Not much to say about this other than what I said the other day. It was fast and fun, and now it's done! I've forgotten to post to the Take it Further Blog, or update Flickr, or leave a comment on SharonB's site for the last couple of months. I guess I should spend some time doing that.
Living consciously...
The practice today: Welcome your artist back into your life. Commit yourself to fifteen minutes...
Ha! I'll see your fifteen and raise you at least an hour. I've already welcomed my artist back into my life now I'm trying to figure out how to discipline the little sprite or at least get her to be more focused!
Showing posts with label TIF. Show all posts
Showing posts with label TIF. Show all posts
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Aug TIFC - Day Two - Done!
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
July TIFC - Day Six - Done (ish)
I'm declaring it my July TIFC piece done but I still have charms and beads to add. I made a list of the charms I'm going to add but it may take me some time to find them. So far I've attached 14 charms, only 43 to go to be current, sigh, but that's okay. I am very satisfied with the way the piece has turned out. It stayed true to my original idea and sketch as I described it in this post on July 22nd.
I worked the piece over six days, here are links to the previous days:
Day One, Day Two, Day Three, Day Four, Day Five.
Living consciously...
Hendricks recommends an exercise in shifting perceptions as practice today. As an example he talks about the proverbial glass water and how by "seeing" with your mind it can either be half-full or half empty. Try "seeing" with your heart and appreciate things for their simple existence.
Since reading Tolle's A New Earth, I've worked on being more present in the moment and accepting things for what they are. I think I'm much better at dampening the ego and worry thinking while learning to appreciate my passion for being and doing.
Monday, August 18, 2008
Aug TIFC - Day One
I am finally getting around to starting the August Take it Further Challenge. SharonB posed the question "What is balance to you?" and recommends this palette:
I thought about the question for a minute and stared at the the word BALANCE. It wasn't long before I saw that I could use the letters in the word to spell two other words - CAN and ABLE. Perfect! It captures what balance means to me - I do what I can when I am able. Inspired I drew a quick sketch using the colors for the challenge. 
I've been on a cleaning frenzy in the studio and took a few minutes to sort through a bag of fabric scraps that have fusible web on them hoping to find scraps matching the palette. Found what I needed and immediately started rough cutting shapes to iron onto a long narrow piece on hand-dyed fabric that I was going to cut up.
I'm going to try and finish this piece during the next couple of days as I have house guests arriving on Thursday.
My oldest turned twenty-three today. Happy Birthday, Jessica!
Living consciously...
How can I hold my identities in such a way that I become most authentic?
What to be and what not to be - that is the question. I think throughout life we ask that and with the ebb and flow of the various identities we take on we become who we are. Hopefully, the ego doesn't mess it all up and lock us into a "false" identity. By honoring the roles and responsibilities I have and gathering experiences along the way, I should become exactly the person I'm suppose to be... me.
Friday, August 01, 2008
July TIFC - Day Five
I'm still thinking about adding a few more quilting stitches before I declare this done. I'm pleased with the way the lettering worked - not too bold yet visible. I'm happy with the how the moon and stars stand out. The grid is in place but I may make the lines stronger.
Now I need to work out the charms and what other embellishments might go into the first 56 squares. I found a yellow VW for my first car, a flamingo for High School graduation, a pacifier(s) to represent birth of child(ren), a skunk for a pet I had in my 20's - Pilau Lani, a moon for my trip to Haifa, a violin for when I started playing, etc, etc...
Living consciously...
The practice for the day is to change your "worry thoughts" into "wonder questions."
I am not the 'worrier' that I use to be. I tend to shift between que sera sera and this too will pass. My wonder questions seem to bounce between how to manage the household so that we have more time for leisure and how I do I make time for creativity and where will I find the inspiration.
Thursday, July 31, 2008
July TIFC - Day Four
Spent all my time today quilting, and quilting, and quilting. Just about got the piece to the stiffness I like. Hopefully I'll get the lettering on tomorrow and the grid lines. I did manage to find some "charms" including a flamingo. Coming up with the 56 charms and their stories will be a project for August.
Living consciously...
In the reading, Hendricks shares a technique to learn to accept something real. As an example, try saying "Today is Friday and I accept it." and notice how your body feels. By contrast, if you tried to resist accepting it your body would respond differently. Now for practice, try this technique with one of your biggest problems that you haven't been able to accept. This all leads, of course, to until you accept reality exactly as it is, you cannot change.
Right. Not.
Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one. ~ Albert Einstein
What we call reality is an agreement that people have arrived at to make life more livable. ~ Louise Nevelson
Let's be real. Start small, lean in the direction of change.
For seven months I've been following Gay Hendricks' A Year of Living Consciously and I've agreed/disagreed, I'm still committed to continue to work my way through the book... five months or 153 days to go.
