah's we squirted a lot of colors on paper towels and let dry. Travis narrowed the choice down to four colors. We folded the long curtains in thirds and pleated them and tied and rubber-banded them. It's easier to tie up the centers of long things with the waxed string than try and rubber band them. We're working on a large metal sheet I got years ago at an auto supply store - it's what people put in garages under leaky cars. I use it all the time on the kitchen table with my wet felting and anything else messy. Sarah worked on one curtain and me on the other and we had them laying side-by-side and doing the same color squirted between the bindings so the hanging curtains would have the same striping. Sarah left them in their plastic bags in a bucket for a couple days before rinsing and washing. So we all waited anxious - they just looked dark with no color variation when all wet, and no white showing - we really soaked them! Sarah emailed me so excited about how they'd turned out. I didn't see them till Thanksgiving day.

While I'm at it, I'll post a recent picture of Will. Will usually eats his supper just before us in his little green Bumbo chair (it's from South Africa and Dawson wishes he had one!). We leave him up on the table while we eat and have a gay ole time with him! He's our "center piece"!

Felted Picture?

This is the felted picture I'm currently working on. I've had varying visions and working titles for it during the process, but haven't settled on a name yet.

Weaving Potholders

While I await the snow's melting ...

I no longer have kids around to weave me potholders (almost 20 year old Dawson would if I asked him). My favorite over the years are these ones. I could go out and just buy some, but ... So after getting sick of the last dirty orange ones (Dawson one year wove a ton, using up my stash of loops, cuz he wanted to make a rug of them ... so I found it in the shed and have been using the usable ones ... but now they're all gone). I'm weaving my own. It's been fun.

Harrisville Designs has potholder kits and the best cotton loops. Don't buy the kits with nylon loops - useless for hot things, good grief! Harrisville also has the best colored wool for the felting I do.

I've been asked, so I'll post it here: My main source for felting wool and kits is from Halcyon Yarn. Halcyon sells some of the Harrisville wool and kits, like the potholders, too.

St Patrick's Day

Everyone knows bits of the St Patrick story so I don't want to say much. Of all that's written, my favorites are How the Irish Saved Civilization (I like all of Cahill's books) and The Celtic Way of Evangelism. I came away from having read those books realizing my faith is more Celtic than Roman based. Celtic writings are much like the Hebrew Psalms and very inclusive of the Trinity. (My favorite book for exposure to this is The Celtic Way of Prayer [I like all of DaWaal's books too].)

What's written having overflowed from Patrick (born Succat) was the Celtic based monasteries that were very inclusive of the surrounding community, focusing on relationship and embracing the common people. They loved people into The Kingdom. The Europe they evangelized to life, kinda died again, returning to the Roman cold, exclusive (exclusion) monasteries and nitty-gritty detail focus and rules.

A Palladius or Pallagious was actually the first missionary to Ireland. His name was mentioned in the newest King Arthur movie, and because I know something of him, I made the connection in the movie. He preached that people can take the 1st step to salvation without the grace of God. Augustine took steps against his followers.

St Patrick, with a satchel full of books, including Augustine's writings, like City of God and his Confessions, returned to Ireland with its un-invaded tranquility by the barbarians who were ransacking Rome and all of Europe. Thus literature was preserved until Europe was ready to take them back.

Since it's been written that Patrick used the three-leafed Shamrock to illustrate and talk about the Trinity, when I wanted to make a patchwork table centerpiece, I couldn't find a pattern for three leaves - only four leaves. So I created my own pattern, having to do more hand-stitching. I'm always changing out our table decor for the seasons and celebrations.

Another person remembered on this day in the church calendar is the man who offered his tomb for Jesus to be buried. March 17 is the Feast of Saint Joseph of Arimathea. According to a legend, Joseph was Jesus' wealthy uncle, and after his nephew's (did you ever think of Jesus as a nephew?) Resurrection and Ascension, Joseph accompanied Mary Magdalene to France. Then, alone, he made his way to Britain, bringing with him the chalice drunk from at the Last Supper, which became an ornament of the church he established at Glastonbury, Somerset. And that is how the Holy Grail ended up in England and why King Arthur was so concerned with it!

