Joy is one of the great connectors of the Universe.
It can burst into a moment that launches the heart skyward, or it can slide in on a silent wave that somehow appears in the midst of suffering and sorrow and leaves a person riding a wave that lifts them when only a moment before, there was oppression, misery and despair.
Joy is a bridge that brings together paradoxes and stitches the Great Mystery and Beauty into a patchwork that says: YES to awe and to life.
When Joy burst into my life, I felt compelled to create this mixed media Woven Woman for the Oracle of Stillness series: “An Uprising of Joy”.
If you look closely at the feathers on the edges of her wings, you will see hundreds of tiny brass safety pins, which I adore as they are charming little bits of amazement that hold things together. And on each of the tiny safety pins, there are seed beads as a metaphor for how Joy seeds new life in us.
May Joy unfold in your life, too!
‘An Uprising of Joy’ is one of 3 of my mixed media tapestries from the “Oracle of Stillness” series that are part of the fundraising Christmas/Celebration of Joy show at Harcourt House: Artorama
Yesterday was a day full of challenges and mistakes… I am working on a new series of mixed media weaving and had to do a lot of re-considering and re-working.
I also got a couple of other things quite wrong, so had to remind myself to be curious about what I could do about that.
At bedtime, I asked my Dream Guides and Wise and Well Ancestors for guidance, and what immediately popped up was: Do some Ho Opono Opono, so I did. It’s very helpful!
This morning, I woke up with a cluster of phrases in mind as I floated in the hypnagognic state:
Gifts from the Dream Guides and Wise and Well Ancestors, for sure:
“Pax Vobiscum”, “Fiat Lux”, “Que La Lumiere Soit” and “Pause, Breathe, Begin Again”.
It also made me think:
These challenges are the reason why the mixed media Oracle of Stillness Woven Woman: “Paradox- Joy and Sorrow Walk Together” is so important to me.
She speaks the truth of dealing with the challenges that help me to understand that life is multifaceted, complicated, messy, sometimes uncomfortable and downright miserable at times, too…. BUT… in among all that, there is still Peace, Wisdom, Strength, Tenacity and the ability to maintain the Courage to be Curious and the willingness to accept that sometimes I say and do things that I am unhappy about and have to find a way to reset my compass, and to Pause, Breathe and Begin Again….
Yup. It’s a Paradox and it’s profoundly healing and deeply soulful. Not easy… but oh so necessary.
About 7 years ago, I began working on 2 of the larger figures in the Oracle of Stillness: Weaving Coherence in the Chaos Woven Women by drawing a large Goddess figure in pencil on a piece of paper that was over a meter (a yard) square. I then took very heavy wire (fencing wire- probably 6 or 8 gauge) and with pliers and wire cutters, freeform shaped the ‘Patience and Perseverance Advise the Ancient Ones.
The rest of the Oracle of Stillness Woven Women evolved from her, so she is the Mother of all the pieces in the show.
I find it amusing that she was also the last of the Woven Women to be finished… I was frantically sewing the last of the tiny Goddess figures to her as my husband, Jim and our grandson, were unwrapping the other figures all around me in the gallery!
She evolved over the years… she hung in the window of my studio for several years, as I watched the shadows that she cast and tried different ideas out with her.
Then a few years later, just before Covid hit our family, I asked Jim to please weld me a heavy weight version of the large Goddess, so he took my initial drawing and carefully cut and measured and welded a version of her. He used 1/4 inch steel rod to formulate her and whew… she is hefty!
This iteration eventually became: “Flourish, Yes, Even in the Middle of All This”.
She is very dear to my heart, as our daughter, Chloe Findlay-Harder, who is a fused glass artist, taught several workshops to our family and I made the face for ‘Flourish’ in fused glass…. I have painted many layers of oil paint over the initial face to arrive at the final face. I loved our classes with Chloe and have made many elements in fused glass for the Oracle of Stillness figures. Lots of them have fused glass faces and butterflies and other elements.
Chloe’s husband, Clancy, and I had a wonderful afternoon one Sunday when our family were gathered for our weekly dinner together. Clancy and I spent a long time talking about ‘Flourish’ and how she needed to evolve. He and I circled her and shifted elements and talked about the impact of color and texture. It was a wonderful and inspiring time of deep connection…. and, shockingly, not long after, he died of a blood clot caused by the Covid virus. Needless to say, this is a piece that I will never part with.
Clancy also made me a fused glass piece that represented a loom, and I had his permission to include it in one of the Oracle of Stillness figures.