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
July TIFC - Day Three
I decided on the background piece for July's TIF challenge. I fashioned two stars and a half moon/half sun medallion for the center. Tomorrow I'll figure out how to add the text. I plan to do lots of quilting on it as I want the piece to be fairly stiff before I add the grid lines.
My baby birds will be leaving home soon. We saw the first swallow on April 10th and never saw much activity around the boxes. Right after the first of this month we heard faint chirps from two of the boxes. Now the bravest (or hungriest or one that got pushed out) sits on top of the box. He's made several attempts to get back into the box but his siblings have blocked his efforts.
Wonderful story on NPR's All things Considered this last Monday about a Carolina wren that got left behind when her siblings left the nest. (about three minutes long, listen here)
Living consciously...
The practice today is one of being aware of your feelings. Over the past several months I have tried to be more aware of the pleasant feelings (joy, excitement, happiness, awe, peace) as they are happening. With the negative feelings, not only am I trying to be more aware, I'm trying not to let the feelings dictate my behavior.
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
July TIFC - Day Two
It seems I'm continuing my trend of waiting til the last week of the month to work on the TIF challenge. I've been thinking about the question since the beginning of the month. Today it finally came together for me. Being in my mid-fifties, I've developed an appetite for living and where 100 years old seemed out of reach now I think it's a reasonable goal. I thought one way to illustrate the years would be to do 100 "inchies." Start with a whole cloth (like I did for CSI-PSI: before and after), cut it up into 100 pieces, embellish the pieces, and tack them in place in re-create the whole. Right. No. The idea of dealing with a separate 100 pieces paralyzed me for most of the month. This morning the answer to the question came to me: What is it to be at the half way mark? Charmed.
I'm going to do a quilted piece about 17 inches square (as illustrated above) and section it off so that there are 100 square - no cutting involved. Next I plan to add a charm to the first 56 squares beginning in the lower right hand corner. The charms will represent something that happened during the year that was. For example, when I was 18 I graduated from high school and commencement was held at the Frankfurt Zoo. We hung around outside for some time before walking into the hall and I've always carried the memory of flamingos with me as a symbol of that day. I hope I can find a small flamingo to stitch onto the 18th square!
Living consciously...
For practice today, repeat this phrase throughout the day: I commit to the practice of full integrity in my life.
Hendrick's definition of integrity is one based on a state of being whole not morality based. As an example he talks of driving a car around with the wheels out of alignment and being aware of a shimmy. Of course, the shimmy is the result of a lack of integrity. I hate car analogies. I'm just starting to get my 'shimmy' back at this stage in my life's journey. The front wheels seem fine but maybe the back wheels need a little air in the tires, I suppose I could rotate the tires and check that the front struts and hope there are no signs of "cupping" on the front tires.
I think I'll just go back to the practice and with 'unfolding' wholeness I have (a sprinkling of moral and ethical principles) just go about doing as a well as I can to live, love, learn and leave a legacy.
Wednesday, July 02, 2008
July TIFC - Day One
I really do look forward to SharonB's Take it Further Challenge each month. I'm curious about what will inspire me -- rising to meet quilt/visual challenge or the palette or will the question touch something in me that needs to be answered.
At 56, I try NOT to think of my life as half over but rather what I still want to experience. I'm busy adding to the "bucket list" - rarely taking anything off the list and not feeling guilty about anything I summarily ignore. The challenge is to figure out how to do what I want so it satisfies my quest. Non é mai troppo tardi.
Living consciously...
I think the message for the day is 'Be an adrenalin junkie.' Instead of being paralyzed by fear, learn to re-interpret those initial feelings as an invitation to behave differently. I get that I need my mind/body/intellect to work as fast as the biology and when that first surge of stress triggers that fight/flight feeling I need to "float" in a feeling of being alert and attentive to my environment without dashing off. (However, spiders surprising me in my home still run the chance of being squashed!)
Tuesday, July 01, 2008
June TIFC - Day Five - Done!
I was looking through my stash to try and find something to add to this piece when I came across these seven round gold medallions. I have no memory of getting them - that could be said for quite a few things in the stash - so, I decided they were the perfect embellishment. I still need to write and 'stash' the stories in their zippered pouch but I'm calling this done for June's TIFC. The piece finishes at 14.5" x 22.5" and I'm calling it Marcella Memories.
Here are links to the previous four days of work on this piece:
Day One, Day Two, Day Three, Day Four.
Living consciously...
Hendricks offers an interesting idea about relationships: each partner must assume responsibility for 100 percent of what goes right and for 100 percent of what goes wrong.
I wanted to argue with this but my better self agrees. (Of course, the victim-child in me is having a tantrum that will soon resolve to a stubborn pout!) So, embracing the spirit of responsibility is a celebration of wholeness, for practice today I'm going to evaluate how much responsibility I take in the key areas of my marriage. I'm thinking that there will be a few new things on my 'to do' list.
