All Tucked In

It's been a busy last two months... wonderful busy, but not so great for my blogging aspirations. So, as I get ready for Christmas and listen my favorite seasonal songs, I thought I would take a moment to check in.

I did manage to get my garden tucked in for the year. I hope my dahlia friends overwinter well. And believe or not it will be time to plant sweet peas again in another couple of months!

Yesterday was the shortest day of the year. Now the days will start to grow again, bit by bit. I love the yin and the yang of nature. How in the coldest months the days start to grow and visa versa. We have a long way to go, before the flowers will show is their happy faces.... and in the meantime we can tend the light within.

And now a quote from one of my favorite children's book called Frederick by Leo Lionni.....

"Close your eyes", said Frederick,

as he climbed on a big stone.

"Now I send you the rays of the sun.

Do you feel how their golden glow...."

And as Fredrick spoke of the sun

the four little mice began to feel warmer.

Was it Frederick's voice?

Was it magic?

Simple Pleasures!

I never knew it was possible to love "knobs" the way I looooooove these knobs.... what a sweet luxury to have these sweeties on the drawers of my dye cabinets. They feel so deliciously smooth and cool in my hand and the colors are so bubbly and yummy, they remind me of candy. Every time I open my drawer! ;)

I am really excited to share with you all that I am beginning my second round of Fiber Club.

The title is Auspicious Autumn. I am grounding myself and getting ready for a holiday season full of joy, love and delight! Thought I would set my intention with the title of this club!

Wishing you a colorful weekend!

~♥

Gratitude and Levity Wednesday!

First of all I want to express my gratitude and admiration to all who post to their blogs with consistency and predictability. You hold the "bar" high for me! I admire your dedication aaspire to have the same continuity. I thank you for your inspirations!

So here I go...since I missed my this week's and last week's Monday/Tuesday post on graditude.... I will make up for it now....

1. I am grateful for....

My amazing, incredible customers and for their support and enthusiasm in what I do! I am so grateful for their confidence and faith in my ability and for how they continue to encourage me to grow and become as an artist and as a successful small business owner. It's really hard for me to find words to express how much you all mean to me! Thank you so much!!! ♥

2. I am grateful that my muse and I are getting along well these days!!!

3. I am Grateful for the brilliance of Ikea! And for the opportunity to get more organized...

4. I am so grateful that my Sweet Peas are still going strong and blessing me with their magical aroma!

And now for Levity....

My Dahlias are finally arriving~ my favorite flower! She symbolizes elegance and dignity. How wonderful is that! Check out Miss PomPom here ~ she just arrived yesterday and I can't stop patting her head!

(doesn't she have delicious form!)

Oh yes.... and then there is the Hula Hoop~ which I can proudly say ~ I'm not too shabby at. Hooping is defiantly an awesome way to jiggle me out of being too serious.

Feel the awesome power of reckless whimsy here! I just discovered Hula Hoops are good for keeping boys happy and entertained for a spell ;)

Happy Day to You!

~Be back soon ♥

Gatitude Monday

So 2 out of 3 is a huge improvement for me with regards to blogging! I am so glad I came up with my new plan. And the truth is it's been fun, in the context of my themes, to think about what I want to share with you all!

Friday was a little bit too full to blog because I was getting ready for my dear friends to arrive. They came up from Sacramento Valley for a visit and to explore the amazing Yamhill Countryside. This weekend was the Oregon Lavender Festival. Talk about gratitude.... I could barely believe my eyes! It was a multi- sensational experience. Just standing in the presence of so much beauty was astounding. The intensity of purples against the farmland background and bright blue sky. The colors everywhere were so stark and sharp. The lavender fields were happily humming with industrious honey bees and every so often the breeze would blow and lavender imbued air would brush over our skin and fill our lungs up with its fragrant magic. Truly I felt I was in a story book and I was ready to stay forever.

Before we went I thought going from farm to farm would be much the same.....silly me! Each farm became a new adventure with different discoveries. They all had their unique stories and there was an contagious passion shared so many to become spontaneous Lavender Farmers. I've got it all worked out......

Lavender Fields here.... Hops for my husband there, my Dahlias and sweet peas will go there and oh yes!!! must have a flock of Merino sheep!