So from this legend we have so much literature - from the tales of King Arthur (and "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" movie - I'm grinning) and on to the more current The Da Vinci Code (I read that Novel and the book that followed. Good writer of a good story, but remind yourself - it's a novel). I think Dan Brown knew of this legend and extrapolated! All I'll say is, "He's an angry-at-the-church man, and doesn't know his history."

Hasn't Patrick's Breastplate prayer been put to music? Make Irish Soda Bread!

Barbie

Barbie is 50 years old today. My aunt Recie gave me my first Barbie and it was identical to this picture - ponytail and dress. When I had heard awhile back how much that original Barbie was going for, I had to go look for my Barbie case. Yes, I still have it! And I thought I had saved that original head! But no. (That thought makes me think of all the doll heads I have around - all my bodyless felted heads. Am I weird? ....)

I saved a bunch of my Barbie paraphernalia. I had made lots of her clothes. My Grandma had knit a lot of her clothes. I made her a lot of dishes and pots and vases out of clay. I saved all the good CrackerJack prizes - like real books, to adorn her house. I braided her doll house rugs, sewed and wove curtains and pillows. I needlepointed things for her and embroidered. My mom taught a bunch of the neighbor girls to sew making Barbie clothes.

I never gave Heather a Barbie, but actually, Heather wasn't a doll girl. She used to have 'car families' and they'd talk and drive around with each other. (I'd bet you that Heather has the largest matchbox car collection! And she still has a lot of it. I found it when I was organizing her home!) But when we walked down a toy store aisle and little Heather saw "The Hart Family" (Barbie with a family) her eyes grew big and she looked up at me and breathlessly said, "Look Mommy, it's a FAMILY!"

We bought it!

My doll today sits on a shelf in our home on a velvet chair my Grandma made for me from an opened tunafish can.

Art and Body Gifting

I've readied some of my needlefelting to take to church today for hanging. I mentioned before that our church is set up with a professional hanging system for art. We have artists within our community and we change out the art periodically.

One of my pieces I'm taking I call either "Community" or "Jesus' Body". Scripture refers to those of us who love God and believe in Jesus, as family, parts of His body. I value that our church values the differing gifts within our body and desires to let these differing gifts be used within our community. So often in churches we only see the giftings of teaching and music, and then of course the helping, serving, administration, encouraging ... are ongoing.

I have a grapevine in my greenhouse. I've posted pictures of it. This last year was the most productive year of all, with clusters hanging at our head level all over. All it takes is basically doing nothing! Yes, I still nurture it with fertilizing and watering, and I do need to cut it back as it tries to take up more of the space than I desire. But I used to prune it back very severely, because I had a book ... I found out that table grapes are not to be pruned like wine grapes.

In fact, the severity of pruning wine grapes looks familiar ... It is the center frame of my picture. All around are the three-dimensional vine, grape clusters, and leaves. In a small group, we had drawn grape vines. Ellen had lots of hidden grape clusters saying that she needed community to help her see her fruit. I have gone through very barren times where I've felt my fruit gobbled up, and if I'm not regularly nourished from the source I will remain fruitless. This piece is a Spring, Easter, seasonal hanging.

My other art piece is made up of three. Because they were inspired from the same time frame of reading and journalling, I just hung them on the same backing. The top I call "Starburst". God said, "Let there be light". Walking in His Truth, His light, I don't fear walking out into the world with it's varying culture. I walk, bringing gleanings back to the light before venturing out again on another ray of light.

The middle piece I call "Crucible". I looked the word up and it's origin means "lamp on a crucifix". To me this means, that in all life brings my way, that in all my choices, if I filter them thru the truth of the cross ... It's a God-consciousness in all I do in my every ordinary days (Extra- ordinary!).

The bottom piece I call "Longings". Henri Nouwen had written, "Longings are doorways thru which we come to God and thru which God comes to us". I've pictured my heart with layers like an onion, restricting and fighting the real me, the God-created-me, in being revealed. If my desire is to live out of my center, I don't have to focus on removing the layers, but focus on having more desires/longings, which would mean more doorways of God and me connecting!

Does this make sense?

Presidents Day etc

"For God so loVed the world,
That He gAve
His onLy
BegottEn
SoN
ThaT Whosoever
Believeth In Him
Should Not perish,
But have Everlasting life."
John 3:16

I've been cleaning up my computer and found the above ... and since we're still close to Valentine Day, I thought I'd post it.

