Beware of duck

Today we had a very nice and warm outing to the Fruehlingsfest in Stuttgart. It was very loud, very crowded, and very full of movement. I enjoyed walking through and looking at all the different rides, and beer gardens. However, I found sitting in the Schlossgarten more to my liking.
It started out as a quiet peaceful picnic lunch until...

This duck charged towards us quacking fiercely. My son found it very amusing and was willing to greet the duck with a big warm hug and a kiss on her beak. And just as she was about to collide against us she diverted her path towards bigger crumbs. I have to admit I was pretty scared of her... It was an eventful outing...

Landlust

Everytime I go to the grocery store I wander the magazine Isle wanting to find something exciting, and I finally found it. It is a magazine call Landlust. It is all about organic beauty really, gardening, harvesting, crops, wool, artisans, craftsmanship...The photography is breathtaking and has made me appreciate the small little village. I am even wanting to have a green thumb. I have always had the dream of having a farm where I can grow my own crops, milk my own cows, and grow my own wine. I can imagine my 40 year old self staring out the window of my art studio, breathing in the fresh (and also smelly) air that my farm land sends my way. I can imagine my self waking up at dawn, recharging my soul with the first rays of the morning Sun, greeting the animals, who I have all probably named (I would have sheep, chickens, and cows... none of which I would kill, only take from them what they give to me willingly with life) according to their personality.

Then after a day of sun, dirt, sweet, art, and joy I sit down at my outside table with a pitcher of homemade wine, and eat a delicious meal with my family. We listen to the nocturnal creatures as they sing us a lullaby, and reach out to the sweeping winds of life with out laughter and voice.....I love to dream

What is your dream?

The wind sweeps through our little village and I have butterflies on my mind. Also the idea that the commonalities of life and how differences are truly not that different once you stand back and look at them...I know I am just babbling nonsensical things..but during one of those moments of clarity they do make perfect sense. I love those moments when everything falls into place. Everything makes sense, and it even seems funny how before they did not, and just as that moment came all of a sudden it leaves you and you forget entirely what was so clear to you.

Either way, The picture above is of my newest creation. A butterfly, a tribute to my salvation. I imagine her to be magical. Her story is still unravelling in my mind with every stitch that I make. However, I have come up with a story for my duvets. It is about the sun and the moon, and their love story. 

More details later....happy spring :)

A riviting thought....

I was reading one Sew lovely embroidery blog about the idea of covering a duvet entirely with embroidery, and I just absolutely love the idea. However, it would have to be two 140 cm wide duvets since here in Germany we use two individual duvets in stead of one joint one. It's actually mush nicer. You get to cuddle up and not worry that the Mister is going to roll to much to the right and steal your portion of the blanket, especially in the 6 month long winter!

So I was thinking of embroidering my story of Circles in time. It is about an industrial society where the human essence has disappeared.. as I progress with the embroidery I will tell the story. I am setting a dead line, but first I have to create the drawings and see how intricate they are....

Cloth to cloth

As I was taking a shower this morning my thoughts began to run side by side. I was thinking about the class I am going to take, and at the same time I was thinking about different creations, and metaphysics. You might think that is a crazy set of thoughts, but it is the normal process for me at least. I was considering the theory of parallel universes and how one can create a new world of living breathe beings with you own thought.

I was reviving my story of the boy who fixes a clock that is actually time it self and how he in return becomes a creator, or in a sense a re-creator. At the end of the story he must re create his world. This thought made me think of all the infinite number of worlds we all have created, in dreams, thoughts, poems, and cloth.
The union of cloth and thread is just as important as the union of hydrogen to oxigen. We create beings that have a different set of laws. The do not breathe like us, or think like us. but they are in existance like us. Maybe there thoughts only transpire with we allow them. Is it the same for us? Am I writing this because I must? Or am I writing this just because? It is the time old question of pretedermined or whimsical path through life....

