resurrection fern

poppies are for remembrance

Today I remember those that laid down their lives for us so that we might live free. 

 

 

 

 

 

I believe almost all the veterans of world war 1 are now deceased but the seeds of their hope and strength live on in each and every one of us. I have been honored to have known some of these brave souls and they have enriched my life. They will never be forgotten. 

calendar girls

                                 

I was oh so excited to discover that my collection entitled "homage to sea sew" was chosen to start the year off, the january girl in the truly gorgeous whip up 2010 calendar. 

Not only that but the work of Maya, Shannah, Blair, Ann, Maritza and Tania are there along with some beautiful work of other artists. I am going to order a bunch to give as Christmas gifts because everyone loves a beautiful calendar.

You can order yours here:

Get your calendar from Redbubble - for Australians + rest of the world – very reasonable postage to Europe, Asian, South America. RedBubble calendars are satin-coated prints on high quality art paper. They’re A3 size (that’s 297×420mm, or 11.69×16.54″).

Get your calendar from lulu - for US residents (postage to rest of the world is a little expensive – but the calendar is a little less expensive). Lulu standard calendar is 11″ x 17″ (open) on gloss paper.

Whip up was one of the first DIY blogs that I followed and it remains one of my very favorites. It is such a great honor for my work to appear on the calendar and I would like to thank the judges for making my thanksgiving weekend all the more special. 

meet january

meet january

Raspberry and Lime

There was a definite color theme happening for my weekend away from home where nature echoed perfectly the fabulous colors chosen for the wedding of my niece. The pictures say it all!!

i thank You God for most this amazing
day;

for the leaping greenly spirits

 of trees
and a blue true dream of sky;

and for everything
which is natural which is infinite

 which is yes

ee cummings

Wishing you both infinite love and

a greenly spirit

filled life 

xxoo 

Margie

degrees of separation

"Surprised by joy - impatient as the wind

I wished to share the transport"

William Wordsworth

This is the time of year when many of our children leave home to return to school, college or university. They do so with different degrees of separation from us, their parents. 

Some do so slowly and hesitantly.

Some moms and dads find it really difficult to shed the protective cover.

Then there are those children that as soon as the door is open and you step away they explode forth into the world ready to experience the world.

Just like the seed pod of impatiens glandulifera that can travel over 7 meters after the trigger mechanism of the pod is released. This plant is related to the native wildflower jewelweed.

Remember that no matter which way they journey they remain strongly connected to home and you through the veins of your love.

You are the rock on which the foundation of their life was built on.

As they leave home in the quiet moments there will be tears and oh yes there will be joy.

As I was just finishing this post two things happened a show came on the radio talking about "invasive parenting" which is something quite simply we should not do. This reminded me of a book called "free range children" by Lenore Skenazy and I just discovered she has a blog. The other thing that happened was my power went out suddenly and the post wasn't autosaved as normally happens. So this second writing of the post may be slightly different than the original and for that I apologize. 

my weekend thus far

served up in a tea saucer in pictures : work in progress that I think will actually be completed this weekend, porch time, sunshine, light, kitties, forest walks, camera shy family 

The golden glow of the setting sun is warming my heart and mind just as a late

summer campfire warms my toes. Now I must prepare some breakfast for the clan and then get to work on my fiber art project I am determined to complete before the weekend is done. I have been working on it bit by bit for months.

Good News

I just wanted to let you know that if you have ever wanted to have a pattern for a crochet lace covered stone you don't have to wait any longer. In the Sept/Oct issue of Crochet Today you will find three different patterns for covered stones. 

This issue is filled with "one with nature fall 

fashion and earth friendly designs" 

and there is an interview with yours truly. 

 Thanks to Brett Bara for the wonderful opportunity.

 I love being called an eco artist.

You will find this issue on news stands now.

The other news is that issue number 10 of Mixtape is now being printed and available for preorder.

 I am a huge fan of this craft maga(ZINE) and in was really excited when asked to contribute a tutorial for this issue.  It is the living green thimble necklace.

I am planning an etsy shop update next friday, August 21st with lace covered sea stones, merfish and a few necklaces. I haven't decided on the time yet but I will announce it at the beginning of the week. 

The sky was clear tonight and despite the "light pollution" in our town I did manage to catch a falling star. I can recall many mid August nights lying on a beach , my gaze upwards scanning the sky during the Perseid showers. 

Have a wonderful star filled weekend.

My Little Rock Star

One of my stones from the " missing pieces " collection I did last fall is now famous having appeared in the April issue of Country Living. I haven't found it yet at our local bookstore or newsstand but Karen was so kind and emailed me a scanned picture on the weekend. I did know that one of my stones would be appearing in one of the spring issues but I had thought it would be like "where's waldo" where you might see a tiny covered stone sitting on a table in a picture of a beautifully decorated room. I was floored when I heard that my little rock star had a full page. Today is the day when my dear friend Elsita launches her new blog so be sure to check it out. I know it will surprise and amaze us.

Project Rain

To celebrate this amazing community of kind and creative women on International Women's Day I want to tell you about project rain. First one of my favorite quotes by Mother Teresa :

"How can there be too many children? That is like saying there are too many flowers. "

Just before christmas one of my dear blog friends found herself with a slightly bigger garden of flowers when her brother died of cancer . His wife and my dear friends parents had all died in a collision with a drunk driver the year before and so her brother's two children were without parents. Rane and her husband welcomed the chidren into their family and suddenly found themselves with six chldren , four of them under the age of 4.

Out of this came the idea for Project Rain. I wanted to show Rane how much she is loved and part of a very caring community of creative women . I sent out emails to a small group all of whom I knew had great love in their hearts and who I knew would translate that into something beautiful for Rane and her children. I wasn't disappointed and it wasn't long before the parcels started arriving from all over the world.  A little trickle soon became a full fledged shower.

Some of the parcels came with little drawings on the outsides.

I waited until all the packages arrived from Lisa 

, , Cathy G, Elsita, ,Sonya , Cathy C., Patricia, Maya and Geninne. The fun part for me was opening up each parcel and experiencing first hand all the love and attention that went into each handmade or hand chosen item. I photographed them each individually and then took a group picture. I can't begin to describe what an amazing afternoon this was for me. The only thing better would have been to have been in the company of all these wonderful women. That last picture was my gift to Rane and her children. A fiber art piece of a mother tending her nest of 6 colorful eggs, a blue felt mother bird with a vintage lace apron and six colorful crocheted eggs with little rock chicks inside along with a quotation from C.S.Lewis that I just adore. "It may be hard for an egg to turn into a bird . It would be a jolly sight harder for it to learn to fly while remaining an egg. We are like eggs at present. And you cannot go on indefinitely being just an ordinary decent egg, you must be hatched." Each egg comes with a string attached with a little message " pull the string to hatch a surprise" . If you do as asked the crochet will unravel and your little chick is hatched. That message on the package just about sums up the relationships I have made through this blog and flickr and I know that although I didn't call on each and everyone of you to assist with this project I am sure that if I had almost all of you would have been as kind and generous and creative as these eight women were and who knows one day I might ask you to help out in a similar situation. Here are the final images the group shot and the fantastic card that Geninne designed for the gift. I just thought of a little way you can all participate. Please leave a comment showing your love and support for Rane, her husband and six wonderful children and I will ask Rane to pick a name from the comments in the wee hours of Wednesday morning ( her flickr name is iremembersleep) . The winner will get their own little chick to hatch in their choice of egg color.