Some years from Abe to George's birthdays in February I put a little log cabin on the kitchen table. The red, white, and blue runner, I wove. I was just thinking how log cabins still have an appeal today. Monte always talks about building a small one someday. We visited one in Wisconsin last fall and couldn't get over the size of the logs!

Here's a quote from Abraham Lincoln ...

“Neither [side] anticipated that the cause of the conflict [i.e., slavery] might cease with, or even before, the conflict itself should cease. Each looked for an easier triumph, and a result less fundamental and astounding. Both read the same Bible, and pray to the same God; and each invokes His aid against the other. It may seem strange that any men should dare to ask a just God’s assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men’s faces; but let us judge not that we be not judged. The prayers of both could not be answered; that of neither has been answered fully. The Almighty has His own purposes. ’Woe unto the world because of offences! for it must needs be that offences come; but woe to that man by whom the offence cometh! If we shall suppose that American Slavery is one of those offences which, in the providence of God, must needs come, but which, having continued through His appointed time, He now wills to remove, and that He gives to both North and South this terrible war as the woe due to those by whom the offence came, shall we discern therein any departure from those divine attributes which the believers in a Living God always ascribe to Him? Fondly do we hope—fervently do we pray—that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue, until all the wealth piled by the bondman’s two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash, shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said, the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.”

God is not at a nation's beck and call, but the nation at His. God transcends our humanity's limited vision.

Colorado Mountains

I've returned home to mountainous Colorado. Did you know Colorado has almost 60 peaks over fourteen thousand feet? They are called 14ers and people climb them, checking them off their list. Colorado is also the source for four of North America's major rivers. Monte and me have often spoken about watershed life decisions and nearby here we can straddle the Continental Divide and raindrops or snow melt can end up in either the Pacific or Atlantic Oceans - quite the watershed!

I returned home to other mountains too: mountains of laundry and mountains of mail! Since yesterday was Valentines Day, as I attacked the mountain of mail, I thought of Monte and ripped out words and pictures that reminded me of him.

Remember the Velveteen House III post I did the night before I left for Texas? All the bedding of the four couples who slept here were piled in the laundry room this month I've been gone. So I tackled that mountain, washing the sheets first, before moving to the piles of clothes.

Monte cooked me salmon for our Valentine supper and had bought roses and goodies. He loved the collage I made for him.

Simeon the Stylite

When I speak on the Calendar, I love to mention Simeon Stylite, who died on this day in 459. He was the most notorious of the popular pillar-sitting anchorites.

The son of a shepherd, he was moved by hearing the Beatitudes. Wanting to be 'pure of heart' he tried living in monasteries, but they all kicked him out for his extremism in self-mortifications. So in his naivete, he literally did what he could to get closer to God.

This is a piece of early church history. Christians were persecuted and martyred, but when Constantine made the empire 'Christian' in the early 300's, the pagans were persecuted. Seeking safety they went to churches bringing their paganism with them.

Serious Christians, frustrated with the watered down churches were asking, "How now to be holy?" Thus the serge of monasteries, and desert fathers. Outside of Antioch were many 'pillar saints'. People would pack lunches and for entertainment go listen to a pillar saint preach - they were tourist attractions.

I wonder if these pillar saints could read and if they knew much of scripture. What would they preach about? Since Simeon had 'separated' himself at age 13, when did he mingle with people to be able to truly know much of life, or have personal experience stuff to preach from. Pillar saints had converts: locals, Armenians, Persians, and Arabs. Simeon had followers - disciples, who in choosing to live close, ended up building a monastery.

Simeon started out on a 10-foot-high pillar. For the last 37 years of his life he lived on a series of ever higher pillars. His final earthly home was a 6-foot-square platform on a 60-foot-high pillar!!! Now set your imagination to work: no roof or walls ... did he cut his hair? how did he sleep? how did he eat? what about excrement? Lightening strikes were prevalent. Maybe a sign of divine displeasure?

Lord Alfred Tennyson wrote a long poem entitled "St Simeon Stylites". Here's a link if you care to read it.
__________________
A year ago when I posted about Simeon, the picture I used was one I drew and had in my "Cycle of Celebrations" powerpoint presentation. Well ... My one present I got for Christmas was an Intuos Pen Tablet. So the above picture is my first attempt at playing with my new art toy. I put the scanned drawing into Photoshop and literally 'painted' over the sketch. Oh how fun!!!! I didn't want to stop (Dawson helped me with some pointers since he had a Photoshop class last year in college). But I just scratched the surface (still don't know how to erase) in all the potential of what it can do. Monte's graphic artist for his geology posters (they are works of art!) uses this tool. She told me to just play, she can't learn from books. But I'm taking my Photoshop Classroom in a Book with me to Texas, when I go in a week to stay with Heather ... waiting on that baby.

