Homage

Because I like the word. I am working with a 7 inch foam ball, bright yellow, that I got for a pittance (another word I like) and I am learning to needle felt...as an "homage" to Linda Sue. I met her when she first started to needle felt. I remember distinctly that she told me anyone could do this and that I should try it. It has taken me about 7 years to try, but I am fascinated by her work. Since I am not a scluptural type, it is difficult for me but I have to admit, there is something satisfying about stabbing that needle into a ball of foam and making wool adhere to itself. Now I have a large yellow ball with patches of soft wool roving stuck to it...

Travels at Home

As I have discovered since returning from SE Asia, travels can take many forms. I am traveling through all sorts of new arenas...retirement, although I don't think I am really retired or ever will be since I didn't really have a job career...aging, my own and most pertinently, my mother's...creativity, and that is a huge journey that keeps unfolding in great massive swathes of cloth and wire. I now have two nice cigar boxes with glass lids that I had made up almost a year ago. I love their shapes and the fact that the glass slides so tidily on and off. I also found some wonderful "hopsack" linen/rayon that makes my heart beat fast, especially when I think of cutting it from the new pattern I made of the Khamu jacket from Laos. I also found lovely cotton sateen at a local quilt store. The colors fill my head with rainbows of linings...the linings are the best part of a subtle ethnic jacket since we in the northwest like to hide our sunshine. And I have discovered a whole new dimension in wire wrapping that has driven me to rip apart old earrings and whip up new ones, lighter, better, more outrageous...and I don't even care if anybody sees them! Hurrah for time on my hands!

Picture Plethora

It has been a shock to be home. I find myself a bit more political than when I left, a bit less patient with all the nonsense of the US. We are rich and spoiled and very silly, not to mention wasteful and ungrateful. However, I am grateful for the water pressure in my shower, for the fact that I don't have to worry about drinking the water, and for my very decadent bed among many other things. I have been working on getting photos of the trip posted for family and friends and anyone else curious because I happen to think Mr. Muzzy is an extra-fine photographer, able to express the beauty and wonder of the world he sees with a camera. This is something amazing to me, something I cannot do, a little like needle felting for me. I admire his eye and applaud his company. I'm glad we found one another, both 36 years ago and on the bridge in Nong Khiaw. If you choose to look at the blog again to see the photos, be sure to check the archives because I started posting with our earliest blog from this trip and it doesn't show up on the first page. I still have 2 or 3 blogs to go. I am learning, learning, learning. Enjoy and if you have any questions, I haven't quite gotten the knack of putting captions with the pics, so just drop me a note and I can explain...