Thursday thoughts and tidbits

The aphorism of the day is "if you always do what you always did, you always get what you always got"... why, because our plucky heroine started building a new habit into her morning routine. For the last several years, taking a little thyroid pill has disrupted my former everyday mornings, since it needs must be taken on an empty stomach, then nothing else eaten for at least an hour, which has resulted in what feels a lot like wasted hours.

Today, instead of turning on the computer, I went into the workroom... Amazingly, instead of almost forgetting breakfast in an online daze, I almost forgot breakfast because I made substantial progress on a current studio commission. This is a new habit I want to will make a part of my daily routine

Pearl borders: they're not just for Byzantines any more... I don't just make SCA regalia in the workroom, but am occasionally contacted to make jewelry for folks active in various other organizations, or containing imagery that is personally significant. I have made heraldic jewelery for folks who have it by right of inheritance, and totemic images for folks who found them in dreams; making things that would otherwise not exist anywhere is what I delight in, whether in metal and glass, or in textiles...

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Last weekend my pals Beth and Karen came down to visit, for a weekend that ended up including a short session of "craft camp"; a hands on demo of freezer paper stenciling. I love how whatever the technique I teach, the designs and style of each student always shine through. There has been a lot of Alabama Chanin style handstitching and applique happening here at Acorn Cottage, and there is some of that happening up at their place as well, as they are both working on some special handmade clothing for their wedding this summer. It was fun to show them another skill for their "toolbox" of fabric embellishment, I look forward to seeing in August what they end up creating, and I am considering if there might be interest in a teaching workshop on handstitchery and embellishment...  (their small samples will probably end up as potholders)

Beth's stencil, and the cut away leftovers

Karen painting her sample; 
using a clothespin to hold the painting sponge
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went to Fabric Depot with my pal Sharon Rose, and though I have promised self not to buy any fabric this year, I had to break my vow... seriously, how could any medieval reenactor pass up a chance to take home some handwoven twill fabric woven with nettle fibers! I think this is a birdseye twill rather than diamond twill, but it is certainly a rare bird indeed, and enough came home to make some useful bags of carrying...

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Last week the feet were doing well enough that some very small walking was possible, and after acupuncture, a few blocks of the Hawthorne neighborhood proved to be irresistible. There were still some cherry trees full of blossoms...

and the branch scars on these tree trunks peered out amidst a garden full of springtime foliage and flowers