A Little Bit of This and a Little Bit of That

Tiny Endodontic Tools

It has been a fairly productive week! I had the third and final session of treatment for two root canals - and it was all painless. I love my endodontist - Evan Christensen, with offices in Ridgefield and Fairfield (CT), in case you're interested. He is so gentle and kind; a fun conversationalist, too. And, when he is done working on my mouth, he actually massages my Temporal Mandibular joints, ever so gently, to help assuage that horrible ache one gets after sitting with one's jaw wide open for an extended period of time! He even sent me home with a collection of tiny tools of the trade, because I was admiring them so much. I wonder what I will make with them. I have an idea, but we'll see what happens as I start playing with them.

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Sweet Baby Dreams

I am very nearly done with this latest in my Pieces of Dreams series. I really, really love it. I kind of want to save it, just in case I have a grandchild someday. Wouldn't it be just absolutely perfect, hanging on the wall in a baby's room?  I have a friend who bought one of my Sweet Baby Stars at a craft show one year, saying "I'll just tuck this away for my first grandchild."  I think that is such a great idea. However, my daughter insists she "lacks the gene" that finds children to be cute, so maybe I shouldn't start a Grandchild Hope Chest just yet!

Sweet Baby Stars


In a somewhat related vein, I'm not sure if I've already told you (i.e. bragged) that one of my little felted wool quilts was selected to be in a book! It is called 500 Felt Objects, published by Lark Books, and it will be coming out in the fall. More about this as we get closer to the date.

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I'm just starting on a little sewing project. It is a vintage quilt square - my favorite kind of pieced star, in beautiful blue and brown. I will be adding a thin filler layer, backing, and lots of stitching.

Vintage Pieced Star

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I've also been having a ball making wrap bracelets using leather cord and various beads. I love how they look and I am very excited to be able to feature some of my special antique buttons as clasps.

Double Wrap Bracelet
with Antique Dyed Mother of Pearl and Cut Steel Button
 

 Triple Wrap Bracelet
with Brass Beads and Antique Brass Police Uniform Button

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Finally, I want to share a little video with you. It is quite strange, but I hope you'll stick with it - it is wonderful. It made me think about how I feel when I am sewing a doll. I often feel very uncomfortable about sticking the needle into the doll, especially as she becomes more and more real. The closer she gets to her finished state, the more I feel like I am injuring an actual being. Anyone else ever think about that? Or am I just too weird?



Blast From the Past

An Itty Bitty Kitty brooch, from long, long ago - he usually hangs out on Lisa's beret.
 

This Pieces of Dreams, started in 2004, is finally finished to my satisfaction.
It speaks of spring.

In the language of colors, this piece has lovely meaning:
- yellow- a symbol of true friendship and happiness.
- white - a symbol of purity and new beginning.
- lavender - a symbol of enchantment. 
and
- green -  a symbol of new growth and freshness.


I think I'll name it Crocus and Daffodil Dreams,
instead of Lilac and Jonquil Dreams.
Or maybe I'll name it Spring Flower Dreams.
I just don't know.




Everything is more complicated than you think

From The 300 by way of  Izabella's Blue

"Everything is more complicated than you think. You only see a tenth of what is true. There are a million little strings attached to every choice you make; you can destroy your life every time you choose. But maybe you won't know for twenty years. And you may never ever trace it to its source.  And you only get one chance to play it out. Just try and figure out your own divorce. And they say there is no fate, but there is: it's what you create. And even though the world goes on for eons and eons, you are only here for a fraction of a fraction of a second. Most of your time is spent being dead or not yet born. But while alive, you wait in vain, wasting years, for a phone call or a letter or a look from someone or something to make it all right. And it never comes or it seems to but it doesn't really. And so you spend your time in vague regret or vaguer hope that something good will come along. Something to make you feel connected, something to make you feel whole, something to make you feel loved. And the truth is I feel so angry, and the truth is I feel so fucking sad, and the truth is I've felt so fucking hurt for so fucking long and for just as long I've been pretending I'm OK, just to get along, just for, I don't know why, maybe because no one wants to hear about my misery, because they have their own. Well, fuck everybody. Amen."  ~ Minister, Synecdoche, New York 




Lilac and Jonquil Dreams

 I'm dreaming of spring ... lilacs and jonquils and tiny buds of green leaves. 
This is a piece I made long ago but now I have picked it up again to complete it with many, many stitches.
The squares are tiny (about one inch) pieces of wool felt, made from many recycled sweaters.
The antique and vintage buttons are from my collection.

Nola is very interested in the Persian wool tapestry thread.  
Photo of Nola by Doug.