It usually starts with Pinterest. Clothes, handbags, shoes, scarves, sunglasses. . . all of these things are so pretty on the outside. But am I willing to pay the cost to obtain them?

I find myself asking more and more these days "what is the real cost of this?" Who made it? What is their quality of life? 

Frustratingly, I can't know the story of every product that I buy. . . not the whole story. Even clothes I make, you have to wonder about the fabric. . . how was it woven? Who helped harvest the cotton? What subsidies were paid? What are the reproductive systems like of the women living around these farms that are being sprayed with chemicals? What are the dollars I am spending doing to change the world? We step all over life to get what we want. . . 

. . . and I can't see much of a way to get around it. . . beyond starting a new world.

Is it because I am getting older? Or is there really more despair, frustration and crookery now than their used to be? Either way, how I am suppose to function 20, 10 . . . even 5 years from now?

You may return to your embroidery

Humbly, my lord.

-Braveheart

Things are seeming a little dull around here, so I ordered this book:

I should probably watch Braveheart while I'm at it. Oh how I miss the simple days of hand quilting with Suz, after school let out, while we watched Alias. I was an awesome highschooler.

Project 30 of many. . .

14 weeks. . . that's how long I have until I have to go back to work. In the last few weeks my mind has felt free to think creatively for the first time in . . . months. No classes to think about, no students to worry about . . . just a house to keep clean, a family to feed and take care of, and perhaps a house to move. . . I feel so liberated!

I teach a textile design class and one of my first orders of business is to create a course manual for my students, myself and any teacher who may have to teach the class in the future. Yes, I just realized that one of my projects I have set for myself has to do with work. Oh well. Anyway, in this agenda I will be teaching myself how to better use my Bamboo digitizing pad. So far I really hate this thing. It draws when I don't even have the pen touching the tablet, and it is very difficult to control my brush movements. Perhaps I should have read the manual better. . . I feel like I am past that stage now though and can't force myself to go back and actually learn the right way to use the thing. Thank you, but I'd much rather struggle along by myself than ask for help!

I prefer using the Bamboo in Illustrator, maybe this is just because I enjoy Illustrator better? Okay, it's not that I enjoy it more, I love Illustrator and hate Photoshop.

The following is the first part in a series of drawings that I am doing for a photoshop textile project. Last semester I assigned each of my students a foreign city and instructed them to create a storyboard for that city and to then use that story board as inspiration for two textile designs. I then asked them to give me a city so that I could do the same project and they all agreed on Guatemala City. I couldn't be more thrilled with the city they picked for me! The markets in Guatemala City have a wealth of beautiful textiles and colors to be inspired by!
 Back in highschool I would come back each new year and be completely surprised how my drawing skills had increased over the summer - despite my having not picked up a marker or brush all summer. I would look at work from the previous year and realize that what I had thought was well done before was actually quite amature. I am hoping for the same thing to happen with the digitizing pad. . .

Heliconia in Photoshop. 4.24.12

Frozen yogurt

I don't know why it took me so long to discover this and I almost feel silly even sharing it. But, I started making my own frozen yogurt and it is delicious - best of all (except for the spoonful of mango sherbet) I know exactly what is in it.

To make I took a carton of yogurt and stuck it in the freezer. This really wasn't the best idea, because now I have to cut chunks of frozen yogurt off which is a little difficult - in the future I will freeze the yogurt in an ice cube try.

Then stick the frozen yogurt in your blender with whatever fruit you have lying around . . . I used a banana and some frozen cherries. . . blend. Eat. Delicious. Eat it for breakfast, chances are you already have, it just wasn't frozen before. 

In light of extreme sorrow and suffering I often have a very hard time expressing joy. But, My God, it is the most beautiful day and I am so thankful for each and everything in my life! My cup runneth over.

Grace makes beauty, out of ugly things. 

Kombucha

"It's an acquired taste" - Jacquie Palmer

Well, it's taken me about 6 years, but I've finally acquired the taste, and I gotta say, I'm a little in love.