I for one must believe that everything happens for a reason. That there is order to chaos. That one thing leads to another. That a tree falls for a reason, not unnoticed. Otherwise this world, this existance would be unbearable.  For example when my father passed away and I was falling deeper and deeper into a bottomless abyss of confusion. Demons lerked behind doors waiting to attack my fragile self, and out of that dark period a butterfly saved me. I would always see a yellow butterfly, every day, wherever I was. I travelled to different continents and still I would always see a yellow butterfly. It was a reminder of light, hope, beauty, peace, life.

And just as this butterfly came into my life for a reason at the right time, cloth joins cloth and thread weaves though it just as it should.

A rush to the head

May 1st brings a lot of excitement for me since I will be taking a class with the ever so talented and awe inspiring Jude Hill from Spirit cloth. I cannot wait. I have always been an avid learner. When I was in college I would always have 18 credit hours, and every now and then I would have to fill out a form to take more credits. Usually they were classes I didn't need to take, but just had to. Such classes like, latin 1-4, russian, drawing human anatomy, literature analysis of medieval literature, life after death....and well so many others. However I found that I learned more meaningful things in those classes than in my international studies classes, even though they were very informative (and emotionally draining).

I believe I will be just like my grandma Betty who continued to take classes until she was in her late 70's. I don't believe you should ever stop learning, and I plan on never stopping.

Inspiration comes in different shapes

As I was walking back up the mountain with Basti in the stroller I encountered an interesting person. She was walking on the opposite side of the street. A briefcase in hand. Her clothes were stained with sweat and dirt. The top of her head was bald. Her back was hunched, and her pants were too short for her long skinny legs. She looked at me for a moment. Her face was was worn with time and sadness. I presumed she was returning to the asylum that we have next door, and her sadness made me want to give her some happiness, some light, some sunshine. So I came back home. Gave basti a pretzel to eat as I sketched this out. Yes you probably think wow....thats pretty ugly. Who would want to make that? Who would think thats pretty? Well the answer is me. I believe there is beauty in everything, especially a woman who is not a super model.

While sketching her, I decided to name her Lucille and the sunshine is a dandelion that her fictional self believes in an actual piece of sunshine that she has stashed away in her shirt pocket.

It brings her happiness. It makes her feel special, and I feel that at least in some parallel universe her sadness is diminished by this simple sketch and future embroidered wall hanging.

So thank you Lucille for your inspiration.

Rodanan The Friendly

As a troll Rodanan was always greeted with fear, disgust. He had never received a smile. Never heard laughter. Never felt kindness. But he know it existed. He had observed the other creatures of the woods, while hiding behind bushes, boulders. However, when he tried they all fled. Each day he tried, never giving up hope that one day someone would stay.

Finally that day arrived. As all the creatures screamed in fear, Rodanan saw in the darkness of a hole a long snout smiling back at him.

"Hello." said the snout. " I am Fenelchen. I am new to these woods."
Rodanan was amazed. He was actually frightened by Fenelchen's kindness.

I have finished my fish pouch. At first I thought I would make another bookmark, but as everything I make the creation was destined to be something else. I had no control over it. It told me what it had to be, a pouch. It is large enough for glasses, scissors, pencils, brushes, or anything of that sort.

I used a different stitch as you can see on the drifter, that is what I call her. It is a whipped chain stitch and it was fun to do. Of course I had to watch the video over and over again, because I would forget how to put the thread. "Was it over and under or under and over?" I would continually ask myself. And actually with this item I finally found my niche. I love embroidery. I love story telling, and I love combining both.