Velveteen House II

When there's a holiday, school break time, I am reminded of my original Velveteen House post, click here. Why? Though Dawson is still living at home while going to college, it's during these break times that our home gets more worn with wear. Like with the dialogue in the Velveteen Rabbit classic book, "by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby."

Dawson, Splarah and Conner, are currently eating jalepeno grilled cheese panini sandwiches and tomato soup they just made for themselves for lunch. They are sanding Dawson's new desk he's making in his bedroom. (He just painted his floor red, "to coordinate with the red in my ceiling!", which is red sponged over black, which him and Gary did probably a year ago, needing to re-drywall it.

Yesterday morning, walking into the kitchen, Dawson was making pancakes. Since I go into a nutrition talk when they bring home Bisquick, he was being witty, saying he was making them from scratch ... "I've already been out this morning gathering whole grains to grind, and squeezing chickens for eggs" ... Cute! ... I have to smile.

I never know who's sleeping here. Splarah and Lizzy have often been in the guest room and it's been a mix from Conner, Aaron, Caleb to Nick lately, sleeping scattered about (since Dawson's room is disastrously torn apart, with most everything in Heather's old room or the storage room next to Monte's office).

Young people were at the kitchen table drinking sparkling apple cider from goblets, and playing card games, when Monte and me got home from a party. We didn't know they'd be there since they were ice skating for New Year's Eve at Evergreen Lake. But since they were going skiing for the next two days, they decided to sleep here and leave from here.

And now that Dawson is learning to weld and forge metal, people want to participate and experience it too. So young people are wanting to hang out and play. 

House guests come and go. Like yesterday, a young couple we'd not seen for awhile were here for a bit. Everyone loves the well worn wood floor in our great room and don't think we should refinish it. Some people don't come out of the guest bathroom for awhile, cuz they're either reading or writing more graffiti on our chalkboard paint wall.

Ministering seems to come our way. This season of Monte's and my life is full of visiting young people and scientists wanting to hang out here. More memories for the walls of this Velveteen House to bounce off - memories full of stories. Like a plaque in our house says, "Home is where your story begins."

Advent Sunday 4 & Avent Basket Day 21

The 4th advent candle is the angel candle. Angels throughout scripture announce things. And give hope, support, and strength.

But they don't assure that the world at large and our own individual places of life go on unchanged. Angel visits usually mean detours are ahead, major changes are impending, and lives and destinies will soon be impacted. In fact, there's not one place in scripture where they start their words without "Fear not...". Is it their looks?

When angels appear, something of the divine breaks in upon our human history. Something beyond our understanding and definitely out of our control. Something that shows us there's more to life than what meets the eye - another realm beyond - another story larger than the small one we live in and tend to think we write.

What fears prevent or distract me from receiving a message wholeheartedly? My hearing it does not depend on how cute or striking the messenger might be. Do I have faith? Can I trust the God-graced words, seemingly in the dark and I can't see everything around me? even in the light?

"Hey, unto YOU a Savior is born," announced the angel Gladys Herdman. Just writing this makes me smile, thinking of the book it's out of. Every year since it came out we've read The Best Christmas Pageant Ever (which there's only used copies of now, starting at $49!). It's such a fun and great book for a fresh look at the Christmas story. It was a healing story for me the first year I read it!

"I bring you good news of a great joy which shall be for all peoples." The Savior, Christ, is God's gift. In giving His Son, He gave Himself. He loved us first before we loved Him.

In today's Advent Basket bag is a miniature jar of mustard seeds. "A small seed. Read Matthew 17:20. These grow into a very large plant."

Advent Basket Day 19

A miniature shamrock is in today's Advent bag. "This is a symbol of good luck. With Jesus we don't need good luck." Read Romans 8:28. (Do you remember this Heather? You used to always say you "hate the word luck!")

Some things don't seem to work out as 'good', but what do I know! And do I see and know it all? And so often I get so tired in the waiting.

