Glimpses Of An Island Kind Of Day

 

It was a glorious Spring like day on Shaw Island!

Monsieur LeChat was enjoying a kitty doze in the sun

until I rudely awakened him and made him play with me.

  

I love the strong shadows that a sunny day imparts to photos

  

  

  

  

The sun was just beginning to set a bit as we returned to our island home town.

For the past almost 20 years each time I watch the ferry coming into the dock

I get a peaceful feeling and a great joy to be home.

Happy weekend to all !

 

Textiles From The Silk Road Part 3

 

This is a hooked rug that graces the wall of the Shaw Island Community Center.

It details the first Shaw homesteaders

This is the final installment of Textiles along the Silk Road. This unusual piece was a woman's garment though no one - including the speaker - understands how is was supposed to have been worn. It is comprised of a long rectangle that is sewn together along the long sides -so that both top and bottom are open. This is quite an old piece and the variety and quality of hand work was very interesting. If you look at the teeny tiny cross stitches below the worked medallions you will notice that it appears that someone just stopped working on the heart shaped cross stitches.

  

  

The center medallian and edging is worked in a fabulous beading technique that is so effective!

I had to take some close ups of how the red and white beads were strung

  

  

Above you can some beautiful design work that was, it appears, spliced together from two differing pieces... both lovely. Looks like natural dyes to me.

Below is an amzing piece that is a woman's headress, All of these soft tassles would hang sown the back. Speculation is that the braids - which are on a wooden harness type of thing - was braided into the woman's hair.

Last, but not least another glorious, richly colored textile that has the most silky soft, amazing fringe work !
This is it for the stroll down the Silk Road. It was another great lecture through our textile guild! Next post - some new ATC's.

 

 

Textiles Along The Silk Road: Lecture by Joan Christoffersen: Part 2

 

The top know on a beautiful hat

and

the beautiful edgework on the same chapeau!

  

What amazed us all about many of these textiles is the variety of hand work in each piece. Ms. Christoffersen suggested that the textiles of this region are as colorful as they are, at least in part, to counter the stark geographical realities of the area. After seeing some of the slides I have to say that I agree with the plausibility of that assessment !

The "full" hat

 

The hat below is just a cacophony of color and design work!

  

and this is what the inside of this piece looks like !

  

I loved to more quiet colors and beautiful design work on this hat

  

Some more designs and fancy stitching. What a feast for the eyes this lecture was !

  

I will have one more post in this series tomorrow.

More glorious textiles from this magical place called the silk road!

When will I win a lottery so that I can go?!!

 

Textiles Along The Silk Road: A Lecture & Slide Show Part 1 of 2

 

Getting ready to board the ferry

on a very Spring like day in 'paradise'.

This past Saturday The San Juan County Textile Guild held their meeting on most favorite of all islands - Shaw Island. Some of you may remember that I raved about Shaw Island last June when my friend Janet and I took a natural dyeing workshop with Joan Morris. The Community Center on Shaw is perfection. The perfect place for a meeting, workshop, lecture, dance or general get-together. It is, to my way of thinking, precisely what a community center should look like and function as. The fun part about these meetings is that the ferry makes a circuit - making it plausible for Guild members from all of the islands to attend the meeting....and leave at the same time. The local ferry takes us from our Island, San Juan Island, to Orcas Island and then onto Shaw. The reverse run goes from Shaw to Orcas and home to San Juan. 

We were fortunate to have a lecture and slide show about textiles along the Silk Road - presented by a lovely and knowledgeable woman named Joan Christoffersen. I had never thought that the idea of a Sil Road tour held much appeal to me - but after this slide show I have changed my mind - and would love to one day be able to see these amazing sites and textiles.

  

Gathering place: the ferry terminal on San Juan Island

Being able to visit Shaw Island again at this time of year gave me an opportunity to visit my "favorite" trees at the community center. The paperbark birches were just beginning to bud and I carefully took my small allotment of bark home with me. Such beautiful trees!

  

  

This is a book that Joan had brought for reference .

  

Here is a map of the Silk Road - 

Joan's commentary covered most all of these exotic locations

This dress, that Joan thought was most likely

made for the tourist trade, fascinated me. 

I wanted to get my hands on some of these fabuous medallions!

  

  

Hats seem to be the 'big' thing - each area has a slightly different version

and all of the men, in all of the areas,always wears a hat.

  

The hat below is a special one -

it's old and displays the most amazing array of fine needlework! 

The second photograph is the colorful top of the hat.

Come back to have a look at more amazing textiles tomorrow.

Happy Valentine's Day. Wishing You All Love & Laughter!

Valentine's Day has always puzzled me just a bit. The idea of choosing one day to be especially loving or thoughtful just never quite sat right with me really - although I have always enjoyed the rewards of this special day I always thought that it would be more pertinent to use this day to commit to making every day a 'Valentine's' day. I mean - if you truly care for someone then you should attempt to treat them lovingly every day right? Would a gold heart that says " Property of Tiffany" mean I am loved more than say a beautiful card and some of my favorite vanilla almonds?  Would a trip to Victoria's Secret mean that I care more for spuse on this day than any other? That is beside the point that  trip to Victoria's Secreat at my stage of life would be a harrowing experience for me as well as my mate!! As the old adage goes- at this point in my life " I am made for comfort not speed"  - and yes, I treasure my Lazy'Girl' chair. Come to think of it why are those chairs always lazy boys? We gals enjoy a good lazy day too !

