Turntable Embroidery on WhipUp.net. Woo-hoo!

Yes, I've been under a rock for the last several weeks. OK, not a rock, but I've been caught up in some dramatic personal issues. My stitching and creativity have been on the back burner as I deal with the storms.

Imagine my shock and pleasure in getting an email from my sweet (and incredibly talented) friend Juline tonight letting me know that my Turntable embroidery was featured in a mosaic photo collection on http://www.whipup.net/. (It is the very bottom right corner.)

That website has been such an amazing resource for me. I can't remember how I initially found the site, but I've go back to it all of the time for inspiration, great links, amazing tutorials and fabulous book reviews on all things crafty.

So, having my Turntable embroidery included in a flickr group photo montage is super meaningful and motivating to me.  When things settle down (hopefully by next weekend) it will be back to stitching and creating. I have the self-portrait embroidered piece picked out and ready to transfer to a ground fabric and stitch up. I can't wait!!

I also CAN NOT thank enough the generous folks who commented on my last post, encouraging me to work through my personal drama so that I can get back to stitching. You comments have meant so much to me as a I sort through (both figuratively and literally) all of my stuff to prepare for my next move. Thank you, fabulous community of crafters and artists, for providing this support in my darkest times. And thank you to Kath Red at Whip Up. net for including my recent work.  Now, back to stitching for me!

I'm going back to New York City, I do believe I've had enough

I've always loved that line from Dylan's "Tom Thumb Blues." For crazy, over-the-top inspiration, you just can't beat the town of my birth.

Hine Mizushima

To say I was overwhelmed by the Needle Felting Extravaganza at the Gallery Hanahou is an understatement.  I was utterly blown away by the needle felted creations of Hine Mizushima and Yoko Nomura.  I wandered around the little white gallery space for an hour, almost in tears, just absorbing their boundless imagination and the beauty of their alternate, woolly realities.

First up, Hine Mizushima's collection, "The Unnatural History Museum."  Several of the pieces were little, crazy treasures pinned in red boxes, like the curiosities of an obsessed Victoria gentleman. Ectoplasm in tubes, red ants and fanciful neurons. Doll girls displaying their organs with blissful little faces.

Hine Mizushima

Hine Mizushima

Hine Mizushima

Next, Yoko Nomura's, "Fractured Fairy Tales." Absurdly cute little bears and rabbits engaged in all manner of dark, fairy tale mayhem.  The contrast between their adorable faces and the weird activities they engaged it left me feeling wonderfully unbalanced.

Yoko Nomura

Yoko Nomura 

Yoko Nomura

These look great on the screen, but to see them in person, to see behind the pieces, was like savoring the most decadent hot fudge sundae versus licking on a soft serve cone. Their talent and skill was like an actual energy field rippling through the gallery space.

Yoko Nomura

I'm a little adrift in my own creative and personal life right now.  A little unhinged, unable to land in a sunny spot and focus on anything.  This weekend I hope to spend some time refocusing and reconnecting to that tiny piece of myself that allows me to access a miniature aperture into the playful fields of these artists.

I will start very small and focus on a piece of myself, my ears, and do some thread-sketching.  Not in a narcissistic way, but in a (hopefully) grounding way. A tiny piece of a self-portrait.

As a treat, I purchased one of Hine Mizushima's tiny red ants!  I plan to keep this guy close to me as I find my way back.