Whale of a time in Bermuda

We returned yesterday from a wonderful vacation in Bermuda. It was a fantastic experience. We rode horses on the beach, visited all sorts of beaches, toured houses, museums, the zoo and aquarium, even a perfumery. I am taking care of laundry, putting things away, and nursing a sinus headache that only Virginia can cause - Bermuda was relatively allergen free for me! So just a couple of photos of the trip. We took a back route through St. George's (a really lovely historic town) and I found the best place for me to live - Needle and Thread Alley!

Last time we went to Bermuda, the highlight of the trip was helmet diving in the reefs around Bermuda, which are justifiably famous. This time we couldn't helmet dive, although we did try to arrange it, but Easter was too early, so too far before the real tourist season for the dive boat to be ready. So instead we went on a whale watching tour. Despite a couple of members of the family getting sea sick (amazingly I wasn't too bad) it was an incredible experience. Here is one of my photos of one of the two young humpback whales that were swimming around our boat for a while. They kept going back and forth under the boat and checking us out. It was a glass bottom boat and when you looked down, you could see the whales clearly and several people, including my younger daughter, were able to see the whales looking up at them. She was thrilled!

Of course, this is a really poor photo, and wouldn't mean anything except for the fact the I took it and really saw the whales. If you want good whale footage, check out this video by Andrew Stevenson from YouTube:

Everything and a new blog

If I were really vain (which I hope I'm not) I might start by reassuring my adoring fans that I am quite well despite my absence from this blog. But instead I'll just apologize to my few blog friends and Sister Stitchers for being such a poor correspondent these past couple of months. It really is frustrating when the paid work gets in the way. On the plus side, I know more about searching for gene sequences than I did back in January!

I have managed to fit a few stitching projects in though. I especially like having something to work on as I watch TV, the sitting doesn't seem quite so pointless, although when the new Jane Austen films have been on Masterpiece Classic (the new name) I haven't bothered to stitch. I didn't like the new Persuasion, but I guess that will be another post.

Anyway, I've finished the stitching on the Catherine Jordan Topiary Sampler piece that was a chapter program in January, so I'm ready for the finishing class in May. This piece was designed to teach the use of overdyed threads and was very, very good. We'll be creating pin keeps in May.

Speaking of the chapter, I've set up a blog and web site for the chapter. Google Docs doesn't support easy URLs, hence the blog to go with the web site. Take a look and let me know what I should add to the web site, aside from photos, which I need to get permissions for before I add them. I've also been in charge of getting a chapter square for the region banner, which will be at the 50th anniversary EGA national meeting this fall. We used our chapter logo, which was already charted for our nametags, and then Catherine Jordan (as well as an exceptional national teacher, she is also a member of my chapter) designed the bargello border for the square. It was stitched by various members and the lace cuff is a crocheted lace sample done by my great-grandmother. The overdyed ribbon is from Catherine, and I used floss colours to match the ribbon for the palette.

On the knitting front, I've been testing various lace patterns with the silk yarn I purchased for my own project, and so far nothing has been quite right. I'll keep trying, but with the daffodils out and the birds singing, my knitting season is almost over, so it may have to keep until fall. In the meantime, I'm taking a weaving class in April!

Think, organize or do it?

So here I am sitting at home alone with 3 hours of unexpected time on my hands. What should I do? While I've managed to fit in some knitting lately, I haven't done any embroidery since before Christmas. And I have a new DVD on how to play Jesu Joy of Man's Desiring on the classical guitar that has been calling to me. I also have to decide on the next article for a needlework column I am now editing. But, I have new classes to plan, a paper to write, a position paper to write, and a newsletter to pull together for my various jobs. And the house is in great need of organizing and cleaning since the decorations are sitting around (although mostly in boxes thanks to my DH's hard work). And the bathroom needs cleaning. And to top it all off, I'm thinking I would like a nap.
So why am I sitting here writing for my blog? Well, Elaine's post yesterday at Red Thread Studio mentioned blog as meditation

"Eventually everything in life becomes a meditation and an opportunity to be mindful, including writing a blog. At its best, it's a daily practice that allows many ideas to be explored and observed, with a focus that acts as a point of beginning and return. Meditation, disguised as blogging or knitting or beading or walking, is not sleepiness or passivity -- it's an active, fiery, energetic process that opens the doors of the universe and is also just what you do every day."

and I think today I will use mine that way.