I was lucky to get a beautiful stargazer lily plant and one of my favorites- a jasmine plant that I am praying I can manage to keep alive for a long time !

I wandered through a few Valentine's sites today looking for answers about why we celebrate this special red heart day. I found lots of interesting things and this post could become a book if I let it - albeit I suppose it might be an interesting little tome. I discovered the usual bits of history that are, actually, well worth noting again:

Quote"....

On February 14 around the year 278 A.D., Valentine, a holy priest in Rome in the days of Emperor Claudius II, was executed. Under the rule of Claudius the Cruel, Rome was involved in many unpopular and bloody campaigns. The emperor had to maintain a strong army, but was having a difficult time getting soldiers to join his military leagues. Claudius believed that Roman men were unwilling to join the army because of their strong attachment to their wives and families. To get rid of the problem, Claudius banned all marriages and engagements in Rome. Valentine, realizing the injustice of the decree, defied Claudius and continued to perform marriages for young lovers in secret. When Valentine's actions were discovered, Claudius ordered that he be put to death. Valentine was arrested and dragged before the Prefect of Rome, who condemned him to be beaten to death with clubs and to have his head cut off. The sentence was carried out on February 14, on or about the year 270.

Legend also has it that while in jail, St. Valentine left a farewell note for the jailer's daughter, who had become his friend, and signed it "From Your Valentine." For his great service, Valentine was named a saint after his death. In truth, the exact origins and identity of St. Valentine are unclear. According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, "At least three different Saint Valentines, all of them martyrs, are mentioned in the early martyrologies under the date of 14 February." One was a priest in Rome, the second one was a bishop of Interamna (now Terni, Italy) and the third St. Valentine was a martyr in the Roman province of Africa.Legends vary on how the martyr's name became connected with romance. The date of his death may have become mingled with the Feast of Lupercalia, a pagan festival of love. On these occasions, the names of young women were placed in a box, from which they were drawn by the men as chance directed. In 496 AD, Pope Gelasius decided to put an end to the Feast of Lupercalia, and he declared that February 14 be celebrated as St Valentine's Day.

..." END QUOTE

Well, that's one theory anyway !  Have a look at the website I found that offers lots of great information about Valentine's Day and it customs and history - as well as many other theories about the beginning of this heart worth day. Look at it all here ! 

One of the most fun things that I found on my web walkabout is this dating through the ages gem from The History Channel - it's just too much fun to NOT take this little quiz. The History channel also offers this fabulous little video about the history of the Valentine's Day card. This is well worth the time and you will see glimpses of the most awesome cards ever ! This woman has an amazing collection she says contains 10,000 pieces.

I guess Valentine's Day is good. It's always a good thing to tell the people that you love that they are special in your life - that, indeed, they grace your life with their love and friendship. I am blessed to have some some 'forever' friends. They hold my past and my future in their hands. I am also blessed to have found a 'forever' husband. No easy feat in this day and age when honesty and integrity can be sorely lacking in many. I had to go through some toads to get here - but  " in love" is a wonderful place to find myself in !  I wish all of you who share my blog journey with me special thanks and hope that your Valentine's Day is blessed with love, laughter and light!

PS: I just was sent a wonderful vision of St. Valentine's day from Kevin Deviercy . Very well done! Have a look at this as well !
 

Journal Pages: My Introduction

 

I am doing a journal swap with my buddy Kathy. I am, as usual, just a bit behind schedule but this weekend I had the luxury of playing a bit and getting caught up. We decided that the beginning of the journal would be an introduction page made using  a silhouette. this is my page. I did another spread too but want Kathy to enjoy seeing something first. I'd hesitated about posting this age - but decided that she would not mind too much - after all she will see it "in the flesh". I have another two pages to get done this week before I ship this off to her and await her journal in the mail . Journal swaps are fun and  this particular one is magnificently managed by Kim at BlissfullyArtJournaling. Kim's site is a great group and she arranges wonderful swaps - there is always something happening and always some wonderful art to see!

I just got a quilt commission today - making a memory quilt for a woman that I like a lot. It's going to take some time - the shirts that she wants used are poly and cotton -  all knits.... lots of stabilizing in my future. Hummmm do I mean that literally or figuratively d'ya think?! I will enjoy the sound of wonderful sewing machine again .... still not sure how best to charge for this. Anyone out there have any suggestions?

Work week begins again for me in the morning - I wonder if I should visual journal how I feel about that?! More soon!

 

Why Keep A Journal ?

 I saw this wonderful little 'spot' over at Sharon's PinTangle and was so touched by it that I thought I would share it with you here too. People have asked why I journal - and I could not say it any better than this.

