In Memoriam :: Carrie Fisher

This is a blog post from 3 years ago that I'm reposting. I think Carrie would have enjoyed this one given her sense of humor. If you want a good laugh check out a recent interview with her and her dog Gary.

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Christine's Rolling Blog Hop is, well... hopp'n! I posted two of my spools 2 weeks ago, and I was waiting for a lull to post my third spool reveal. But looks like I'm going to need to squeeze back in.

The posts are just roll'n in, and we've seen some fantastic designs! I have all the links to everyone's reveals so far at the end of this post so you can check them all out.    

For my third design, I was working with this large, more irregular shaped spool. I did struggle just a bit with it trying to figure out what direction I wanted the design of the spool to be until I remembered an image I saw of a young Native American girl. She had beautiful dark hair tied up on either side in what is called a "Squash Blossom" style. The hairstyle is a Hopi custom which represents the sign of a girl's marriageability. The young girl will twist her hair in the shape of squash blossoms, which is the sign of fertility for an unmarried girl in the tribe. 

I wanted natural colors and fibers in this piece, so I used a linen colored silk from Darn Good Yarn, a mix of seed beads, Czech beads and howlite. I am loving this howlite stone with native designs. It has subtle tan-cream veining throughout the stone, which gives it a natural look. I also stained the spool so it had a deep color. The focal is long (6 inches!) and has a good weight to it. I envision it being worn waist length.

Ok, I know this is an irreverent move on my part, but once I started putting this blog post together I simply could not get an image out of my head. Is it just me? or do those squash blossom twists remind you of Princess Leia in Star Wars... I always thought of her hair as more of a Danish pastry swirl, but maybe that is just the recollection from the Ross and Rachel scene in Friends. Once I started googling images, both the Native American girl and Princess Leia kept coming up together. It was all over for me; the image stuck. The one I can't get out of my head is Nicolas Cage dressed like Princess Leia ... that is one that cannot be unseen... Gah!

We're almost through the rolling blog hop! Check out all the links and projects already revealed. Our host: Christine (Christine's post), and all the rest of the rolling bloggers: 
Janet (Janet's post), Hope (Hope's post), Bobbie (Bobbie's post), Tanya (Tanya's post), Maryanne (Maryanne's post), Cynthia (my first post), Liz (Liz's post), Lisa (Lisa's post), Kim (Kim's post), and the bloggers still to post: Therese (Therese's post), Karin (Karin's post) and Erin (Erin's post)

Perspective

A few weekends back I was able to get off the grid and just be. I 'unplugged' for the most part, from my devices. And had a few days of complete, and necessary relaxation. 

I didn't think about the office, what needed to be done at the house, if one of the kids needed something from me, or for that matter if my husband did either. It is a rare event, and so blissful when it occurs.

Sometimes I feel overwhelmed by all the things on my 'to do' list. I wonder how I will ever get through it all. I have a list on my desk in the office, another running tally I send myself from the train as I commute into work for the things I realize I forgot. I have another more permanent list of items in my notebook of tasks that take much more time as these are large, multi-month projects. And those are just the lists I have at the office. There is a whole other set of them for the house, the kids and when I get time ... my hobbies. The things that help me relax. Yes, I have a list of things for relaxation. 

I find that sometimes I lose my balance in life. While it is important to know where you are going, you can't see your footing without looking down --- that momentary glance to see where you stand. It is a shift in perspective from seeing the world as you move through it, to focusing on your next move. Not the move for tomorrow, next Tuesday or next month. But within the next few minutes, perhaps the next hour. Truly just living in the moment. No lists. I nearly missed this amazing sidewalk sculpture as I was walking the eclectic streets of Woodstock. Someone had installed a short little path of cement leaves, but I was busy looking at the store windows trying to decide if I would go inside.