I really, really, really needed this.

Thank you my loves.  For a sweet boy and an even sweeter papa who is showing the boy that flowers always make a lady smile.

The globe lamp.  This hung at my grandparents house, suspended from a wooden wall attachment that my grandfather made decades ago.  When we would spend summers in Butte with them, the glowing orb served as a night light as we slept.

We lived in Idaho then.  Challis.  A mining town that is now inhabited by ghosts and a stubborn few.

My grandfather worked for Westinghouse, an electrical parts supplier to the Anaconda mine.  (You may have heard of their refrigerators and dishwashers.)  Since he was in sales, he often received bonuses or incentives and according to my mom, this lamp was one of those incentives.

It’s been around for awhile.  My mother was small when he brought it home and Germany was still one country.  And then it split.  And now it’s one again.

It has always hung right above my bed, connecting me to my grandparents even when we lived far away from each other.

Antarctica has become very familiar over the years.  I’ve watched our world evolve and shift, changing names and faces but retaining the same basic structure.

This simple glow of blue mesmerizes anyone who sees it.  Instantly.

…lessons in geography and history and letting things change.

And I’m pretty sure I should move it up a little higher for awhile.

Seriously.  I could eat that toe.

I spend a lot of time standing in front of the sink at our house since we don’t have a dishwasher, so there’s a lot of pretty things on the wall for me to look at:

And on that wall is my favorite quote, front and center:

“It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent,

but the one most responsive to change.”

– Charles Darwin

Roll with the punches, enjoy these days.  Especially the ones with sunshine and birdies and a pretty blossom smell in the air.

these are heddles.

this is a reed.

wool in the fence line.

the shearing of sheep.

mighty fine fiber.

ready for spring.

…at the loom…

Thanks for hanging in there while I’m getting a new round of techie stuff figured out.  Creating and designing a custom website is no easy feat, especially for someone who didn’t even know how to use a digital camera three years ago.  Ironically, the simplistic layout and easy-to-maneuver site is one of the most challenging to put together.

Though it looks pretty basic on the outside, I’ve been busy, busy installing custom tools and working with code in order to make this website beautiful, easy to navigate, and most importantly (to me) efficient and quick to work with.  I’ve been concentrating the bulk of my creative time on this effort for the last 6 months and watching it finally come into fruition is kind of mind boggling, to tell you the truth.

It’s been a joy to share this entire journey with you and I cannot express how much I appreciate those of you who have stuck through it and watched it grow.  Just wait.  It’s going to get better and better.  Every day.

In a way that you can actually see.

So while we’re in wrap-it-up mode, I’ll be re-posting a few of my most popular and most helpful posts over the next couple of weeks.  These are posts that were imported from the old site and I’d like to edit them a bit, renew my link exchanges, and boost my SEO ranking with them, so thanks for sitting through the re-runs.  If you haven’t had the chance to read them already, then all the better!

Back to the geekery.…

It’s challenging.  And good.  And I’m having fun with it so far.

One of the elements that I like about participating in something like this is that it becomes surprisingly personal.  I’m looking inside and out to discover exactly what it is that makes me tick in regards to personal style.  I’ve been browsing fashion sites, flickr groups, and inspirational blogs to open up new perspectives, and I’ve been caught up in the feelings of lack and out-of-placeness that come from checking in with fashion sites, flickr groups, and inspirational blogs.

And I’ve come home to the foundations.  The core.  Elements that create the essence of me.

When I was about 20 years old, I remember stumbling onto a bumper sticker that simply said, “I Am”.  I knew this was valuable information, something to be tucked away and stored and pondered over, but I didn’t really get it at the time.  I think I’m starting to get it.  The lesson is one that only comes from watching the days flow in and out, stealthily taking time by the hand and passing it under my feet.

That’s a deep and fancy way of telling you how wise I’ve become in my thirties.

What I do know is that everything changes.  But I am always me.  I am always here.  I am always doing what I do.  Here changes, what I do sways with the breeze, the pieces of the puzzle fit in different patterns from days to weeks to years, but I still value the same foundations that I have held close to my heart my whole life.  It’s good to know that now that I’m passing those little parts and pieces of myself on to other human beings, and I’ve done my best to polish up the tarnished spots and to repair the bits that came home damaged.

No matter what, I always Am.

In the moment.  On my way to something.  In love.  Enjoying myself.  Wondering.  Thinking about something else.  Happy.  Content.  Fulfilled.  Challenged.  Hopeful.  Baking.  Sewing.  Learning.  Nurturing.

Kind.  Graceful.  Blessed.

Even when I’m irritated and frustrated and impatient and tired and crabby and in the crappiest of moods.  I Am.

And I must admit, it’s kind of fun to find ways that express that in something as impermanent and fleeting as clothing.  It’s a challenge–and not my usual kind of challenge.  A challenge of the utmost kind, indeed.

So I begin with something easy and familiar.

Skirts.

And an old skill that I haven’t visited since those days of 20.  With this first piece, I honor all that I Am.  I also honor all that I Was.  Because while 20 was a pretty good year, it’s a part of me that still hurts sometimes even though I wish it didn’t.

In gratitude, I make this skirt for a young lady I knew a long time ago.  She was a whiz at embroidery.  And she was rather fond of faeries.

This winter I have acquired a new friend.

Her name is Jasmine Green.

She lives in a teapot, a cup, a jar, sometimes an unbleached filter.

But she’s always nearby.

She brings her friend Honey along too.

We have some good times.

She offers me a handle on the difficult moments.

I often think of her in the middle of the night and can’t wait to see her in the morning.

It must be love.