The context from verse 18 with the "pregnant creation" is so pertinent to this season. "Waiting does not diminish us, any more than waiting diminishes a pregnant mother. We are enlarged in the waiting ... joyful anticipation/expectancy."

As I write this ... I'm thinking I wrote something like this before. Yes, I did a Birth Post last year, read it. It has my "Transformation" felted piece, which I'm posting again here.

The new birth in me is that I can now anticipate. A defense mechanism I developed growing up has been transformed by God, Who began a good work in me, calling me by name, and is completing what He began. 

Advent season always seems to bring me back to this aspect of my growing faith as it relates to birth pangs and new birth. God knows me better than I know myself, knows my pregnant condition, and keeps me present before Him. Thus every detail of life works into something good.

Trusting ... as I gaze at my Bean Bag Nativity with the empty manger. 

Advent Basket Day 16

This Advent bag for today is easy for us to remember what it is. It's bigger than the other miniatures and a definite box. It's a box of raisins. "Fruit is good for snacks. Jesus taught how we could produce fruit." Read John 15:1-5.

I felted a picture of a grape-vine. We have a grapevine in our greenhouse and for years I read about pruning vines for producing fruit. The center framed picture is how austere grapes are to be pruned. Remind you of something?

Jesus said, "You are already pruned back by the message I have spoken. Live in me. Make your home in me just as I do in you ... you can't bear fruit unless you are joined with me."

There is differing varieties of grapes I've now discovered. Mine is not a wine grape, but a table grape. It is not supposed to be pruned austerely. Once I stopped pruning it, we got tons of grape clusters hanging down in the greenhouse. But I still nurture it: watering and fertilizing it, ridding it of dead leaves or diseased branches.

In my art work, some grape clusters are hidden under the leaves. My friend Ellen once drew a grape vine with many leaves and said her picture was a reminder of community. We need community. The covenant of community is a primary theme of the Bible. Community can help us see our fruit.

The John 15 context carries on with "Love one another as I have loved you".

Advent Basket Day 8

As we feel our Advent bags, trying to guess what's inside, most of the items have a hardness to them. Today's bag is squishy soft (other than the slip of paper). Day 8 has two cotton balls in it. Maybe you're starting to catch on, but my Advent Basket days, as we're waiting for the coming of the Messiah, remembering His entering our history, our chronos time, are focused on Jesus' Ministry.

Two cotton balls? Well, we already encountered one account of Jesus healing a deaf person's ears. That would be my first guess. What else might cotton balls be for? I may not have cotton balls on hand, but I've wadded up Kleenex to put in my ears if there's a cold wind ...

Matthew 8:23-27 is the suggested scripture read for the day and the paper says, "Cotton can muffle loud noises when in our ears. Some one controls the weather."

I sat with the three gospel accounts. John has the time Jesus walked on water. The phrases that popped out at me were: "Do not be afraid ... Have you no faith? ... Why can't you trust Me?"

Tapestry of Life

I was going to go to FoodNetwork and look at broccoli recipes since I have lots of broccoli from our farm share to use, and I got sidetracked ... I was remembering a tapestry poem I read years ago, that I probably have filed away, but I've not organized my files yet since I've moved everything around. I ended up Googling "tapestry poem" instead.

I also downloaded the pictures off my camera from a recent felting picture I did and hung at church last night. So I'll post the picture's stages: from the layering colors of sheep wool which I cover and pour hot soapy water over and agitate, to felt ... to the finished framed picture.

Here's the Tapestry poem I was remembering. Apparently Corrie Ten Boom (my Grandmother got to talk to her - and in Dutch!) used to say this poem as she spoke around the world. (And why am I thinking of tapestry? Cuz that's the textile art I'm returning to, having sold my large weaving loom and found the tapestry loom I want posted on Craigslist on Thanksgiving Day.)

My life is but a weaving between my God and me,
I do not choose the colors; He works so steadily.
Oft times He weaves in sorrow, and I in foolish pride,
Forget He sees the upper, and me the underside.
Not till the loom is silent, and the shuttles cease to fly,
Will God unroll the canvas, and explain the reason why.
The dark threads are as needful in the weavers skillful hand
As the threads of gold and silver in the pattern He has planned.

The poem was read at my weaving mentor's funeral after her sudden death when scuba-diving (she was in her 80's) on vacation with her husband. One story told of her: during the war (and she continued for other needs too) she'd unravel knit things and reknit sweaters and socks.