On another note, I have come to realize that I have left my blue period and entered my red one. The color red has been all I desire. I used to dislike red things. I thought it was too much too common, but now red has become a beautiful lake that I swim in. It is funny how a simple color can become so complex. It describes all of my at the moment, all the colliding emotions, thoughts, dreams, desires. It full of energy, passion, anger, turmoil, screams of anxiety and unleashed the overload of whispers that scatter freely though my mind. Therefore I have decided to create more Red creations, which stands for Rising edifices of desire! The next creation is on a drawing of mine. A troll of sorts, but an uncommon type of troll. A troll that is friendly and helpful. A troll named Rodanan who desperately tries to befriend anyone and anything. However all the creatures are afraid of him because of his species.

Once I have a prototype of him I will show him off. He is quite the charmer once you get past the smell of rotting veggies.

I would love to hear what you think of the pouch!
Happy Spring all....happy spring

Hello my name is Christine, and I am a compulsive person, obsessive about creating obsessions, and recently I have become obsessed with embroidery. However, I know that this will only be temporary. I want to end my bad habit of starting something with full force, and then after half way done not having the steam to finish it. I have thousands of stories that could be the next summer hit, but...never completed. Could it be because I am scared of what might or might not happen if I actually finish them? I guess I prefer to dream about the possibility than actually making it a reality. Things are changing though, and I believe it all has to do with my hair.

You are probably thinking I am crazy, and well yes, maybe a little. But I am the type of person that becomes more confident, sassier, depending on how I look. And with my new doo I feel liberated. I feel like my old creative self can breathe now. There was too much hair for my thoughts to get tangled in. No wonder I had so many knots.

So at the current moment, yes I am still making birds, and I am getting so used to making their little shapes that they are flying off the sewing machine. However, at the moments that I cannot be in front of my Bernina I am embroidering another bookmark. This one is about fish. I love fish. They are so graceful, calming, peaceful, and Basti was completely amazed by them when we went to Wilhelma. He would stand up against the glass and scream with excitement whenever a big fish would swim by.

This scene is of a fish calmly floating through the magnificent ocean, allowing the waves to carry her wherever they like. to their own rhythm, uninterrupted, at one with the beat and pace of her life.

Grrr the weather....

For some reason. unknown to me Mother Nature likes to drive me crazy. A few days ago it was 20 *C and today it has snowed and hailed.....What is is going on? I thought it was spring. "It is spring" my husband would respond with his all knowing German chuckle. Apparently my elementary teachers were all wrong about this season. It is not when you can wear pretty pastel clothing and jump with joy outside or lay  of the lavish green grass while picking beautiful flowers. How could you? They are buried under to cold blinding snow and hail.....

Aparently here it is either freezing or too hot.....I hope I am mistaken.

Either way just wanted to vent about the weather...

Happy imaginary spring

Weaving the creative drive through fabric

I have been inspired today by two amazing women, fellow threaders as I like to call them. One is the amazingly talented Jude Hill from Spirit Cloth and the other is Jean Baggot, who wrote The Girl on the Wall.
 These two women both use thread and fabric to tell stories, and I feel charged again to create and create. Today, after creating a few more birdies, I began to draw a scene of the common magic we see every day, but most likely goes unnoticed. It is a story of  young observant girl who watches as the petals slowly fall of a beautiful flower. A little blue bird joins her as they bask in the wonder of the delicacy at which the petals fall.
 It is a small scene, maybe even insignificant to some, but I have always found it beautiful whena petal dances gracefully in the wind, swirling, twirling, unaware of where she will land. Until finally she softly lands upon the soil where she will most likely remain for eternity, becoming one with the earth. Reuniting with the mother of all things.

The size of this scene is 21cm x 8 cm. It is hand embroidered with love and passion, and can either be a larger bookmark or small wall hanging. I would love to hear what you think.....:) Happy Spring

Topsy Tury Toby

Here is a close up of my new friend Topsy Turvy Toby. He is baby safe and very colorful. I like the fact that his ears are pointing to the right to give him a crooked look. I might just make more friends like him. Who says things need to be straight?

Lack of Vitamin D?

