Sprung into an Empty Nest

The last month and a half have been surprisingly busy. Our youngest decided he was ready to move out. The move was accomplished by the middle of this month, though he still has a few things here that he needs to clear out. Once that is finished, we will be remaking his room into my new studio, and my current studio will become a dedicated guest room. It means I will, hopefully, finally be able to have all of my studio tools in one place, though some materials will need to be stored elsewhere.

In addition, he and his fiance have finally set the date for their wedding - in June of this year. That brings another set of challenges. Obviously, there is the scramble to get all of the details taken care of, but I have not had to be involved in most of that beyond giving advice, especially on where to find information. However, I do need to find an outfit, and prepare our home for guests! Our older son and his family will be traveling back to town for the wedding and a short vacation. They will be staying here part of that time. As mother of the groom, of course, my outfit is supposed to complement that of the mother of the bride.

In addition, the grandchildren will be staying for the summer with their other grandparents. That means we will be able to spend more time with them over the couple of months following the wedding. So, I have been trying to plan things we can do with them that they will enjoy.

In the meantime, spring has been starting to make an appearance here. Our forsythias have begun to bloom, as have the hyacinths and daffodils. The lilacs are budding, and the grackles have arrived en masse. We have been talking about what to plant in the garden and are adjusting to being empty-nesters.

All told, it hasn't left much time for working in the studio, though I have done some organizing in preparation for the move to the other room, and while I have been working on my book, I haven't taken time out to blog. It may be hit and miss here for a while, for which I apologize in advance. I hope you will continue to check in, and I will try to get back to a normal schedule as soon as possible.

Until next time, I wish you peace.

Choices

I've been thinking a lot about deliberate downsizing and the changes we make in our lives as we grow older. Many of my family members have cut their home sizes and reduced their possessions in the process. It is something I am seriously considering, both as a retirement option and in the recognition that I will never be able to do or use all the materials I have purchased through the years.

It has become more apparent to me recently that there are some things I will no longer be able to do. I need, instead, to concentrate on the things I can do and find ways to have some things done by others. In addition, I need to let go of some things that could better be used by other people. Making these kinds of decisions can be really difficult. They signal not only the choice of one path over another, but also acknowledge the probable end of some dreams and hopes.

Have you ever had to face these kinds of choices? How did you handle them? Are you happy with the results?

Until next time, I wish you peace.

Blooming

There has been a lot going on around here in the past couple of weeks, not the least of which was the change in the weather, which resulted in this:

It is glorious to be able to open up the house, hear the wildlife, and feel a warm breeze. We've also had the excitement of preparations for a new great-nephew and a wedding in the family.

I've begun working on a quilt with these:

It is one that I have put off working on for quite a while because I was unhappy with the pattern I had been using. I made a change to the pattern choice and feel much more comfortable about it.

I was able to find information on ways to modify the doll heads, so I will be going forward with that at some point. Prior to that, however, I need to prepare for a visit from my grandchildren. Since they moved across the country when they were babies, it has been a long time since my house needed to be child-proofed.

Until next time, I wish you peace and all good things.

Preparations

You may have noticed that I changed the banner at the top of my page this last week. Please let me know what you think of it. I'm concerned that it still needs tweaking.

The banner is part of the work I have been doing to get ready to set up a shop. One of the things I have been finding is that it is taking an awfully long time to deal with all the details necessary. At the same time, I have been trying to work through a bit of angst over fears raised by the idea of setting up and running a shop online.

While many of the artists who have shops on Etsy are very happy with their experiences, there are questions being raised as a result of changes Etsy has made in its policies over the last year or so. Abby Glassenberg has a blog post at https://whileshenaps.com/ about Three Bird Nest in which she talks about some of the issues highlighted as a result of those changes. It is the kind of thing that makes me stop and consider exactly what my best options are, what I want to get out of an online shop, and whether it will be possible given those options.

Some of my fears are, I'm sure, simply coming up because it is a new prospect for me. I tend to spend a lot of time planning things before feeling ready to move forward. In some ways, this can be detrimental. In other ways, I find it helps because I encounter fewer surprises along the way. The difficulty is in maintaining a balance so that I don't freeze in my tracks.

Speaking of freezing, I was thinking about the difference between Niagara Falls now http://abcnews.go.com/US/video/deep-freeze-creates-winter-beauty-niagara-falls-29074903 and how it was last summer, when we visited.

I'm sure most of us in the deep freeze are looking forward to warmer temperatures and more colorful horizons.