It is the rectangle at the base of “Remembering”, which is a tribute to his golden heart and beautiful presence.
Her face is fused glass as well.
“Flourish, yes even in the middle of all this” and “Patience and Perseverance Advise the Ancient Ones” both took years to complete…. I would work on them, and live with them and come back, over and over. They each are about a meter tall by a meter wide.
After I had a dream in which I discovered that the Oracle of Stillness Woven Women all needed wings, I designed and crocheted their wings and then built wire armatures to stretch and secure the wings in full expansion.
I love the shadows that they cast on the walls behind them.
They are on display at Harcourt House Gallery in Edmonton AB until the 22 of November.
These 3 figures are love songs to sing sorrow into compassion and grief into a larger love, as love opens and blossoms and transforms in unexpected, heart-rending miraculous ways…. ❤
Friday evening was the opening to my ‘Oracle of Stillness’ show (it was a gorgeous, magical evening!).
But then, our wee Panda Princess, who we have been nurturing through palliative care for her inoperable cancer, had to cross the Rainbow Bridge on Saturday afternoon.
We knew it was coming, but it was still incredibly hard.
Thank goodness for the love of family and the gathering we had this afternoon to support and sustain us all…..
Last week, my beloved, precious sister in law (sister of my heart) died.
While she was navigating the medical system, I was tatting many many little butterflies, as a way of meditating/prayers of the hands and sending her love…
I love tatting butterflies and then I give them to people as a way of saying thank you to them for their presence.
I thought that she might like to have a bunch of the little butterflies to give to people who have been with her on the journey, but she said that no, she no longer was able to receive physical things.
Instead, she asked me to write a blessing for her that she could print out and carry with her and read it whenever she needed it.
So I wrote her this Butterfly Blessing:
Noreenie’s Butterfly Blessing for her Precious sister, Aleksa:
Oh my goodness… what distressing times we live in!
A dear friend just sent me a copy of the letter that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau wrote, asking Canadians to stand together in the face of the economic onslaught unleashed by our difficult neighbor.
I have so many dear friends and relations in the States, and I am so sorry that they are living with the consequences of all that has unfolded in the last month… and as a Canadian, I look on with horror and concern at what is unfolding both there in the States and here at home in Canada.
Ohhhhhh 😦
Here is the letter:
A transcript of the Canadian Prime Minister’s comments, addressed to our friends and neighbours in the United States, regarding the planned Canadian response to their President’s announced trade war with Mexico and Canada following both nations’ assistance in combating wild fires on the US west coast. Americans, our closest friends and neighbours. This is a choice that, yes, will harm Canadians, but beyond that, it will have real consequences for you, the American people, as I have consistently said, tariffs again against Canada will put your jobs at risk, potentially shutting down American auto assembly plants and other manufacturing facilities, they will raise costs for you, including food at the grocery stores and gas at the pump. They will impede your access to an affordable supply of vital goods crucial for us, security such as nickel, potash, uranium, steel and aluminum, they will violate the free trade agreement that the President and I, along with our Mexican partner, negotiated and signed a few years ago. But it doesn’t have to be this way, as President John F Kennedy said many years ago, geography has made us neighbours. History has made us friends. Economics has made us partners, and necessity has made us allies. That rang true for many decades prior to President Kennedy’s time in office and in the decades since, from the beaches of Normandy to the mountains of the Korean Peninsula, from the fields of Flanders to the streets of Kandahar, we have fought and died alongside you during your darkest hours during the Iranian hostage crisis, those 444 days, we worked around the clock from our embassy to get your innocent compatriots home during the summer of 2005 when Hurricane Katrina ravaged your great city of New Orleans, or mere weeks ago, when we sent water bombers to tackle the wildfires in California and during the day, the world stood still, September 11, 2001 when we provided refuge to stranded passengers and planes, we were always there standing with you, grieving with you, the American people, together, we’ve built the most successful economic, military and security partnership the world has ever seen, a relationship that has been the envy of the world. Yes, we’ve had our differences in the past, but we’ve always found a way to get past them. As I’ve said before, if President Trump wants to usher in a new golden age for the United States, the better path is to partner with Canada, not to punish us. Canada has critical minerals, reliable and affordable energy, stable, democratic institutions, shared values and the natural resources you need. Canada has the ingredients necessary to build a booming and secure partnership for the North American economy and we stand at the ready to work together. Let’s take a moment to talk about our shared border. Our border is already safe and secure, but