Happiness is a strange thing. It can seem so hard to achieve, yet so easy to obtain. But apparently it takes a certain mind set to find happiness in life. Like the chirping of birds can make people smile and enjoy the day, or a cup of nicely brewed coffee, or something even simpler as opening your eyes. I used to be that way. I would wake up in the morning and smile. I would see the sun and be happy. I would drink my coffee happily, and now with a baby, a gorgeous baby, you would think that my happiness would multiply. And in a way it has. I love being a mother to Basti, playing with him, teaching him, being with him. But there is a certain gloominess that hovers around. Maybe its the fact that we are stagnant. We have been in the same condition for months now, and yes even though there is a light that has and is still flasshing brightly in our eyes. I hate to say this, but I have lost that edgy positivity of " of course things are going to get better!" It is strange to see how certain living conditions can change a person, and I find myself at moments being so stressed, so tense. I catch myself in the mirror and I see a straight line, a tight rope as my mouth. My eyes look stern, and I hate it. I hate that the current condition has changed me.

I am that person on the subway that looks through the window wanting to feel the happiness that the sun rays are trying to give. Maybe I'm just exaggerating. I know I am a sensitive person, overly- sensitive, and being thrown into a different culture where people are sterner, into a different language that seems to be an ICE that you have to catch up with in order to get on...I have felt lost.

The only thought that runs through my mind is that everything happens for a reason. I am being taught a lesson. Maybe its because I was such a spoiled person. I used to live in a country where I had a maid, a chef, a chauffeur. I went to a private school where girls would come in with bodyguards driving Mercedes, BMWs, Audi's. A completely different mindset that is now being tortured and killed off, which I don't mind at all. That was not a realistic way to live life at all. I also saw the unfortunate people who lived on the streets, children begging for money, dirty, shoeless, sleeping on the steps surrounded by trash. I appreciate things more now, like a clean kitchen, folded laundry, a delicious meal. I enjoy doing things for myself. But still, there is something between these two clashing cultures that has saddened me. Its not the, what may seem, unfriendly stares, its more the solitude. People do not just walk up to you to be your friend. To ask you how you are doing. You have to know them first.

Well... I had the urge to write. Probably this will just be a post for myself, even though its nice to think that I am read my many, maybe even felt by some. Even if those readers are imaginary, they bring me comfort. I sound pretty pathetic, sorry for that. I am not always like this. Its probably the cloudiness.....

As promised, for any of you still reading this blog (are you reading? please say yes : D) here is a picture of a completed Sachet fly freely near my work space window. My little nook is quite sad I must say, maybe one of these days I will photograph it so that I can look back and see how sweet my little arch your back and don't bump your head while standing space used to be. I imagine my future self having this beautifully large and wonderfully lit room where I have my dream machine, roles of beautiful fabric, a cabinet fool of spools of thread (organized by color and categorized by brand) pin cushions dotted with different color pins, and my creations already tagged and waiting to go to the daily market to be met by FRIENDLY people (because they are sometimes hard to find anywhere in this world) and hopefully bought by them...I love to dream.

Today will probably be a sewing day, if the little one allows it. Even though my working nook is in the same room as his, just up the steep stares, he beings to scream and cry because I am not sitting with him while he plays. Mind you I can see him perfectly from where I sit and sew, and he can see be...but still he screams and screams until my thread breaks with my nerves and I storm down to tell him no and distract him....he is too smart, he knows my tricks and just looks at me with this look of  "Don't even try to go upstairs mama!"

Either way I have to sew, I only have maybe 4 completed birds that still need their stuffing and la, vender, and also I had the crazy idea to make my cousin Ale, who is pregnant, a little dragon for her future boy Mateo (isn't that a cute name!) Its a simple construction, but I need to finish that one by the 18th of this month....

