One Down, Two (three?) to Go!

Thank you all who came out on a truly crap New England day — blustery, rainy and dark — to shop at “The Evening of Gifts”!!  I think a good amount of money
was raised for The Second Step. Certainly, turnout was good.  I sold a lot of my ‘table’ items, and not a single quilt, and did okay.

There are always intangible benefits as well, and it’s important to tally them, too:  referrals to other shows, convivial exchanges with crafters, scoring a few amazing items for the gift closet, future teaching connections, and positive feedback of all sorts.  Best of all yesterday, though, was the hug my 13 year old gave me while stopping in. Somehow, in spite of all my reminders, he forgot that I would not be home and called and called from a friend’s, finally remembering to call my cell.  No late afternoon ride forthcoming in spite of the rain!  I think the whole thing made him appreciate his mother just a little (hmm… could that be a strategy for the future? — just kidding!)

I thought I would be working like gangbusters today, but after wandering around my workspace and picking things up and putting them down for a while, I’ve realized it is one of those post-show days where I simply cannot work.  I’ll fold laundry, try to rid the first floor of dog-stink (HA!@!) , and clean up the kitchen instead. Maybe I’ll just fold laundry.

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“An Evening of Gifts”

Today is the craft show to benefit The Second Step.

It’s raining, but the Senior Center in Newtonville will be warm, dry, and packed with great crafts (AND BAKED GOODS!!)

Go to the Facebook Link on the sidebar to see some recent work of mine (and consider becoming a Fan while you’re at it!)

The kids are excited about having Kentucky Fried Chicken for dinner — it’s on the corner opposite The Senior Center and it’s the lure that Ken will use to get them to drop in on the show.

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Working for selling vs. working to work

Here’s  “Global Warming IV” in progress.  I am ‘letting’ myself work on it, even though I am in the throes of show preparation, and more dedicated than usual to being prepared.

Pricing work, delivering flyers, arranging press conferences, creating press packets, attending meetings, running to Staples, ETC! was making me very cranky…

like this guy, whom I call the
“Angry Sushi Chef”.

Can’t remember when I spelled this out, but finding it with my camera yesterday seemed rather perfect.  I WISH I had a magic want to eliminate the baggage I carry around, and to make me immune to others’ baggage.  But, I don’t, so I “let” myself work on something that won’t be ready for any of my holiday shows, that will be too big for most of my market, and may NEVER sell.  But what a tonic!  The tasks of piecing and pressing, looking, rearranging, kneeling on the floor… so completely absorbing, I can forget some of the daily irritations that seem to abound of late.

Fabric:  $100
Thread:  $16.00
Machine:  $700
Total absorption:  Priceless.

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Hearts Full and Close

Naming today’s jpg files for purposes of posting them here, I used the words “close” and “full” to indicate cropping.  These files — “Heart Close” (above) and “Heart Full” (below) — put me to wonder, What is it to have another’s Heart Close?  Or even, one’s own Heart Close?  And, what is it to have a Full Heart?

Here is the “Heart Full” — although in this case, it is not quite the entire quilt.   In this Heart Series of quilts, all of which feature a single heart perched on top of a busy mosaic, I have always been working with the notion that the fullness of our experiences add up to a kind of perfection.  And that this perfection normally eludes us, but in fact, is always there.  As a designer, it is easy to know that the dark-hued swatches of fabric are as responsible for the overall design (and dare I say, beauty?), as the lighter patches… As a human being, it is less easy to know that those experiences which wounded us the most, are just as responsible for the overall design (and dare I say, perfection?) of our lives as the sunnier experiences.

As David Whyte  states in his poem “The Faces at Braga”, “If only we knew/as the carver knew, how the flaws/in the wood led his searching chisel to the very core,/we would smile too/and not need faces immobilized/by fear and the weight of things undone.”  (From “Where Many Rivers Meet”).

This smaller quilt includes the word “Darkness”

and, in the lower right corner, “SONG”.  These are not contradictions.

How does one become, again to quote David Whyte’s poem, “wedded to our essence”?

such that the details transpiring in our tiny houses, do not impede the fullness of our hearts?

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SoulCollage® is …

SoulCollage® is a way to discover the One within the Many, and the Many within the One. (Here is a shot of some of the cards placed for the closing ritual).

SoulCollage® is a path. (This narrow lane wound its way through The Guest House property where the Facilitator Training took place).

SoulCollage® can be illuminating.

SoulCollage® reflects us back to ourselves. (This pond was right off of the deck).

SoulCollage® lets us gather with others. (It was a little too cold to eat outside this past weekend — which means I want to go back when it is warmer!)

SoulCollage® is a way to look at the bigger picture (this painting graced the hall outside our meeting room.  It was such a great image to look at on our way in)

while also examining the details.

I am now trained to facilitate SoulCollage® workshops.  If you live in my area and are interested, please let me know!

SoulCollage® is a trademarked process created by Seena Frost.  For more information about Seena, the process, or Facilitator Training, please visit her website www.soulcollage.com, or visit the website of Anne Marie Bennett, whose passion for this process is evident on her website, www.kaleidosoul.com.

SoulCollage® cards are made either from one’s own art or from images found in materials which have been bought by or given to the SoulCollage card maker. These collaged cards are used only for the cardmaker’s own inner exploration. SoulCollage cards are not sold, traded, bartered, or copied (except as a back-up for the cardmakers own use) as is stated in the Principles of SoulCollage®. Where SoulCollage cards are available to be seen by others, it is for the purposes either of demonstrating the SoulCollage process or of sharing the cardmakers’ inner process in the context of community.

SoulCollage® is grateful to the artists and photographers who make this deep awakening process possible and in all ways SoulCollage® seeks to be respectful of their rights.

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