Embroiderings

I have been sewing, and embroidering, and beading, and have one movie and one book to pass along. But before I do, let me tell you of a career milestone here:

I got an email two days ago from Gina Brown, who, with her co-author Sandra Salamony, is writing a book called 1000 Artisan Textiles for Quarry Books. Gina wanted to personally invite me to submit. Wow.

She had seen my work in the Lark book !Molas! and found me on the internet and here we are. Wow, again. Breathe. Submit - of course!

Well, let me show you a bit of stitchery:

This first one I called "asteroids" - I'm reading a book called Earth: The Biography. It is sooo interesting and amazing. So asteroids are on the brain a bit. This one will get beads for sure, but no trash as yet.

However, the next one is getting nice and chunky with all manner of plastic, card and metal refuse: see the chocolate coin wrapper? The plastic pill packaging? The fake credit card? The inventory code strip? The plastic coated wire? It keeps me entertained.

And here is the book I spoke about in the 1st paragraph: Sarah Vowell's The Wordy Shipmates. I have an audio book version. A lovely way to get a chunk of history. Hilarious. Reverent. She, Sarah Vowell, reads this audiobook, her speaking voice adding perfect layers to her written voice. (Also some other actors' voices including Dermot Mulroney's. Yum. Really. I'd be pleased to hear the man read the phone book.)

And the movie: Lost in Austin. Pride and Prejudice re-work. Not purist Jane Austin, but lovely and romantic. Heroine gets pulled into the book, chaos ensues, several happy endings. >sigh<

I am teaching a bunch of children how to sew doll clothes today. Bringing lunches, fabric, thread, buttons... Just settling in for the day.

I am bringing my own Waldorf style doll of course. (Yes, I know, she needs her hair. I need to knit, wet, and unravel some black wool to get it nice and curly for her. Thanks, Pam! Long and luxurious, Whoopie.)

But today: another dress for my dollie. Hard to tell who will have more fun: the children, me, or my doll. :)

Blog 20th - October Bird..again. Still.

Another piece of October Bird.

More silver foil. More beading. Though I think that this section is up for revision. I really like how those packed lines of beads look. The original drawing on the cloth has back and forth scribbles to color in these sections, so the beading is reminiscent of that - though you can't really tell as the beads cover up the drawing ... well, anyway.

There are some guys in the latest issue of American Craft that have six foot panels of glass beading. Oh yeah. Steven and William Ladd. My idea of a good time. Hundreds of hours of beading. It wins out over bombing the National Museum in Bagdhad, or inventing Christmas tree lights with "lead and other substances which are known to cause birth defects and cancer. Please wash your hands after handling." I'm not kidding. Go read the packages. Lower right hand corner of the back panel on the box that I saw yesterday. I am so not kidding. The people who invent this stuff? How do they sleep at night?

California has a law that makes manufacturers at least label the boxes with warnings, but what sickness of spirit makes a person approve of the decision to add toxic substances to Christmas Decorations??!! So shall I decorate with gloves on this year, and tell the children not to touch the tree/tree lights? Or shall we skip the lights this year? Maybe I could put little footlights at the bottom of the tree ...

Oh dear...

I'm gonna go back and bead.

Blog 14th - Say Yes

Now this is my idea of enough beading!

I have had this YES up on my wall for a while, and now it is time to pass it on. I have listed it for sale at http://robinsunne.etsy.com There are glass, stone, plastic, metal: all manner of little beadlings, about 1/2" of colorful beadifiers.

I learned YES at The Bread and Puppet Circus with my Haystack Mountain School of Crafts class from the summer of 1982. I still have the original small paper poster that first said YES to me. My YES is that I believe myself. That tiny piece of paper told my to hang in there with my dreams.

What is your YES? Let's have a Commenters Drawing: all of the commenters to this post, between now and the end of the month will be put into a hat and I will get one of my children to draw a name and you will win ... well, I will make up some wonderful little goody box of treats. Something will definately have beads on it!

O.K., so what or how is your YES? To whom did you say YES? Let us know...

R