So often, when I’m working in my studio, at my sewing machine or computer, I feel a presence besides me.  I look down, and this is what I see…  Izzy’s sweet face looking up at me.  I scratch him a bit or give him a kiss on his head then tell him to lay down.  If I don’t he’ll stay there all day, with his head on my knee.  Eventually, he’ll settle down for a while, moving from place to place.  Blocking the draft  that comes in under the front doors,  against the wall where I hang the quilts I’m working on or behind my chair, just far enough away not to get run over.

Izzy always does the same thing when he comes to the studio.  First he pees on the mailbox then he sniffs at the wood pile then comes inside and waits for a treat.  He settles in for a while and I forget about him until I get get that feeling of being watched and look down to see him looking up.  It’s not always a welcomed interruption, but he always wins me over.  I’m beginning to think that maybe he knows something I don’t, like when I need a little break and we both need a bit of love.

This morning I got the streaming pillow urge and started working on Goddess of Moonlight.  This one is already sold and I can see I’ve been influenced by my tarot card reading yesterday. Not by what was said, but by the images on the cards.  I’m new to Tarot and intrigued by the imagery and symbolism.

I also finished another pillow  In the Garden (which is sold).  The day  before I  made it I was listening to Van Morrison (In the Garden)  and an interview with Avivah Zornberg and her translations of Noah’s Ark and Adam and Eve.  They  resonated with me having little to do with  how I originally learned the stories and their meanings.    

“Self is found hidden in pockets of light, in the garden,desire makes us human, tears become birds”

There is one common thread that I’ve noticed in spiritual leaders that I admire, and that is their ability to laugh and smile…a lot.

When I look at my latest Streaming Pillow called Doing the Souls Work it seems to me to be laughing.  It’s loaded with bright colors and  animals, a dancing girl with her arms in the air and a bent over figure that seems to me to be in a trance.  There’s something playful about it although I don’t really remember making it or know what I was thinking at the time.  When I look at it now and read the words, it seems fun and magical, but with a strong message to create your own life and laugh while you’re doing it.

“Doing the souls work, calling on the wonders, laughing at life, painting my soul, spinning the future, magic in their footsteps”

The streaming piece measures about 12″x 16″ and the full size is 22″ x 27″.  It’s $75 + $10 shipping.  And it’s now SOLD.

The back of Doing the Souls Work

Thanks  again to every one who bought (or tried to buy) a Plaid Friday potholder.  The contest winners are:  Susan Popper, Mary Scott and Terri Brown.  Congratulations!

25 Plaid Friday Potholders for sale

Well, It’s 10AM and it looks like I’m sold out of Plaid Potholders. Thanks everyone one who made this possible.  I’ll announce the winners later today.  I anyone would like just a regular potholder (without the plaid backing)  I’m taking orders, just email me or go to Contact Me  at the top of my blog, and let me know how many you’d like.  They are $15 each including shipping.   Thanks Again All and Happy Holidays.

Order a Plaid Friday Potholder and have the chance to win a free potholder.  They are all made from recycled fabrics and have plaid backings.

The contest begins  at 12:01 Friday morning aka Plaid Friday the day to shop independent stores.

All you have to do is place a potholder  order by emailing me at maria@fullmoonfiberart.com .Let  me know how many plaid backed potholders you want.   They are $15 each including shipping.

If your order is the  the 1st, 12th or 22nd order you get a free potholder.    You can purchase as many potholders as you want and if any  of those potholders are the 1st, 12th or 22nd you get that one free.

The contest begins at 12:01 Am on Friday November 25th and will end when all the potholders are sold.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!    I’m grateful to you all for being there and being a part of  this creative community.

Izzy checking out the Plaid Friday Potholders

My new iron

Besides sheets, extra large men’s shirts have the biggest expanse of fabric with out seams.  (Some long skirts are great too, but most of them are sewn together in long triangle pieces)  I got this 100% cotton, Eddie Bauer XL plaid men’s shirt for $1.75 at the thrift store and what a gift.   Except every time I unbutton one of these shirts and iron it smooth, I think of the movie “Silence of the Lambs”.  I don’t really want to get into the details, it’s too awful, but I imagine there are others out there who have seen the movie and can make the connection.

I used to love horror stories and movies, but I can’t seem read or watch them anymore.  Maybe they are like coffee for me, I’ve  had my quota for this lifetime.  But I tend to think that the darkness I sought out  in the safe world of books and movies  was a reflection of the unacknowledged darkness within myself.  Once I really became aware of  and began to deal with my fears, anxieties, neurosis, and obsessions, I started to look for the brighter things in life. It was as if the horror stories no longer served any purpose.  I had been there, and I wasn’t going back.

So the next time I’m ironing an XL men’s shirt, I’ll say “No thank you” when “Silence of the Lambs”  comes to mind and instead be grateful to the man who donated his shirt to the thrift store.  And I’ll begin to change the dark pattern in my mind to one of gratitude.

cutting the first layer of batting

One of my great anxieties is about time.  I often don’t think I have enough time to do something I want or need to do.  On Monday’s I go to yoga.  I have to leave the house at 5:45pm.  When I wake up Monday morning I start getting nervous knowing I have to stop working at 5:30. I usually don’t work long past 5:30 anyway but, somehow this fixed time sets the tone for the whole day which is:  YOU DON’T HAVE ENOUGH TIME!!!