Wishing you peace and all good things.

Time Management

I have been busy working on a prototype for a doll or dolls.

At this point, I am not really satisfied with the parts or the direction. So, I may have to take a different tack with it. In looking for solutions, I stumbled across Agosia Arts. Not only is Carmen Alana Tibbets a wonderful artist, she is also quite generous in helping others who are interested in making dolls.

I have also been thinking about the other things that I need to start or complete to get the shop up and running. There are all kinds of details to work out in order to simply set up a shop, from designing a banner through writing out policies, taking pictures of products, even deciding on a name for the shop, which has to be different from anyone else's.

In addition, I discovered last week, after finally getting my blog post done early in the evening, that I have to monitor my stress levels more closely. One of the reasons for my desire to have my own business was the ability to take better care of myself by having control over my work time. As a result, I find that my ambition to post blog entries every week will have to be altered. In order to do my best on all fronts, including the blog, I will have to reduce my entries to once every two weeks. I may post my thoughts on smaller topics more frequently on my Facebook page.

Until next time, I wish you peace & all good things.

World House

I know I’ve been quiet for an awfully long time. It seems I really needed to take a break from the blog to do a little . . .

 Bird watching . . .

 

Check out the flowers . . .

And watch some wildlife . . .

I also took a trip that included this . . .

In addition, I have returned to something else I’ve been putting off for a long time.

Many years ago, when I was selling my crafts at local shows, one of my sisters asked me if I would collaborate with her in creating 1/12 scale dolls. The scale refers to a size that equates to 1” = 1’. Though I was nervous about my ability to make clothing for such small dolls, I agreed to try. She would create the dolls from porcelain. So began my introduction to the world of miniatures.

About the same time, I was reading a book by Peter Menzel called Material World. He went on to do another called Woman in the Material World with Faith d’Alusio, which I also read. The books show the real life situations of up to 30 statistically average families from various countries around the world. You can find out more about it here: http://www.menzelphoto.com/books/mw.php.

Also about that time, I came across statistics for a world portrait, if the earth were populated by 1000 people. That, in turn, combined with the miniatures and Material World information led me to design a 1/12 scale house I call the “World House.” (Since then, the statistics have been updated several times. The current ones, for a world population of 100 people can be found here: http://www.100people.org/statistics_100stats.php?section=statistics. ) While the statistics have changed slightly, they are similar enough that my design still works.

In the house, I have a Chinese grandmother, Hispanic mother, African father, Bhutanese teenaged son, Italian child daughter, and an Indian baby boy. This is my solution for the problem of how to people the house in a way that models the ethnic and cultural population of the world. The “people” also conform to other details of the statistics, such as religion and education. While the house is an American dollhouse and I am still working on it, it has space apportioned according to the real world situations, material goods for each “person” as they would have in their respective countries, and the “people” have occupations similar to their counterparts.

In the intervening years, I have not had much time to work on the house, as other things have taken precedence. However, I recently began going through my materials, and then, got information about the upcoming Chicago Miniatures Show, both of which reignited my drive to continue. Many of the pieces I use or plan to use are made with recycled materials, giving me another way to conserve resources and avoid having things end up in a landfill.

Have you ever thought about what the whole world looks like in terms of human population or wondered what life was like for someone in a different country? What would your choices be if you were designing a World House?

Until next time, as always, I wish you peace and all good.

Priorities

Last week, Salley Mavor had a post about the “Needle Arts” magazine cover featuring one of her pieces: http://weefolkstudio.com/2014/03/22/needle-arts-magazine-cover/. In the post, she included a link to Mary Corbet’s post about the issue, so I had to take a look. After looking at Mary Corbet’s website http://www.needlenthread.com/, where I found a lot of well written articles on tips and techniques in addition to the other things she offers there, I was inspired to inventory some of the additional supplies I have in my studio, starting with patterns and embroidery threads. I also began looking through my stash of “Quilting Arts” magazines for ideas for experimental projects. That led me to begin looking at the other items in my inventory: specialty threads and yarns, fixatives, buttons, and more. I have been able to consolidate some supplies and organize others better.
 

What I have been thinking about, however, is ways to use more of the supplies that I have to create. At the same time, since one of my sons challenged me about how many projects I already have in process, I have also been thinking about how to make sure I put in time to work on those. I want to apologize here for the somber tone of the information I am about to impart. I hope you will bear with me.

