It takes a special person to feel…really feel…the world. This person isn’t me…but I am working on it.

People around me, and me particularly, are so focused on the here and now. How can we not be, when it is what is in front of us? Take a step back, feel the earth beneth your feet, stretch to see the sky above your head, and notice nature changing; getting ready to sleep. As I live more, I feel the earth is spinning faster. Sweet minutes slip away like a lollipop on your tounge and the day is done before you realize it. I am trying to get those minutes back. I am trying to “organize” my life so I can spend a little bit of time in those moments, doing those activities that give me and my family the most joy. For a list-oriented, task-minded, multi-tasker, this lesson isn’t learned easily.

I find my sewing and needle felting work inspiring. The soft and vibrant colors draw you in wonder. The soft luxury cashmere textures make you yearn for a warm fire place, slippers, and hot chocolate.  As I stare at my pieces, I see deer and rabbit tracks needle felted in white across this blanket, indicitive of light feet on fresh fallen snow. On that blanket I see the spiral shapes in abstract on red panels, perhaps swirling time so you stay a while. And I see fall foliage, pine cones and pine branches felted on a warm hunter green, and brown toned background.

This observance of nature draws me back into childhood memories when my sibling and I would clear leaves from the stream with sticks in the spring. We would watch the green beans, tomatoes and cukes grow in the summer. And gather wild flowers in the fall and play in snow piles during the winter. We were emmersed in nature. Simply soaking in its seasonal wonderment and teachings without even knowing. And I miss it now. I wish for it for my children, here living in the suburbs.

Maybe this is why I enjoy this sewing work so much, and how it envokes me to believe in nature everyday.

For you do-it-yourselfers out there, I plan to post a tutorial about how to make cute stuffed animals out of recycled felted cashmere sweaters. I am in the throws of testing out my elephant design…so stay tuned!