there’s always, always more work to do. Less than one per cent of fentanyl, less than one per cent of illegal crossings into the United States come from Canada. But hearing concerns from both Canadians and Americans, including the American President himself, we’re taking action. We launched a $1.3 billion border plan that is already showing results, because we too are devastated by the scourge that is fentanyl, a drug that has torn apart communities and caused so much pain and torment for countless families across Canada, just like in the United States, a drug that we too want to see wiped from the face of this earth, a drug whose traffickers must be punished as neighbors, we must work collaboratively to fix this. Unfortunately, the actions taken today by the White House split us apart instead of bringing us together. Tonight, I am announcing Canada will be responding to the US trade action with 25 per cent tariffs against $155 billion worth of American goods. This will include immediate tariffs on $30 billion worth of goods as of Tuesday, followed by further tariffs on $125 billion worth of American products in 21 days time to allow Canadian companies and supply chains to seek to find alternatives. Our response will also be far reaching and include everyday items such as American beer, wine and bourbon, fruits and fruit juices, including Orange Juice, along with vegetables, perfume, clothing and shoes, it’ll include major consumer products like household appliances, furniture and sports equipment and materials like lumber and plastics, along with much, much more. And as part of our response, we are considering with the provinces and territories, several non tariff measures, including some relating to critical minerals, energy procurement and other partnerships. We will stand strong for Canada. We will stand strong to ensure our countries continue to be the best neighbors in the world. With all that said, I also want to speak directly to Canadians in this moment. I’m sure many of you are anxious, but I want you to know we are all in this together, the Canadian government, Canadian businesses, Canadian organized labor, Canadian civil society. Canada’s premiers and tens of millions of Canadians from coast to coast to coast are united. This is Team Canada at its best. I spoke with the President of Mexico. We committed to work together to face them down. I have something to ask Canadians, to be in solidarity together. I ask you to be here for each other. Now is also the time to choose Canada. There are many ways for you to do your part. It might mean checking the labels at the supermarket and picking Canadian made products. It might mean opting for Canadian rye over Kentucky bourbon, or foregoing Florida orange juice altogether. It might mean changing your summer vacation plans to stay here in Canada and explore the many national provincial parks, historical sites and tourist destinations our great country has to offer. Support our manufacturers, our workers, entrepreneurs and artists. It might mean doing all of these things, or finding your own way to stand up for Canada in this moment, we must pull together, because we love this country. We pride ourselves on braving the cold during the long winter months. We don’t like to beat our chests, but we’re always out there waving the maple leaf loudly and proudly to celebrate an Olympic gold medal city. Canada is home to bountiful resources, breathtaking beauty, the proud people who’ve come from every corner of the globe to forge a nation with a unique identity, with embracing and celebrating. We don’t pretend to be perfect, but Canada is the best country on Earth. There’s nowhere else that I and our 41 million strong family would rather be, and we will get through this challenge just as we’ve been done countless times before, together Justin Trudeau Prime Minister of Canada I suggest cutting and pasting to share as Meta/Facebook and some other mainstream US media may not be picking this up. And whatever some Canadians think of the current Prime Minister, this position appears to have almost universal support in our country. I am with our prime minister on this one.
I have worked with my dreams all my adult life. I use the images, stories, and themes that happen in my dreams to shape my art and artisanship.
After my beloved son in law died suddenly from a heart catastrophe brought on by Covid, I had incredibly powerful dreams in which I was able to talk with him and listen to his new stories about his journey after this death.
He told me that I absolutely HAD to write a book about finding my way to hope and grace in living with the all encompassing grief unleashed by his passing…..
I was also having many dreams about Star Babies….. I have been dreaming about Star Babies for more than 30 years… I dreamt, over and over, about how the Star Babies were the most amazing experience of joyous, innocent, contagious and delicious laughter. Dreaming about them and their new adventures was incredibly healing. They lead me to keep finding references to how the stars offer us laughter and connection and hope, which I felt was synchronicity working it’s finest magic.
I was finding so much comfort and solace in my crochet, and talked with my wonderful editor at Stackpole, Candi Derr. We agreed that we can heal our broken hearts with lovingly creating small, but significant things that wrap up our love. And as we talked and I designed, and crocheted, crocheted, crocheted, it became clear that stars were meant to be the metaphor, and pardon the pun, but the STARS of this book.