Sometimes, I set myself up by making fake deadlines.   I’ll give myself 10 minutes to finish sewing something when there’s no reason to get it done in 10 minutes.  Inevitably, the bobbin thread runs out or I make a mistake, like putting the fabric on upside down.  Why do I do this?  I think it’s just an old habit.  I used to live in constant  anxiety and sometimes, I  guess I just get pulled back in.

Yesterday I gave myself a deadline of making 25 potholders in 3 days so I would have them ready for the contest on Plaid Friday.  So this morning, between my self imposed deadline and yoga, I found myself in a familiar place.  Once again,  my deadline isn’t real.  I don’t have to have all the potholders done by Plaid Friday.  I don’t ship my work until I receive payment, so the potholders won’t be going out until next week.  And even if I did have to get them done, I could always work as late as I needed to, to finish them.

Plaid backs of the potholders

So today, I designed and started putting together 17 potholders.   Then, as if on cue, my iron suddenly stopped working and I had no choice but to stop.  So now I’m off to yoga and pick up a new iron on the way.  I think tomorrow, with my new iron and lack of deadline, will be a better day.

I spent Saturday at the Women’s Exchange, a thrift store in Williamstown MA, looking for plaid fabric for the backs of my Plaid Friday Potholders.   I went with some friends and we were all surprised when we realized we had been in the thrift store for 2 1/2 hours! We all agreed  there was some kind of time warp, none of us had ever shopped for so long in one  store.  It must have been the good company.    One friend brought her two daughters and when I asked for help finding plaids they came to me with armloads.

I went for the big pieces of fabric, 100% cotton, 100% plaid  nightgowns, long skirts and men’s shirts.  Tomorrow it’s back in the studio. I’ll be making 25 potholders in 3 days and that includes shopping for Thanksgiving.  I don’t think I would have voluntarily put that kind of pressure on myself in the past, suddenly, I’m someone who loves the challenge.

Plaid Friday Potholders

Have you heard about Plaid Friday?  I went into Battenkill Books to get a Christiane Northrup book on Menopause and Connie, the owner,  told me how Black Friday (you know the big shopping day after Thanksgiving) has become Plaid Friday for independent stores and artists.  The idea is to get people thinking about and buying locally instead of in the big chain stores.

Driving has always been a great thinking time for me and on the way home, my brain was buzzing. I couldn’t stop thinking that there was whole week before Plaid Friday, and I wanted to be a part of it.

So, next Friday, November 25th, the day after Thanksgiving, traditionally known as Black Friday, untraditionally and independently known as Plaid Friday, I’ll be selling 25 (for November 25th) potholders all with plaid backs.    Whoever places the 1st, 12th and 22th order will get a free potholder.  You can buy as many potholders as you like until they run out.  If you buy 2 or more potholders and one or them  is the 12th or 22nd order, you get that potholder free.  I’ll sell them until there are no more left. I’ll start taking email orders at 12:01 AM on the morning of Friday, November 25th.    (For those of you who stay up late or can’t sleep, I’ll be in dreamland myself).  My potholders are $15 each including shipping.

Now, this is exciting, I can’t wait to see what happens. I know what I’ll be doing the three days before Thanksgiving,  scouring  thrift stores for plaids and making potholders.

Liz and Jennifer in their Gift Shop at Samantha's Cafe with my pillows and potholders in the background

I’ve been thinking a lot about the idea of community and joining groups since yesterday.  I’ve always felt there’s something appealing about being a part of a group.  But it seemed no matter how many times I tried to be a part of one, I always felt like I didn’t fit in.  It made me uncomfortable enough to make me leave.

But maybe I was looking for too much, in the wrong place.  I wanted to be known, to be accepted and connected.  Now that I’ve found these things in my relationship with Jon, I’m no longer looking for them.  So being part of a group or community or even being a friend has a different meaning for me.  Connection comes simply from the shared desire or  mission or the group.  Acceptance isn’t personal, it  about whether or not you can work together.  And I believe that being known, by just one person, is enough for a lifetime.  Once you are known, there’s no way to be unknown.

So I see now that belonging to a group or community is about having a common interest or goal and working together in a way that benefits the individual and the group.  It’s about knowing what I can do and can’t do, making a choice  and being honest about it.  It’s about having boundaries and participating only in ways that I feel comfortable with and good about.

In this way I can be part of the community without losing myself.  And everyone benefits.

I finally finished Queen of my own heart.  I’ll be taking it, Anointing the Goddess and some potholders to Samantha’s, the cafe in Glens Falls tomorrow.

I like having my work in places other than my blog.  I sell most of my work online but, exposure is always good and I like connecting to the  local art community. I’ve never been one to join clubs, or groups.   I’ve tried many times in my life and it never seems to work.  But I like the idea of community and maybe I’m just learning how to do it in a way that works for me and them.

I also like the idea of artists coming together and  supporting each other.  Liz and Jennifer, who just bought Samantha’s, practically run Art in the Public Eye.  They volunteer just like everyone else in the organization, so they’re pretty busy right now.   I’m looking forward to see what else they have in the gift shop, an maybe I’ll stop in Finders Keepers, the thrift store  upstairs from the cafe, and see if they have anymore interesting clothes that would make good potholders.  (that’s were  I found the high heel shoe shirt)

“Queen of my own heart, time for something new, buy your pie, wedded to the earth, trusting the flow, fear becomes known, stay on the path”