And another poem I found when searching by a Debbie Milam -
When we embrace the many parts of our experience we discover a magnificent creation.

Every moment is but a thread, a thread of consciousness embracing the very essence of life.

Some threads are brilliant and dazzling while others are tattered and torn.

When looked upon in isolation the tattered threads look inferior.

Yet when woven together by the wondrous hands of the creator the light magically blends with the dark.

As joy coalesces with pain God creates the magnificent tapestry that is life.

Monte came in from his office and just whipped up something for our supper using the broccoli! And is saying, "Time to eat".

Advent Basket Day 2

My Advent Basket Day 2 bag miniature is a pop bottle of Coke. The little parchment paper says, "This can quench thirst" and says to read John 4:7-14. And then we talk about how Jesus can quench thirsts.

Rereading the story, I'm reminded of a piece of my own story. It's a time when Jesus showed up and audibly spoke to me!

I did a felted work I call "My Life's Journey". It's inspiration came following my sitting with Psalm 107 and 116. 

This is what I journaled -

I chose. I questioned. I bargained with God.

I turned my back on Him and wanted Him dead to me.

I wandered in the desert and dwelt in darkness.

I became sick and desired death.

I called out to God.

He got me out and put my feet on a wonderful road.

God received me back into His womb.

I was rebirthed in His image,

to the very origins of His being.

Another desert -

"Anyone who comes to me thirsts no more".

Set sail in big ships put out to sea.

Bottom dropped out and my soul melted in misery.

He quieted the wind to a whisper, led me to safety.

He led me out of my dark, dark cell.

I didn't wander away,

I was crying out to God!

Then I started drawing hearts -

Keep (heart) ... remember

Don't lose (heart)

I don't want to journey without my (heart)

(Heart's) desire is precious - guard it

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst

Return to your rest, O my soul.

I am standing in the Presence of God.

Alive in the land of the Living!

Reading and journaling is the way God usually speaks to me. But when did He audibly speak to me? It was a setting like in the classic Christian book Hinds Feet in High Places. The kids and me were traveling with Monte. The kids were playing in the back seat and Monte had parked the vehicle by the road-cut at the side of the road while off mapping and collecting rock samples - doing his geology.

I'd been in a depression. I could function in life, but felt I was barely floating above the surface of life, not feeling. I was looking at the dry dirt roadcut out the window and heard a trickle of water. Looking, I saw a small flower. That's when God spoke, reminding me that in His generosity, He gives fresh, living water - gushing living life!

So my Art piece has a stream of water flowing through it. It goes through the desert three times. The first time was a self-imposed desert. I decided the other two were God tapping me on the shoulder saying, "Hey, I want to give you more of Myself!" Then He led me out into the wild water. But if I don't retreat regularly to a calm harbor, I'd go crazy! 

 

Forgotten Thanksgiving Stuff

I was just washing the two tableclothes and napkins from Thanksgiving and remembering with a chuckle who sat at which table this year. Our great room has two tables: the Dining table and the Kitchen table. The kitchen table is usually referred to when we have lots of company as the 'kids' table, and the adults usually sit at the larger Dining table. Well, this year, us older six adults, sat at the kids table. And all the adult kids ate at the dining table - nine of them.

Heather and Bill slept in the laundry room, Travis and Sarah in Monte's office, and Sarah's parents, John and Kerry (I'm a Karey too - us two moms), slept in the guest room. Since it didn't snow and the sun was shining, we sent the guys to get Starbucks drinks after breakfast Friday while us girls tromped in the woods cutting greenery and anything else that looked like possibilities for wreaths.

It was another great day, Friday. The guys sat around talking and us gals on the dining table had dumped all the stuff and made wreaths for this next season - our first of the Christmas decor (I'm thinking I need to pull out my Christmas boxes, just to get my advent candle holder, BUT not wanting to pull all that stuff out yet!!!!

Tomorrow at church the first Advent candle will be lit, and the attempt with prompts, to draw out the children (and us adults!) to share, and see who remembers the Larger Story ...

Artisans - Glimakra & Gobelin

I'm wanting to sell my 60" Swedish Glimakra weaving loom. I've posted before about my weaving. I've put out some ads for my loom and some are interested. I'm really afraid though that I'm going to miss it. But I do have a smaller loom (actually several smaller kinds) that most of what I typically weave can be done on. With me felting more, I don't weave as much.