The last few months have been difficult, both because of the weather and how the grieving process affects me. It has meant that I have only completed one piece since last November. Years ago I did some research on the grieving process. What I found was that, while each person ultimately addresses it in their own way, it generally takes five years to go through all of the stages of grief. Since I have lost eleven family members in the last eleven years (seven in the last 4-1/2 years alone), it is a significant issue for me. In addition to the grief, I have also been facing my own mortality in new ways, as two of the last three family members who died were quite close to me in age. In terms of my work, it means that I am considering how that affects my priorities. Since I recognize that none of us ever know when it will be “our time” to go, I could have decades ahead of me or no time at all.

Also within the last week, I came across this story about transforming wedding gowns into something for premature babies who don’t make it home from the hospital: http://www.ksdk.com/story/news/nation/2014/03/26/angel-gowns-babies/6924117/. It is a subject close to my heart because, 28 years ago, we had a son who lived for only a day. When we went to get him a burial outfit, even the smallest clothing available was huge on him, since he was only about two pounds. While the news story is about an organization in Texas that is doing this work, neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) throughout the country are often in need of something similar. If you sew, I encourage you to consider whether this is something you could do. Additional ways to help are listed at such places as:  Newborns in Need, Grahams Foundation,  Bev's Country Cottage - Peds page.

I am off to work on that priority list and decide what to do next.

Until next time, I wish you peace and all good.

Holiday Preparations

It hit me Saturday morning that I have only four weeks until my larger family Christmas party. Now, ordinarily, that wouldn't be a problem, but I am woefully behind on my preparations. For several reasons, my normal engagement in the process did not kick in at its usual time. Since I still give gifts to many of the family members who will be there, I will have to do some quick work to get ready.

We are quite fortunate in our ability to get together for this holiday celebration each year. The family has been doing this since my grandmother was alive and all my uncles and their families living close enough would come to celebrate. Now it is my generation that is continuing the tradition. Our children, grandchildren, and even some great-grandchildren join us as they can. It makes for one very large party, even though some of the children are not able to attend, since they live too far away.

As a result of the time constraints, I may not be blogging for a while. I will return as soon as possible, however. In the meantime, I wish you a happy holiday season, however (and whatever) you celebrate.

It's Natural

After storms that accompanied a system coming down from Canada, we have been experiencing cooler temperatures and beautiful skies.

Since I have decided to do more soft sculpture art dolls, I moved around some of the supplies in my studios this week to facilitate access. It seems reorganization is a constant these days, as is the fine tuning of ideas. However . . .

Nature continues to provide sources of beauty and inspiration . . . .

 

 

as well as the occasional, sometimes reluctant, live subject or two . . . .

  



It also provides food for thought.

 

One of my sons and his family are vacationing in California. When I spoke with him, yesterday, he told me the trees around Mt. Shasta are all brown and the waters of Lake Shasta are down 25 to 30 feet. It is a stark reminder of the severe drought most of the country has been in this year.

 

I came across this information yesterday, too: Sun Come Up - Trailer.  The movie depicts some of the world’s first “climate refugees,” inhabitants of the Carteret Islands just north of Bougainville, Papua New Guinea. I was unaware that the seas were already rising, so it was enlightening.

The website describes some of the ways that people can address the problem of climate change through the "Take Action" tab at the top of the page. In addition, there are links for more information about the situation and the effects on people throughout the world. I hope that you will take advantage of them to see for yourself what the situation is for our planet.

For my part, I am more committed than ever to attempt to use materials which have the lowest possible impact on the environment to create my pieces. We already do what we can to reduce, reuse, and recycle at home, though I am always looking for new ways to do so. Any suggestions would be heartily welcomed.

Until next time, I wish you peace and all good.

Possibilities

This spring has been quite unusual, but that has helped to provide some inspiration. For example, there has been quite a lot of this

and this

and a little bit of these

Altogether, they are enough to send my brain running after possibilities to draw, paint, stitch, and shape. At the same time, I am feeling really grateful for posts like Claudine Hellmuth's Finding Your Artistic Style, because I am in need of a lot of patience with myself. Sorting out a new career and artistic voice take time.

When I returned to college (what seems like eons ago), I didn't expect to have a degree within six months or a year. I am finding I need to cut myself some slack on learning about what has changed in technique and business since I last was a full-time artist (before I went back to college). Simultaneously, I also need to be open to a variety of possibilities. All this is to say that, while I would love to be ready to open shop sooner rather than later, the reality is that I may have to spend more time exploring first and give myself permission to do that.