Of course, I had to begin with the Laughing Stars that evolved from the Star Babies, and that seeded this book, Crochet Stars-
And then, I found all kinds of ways of creating more and more stars….
Some of which act as frames to embrace the memories of those we love, but who now dance among the stars-
And some of whom crossed the Rainbow Bridge, but still live on in our hearts….
I added a little lace to the pupster’s pics, and played with colors on the back of the stars:
It’s lovely to think of them all playing and laughing in amongst and with the stars, and the Star Babies, too!
Crochet Stars is now available from all the online book sellers! Yay! Happy Crochet! ❤
The knitted Clancy Comfort Bear is my latest design for comfort bears.
I designed it in honor of my beloved son in law who died last year.
Clancy was kindness incarnate and always kept several Comfort Bears in his pocket to offer to people who were having a difficult time. So, the Clancy Bear is a living legacy to keep his kindness unfolding in the world. With love in every stitch……
THE ‘HOW TO’ VIDEO FOR THE CLANCY COMFORT BEAR IS AT:
NOTE: The finished size of the Clancy Bear is determined by the thickness of yarn and size of knitting needles that you use.
WHAT YOU NEED:
Knitting Needles in a size that is appropriate for the thickness of your yarn,
Yarn: Less than an ounce for each Clancy Comfort Bear
A crochet hook that is appropriate for the thickness of your yarn.
Black 6/0 glass beads for eyes, Stuffing,
Black sewing thread and a needle that is small enough to sew on the beads, Tapestry or darning needle
Sewing machine thread in a color that matches your yarn (optional)
Felting needle, Tape measure, Row Counter, 4 small safety pins, Scissors or thread snip
INSTRUCTIONS: Beginning at the feet:
Cast on 11 stitches.
Rows 1- 16: Work in st st (knit one row, purl the next)
Place one of the little safety pins at each end of Row 6 and then 1 more pin at each end of Row 10.
At the end of Row 16, cut the yarn, leaving a 42 inch/105 cm long tail
Thread the tail end into a darning or tapestry needle and lift all the stitches off the needle.
Pull up to gather the top of the head.
Take the needle through the stitches one more time to secure them.
HEAD:
Sew the centre front seam using the Baseball stitch to the first set of safety pins. (see video for how to).
Take a couple stitches to secure the head. Remove the 2 safety pins.
Stuff the head.
Wrap the yarn tightly around the neck 2 times then stitch over the wraps to secure them.
EARS:
Take the yarn up to the side of the head at the top of the head and stitch over the knitting needle or crochet hook twice.
Stitch over these loops several times to make the first ear.
Repeat for the 2nd ear.
Take the needle back down and out at the ‘shoulder’ to be used to make the arms.
TUMMY SEAM:
Thread another strand of yarn or the sewing machine thread into a needle and stitch the center front down to the next set of safety pins.
Stuff the body.
LEGS:
Fold the cast on edge in half to find the midpoint.
Take the needle through it and stitch it to the end of the tummy seam.
Stitch in place a couple of times to secure it.
Squeeze and fold the edges of the front to meet the cast on edge, forming the leg with the corner point becoming the toe. It’s a bit like origami.
Stitch the leg inseam together, pulling up tightly.
Stitch the second leg inseam.
Secure at the middle.
Take the needle through the body to the back, and snip.
ARMS:
Take the crochet hook through the stitch at the shoulder where the yarn came out.
Yarn over, pull up a loop through the stitch on the body.
Chain by taking the yarn over the hook and pulling it through the loop on the hook.
Do this 7 to 9 times, depending on the thickness of your yarn.
Take the crochet hook through the shoulder on the other side of the body and pull up a loop.
Thread the yarn end into the tapestry needle and stitch the loop to the body.
Take the hook through the first chain stitch at the shoulder, and make a slip stitch in it by pulling up a loop through the chain stitch.
Repeat this for all the chain stitches, ending at the first shoulder.
Stitch the end into the body and use the felting needle to secure the arms to the shoulders and to bury the yarn end.
NOSE:
Take the black thread through the head, coming out at the center of the face.
Secure it with a couple of tiny stitches.
Make several horizontal stitches for the nose.
MOUTH:
Move down and take a couple of shorter horizontal stitches for the mouth.
EYES:
Take the needle up slightly above and to one side of the nose and sew on the bead for one eye,
then the other.
Secure the stitches by going back down to the nose and taking a couple of tiny stitches at the corner of the nose, then taking the needle back through the head. Snip the ends.
