Finding Peace in the Midst of Choas

There are times that can trouble a soul; death, defeat, illness, separation, grief that overwhelms, depression, sadness, the great unknown. But of late, I've come to make peace with all of these thieves of joy. They are simply part of the human experience, part of makes us who we are, how we deal with it all says even more about us, I think. Embrace, embrace...and then let go.

http://www.etsy.com/listing/88346276/hand-dyed-habotai-5mm-silk-fabric

I've been dyeing a good bit, but only for myself. This is a newly listed piece of 5 mm Habotai silk that I dyed and named BREATHLESS because the colors simply left me that way. I adore this piece of silk. I've too many projects in front of my right now, so this one has to go up for sale. I do wish my old camera could capture the nuisances of the colorways. Totally YUMMY colors.

I've been making and selling a lot of hats and tams and so have not made much felt lately, but decided that I would make a few small pieces of felt jewelery pieces. This is one of them and yes I did do some hand sewing on it...but it was just a few stitches, so I don't think it really counts as sewing, does it?

About 4 years ago, I was given a huge book on needlework, embroidery, needlepoint, knitting, applique, crochet, macrame, pacthwork, rug-making, quilting and lacework. I am most interested in the embroidery stitches. Pam MacGregor, http://www.tarveycottagestudio.com/will be here this next week and I hope to have her show me a few of the stitches. She does amazing, yet very simple, stitch work. She does "elegant simple" the best of anyone I've seen. I am very much looking forward to the time with her. We will also be doing some experimentation with the Feltscraft.com Rolling Machine during her three day stay. Should be more fun with felters!

We had our first real snow this week. Already I am looking forward to the long hours of white, gray, cold, but not the shoveling, of the lovely white stuff, so much. There is an amazing stillness in winter that is astoundingly beautiful. A full moon on newly fallen snow...what a memory, what a sight!

Off to go enjoy the rest of this day.
Happy Felting, Shalom,
Suzanne

Oh, One more thing:
http://www.lindasfund.com/
Sometimes we want to do good... but we don't know where to help.
Dear Linda is a fellow-feltmaker who could use the goodness of our hearts, our prayers, thoughts, encouragement and obviously any financial support we can give her as she struggles with the payment of specialized cancer treatment. Please think about it and help if you can.

It's toooooo hot!

http://www.castlefarms.com/
is where I'm heading off to in a few short hours. I just returned from beautiful Asheville, NC and home just long enough to catch my breath, do a bit of dyeing, unpack and re-pack the van, do laundry, answer a few emails, pack orders, pay bills, all while under incredible heat indexes. I can not function well in this heat, so I keep ice packs on my person at all times. We do not have central air, only a small window air conditioner. It at least dries it out...or so that's what I am suppose to say, right?

Sold most of my nuno while in Asheville, so I am heading off to Castle Farm with very little other than newly dyed silks. I have one I am working on, but that may be more than I can accomplish right now. The air conditioner is keep the house at 88 degrees. Can you tell the heat is bothering me?









I leave you with these photos of the newly dyed silks. I am getting requests to teach a nuno class in October. Are you interests? If so, I need to hear from you so that I can finalize the dates.

Shalom and good felting!

Suzanne