As I think about all that I need to do, I could start by prioritizing things. Obviously there are deadlines for classes and columns that are outside my control, so they really should come first, but I do have other times that I can work on those things. I wonder if I really want to use 'found' time to work on practical things.

So that leaves me with household chores and hobbies, or sleep. What will really make me feel energized for the rest of the day? I sometimes think that getting a space organized helps puts my thoughts in place, so maybe cleaning up the desk or my stitching area would work. Although at this moment, I want to feel I've actually accomplished something, and putting away a few piles of stuff or sleeping won't help there. The guitar playing would be nice, but I need to put away stuff to get to the guitar and have a place to put a chair in front of a TV, so that is harder right now, but maybe I could push a few piles and manage it. The knitting I can do while watching TV with family (we have a few shows, like Antiques Road Show and Dirty Jobs that are family activities) so I really don't need to do it now. That leaves me with stitching, which does seem to feel like the best thing to do.

Of course thinking about stitching reminds me of the wonderful discussion going on at the EGA Yahoo group. It started out with somebody who was disappointed because the Embroidered Knot Gardens book by Owen Davies (which I LOVE) didn't have much instruction and most of the photos were on the web site. Some people agreed but others felt more like I do. The discussion then turned to the difference between US and UK styles of embroidery and embroidery teaching. How in the US people want kits and exact instructions, and in the UK people are encouraged to be creative. And the education differences were brought up - there are still many programs that teach needlearts in the UK, plus the City and Guilds programs. It was fascinating to read, and it was nice to see there are people like me who want both. Easy kits and instructions for quick projects and stressful times, plus other times when I want to create the whole thing.

And of course the conversation led to the idea that has been discussed on many needleart blogs - what is art? And why don't the needlearts get the respect they deserve? What is art and what is craft? Would you say a handmade chair is art or craft? I go back and forth on this one because whatever you call it, there is obviously some need inside most people to create something - hence the popularity of arts and crafts supply stores. Is every creation art? When my DH builds a wooden jewellery box from a kit, he has every right to be proud of what he has created. But is it art? When I make 3-D stitched flowers of my own design, I can be proud as well. Is it art now because I have designed the whole thing, or is it just craft because it is needlework? It seems that in some way, it shouldn't really matter. If somebody makes something and others like it and are willing to pay for it, what does it matter what we call it. But it does seem to matter. Rozsika Parker, the author of the fantastic book The Subversive Stitch, wrote and earlier book with Griseld Pollock, Old Mistresses: Women, Art and Ideology. In that book they discussed how hard it was for women painters to be judged on the same level as men. There was always the female label attached. So if we are content to let people call needlework a craft, it will never be judged on par with art.

Well, after babbling on and rereading posts and browsing through The Subversive Stitch, I am now down to 2 hours so I think I'll start stitching, since that was what I finally decided on through my blog meditation.

Happy Holidays - Winter Solstice maybe?

Part of the reason I started blogging was to learn about social software to keep me in touch with what the students at the university use. Well today I saw a very funny Christmas song video on Mason-Dixon Knitting and decided it was worth learning how to embed a YouTube video to share it with more people. I admit that I do really love acappella music, being a Nylons fan from way back in Canada when I was a teenager. And the embedding was easy once I actually read the instructions!

First Anniversary Musings

I realized recently that my first anniversary as a blogger came and went without me noticing. As well as blogging myself, I have been reading more blogs this year, as I discovered the wonderful online community of textile lovers. I have a bit of time to reflect on this past year and I thought I'd share my thoughts on how it has gone.



My original reason for starting a blog was to participate in the Take a Stitch Tuesday Challenge set up by Sharon B. I can't tell you how much I am humbled by her energy, expertise and artistic talent. While I haven't finished all the weeks (I've reached 47 although I haven't blogged it yet), I have been pushed into many new things by the challenge and I will be eternally grateful to Sharon for setting it up.


Once I started participating in Sharon's challenge, I realized that there were many, many textile blogs out there. I can't tell you how many hours I've spent looking at all the wonderful things everyone out there is doing. I've added many inspired ideas to my visual journal thanks to my blog surfing.


