step by step...

I'm often asked how these pieces of mine come about.  So, here we go, this is the beginning of a new sock....my sock!  Pictured here are the beginnings, a line drawing on a painted surface of green.

A bit hard to see here but all will become clear and much more colorful in future blogs.  Below is a portion of my new best friends sock....it's a little of this...a little of that...if you'd like to learn more??  There are plans being made for moi to teach this sock to you in September at The Needle Works here in Austin.  Of course, yours can have your best friends name or your own.  There is a lot of room for personalization in this design.  

freedom....

I decided to go 'off road' last week...and I had a blast.  But..of course, my off road compared to someone else's is a little different.  I stitched...off canvas!  I found this little book of 100 embroidery stitches in my stash.  I remember buying it at the five & dime in maybe middle school.  It was a big deal to embroidery ones jeans back then.  

There are a lot of young women popping into the shop to buy crewel wool to embroidery of late.  Each visit brings back a flood of sweet memories.  So...I pulled out some of my line drawings and found a sweet one that would work on an old cotton cardigan of mine.  And like magic, I have a whole new sweater and have opened Pandora's box of threads, embroidery hoops [I had to go buy one!] and a million ideas.  

Thankfully, these excursions are quickly executed as I have several projects in the works that require deadlines!  More on those to come in future blogs.  So....stay tuned!

Monday.....

Monday.....which is what I titled this piece originally.  On a recent road trip I needed a 'car piece', I love basket weave...so I took inspiration from my own work and Voila!  Some how though...I managed to flip the design, still makes me happy and the colors are really fun.  The finished piece fits perfectly into my Lee weekender bag. 

Step one....

pick up that happy combination of threads and DO something with it Kimberly!  The shop where I work received 'new' colors from Wiltex Threads, Inc in the Vineyard Classic and Merino lines.  They spoke loudly enough that I fell victim to taking them home to play with.  Below is what happened over the next two evenings.  I call it Texture & Shine....a tale of two threads.  Soon to be taught as a Thursday night class at The Needle Works in Austin.  The color is called Calypso Orange, the classic is 100% silk with a beautiful sheen, the Merino....all wool...not so shiney but lovely to work with!  The play of light on the thread is perfect!

a gift...

A sweet friend that pops into the shop where I work regularly surprised me with a gift.  Actually, I surprised myself when I saw 'one' of her tiny trees finished and framed...my exclamation of 'oh my, I love it, make me one!!' I never do that, couldn't believe I asked her that.... And then... she handed it to me!!  My angel pictured above lost her magic wand ages ago...Christina's beautiful little tree was the perfect replacement.
She loves to work up these beautiful little designs in very fine threads...this one uses one ply of a hand painted wool.  Just precious.  What a special gift.  Thank you Christina.

Happy New Year!

My blog has become sadly neglected this year.  Can you have too much yoga in your life?  No way!  Yesterday I was a part of the '108' celebration to bring in the new year.  I'm not sure how many yogi/yoginnis were packed into the studio at Yoga Yoga here in Austin but it was mat to mat.  Listening to that many people breath as one was amazing.  I didn't let myself think about what part of my body was going to hurt today, I just kept going and Ommm! I did all 108....have to be totally honest here...there was a very quick bathroom break where I missed three but...

I did make them up!  

So to all of you, here's to a healthy 2012

Playtime continued....

a glimpse....

beginnings....

just a start....

...it's playtime!

who knows what this will grow up to be 

Happy Earth Day!

diversions....

playing....playful....I really should be doing something else....but these are so pretty and were just begging to be photographed.

in the works...

on the drawing board...

under construction....

happily!

I go along...

I wish....

I could just draw for hours...go to yoga...walk my dog....read a book...draw for hours....below is a piece...in pieces...for my son.  It's very detailed many fractals, a castle, a dragon, sunshine of sorts and clouds of sorts...swirls, dots, dashes and an amazing piece written for life...Desiderata.  Hopefully your screen resolution will allow you to read it. Since I was a teenager, I've felt, it says it all.  Clicking on the image will enlarge it...you can Google it if you'd like to read more.
Desiderata is Latin for 'things to be desired'.

Happy Christmas!!