PANDA:
INSTRUCTIONS: Beginning at the feet:
Cast on 11 stitches with black yarn.
Rows 1- 6: Work in st st (knit one row, purl the next)
Place one of the little safety pins at each end of Row 6
Rows 7 & 8: Join white yarn and work in st st
Rows 9 & 10: Drop white yarn and work in black yarn.
Place 1 more pin at each end of Row 10.
Cut the black yarn, leaving a tail of 42 inches/105 cm.
Rows 11- 16: Work in white yarn.
At the end of Row 16, cut the yarn, leaving a 20 inch/50 cm long tail
Thread the white yarn end into a darning or tapestry needle and lift all the stitches off the needle.
Pull up to gather the top of the head.
Take the needle through the stitches one more time to secure them.
Stitch the center front seam of the head with the white yarn.
Stuff the head and wrap and secure the neck.
Take the black tail end out through to the shoulder and leave it there for now.
Work the rest of the Panda body, legs and arms the same way as the Basic Clancy Bear.
EARS:
After working the Arms, take the black yarn up to the top of the head and make the ears.
EYE PATCHES:
Take 3 small vertical stitches for each eye patch.
NOSE:
Take 2 horizontal stitches for the nose.
MOUTH:
Take 1 smaller horizontal stitch for the mouth. Secure the yarn by stitching through to the back of the neck and stitching in place the burying the yarn in the body.
EYES:
Sew the eye beads to the center of the patches. Secure the thread ends in the eye patches.
The year of the Rabbit is seen as a year of sweet goodness in all kinds of ways.
I am totally in favor of that, and I certainly hope it will show itself to be a gentle and healing and harmonious year in 2023.
This Rabbit year is a busy one for me.
I am focused on 5 things, as well as all the usual things that unfold in life-
1- Grieving the sudden death of my beloved son in law is hard work, and has revealed the deep paradox that love offers us: The immense gratitude for everything that love brings us, including the shocks and anguish of loss, as well as all the incredible blessings… truly paradoxical.
2- I am knitting as many Comfort Bears as I can get done before the Celebration of my lovely Son in Love’s life this Spring in his honor to give to people at the Celebration of his life.
They were very important to him, and he always had at least 3 in his pockets, as well as his personal Comfort Bear, so he could give them to people who needed comfort. He was such a lovely man that people would confide their sorrows to him, and he would give them a comfort bear, and then see if there was something else that he could do for them. Kindness was truly his religion!
As I have been working on the Comfort Bears, a new design for them has evolved, and I will make a pattern and a video for them when I can get to it.
BUT… this year of the Rabbit is a VERY busy one indeed….
3- I am working to deadline on a new book- Yay! I can’t say anything about it, except that I am working with my much loved editor (hurrah) again at Stackpole Books. Writing this book is really helping me to move forward and it is very healing to be focused on loveliness!
4- I am also working on a new solo show of my woven works for 2024…. again… very healing, very powerful, and exciting as I have had lots of breakthroughs into new places in my wovenworks 🙂
5- And this is the one that is most immanent and that I am scrambling to get the work done on asap:
And, oh yes, I mustn’t forget…. my husband and I have unexpectedly adopted a very sweet and rather wild little new furkid who is an astonishing handful and is completely full of adorable love and puppy wackiness…. puppies…. sheesh….. and lots of loving laughter.
He is my devoted studio companion, and has his own chair right beside me. Excellent solution to the problem of him needing to be glued to me 🙂 ❤
I hope that 2023 will be a truly fine one for us all. Happy Year of the Rabbit!
The death of our beloved 15 year old small dog has been really hard on both my husband and me.
I wrote in my previous post about the Comfort Doll that I carved from a fallen branch- LINK
When I was carving her, I was inspired to carve a Teddy Bear that would have an open space in it’s heart…..
I used amber color shellac to paint the Teddy Bear to look like our little dog, and then…
My husband and I each placed a tiny scoop of our little dog’s ashes in the open circle.
Then I glued a gold heart over it to seal it….
The glue seals it completely.
It took a while to dry and turn clear.
We both held the little teddy bear and found it to be very comforting….
We sat Teddy Bear and Pollydolly in front of the box of our little guy’s ashes, but when I finished weaving her outfit and knitting a red sweater and blue jeans for him, we sat them on top of the box:
My husband loves working with metal, so he made a little steel doggie: Edward Alloy in tribute to our wee fellow, and it has joined them on the box…..
We have found this tender making of small things in celebration of our wee dog to be very comforting!
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