Monday, June 30, 2008
June TIFC - Day Four
I thought I might just get this done today, but no. I did decide to go with a landscape orientation and I've decided to add something more to the surface. I am pleased with the way the pockets and zippers worked. There are a couple of areas where the bulk causes a little bulge and pucker but it's very small and I think I'll be able to quilt it away or otherwise disguise it. I'm auditioning a hearts - I think they are too small and blend in too well. Tomorrow I'll figure it out.
Living consciously...
I find that some of the practices are at odds with how I want to spent my time. Today's suggest that I notice flickers and flares of anger and whether they are in response to some unfairness. I'm trying to accept the "is-ness" of things and let whatever I feel be there and be aware without letting my ego take charge
Thursday, June 26, 2008
June TIFC - Day Three
I attached the zippers and started working on the pockets. I'll be sewing them in place by hand - two down, eight to go. I'm going to keep them small (5" long and 1" deep)to minimize the bulk and I'll probably cut away the batting. I haven't yet decided what to put in the pockets. I'm considering either scrolls that have stories about my grandmother or maybe just images of things that remind me of her. 
I'm not much of writer but this could be my opportunity to write some stories that can then get neatly tucked away. She loved her dachshunds, the San Fransisco Giants, drove around in a 1968 Tahoe Turquoise Mustang, kept her hair red, and unabashedly watched roller derby. On a typical Saturday morning, she sit at the kitchen window working on a crossword puzzle, clicking her teeth, with her hair still up in those pink sponge rollers nursing her Folgers coffee (or a "medicinal" beer.) And then in the evening she'd drive over the coast to go square dancing.
Living consciously...
Breathe and remind yourself to let go of controlling the uncontrollable. That was the practice for the day. I've been trying to practice this big time for the last several years!!!
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
June TIFC - Day Two
I'm getting a late start on the Take it Further Challenge for this month. My goal was to do something with the zippers I inherited from my grandmother. I pulled a few warm colored metal zippers out of the stash and added the green, brown, and beige to pick up on the colors in this months' challenge.
I don't yet know what I'm doing but I want the zippers to be able to open and I'm planning on having about ten things that remind me of my grandmother behind the closed zipper. I also want most of the zipper showing.
I think it's going to be fairly simple construction and quilting. My big concern will be remembering to try not and break any needles.
Living consciously...
The practice today: In the final moment, looking back on your life, what do you take with you?
Love this question! But, I don't want to be looking back at the final moment, I hope I'll still be looking forward. I suppose if it could be one thing I'd take curiosity - never know, it might come in handy. In the meantime...
As I grow older, part of my emotional survival plan must be to actively seek inspiration instead of passively waiting for it to find me. ~ Bebe Moore Campbell
Thursday, June 05, 2008
June TIFC - Day One
I headed off to SharonB's Take it Further Challenge for June after finally finishing the last two months of TIF. The challenge, stories that are and stories that are possible, reminded me that I inherited my grandmother's stash after her death. When my mother told me she was shipping Nanny's stash to me I assumed I'd see some fabric, thread, and miscellaneous sewing notions but I was not prepared for the hundreds of zippers and packages of bias tape. This challenge seems prefect for giving Nanny's stash a voice and finding a story that can be told with zippers and bias tape.
Living consciously...
...your journey of change is of you and for you, and that it is not your intention to take hostages along for the ride.
When I read the above I had one of "aha" moments. I was suppose to be thinking about people that may have resisted my attempts to change but instead I thought about how when I'm in the process of change I tend to include or exclude people. As I was about to congratulate myself for taking no hostages, I realized that is exactly what I am doing. I think until recently I've held my husband as a 'spiritual' hostage. He wasn't interested, I was, and I had other friends I could talk with - I did with them. But the reality is that my husband and I talk about everything - every little nuance of our lives and how we live it. We don't always agree, we have different views but "spiritually" I couldn't be closer to another human being. Clearly, my tendency to include or exclude people is self-serving, now I just need to figure out if it's born of arrogance or self-protection.
spiritual - closely akin in interests, attitude, outlook, etc.
hostage - one that is manipulated by the demands of another.
Tuesday, June 03, 2008
Apr TIFC - Day Seven - Done!
It took two months but I am declaring April's TIFC done. The challenge of How do you see change? found it's way to this piece: first, through my belief that change is just a part who I am; second, inspired by a poem of Alexander Pope; and finally by the Greek for 'know thyself' - Gnothi Seauton. I think I'll call the piece "Know Thyself" - it's about 17" x 33".
Living consciously...