In this season of new things and possibilities, I wish you time and permission to explore your talents and interests. Enjoy!

Changes, Changes, Changes

Sorry I've been quiet for so long, but things have been a bit harried around here. Since I last posted, my older son and his family moved into their new digs, he started that new job, and we have only had phone connections with them. It means I have spent a number of evenings on the phone either talking with my son or on speaker-phone talking with all of them. Even though we can't see the babies, hearing them clapping at the sound of our voices is priceless!

Last Saturday, my younger son/youngest child graduated from college. The day was raw, more like being at a football tailgate party than a college commencement in May, but well worth the effort in sheer joy of the experience. Our kids have all made us extremely proud by their tenacious efforts to acquire their degrees and do what they are called to do with their lives.

In addition, I realized this last week that I am down to about five weeks before I retire from the day job. Finishing projects and cleaning out my office have become the constant in my life. Unfortunately, it leaves me extremely tired at the end of the day, and since weekends have not been free to create, I have not been getting into the studio much.

I have, however, been doing a little editing of some stories, planning for an open mic with a writers group I belong to, beginning to think about the garden, and brainstorming the designs to finish a quilt for a Friends of the Library group.

We did have another unusual visitor to our neighbor's yard recently. Very often, in the summer, we have had a pair of ducks come to our yard. This time it was one duck of a different breed, who allowed me to get fairly close - as if she wanted to make sure I got her picture.

Until next time, I wish you peace . . . .

Plans for a New Year

The new year is almost upon us. As I mentioned in an earlier post, this year will bring a number of changes. One significant change is that, in July, I will be "retiring" from my current day job. It is my plan to expand my artistic pursuits and build The Butterfly Bush business. I also plan to do more social justice work and writing, again. All quite exciting and scary. I am reminded of dreams I used to have about stepping off tall buildings, with the accompanying fear, only to find I could fly. I hope you will continue to check in with me to see my progress, as well as give me feedback on it.


The babies and their parents saw the quilts (still in process) at our family Christmas celebration. So, I feel I can share them, now. Mykaela was quite interested in the bright colors of hers, and Kaden was content to be with Mama and take everything in. Obviously, there is still a little work to be done on each of them, but they will get them in time to make them "dragging around blankets."

Mykaela's quilt

Kaden's quilt

Now, too, I will be able to move on to other creative pursuits. I will be spending this week (blessed holiday break time from the day job) in my studio, experimenting with techniques, and getting organized for the new year. On January 1, I will begin participating in the Sketchbook Challenge. (The button for it is on the right.) It looks like a lot of fun, with some super artists leading the way. Check them out.

• Jill Berry
• Sue Bleiweiss
• Laura Cater-Woods
• Jane Davies
• Jamie Fingal
• Judi Hurwitt
• Leslie Tucker Jenison
• Lyric Kinard
• Jane LaFazio
• Kelli Perkins
• Carol Sloan
• Carla Sonheim
• Susan Sorrell
• Melanie Testa
• Diana Trout
• Violette

It seems like the perfect way to charge up the creative juices and explore new techniques. I hope you will check it out and join in.

Finally, I plan to post more often. Unfortunately, the silence of the last few weeks was unavoidable, but I am planning to post once a week in the new year.

Until next time, may you experience peace and all good.

Holiday Prep

I am always amazed at the swift passage of time during Fall. My plans always include a number of gifts for family and friends. (As I mentioned in an earlier post, I have a large family.) Sadly, it also seems I never have enough time to do as much as I would like to do.

This year, I am busy making quilts for the latest editions to our family - our twin grandchildren. Since I want to be sure they get them before they outgrow them, just about all other creative items have been put on the side. I am making progress, however, and will show them to you after I have given them to the babies. (I want to make sure their Mommy and Daddy are a little surprised. I'm sure the babies won't be checking my blog this year.)

Also high on my list of preparations is our Thanksgiving celebration. This year, we will also be celebrating three birthdays on that day. It makes for a very happy time and a lot to be grateful about, as well as careful consideration of each person's favorite things. At the same time, we will be missing some people around our table because of losses over the last year. I hope that you are looking forward to the holidays with happy anticipation. If you are not, however, I want to extend my promise that I will be thinking of you and wishing you well as you work through whatever is keeping you from doing so.

I want to leave you with one of my favorite photos, taken while we were visiting family in Arkansas. I hope you enjoy!

Until next time, may you experience peace and all good.