You are currently browsing the monthly archive for March 2009.
Well… I finally got the ABC Calligraphie Rouge pattern by Compagnie des ouvrages, from The French Needle… what a lovely kit! I started this somewhere in the middle to end of January. I’m stitching on it as I feel moved… and often times after work, that is rare, but it’s still got some going on, which always inspires me to keep going.
Another little start I did about mid October of 08 is a little four patch, called “Patch Red 4″, by Dessins DHC, albeit I’m doing mine in green, which after seeing them online now at the link, I think I wish I would have chosen red as well. I think I chose green because I am planning on stitching Moulin Rouge, and thought the variation would be pretty. Here is a pic of where I’m at on the little thing…
Let’s see… what else am I stitching on? Well… I’ve only gotten a little farter on my Windmills from Full Circle, but as you know, every little stitch counts. Here is where I was, and as you can see, I’ve added a couple more rows of stitches… I did notice a boo-boo, in that in my last row, I should have had a row of words between the very last row and the one above it, but I’ll just put my words after this last row, and then add another special row before the next green swirly things.
Another update is how I’m coming along on my Angels Song by Shepherd’s Bush (my ultimate favorite place to go and shop). It bears repeating that this is the sister pattern to the Emmanuel’s Song that I stitched for my brother and his wife, so isn’t that just fitting? Anyway, the last time I posted a snap of the progress on this, I had gotten to this point, as seen in this photo, and here is where I’m at now…
I’m not exactly speeding along, but slow and steady wins the race. So, this is where I’m at with things. Progressing at a snails pace, but progress is progress, and I shall enjoy stitching now that I have made my blog current. Hugs and stitches.
A friend mentioned something to me that got my mind and heart moving… and it prompts this thought of how do you show someone the uniqueness that you see in them? Not the vision on the surface of things, but more the them that lies hidden, yet visible just underneath. How do you reflect that of what you see back to them? And, what is the surface of the very mirror you us composed of? How do you express the beauty that is hidden in plain sight within them, so that they see their value, their worth, in such a way that they too are offered a glimpse of their purpose? This beauty is subjective I know… but the value lies within all of us, and the value itself is perceived in different ways to different people who possess different needs.
How do you show a mirror’s reflection back at someone? How do you show someone how beautiful they are, and what that beauty looks like to you?
There is a U2 song on the new album “No Line on the Horizon” and in the song is titled “Get On Your Boots,” where a lyric sings,
“You don’t know how beautiful you are..
you don’t know, you don’t get it do you?
You don’t know how beautiful you are…”
The truth of this lyric resonate truth… because sometimes we don’t know how to see beauty in ourselves, because we suffer from a condition where we see ourselves everyday, we hear our own inner dialog everyday, and we see all of us everyday, and from a very tight and confining space that is the inside. Have you ever felt the cramped space on the inside where you can nearly find yourselves suffocating from the weight of yourself pressing inward? You almost can’t help but to notice the self on the inside if you are being honest… what we could observe are the negatives, the flaws, the areas of deficiency, the areas where we know need improvement. And to add to that, we can’t honestly see the depth of true beauty because what others see is reflective of their heart, their vision, and their unique perspective…. so I wonder how surprising we would find what others find beautiful in us? Would it be what we see, or would it be something that would have never occurred to us? I’m confident that it is the latter.
When we can see the beauty in others, and somehow capture it and send the reflection of it back to them, imagine how freeing that could be? Think of the awareness that could increase an individual’s vision of them self. Not for a vanity, but for a true view of them to seeing the God carrier that they are, in ways they may not have ever known.
What level of friendship does it require to show another the beauty that is witnessed in them? How exactly do we express the strange or lovely beauty to another? Is there a back door that we must enter through, to protect the information or insight from being dismissed? Is there a side gate that is less traveled into someone’s soul that is the way to enter with this precious gift? Or is it the random entrance all that is required? I know we are all prompted on different levels, and during different times and hours by the Spirit to share, but I know that often, I personally… have not spoken up on the glimpse I have been given into someone’s true beauty. And the consequence of not sharing? I miss the opportunity to share a hidden in plain sight secret of someone’s soul with them, all from the perspective of the outside looking in. Note to self, look for opportunities to share this life I find in others with them, and be receptive to it if someone unlocks the truths that are hiding inside of my own soul.
