CONSIDER SEEDS

"Underneath the drfits, seeds are waiting. Their courage is incomparable, their patience unequaled. Hunkered down and hopeful, they sit out the frozen tundra, knowing and trusting that spring eventually will arrive. If ever you feel unsteady in the face of life's winters, CONSIDER SEEDS AND THEIR FAITH."--Tovah Martin Jan/Feb 2012 issue of Victoria magazine

...STANDING STILL AND LEARNING TO BE ASTONISHED

 Created with eco-printed and dyed fabrics and one commercial fabric because it went so well with the leaf prints

Ecoprinting has taught me to  be much more observant of the world around me. Enjoy this Mary Oliver poem:

Messenger

My work is loving the world.
Here the sunflowers, there the hummingbird--
  equal seekers of sweetness.
Here the quickening yeast; there the blue plums.
Here the clam deep in the speckled sand.

Are my  boots old? Is my coat torn?
Am I no longer young, and still not half-perfect? Let me
  keep my mind on what matters,
which is my work,

which is mostly standing still and learning to be
  astonished.
The phoebe, the delphinium.
The sheep in the pasture, and the pasture.
Which is mostly rejoicing, since all the ingredients are here,

which is gratitude, to be given a mind and a heart and these body-clothes,
a mouth with which to give shouts of joy
  to the moth and the wren, to the sleepy dug-up clam,
telling them all, over and over, how it is
  that we live forever.

Still Stitching

I'll be stitching on this till January 6, Epiphany, the official end to the Christmas Season. Maybe I'll have it finished by then.