On another note, I have been quite the adventurer. Since my mother has been here we have been going to thousands of places. We took her to Neushwanstein which is probably the most famous castle in Germany. Munich, a beautiful city full of amazing buildings, cafe's, markets, and smug arrogant mean people. We have also gone to Freudenstadt, which is only 15 minutes away anda beautiful town, Frankfurt to visit my cousin Susy. and Stuttgart.

Yesterday I was courageous enough to take Basti, my mom and I on a journey by train, and then subway connection to Wilhelma, which is a botanical garden and zoo. It was beautiful, but extremely stressful for me because I hate feeling lost and out of place. The day began with a flat stroller tire, which lead us to the baby store and then to a bike repair shop. My wonderful Husband, the multi-talented Dr.Niemann, repaired the leak and drove us to the neighboring train station to get out train. half an hour later we arrived to Stuttgart and wandered around the station looking for the subway.

After trying to figure out the map and which U14 to take, we scurried onto a finely packed can, also known as the UBahn. Apparently there is an unwritten codex of who to place a stroller in a ubahn, which I was unaware of, and still am, because many german mothers gave me an approving shake of the head. I pretended not to care, but inside I was a weeping child wanting my blankie and a warm bottle of milk. Its hard to pretend to be an adult that is confidente when you feel like you don't fill that role yet. I still feel like a kid playing with my mother's makeup....

Anyways, we finally arrived to Wilhelma and we amazed by its beauty. Basti was screaming and crying because he was hungry and tired. So we say on the grass (which Basti is petrified of!) and fed him. We walked around looking at the animals beautiful garden and buildings for hours, until Basti finally fell asleep and it was time to stuff ourselves back into the UBahn and take the train home.

On the way home I met the nicest person. She was ridding her bike with her family, and even though we only exchanged a few words she made me smile. It is so refreshing to find a friendly person. So thank you German mother of two I hope you made it safely to Rottweil!

Anyway...I'm sorry for the long post. If anyone read till the end..thank you I really appreciate it, truly thank you

my dream machine!

For a while now I have been dreaming about a machine that could help me complete my tasks faster, so that I can produce and create quicker, because at the moment every free minute I have I must cherish. So as I was wandering through cyberspace I came upon my dream machine, a machine that can do anything and everything. It is the Pfaff Creative 4.0 (cue the singing cherubs) I want this machine so bad it hurts, but the price here in euroland is way to far out of my none existing budget. But the dream still exists and persists, and at least I can imagine that one day I will be able to buy it....if only.

However, with my current Bernina, which I still like but is not the Pfaff creative 4.0, I have started making the sachets after making several prototypes, and finally I have a finished one. So one out of 60. ...59 to go...here's hoping I finish them on time.

I was going to post a picture, but I am lacking the stuffing which is deeply packed in a far of box down in the dreaded basement. So the picture will have to wait until Tuesday when all the stores reopen.
Until then..

Making Sachets

I just found out a couple of days ago, that my duty as a godmother is to provide a little gift to all the baptism invitees.  So being the overachieving sewing machine that I would like to be I decided that instead of giving them something that will collect dust I would give them something that would smell good and most likely collect dust as well. So I came up with a modernesque dove. the body will be in a bright chick yellow fabric, and the wings and the top strip that will join the two body pieces will be in a deep pastel pink with light yellow circles.

While on my delightful trip to Munich I found dried lavander at the daily fresh market, that I will be using to fill the sachets. The size of the doves will be about 10 cm in length and around 4 cm in width...and I have to make 60 of them before May 17th!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love a challenge.

I will post pictures of the prototype later today when I get a chance, because lately my little one has been a fussy one, and a cranky screaming one! Even though I love that he has a strong personality and a very defined notion of what he wants and when this mother gets tired of the awful looks and stares she gets whenever the little one is happily screaming in his stroller.
Any suggestions? Because I would be more than happy to receive any!

Ich habe vor wenigen Tagen herausgefunden dass ich ein Geschenk fuer die Taufe machen muss, weil ich die Taufpatin bin.
die reste spaeter.....