BUT, what I'm really doing, or should I say wanting, is a new loom - a new toy. In evaluating, I can't justify getting another loom without selling this large one. What I'm wanting, having done a lot of research is a Tapestry loom called a Gobelin. It's still another big loom, but more upright. I used to do tapestry weaving years ago and miss the more free-form weaving.

Today's Gobelin looms are copies of looms from the Royal Tapestry Manufactory of Gobelins France, near Paris, where tapestry had been done since 1667. It's where tapestries commissioned by Louis XV were created.

Since for years my thing has been "Fiber Arts", and I love history, and I've taught and done lots of demonstrating, I like being able to talk about tidbits of info (iike some I shared in the earlier post I linked above).

Something interesting is that so many of the fiber arts were originally done by men. A woman I believe invented knitting, but crochet, spinning, embroidery, weaving ... were done by men primarily. Some famous quilters today are men. When my friend lived in Sweden, she said everyone today knits, even in church, and that when she'd get stuck, she'd ask and men could help just as well as women. And we just found out while in Wisconsin that Monte's uncle Click liked to knit (Dawson was knitting this past winter). We think of these things today as women's skills.

Once the era in history left castles and Feudalism, Guilds of weavers, or guilds of embroiderers, etc began, on through the Renaissance and Baroque eras. Apprentices were taken on, still usually boys. The guild laws prohibited the wives and their underage children to be used for their work. Then progression to Journeyman and hopefully passing guild tests to become a Master - and masterpieces were created. Churches started commissioning fiber arts.

But then, technology, and the beginnings of Industrialization in 1764. With the introduction of the Spinning Jenny - it could match the production of 200 hand spinners (Leonardo da Vinci actually had drawings of my spinning wheel mechanism in one of his books)(I have more tidbits in my spinning/distaff post). And too, women and children worked cheaper than men.

SO ... when someone makes a statement that they can get a scarf cheaper at this store (probably made in an Asian country), what do I say? Men and women have an innate need, we are made in the image of a Creator, to express creativity in varying ways. As Marva Dawn talks about in her Unfettered Hope (Great book) - do you have umteen cheap coffee mugs from discount stores? or do you support a local artist and have a more creative mug? Buy something that tells a story, or compels you to look, touch, and experiment.

Michaelmas

Today is Michaelmas Day. Ever hear of Michaelmas Daisies? They are perennials we can plant that are fall blooming every year. We have wildflower daisies that are purple with yellow centers that bloom in our area all fall - one of the last flowers of the year.

There's a permanent rafia wreath hanging over our kitchen table, and I just removed the summer bees (made of wool with tissue paper wings and yellow embroidery floss stripes) that were hanging from it. I made a felted dragon that I pull out this time of year (and again with my Christmas Nativity). It sits on a rock in the center of the kitchen table. A white sheep wool angel with gold threading and a sword, hangs over the table from the center of this wreath. This visual is for reminding my heart of stories to remember, and help me live my days fuller, because so many ordinary calendar days are full of meaning. Our daily small stories we live, are a part of a larger ongoing story that I want to be aware of!

"A woman, robed with the sun, standing on the moon, and crowned with a garland of twelve stars, was giving birth to a child crying out in pain. There was also a huge dragon ... in front of the woman in childbirth, waiting, ready to eat up the child as soon as it was born ... War broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought the dragon..." What a fantastic story! That reads like Greek mythology ... Read Revelation 12:1-9.

Archangel Michael is mentioned throughout scripture. Like when Daniel was praying for three weeks and on the 24th day he was surprised by "a man dressed in linen with a belt of pure gold. His body glistening and as if sculpted from the precious stone beryl. His face radiated light like lightening, his eyes like torches of fire, his arms and feet like polished bronze, and his voice sounded like a huge choir of voices." He had been detained in spiritual warfare which is beyond our vision - that larger story.

If all the mentions of angels in scripture - bringing good news, warning of danger, guarding from evil, guiding and protecting, nourishing, and instructing - functioned as such then, wouldn't angels still be doing this on into today?! Do we live believing this? Each year I give a special focus to this piece of my faith in God, and thank Him for His angels.