It was a day of so many blessings, Ecstatic Beauty and Treasured Friends.

And for this I am grateful

♥

Escape from the heat!

To be perfectly honest.... summer heat is really not my "thing". Give me a dramatic thunderstorm or rain for days and I am elated. Suffice it to say heat makes me a little, teensy, whiney , bit........ G*r*o*u*c*h*y (thank goodness I don't live anywhere hotter!) ( okay...I know I am a light weight!)........ So in search of Levity and relief from the heat, I did what any mother who wanted to to run for the hills would do....

I went to to the drug store. And this is what I found....

A Plastic pool,

3 awesome pelting balls

Bubble wands

and an electric Badminton Kit.

Tomorrow we are looking forward to homemade ice cream with local Raspberries and heath bar crunch! Yum!!! Maybe that will improve my demeanor ♥

G is for Garden

Last week we hauled over 4 yards of gorgeous, hot steamy soil to create a berm in our back yard and to rejuvenate our existing garden. I had a crisis of conscience when I encountered these amazing flowers at our local garden shop. Well....... truthfully I fell in love with them so deeply I decided I would go with the "better to beg for forgiveness, than to ask for permission" approach. I'm sticking by this explanation and thought you might enjoy seeing your fiber dollars in action! :)

I call it the circle of Joy! And I can't thank you all enough for enabling my flower obsession.

Wont it be amazing when I plant Zinnias, Dahlias and Black Eyed Susan's all around! I can't wait to give you an update and share this with you too!

Here is a perfect winter into spring quotation...by Hafiz, that always reminds me of the first part of early spring gardening.

"Awake, my dear,

Be kind to your sleeping Heart.

Take it out into the vast field of light.

And let it breathe!"

Golden Moments

We snuck away to the beach this past Sunday and Monday. Oh my goodness! What an amazing pause.
There have been many moments in my life I knew were magical - especially with hindsight. It is so vital to my Heart to recognize these Golden Moments. Golden Moments are not made. They can not be forced. They are like the silence between the noise. The way to capture them is to stand still and absorb whatever magic I am witnessing or experiencing with the awareness of the fact I am standing in the middle of a precious, fleeting moment. When I can do this, I transform the moment into the substance of expansive joy! It's like spinning straw to gold.

The biggest gift and often times the biggest challenge for me is to recognize them not from hindsight but in the moment they are happening! When I can do this I can actually feel the joy of the moment swirling and breathing around me. It is a moment that stops time. It can be euphoric, giddy and so trasient. Like chasing a rainbow that brings color to my heart.

Here are a few of pictures of our Golden Moments this weekend....


tucked deep inside my heart.

Pleasant surprises

When I first stared dying roving, I discovered fast, I was on a steep learning curve - especially with regards to Kettle dyeing. For me I liken it to standing on a balance board!....
#1. Start with a color in mind - okay, just for fun, hot fuchsia ( AKA- standing on the board).
#2. Apply imagined color (little lean to the right)
#3. Opps! way too much pink in the dye pot! Quick... (lean to the left for a hard correction!) Throw in some blue...
#4. How about a little green and a dash of brown. ( My legs are getting wobbly... wiggle, wiggle , balance, balance!) And TAH DAH! I get this....



Phew! What a work out! Not a total disaster but, not quite what I had envisioned. For me... Control over the process has been a gradual and hard earned achievement. And a blast to attain! :)

For the time being, I named my friend "My Many Colored Days" after the Dr.Seuss book and stashed her! Until recently when...

Curiosity got the better of me and I decided to go ahead a see what this roving would look like spun up.
And I got a lesson in pleasant surprises!



She is not anything like what I had intended... but thank goodness that 'intentional" part of me isn't always "driving the bus". I would miss out on a lot of adventures a long the way and getting a chance to discover that when it comes to creativity - It's in the process of wobbling that I come into balance.

Stayed tuned!!! I am working on my first Art Yarn ever! (It's a present for a very dear friend.... shhhhhh don't tell :)

Butterflies & Roving Inspiration

The butterfly symbolizes freedom, fun and joyous times. What better inspiration could there be for roving!

Speaking of symbols…. I’m adding some hearts to my etsy heartstone shop. Maybe you might find something nice for Valentine’s Day…or a special wish for yourself!

Cheers!