obsession...

buttons.



i have thousands. it started innocently of course. i needed a few vintage buttons to complete some bags i was making last summer. somehow (i can't even remember), all of my family and friends learn that i am looking for buttons. before i know it, i am inundated with the little suckers. they came from grandmothers, friends of grandmothers, other people's grandmothers even! i purchased a fair amount myself, of course. they are in boxes, tins and jars. i finally got the chance to organize them by color which for some reason brings me great joy. (my sister and i used to separate Lite-Brite pegs by color and then "trade" them.) maybe i am reliving a little of my childhood when i spend an evening going through them and picking out my favorites. so silly, yet so gratifying...

good ol' nancy

i woke up listening to npr the other day and they were doing a story about nancy drew (i think they were talking about her enduring appeal) and it brought me back to those long, wonderful summers spent solving mysteries with her.

i read her books into my high school years, where i did abandon her for a more serious addiction: stephen king. i have hardly given her much thought since then, aside from the movie that came out last year. but hearing her name the other morning has given me the the bug once again. so what if they are written for young adults. they are the perfect summer read.

i believe i am going to go curl up and take an adventure with her tonight...

a quote that i love::

"wherever i am, let me never forget to distinguish want from need. let me be a good animal today. let me dance in my private tide, the habits of survival and love."

barbara kingsolver
high tide in tuscon

things my grandmother taught me

at a memorial service recently, i got to thinking about the impact my family, and my grandmothers in particular, have had on my life. i was lucky enough to know both of my grandmothers well into my twenties. this list is dedicated to anita, the one we lost many years ago.

things my grandmother anita taught me:

a love of garage sales. she could never pass up the opportunity to buy more stuff she didn't need! i am proud to carry on this tradition.

to mute the t.v. during commercials. i used to think this was so weird. i mean, the commercials are the best part, aren't they? (this really goes to show us how much ads are geared toward children) in my adult years i have found them to be every bit as loud and obnoxious as i'm sure she thought they were.



a love for all things slightly tacky, i.e. tupperware, plastic figurines with that glued on fuzzy stuff, costume jewelry, etc.

the list is truly longer than this, but so many of those pieces of her live on in my mind as impressions too abstract for words.

she also taught me (and all around her) tolerance, acceptance and unconditional love.

i thank my grandma anita and miss her. i am surely better for having known her...

want::

these brilliant "glow bowls" from Diana Fayt. (these are found in her etsy shop.) they seem to float in midair. you must see them aglow with candlelight. simply dreamy...

summer love:: moss

i have green fever, and moss has always been one of my favorite things. so lush and verdant, i wish i could wrap myself in it. i keep it in as many vessels as i can on my patio.
if it were possible to create a wall of it inside my home i would in a heartbeat. a room even. can you see it?
it brings to mind a passage:

"as long as there is wilderness, i know there is a larger part of myself that i can always visit, vast tracts of territory lying dormant, craving exploration and providing sanctity."
from douglas coupland's life after god.

go out there, friends and find some.
you'll feel better, i promise.

new work...

i am a lover of fabric. it began a few years ago when i decided to make a bag for my friend. it has been under my skin ever since. however, it is sometimes hard to feel as though i am making art, rather than simply craft. these small fabric collages take a step away from set patterns and expected results. i am simply working with juxtapositions of color and pattern. they are entirely freehand and that feels good.



i'm not sure where intend to go with these, as i am simply following my soul. it feels right and i am happy to roll with that for now...

obsession...

foxgloves.
the entire summer of 2007 was spent yearning and holding my breath. yet it did not bring them to life. turns out they are bi-annuals so they bloom only every other year. somehow that makes them all the more sacred. well, this was my year. i had never seen them in person, so watching these statuesque beauties grow a little more each day was exciting to say the least!
well, I am smitten.
they have brought me true joy every day that they have opened up to me. and as they are beginning to fade, i bid them a fond farewell. i am secretly wishing they love me as much as i love them and defy nature in order to come back to me next year...

well, here i am...

carving out my own little niche in this corner of the world. i'm not sure what i hope to gain from this, but i am looking forward to the process of it. i have a million thoughts in my head at any given time and i guess my aim is to sort out all that clutter. i will try to post daily, but more often than not i am sure it will be more like every few days that i get around to it.

for those of you interested in my work, it will be a place to keep up with my latest projects. you will find that i take my sweet old time with just about everything. so nope, no stuff on my etsy shop just yet. in time, my friends, in time...i promise! for friends both near and far, i hope this will bring and or keep us closer by.

'til we meet again...