Michaelmas is one of the four cardinal points of the year, opposite the Resurrection. In art, Michael is sometimes depicted with balance scales as if he's weighing the souls of men. Do we have our own dragons in our lives? An art piece has Michael gazing at the child lying in an animal feed trough - the child that asks to be born in each human soul. It's a time for contemplation and resurrection refueling of the soul.

"Thank you God for your awesome provision for me.
Help me see the realities of the spiritual realm all around me."

Homemade book cover with felting

I'm getting ready to go to tonight's "Show & Tell", where artists (any who value creativity) from our church gather in someone's home. I'm bringing a book I made and added a piece of my needlefelting to the cover.

I've been making homemade books since I was in high school. My sister still has the many books I wrote, illustrated and put together for her. I had my kids make books. If they had an adventure, cool dream, or something they wrote, we'd often make it into a book and I'd have them illustrate it. We'd make extras so to give to the Grandparents as gifts.

Now I can make books with A LOT of pages because a couple Christmas's ago my daughter-in-love's sister Annie showed us how.

Woodstock

I just have to post this! When rereading my recent posts just now with the Arlo Guthrie quote, my thoughts wandered to a NPR story today. We had neighbors over for supper tonight, and while preparing, with the radio on in the kitchen, I heard the reminiscing of Woodstock in 1969 - because a museum has been created with 60's memorabilia - all going on right there and then, and what was going on in the culture.

I remember Woodstock! Not that I was there. But I was there in spirit. I was a part of that culture.

What I am glad of when I think of it all, is that I'm glad I was young at the time, too young to have made that pilgrimage. I would have, had I been a bit older. What I think, is that my age was a blessing at that particular time in history. I did have friends who died of drug over-doses, auto accidents ... I have names for these people. I knew them. And had I been a bit older to feel able to have taken off ... I hate to imagine my life's turnings ...

though still in God's grip. This time period was the first of three deserts in my felted art depiction of my life's journey. What I refer to as a self-imposed desert.

Bedroom

I had to take a picture out my bedroom door, trying to capture both our new bedspread and the flowers. When I bought the flowers to pot up for our deck, I just really liked their color. But the other morning I realized how they coordinate with the bedspread.

We've had a bedspread on our bed for several years that I wove on my large Swedish Glimakra loom. It's a variation of a honeycomb weave. I now have it next to the bed covering a barrel we use as a bedside table (and seasonal clothes changeovers). It was going to rot from the sun if I left it on our bed. And I've put up some sheers that I'm hoping will 'calm' the sun's intensity on our bed.

Show & Tell

Last night artists in our church, plus extra artist friends, gathered at a home for Show & Tell. Other than a meeting of some of us a couple weeks ago, we'd not gathered like this for several years, and want to do it more. We want to invite more art showings from others into our church, and us participate in showings elsewhere too. 

When you have an environment that values what God's gifted in each other ... and care to learn about one another ... and listen and learn ... it's amazing!

Another aspect to my Starburst felted picture I posted and explained several postings ago, is that so much art work - from literature, to paintings, music, sculptures, movies - because everyone is created in God's image, I believe the searching that human's do, often comes out in art. Even if someone is not yet a Christian (therefore, from my Starburst post, would that be considered the darkness?!*), they often give us a glimpse, like a window, into some truth ... into God's heart, into heaven, into compassion, into grace ... and yet they themselves haven't made that truth their own for their own lives (do any of us fully?! when we're still in process?!). 

We told about ourselves - like passions and our process or journey to what we're currently doing. Some people brought notebooks, or portfolios of what they do. Like Kent can't bring his large bronze sculptures! We've seen some at church, before they sold. Jannelle, (?I don't know her, but want to know her) brought her 'rock' - beautiful sculpting. She loves sculpting, but God has dropped commissions of painting pets into her lap currently. Others: writers of books and songs, photographers, logo graphic artists, clay sculpture, sketches, acrylic, watercolor, and oil painters, and admirers! 

And me? I brought my basket of current needlefelting. I brought lots of sculpted heads! Across one of my looms, I have heads! I have lots of heads and unfinished heads and bodies from all the classes I've taught, and I do eventually finish them. Some people see these, and roll their eyes saying, "Karey, this is weird!" Yet they love them! I love them. 

All I can say is that though there's an aspect of me that shows them as being mine, I still don't have total control. My personality comes through in each one and the differences I'm striving for. But they still create themselves!