An interesting exercise today, to think of yourself as a vast space with a lot of activity in it - oddly enough, that is how I think. (vast space? infinite pool? - all kinds of room for possibilities... something like that.) My problem is I do give it room and often just get lost in it. Hours go by. I am learning to pause more, if only to remind myself to be aware of the moments.
Monday, June 02, 2008
April TIFC...
Still working on the April TIFC and I'm trying not to lose track of getting it done. So, I made the decision not to even look at the June TIFC until April is done!
The rest of time today... cooking, cleaning, reading. Allergies seem to have me a little under the weather and I feel like I'm walking around in a dizzy haze. It rained this afternoon - maybe that will wash whatever is getting to me out of the air .
Living consciously...
Think of your life as a game. What role have you taken?
I've played that game before and the one where you view yourself as your own life coach. I get the point of these exercises but at some point it's time to move ahead with "real" life activities and not play it as a game.
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Apr TIFC - Day Six
Progress. Slow, but progress nonetheless. I'm still need quilt and add words - several more hours.
Living consciously...
I considered skipping the reading after I scanned the practice and saw a discussion on "You" and "I" Orientation. I don't know where it comes from but I just shut down when someone starts with the 'use your "I" language.' And truth be told I've had a few spousal fight with "I feel" statements. Then I read:
... if you put the word that after the words I feel, you're offtrack. A feeling is a feeling (anger, pride, joy); anything else is almost undoubtedly an accusation.
I'm certainly guilty of some embedded that statements and now I'll need to add it to my (growing) list of things to be aware of!
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Apr TIFC - Day Five
I had estimated six hours to finish the April TIFC but I'm thinking it will be closer to ten. It took almost three hour getting the tessellating arrows pieced in. Tomorrow I should be able to get the letters in place and begin quilting.
Living consciously...
I'm still thinking about yesterday's full development while today's practice is to commit to the full empowerment of people around me. Clearly have to do the self work first -- a developed, empowered, and autonomous individual has a much better chance of successfully empowering people around them.
I do struggle to quiet the cynic in me that is whispering "lead, follow, or get out of the way" and "you can lead a horse to water but..." I feel my role in empowering others is to make sure I don't put any strings on them. I don't need to get tangled up in someone else's journey. I want good relationships with others and my hope is that "my stuff" doesn't get in the way of another's own full development. (If I can successfully do this at home with my own spouse, then the rest of the world is a piece of cake!)
Monday, May 19, 2008
May TIFC - Day Three - Done!
That's it, she's done. The answer to What do you call yourself? and the title of this Take it Further challenge for May is Iombazymurgist. The "why" explanation du jour can be found here. Just a glimpse of a little nymph, that's all -- the transient muse of creativity. It's about twelve inches square.
Living consciously...
Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage. -- Anaïs Nin
The practice for today is to understand why and how you put up barriers to closeness.
Knowing who I am, especially in these last few years, has certainly helped me to be more open and transparent. So my first thought in responding to the practice was about "time" and how much you have to invest to maintain good relationships. I don't really think in terms of putting up barriers (or tearing them down), it's more a case of understanding my motivation to explore closeness with others... a reason to make it worth my time. While I like the quote that Hendricks offered, there's another quote attributed to Anaïs Nin that I think is more germane - "Each friend represents a world in us, a world not possibly born until they arrive, and is only by this meaning that a new world is born." This is why I make time for relationships -- to explore new worlds together!
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
May TIFC - Day Two
Finally! I was getting worried but I finally (!!) made it to the studio. I was inspired a few days ago by this post of Sharon's (All Norah'S Art) and more recently by her finished work to her Modigliani challenge. I still have a bit of work to do but at least I've started the May TIFC.
It's been too long since I did something playful, so working on Iomba - my alter ego name for this little muse, was just what I needed.
Living consciously...
I failed the 'awareness' test of living consciously yesterday when I skipped a day. So today I find myself going back in time with a practice to look at myself in the mirror and imagine the face looking back at me is the face of a Zen master. What is it that the Zen master in you most needs to say to you?
Just the obvious: Patience, grasshopper.
Tuesday, May 06, 2008
April TIFC - Day Four
I worked on the April TIFC trying to not "stress" over the fact that I'm working on catching up with the past. The piece needs hours more work but I'm determined to keep it as simple as I can. It is currently 18" x 34" and I figure I'll put a minimal or no binding on it.
Tomorrow I think I'll deal with the fact that I have several things that I didn't finish in April and devise some sort of plan to get them done along with the May things before I fall into a why-bother-slump that has plagued me before!
Living consciously...
Hendricks offered 'The Rules of Integrity' in the reading today and suggested that you copy it and post it in a conspicuous place. It was a little too wordy for me and I'm afraid that things that get posted get buried under other things that get posted. My take on the rules is this: Know the truth about your feelings and take responsibility for the commitments you make.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
