Well, I think it is time for a bit of an overhaul of my website. I've had it up and running since September of 2009 and I've only made a few small changes here and there. So now I'm going to take the next week to review every aspect of it and spiff it up a bit. I can't wait to add the new info about the Woodlands Gallery. I'm also going to organize my web gallery into works for sale, and an archive of sold pieces, private commissions and family collection. I'll also remove the patterns. I had such high hopes of creating all kinds of patterns, but I've found that every time I make something I just move on to the next piece instead of making patterns. If you have any comments or suggestions about my website and its navigation or flow, please send me a note through the blog comments. I'm always open to new ideas. This fibre art landscape brings a smile to my face because I was just inspired by buttons that day and it worked so well with the frayed linen behind it. It is also the first fibre art piece I ever sold. I think I hugged that poor fella. He never saw it coming.

Tracking Triple Seven - A Novel

What a fantastic book! I read this young adult novel by Jamie Bastedo over the last few days on a recommendation from a YA Fiction teacher named Anita Daher whom I met last week at the School of Writing at the CMU. She also has her own book that I love for teens called Spider's Song. We had a discussion about writing a book with two protagonists, one a human and the other an animal. She recommended Tracking Triple Seven and it was a lightning fast read. I was so pulled by the adventure that I could hardly put it down. It followed a tale of a young boy, the son of a diamond mine owner and a grizzly bear mother fiercely protecting her tiny cubs. Keep in mind it is a fiction for teens, but it was very engaging, especially if you want to write in that genre.

Woodlands Gallery!

Wish it, dream it, do it.
This saying is on the wall in my studio.
Your only limits are the ones you choose.
This saying is on my business card.
I truly believe that you need to surround yourself with good people in order to be a good person yourself. I spent some time with one of those good people today at the Woodlands Gallery. I am so excited to announce that today I signed the papers with Gallery Owner Jenny Tasker to have my fibre art displayed in her gallery. A real gallery. A major gallery. For me, this is a dream come true.

Poetry Writing Workshop

Well, my wonderful week of learning and writing is over and although the term "life changing" is grossly overused, I have to say that I savored every moment and my writing will never be the same. I am about to start the journey of my book. And even though I am excited, inspired and brimming with ideas, I will never speak of the genre or content of this book on my blog until it is firmly in the hands of some unknown but brilliant publisher because they chose me. To all of my classmates, it's been a wonderful experience! And to Barbara Nickel, you are pure sweetness!

Quote of the day

I have the most brilliant poetry teacher for this weeklong workshop. Today she gave me some one on one advice on a poem I wrote. She said the imagery and line breaks were there, but it left her wanting so much more. She was not getting enough info to clearly get my message. She wanted to know what I was hiding and who I was hiding it from. The quote of the day from her is "Write what you know. Be completely honest. Write as if the person you are writing about is never going to read it." This was the best day of class yet.

Poetry - Show Don't Tell

Here's a little piece that I wrote for an exercise from yesterday. We were challenged to write a poem comprised of a list of things.

OFFICE SPACE

A painted stone,
a watercolor print,
a pin up sign
bought in a vengeful moment.

Listen beneath the surface,
peace and quiet,
what goes around comes around...
fleeting moments
of self assuredness.

This poem went over quite well in class, but the teacher felt perhaps the first stanza could stand alone. Classmates offered that the sayings in the 2nd stanza may be too much and I could show what the items were rather than tell. The teacher said the reader is left wanting with only the first stanza so showing more could work. I love this class.

1st place!

Although I was planning to take a brief break from blogging for this week long writing course, I received some wonderful news yesterday. I won First Place in the art challenge for the Beausejour Quilt Show. I was thrilled. It's hard to believe that something you love and are so passionate about can appeal to other people. It's a bit surreal. So here's another picture of the quilt that won (I've posted the photo to sketch to quilt before) and here is a link to the Common Threads website with the announcement. By the way, the first day of my poetry writing course has been amazing. The teacher/poet Barbara Nickel and the students in the class are so inspiring. There is a lot of talent there. I wrote 3 full poems in 2 hours during an afternoon break. It was fabulous!