At that point, I was working a couple of consulting jobs from home, but in March, I was able to start working more outside the home. Many years ago I 'retired' from full time work as a library director to stay home with my children. While I was able to fit in part-time work back in NY, when we moved there weren't enough hours between my morning drop-off and afternoon pick-up times. With the change in grades I have a good stretch of time to get out now. It was great to get back into a library and work at a busy reference desk. I forgot how much I love a university atmosphere. Of course, it means less time for stitching and blogging but I usually do feel more energized and creative after a good day at work.



I have summers off for childcare, so I was able to catch up and try new things then. I wrote an article about the tapestry project I worked on with my daughter's art club (see the Dec. NeedleArts magazine). My biggest inspiration was going up to Plimoth Planation in MA to work on the reproduction jacket project. That has totally changed the direction I want to go with my embroidery.


I started back at the university again in September where I'm doing some things that I find professionally exciting (I know, you are wondering what is exciting about being a librarian, but really, it is fun) I was also asked to be on the EGA National Youth Program Committee and edit the Crayons to Threads column for NeedleArts. That was a great honour (plus I still do the chapter newsletter). And the Sampler Round Robin I am in seems to be moving again. At least I have finished one and have another to do, so that is good.


My blogging has been sporadic. I constantly question why I'm doing it and why anyone would care. But I am so inspired by others, maybe somebody will find what I do interesting as well. And since not many people blog stumpwork, I feel I need to keep going with that, just to encourage more people.


All in all, I am pleased with what I have accomplished in the last year. Especially since I have also been working at the barn one or two evenings a week for much of the year. I even took riding lessons for a while. Mind you, I can't be to complacent right now because the tree is only half decorated and there are still presents to buy.

I am looking forward to 2008. There are going to be some new work challenges, some column editing, and lots and lots of stitching. And I hope to do some work with the high school art guild in the coming year as well. I don't know if I'll participate in any more challenges though. I think I want to challenge myself to create the work that I've been planning since I first saw the 3-D embroidered gardens book. I'll keep you posted on that. I also want to explore some other ideas. Today Sharon b wrote about a new blog that has captured my interest, Red Thread Studio. Elaine Lipson writes about Slow Cloth, New Cloth and Art Cloth. I love doing hand sewing, so the idea of slow cloth really appeals to me. (One of my favourite places is the milliner's shop in Colonial Williamsburg) Elaine's third post mentions one of my favourite books Elizabeth Wayland Barber's Women's Work, The First 20,000 Years: Women, Cloth and Society in Early Times. There is a vague notion in my mind that somehow the ideas in Barber's book should combine with those in Mother Nature: Maternal Instincts and How They Shape the Human Species by Sarah Hrdy to form an interesting take on why women feel and act as they do. I'm not sure what yet, but one day it will hit me.

I'm sure I've gone on long enough now, but I've at least interspersed my meanderings with some photos of current projects, and to end it all, some silk that I will be using to knit myself a lace scarf. If nothing else, over the last year I've learned that I can make something really special for myself, not just everyone else.

Learning to ride at 45

My daughters have been riding horses for just over 4 years now and for the last two they have been particularly active helping get younger riders get ready for lessons, helping around the barn, and most recently, we have been feeding all the horses two evenings a week. Of course they are too young to get there alone or be at the barn alone, so I agreed to stay with them. At first I just sat and read, but it took them a long time and they argued about who was doing what. So I stepped in to delegate and took over the job of putting the grain in the buckets; the girls move horses in and out, and give water and hay. It has been a wonderful experience for all three of us and I have come to enjoy the horses very much. They all have such wonderful personalities, all very different. Well, I finally decided that it was time I learned as well. At first I didn't say anything and kept putting it off, but then I actually mentioned it, so I had to follow through. Today I had my third lesson (the photos below are from my first lesson a couple of weeks ago). I have discovered that getting off is much harder than getting on. Steering isn't too bad, but it is counter intuitive that the opposite leg from your turn is the one you need to squeeze with. And, I must admit that it is much, much harder than it looks. You have to think about body posture, and legs and heels and toes and hands and reins and then on top of it all you have to look where you are going! And when you trot, you have to bounce at the right time! But I have a fantastic instructor who is very patient with children and adults and I'm having a blast. And there are only a couple of muscles that are complaining at the end of the day.


I don't know how long or how far I'll go with this, but I'm pleased that I pushed myself to get out and do something active, it has been good to know I can do it, and I'm very happy I found the time. I highly recommend trying something new to everyone!