 W. Cleon Skousen (1913-2006) shares his way of keeping a  personal journal and after a life time there is 100 plus journals.

Monkey Mind Ramblings: Early Bird or Night Owl?

I've been feeling rather edgy lately - rather like this frenzy of these color stix - just all over the place. Maybe it's the last grasping gray claws of Winter that are setting my mind on edge - or maybe it's just that I am just trying to 'birth' some ideas. Maybe there is some gris gris energy in the stars that is setting me off?  I need to make a decision about some back surgery - maybe subconsciously that's what is making me feel "off my game". I dunno - but I wish it would pass. I prefer to feel a bit more grounded.   All of my desire for color is still in place but I am not sure just how I want to get the colors down. Paper? Cloth?  I'll probably just take my own advice to "just start somewhere" - that usually does the trick and then I can proudly say that I do take my own advice! How unusual!! I am late with some journal work - so I guess I better start there.

Late into the night yesterday my thoughts were doing their usual monkey mind rambling and I began to think about early birds and night owls.  Some people love the quiet of the early morning hours. I prefer the stillness of the night. I think it's really the same aesthetic. The other night I woke up in pre-dawn hours and listened. I always sleep with an open window even in the dead of Winter. I feel like I can't breath otherwise! I listened to the silence and could envision a fox shifting position in it's den. The crows waiting to wake everyone up with their raucousness. Chickadees snuggling in their nests. I listened to the utter stillness that one can only find in the blessed quiet of rural areas these days. Finally I heard the low call of an owl - which is what I think I had wanted to hear all along. The messenger of night-time stillness called out - saying that all was well in the nighttime landscape.

I have longed puzzled if our preferences for being an early bird or a night owl are born. I have preferred the late night ever since I can remember - and it seems to me that Mother told me that I preferred that as an infant as well. My spouse and dear friend are both consummate early birds - and claim that they too have always been like that. Well, I think my firend may have not been when she was in her 20's - I'll have to ask her that! I wonder if anyone has done any research on this silly little tidbit of our genetics. Predisposition or not? What say you? Which are you? Why do you like your early morning or late night?

What In The Heck Have I Been Doing Other Than Reading You May Ask?!

There are times when I wonder if I am just spinning my wheels. Times when it seems like anythinga and everything takes so-o-o-o much time. I wonder if I am the only one that seems to move theough life doing everything more slowly than everyone else. That's what life has felt like to me lately and I am not sure what, if indeed anything, I am doing wrong. I had another round of very belated cards to send out. Each one, of course done individually, seemed to take more time than I had thought they would. I was happy with them however and was even more happy to finally get them in the post. I had thought I only needed to make 6 - come to find out when I began addressing them, I needed to make 9 total. I sent out 7 - so I still have two more to go,  I am antsy to get to some journaling that is also slowly becoming a part of the late pile - and I don;t want that to happen!

I have also been working on a shawl in the evenings-. This is one of those projects that will take take some time to complete. I am considering working my way through Cheryl Oberle's Books "Folk Shawls". THe pattern I am working on now is the 'Aran Pocket Shawl'. I am using Misti Alpaca in a peau soup kind of color - ahhhh!!! so soft. I love the checkboard effect that the shawl will have - but, since I work on it in the evenings only after work and in from of the TV , it will take take some time to finish. You can see by the large number of colored 'tags' on the top pf the book that I have many projects maked as worthy og knitting! I love shawls !

 

 

Here is as good as close-up as I was able to get of the texture - it's really a nice pattern. I am planning to work through the shawls that are Irish, and Scottish first and the some of the Scandinavian designs which are generally more delicate and lacy. Lots to do - lots of  s-l-o-w  c-l-o-t-h  to work on ! Maybe that's why I feel like I am spinning my wheels - it seems like everything I am doing lately is of the slow cloth variety. Hopefully, I will have more to show you soon!

 

A Treasure From Julie : "May The Blessings Of The Light Be On You"

This beautiful piece of artwork was done by my new friend Julie Wildman of Wildman Designs. Julie is a graphic artist and suberb calligrapher. Her work is simply stunning - as I am sure you will agree if you swing on over to 'her place' to have a look at her dazzling art!  Late last year I received an email from Julie - she had found my blog and website from a link on cyberscribes (it's a list serve for calligraphers and calligrapher wannabe's like me!) . Julis was interested in buying some cards that she had seen on my website. I was thrilled ! Ultimately Julie did make my Christmas brighter by buying some cards but we also agreed on an exchange - one of my felted bags for a piece of her beautiful calligraphy. This Irish blessing has always been a favorite of mine and I think that Julie truly reflected what I feel about this blessing in her beautful rendering and art work! I love this piece !! Now I need to find a fitting frame!

I had wanted to include more close-ups and I  had been waiting for a sunny day to take photographs but the best I could hope for this time of yeat was a drier spot between rain showers - so I was not able to get too many shots. I wanted so much to share this beautifuyl piece with you now - it's still raining today too! The photos would have been much better quality if the sky had cooperatied a bit more !