These are the stockings I stitched, and had my loving mom finish. I gave this set to my brother and his wife for my niece and nephew, Grace and Timothy… with the intention of giving Brad and Becky their stockings this coming Christmas so they will have a complete set. These were from the Shepherd’s Bush patterns… that are just lovely…
Then, here are the ones I have for Adair and Alec, with our set to be completed this Christmas as well for Mike and I. Again, I stitched them, and my mom did the sewing to make into stockings. I loved how they turned out and am excited to start the rest! 
Well, it’s been a while and I haven’t been stitching on this too regularly, but I had to unhoop it to be able to continue stitching, so it seemed like a good time to take a snap of where I’m at now on my Quaker Virtues. Slow and steady wins the race, right? 
Here is where I was the last time I posted a pic… so, from July 2008, until now, March 2009, you can see that I haven’t made huge progress, but at least I’ve gotten a few more motifs done. I have bee stitching on some other things, like my Angels Song, by Shepherd’s Bush, as well as the ABC Calligraphie… which I haven’t even take a picture of yet, but it’s beautiful. Will vow to take some photos soon.
With me now working, I find that I have less brain power to stitch… I come home from work so mentally exhausted, so I’m just not stitching as much as I used to. Maybe I will become acclimated to it soon and get back to a more regular stitching time.
I’m not a runner, and I don’t walk too much, but I do remember well my fondness of swimming… actually, I loved swimming. Laps upon laps I swam in high school and some in college, and the peace of the water, the sound of the bubbles against my ears as I exhaled, and the feeling of buoyancy that made my body feel as if moving through the water was nearly effortless. These days, I’ve been out of the pool for so long, and the fact that I have little time to manage to arrange for swimming, or few choices of places I could go, I need to find and develop another love. But how?
These days my inactivity of sitting at a computer all day at work is evident in my body. My thighs don’t resemble the thighs of my college years… instead they are things I’d rather not look at, which prompts me to get dressed a little faster than others would. That is just so sad. My body is supposed to be a temple, yet in reality, I’ve let it become more like a lean to where rakes and lawnmowers would be stored…. a shed, and a dilapidated one at that, whose hinges creek and groan.
Over the last few weeks, I’ve been half heartedly attempting to right the situation by getting on the treadmill to increase any amount of movement possible. But again, it has been half hearted, as so many of the things I try to do are. What is that about me? Half effort? I shouldn’t be this way, but the reality shows that I am.
I have heard before that it takes 21 days to make a habit and three days to break a habit, so if you want to exercise/walk, etc… do it for 21 days and you’ll have a habit… but if you skip three days, you’ll break a habit. I can’t even get to 21 days, because I have too many three day breaks inbetween. Hysterical I find it, and totally depressing too, honestly.
I don’t want to have my thighs and hind end look old… its not a vanity thing, because I don’t really care how they look to others, its me that I’m thinking about. If I had to run a sprint if my life depended on it, I’d be breathing heavy after 10 steps and likely be giving out and giving up long before others would. This saddens me. I do have vanity about swimming though… I would love to swim now, if I was already in shape, or at least in better shape than I am now. Bathing suits reveal all the things that usually I dress quickly to hide. Not to mention that after swimming, the other things that hide the reality of myself need to be reapplied… like doing my make-up or styling my hair. I remember that when I was in college, I used to complain about my body… if I knew then, what I know now… wow, that would be some insight. I was in fantastic shape then, no cellulite, no labored breath when walking fast. These days there is room for improvement, vast improvement. I’ve fallen off the weight watchers wagon several times, there has got to be a better way.
I guess question I’m hunting after the answer is how to learn how to love exercise (walking or running, or whatever). I hear quite often that exercise releases endorphins… I don’t know what that’s like. I’m on a quest…. after a smooth thighier me, after a less poochy belly me. I haven’t seen her in a long time… I let her disappear somewhere and I’m so sorry me for letting my old you me go. I miss how much better my clothes fit on you, this new me seems physically older than she wants to be. If I could swim everyday without someone seeing my ass, I would, well… that’s if I could figure out a way to have my hair be a wash and go.
These are some of the thoughts drifting through my mind today. It’s been a long time since I’ve written here… I don’t know why… maybe coming here is hard because this is one of the places I become honest with myself, and document that honesty.
