Longfellow Poetry Pin-Keep

Snow~Flakes

Out of the bosom of the air

Out of the cloud~folds of her garments shaken,

 

 Over the woodlands brown and bare,

Over the harvest~fields forsaken,

Silent, and soft, and slow

Descends the snow.

  Even as our cloudy fancies take

Suddenly shape in some divine expression,

 Even as the troubled heart doth make

In the white countenance confession

The troubled sky reveals

The grief it feels.

   This is the poem of the air,

Slowly in silent syllables recorded;

 This is the secret despair,

Long in its cloudy bosom hoarded,

Now whispered and revealed

To wood and field.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

January 18th, 2012

 Dear Diary

This morning I woke up to falling snow...the sky was downcast and melancholic...a perfect day to hike our rocky beaches. I love the feel of the coast in winter...some say it's depressing...you either have to revel in it or curl up and get depressed by it...I choose to revel in it. It was a very grey day, damp and chill...the kind of chill that numbs your hands in seconds. But I loved it...I love this wild quiet place...close to the big city but yet...it feels like you are a thousand miles away. Bald eagles alight on giant cedars, sea otters eat their catch on rocky outcrops, seals flit and fly through the water. Growing drowsy from the cold...relaxed and content...home for tea.

Homemade London Fog Tea 

    1 big mug of strong Earl Grey Tea. I like to preheat my mug with hot tap water before I pour my tea...me hates lukewarm tea.
  a good healthy splash of Organic Cream
3 TBSP Organic Vanilla Extract.

2 Packs Stevia Powder...I love really really sweet tea.

Will warm the cockles of your heart.

One of my favorite things to do is collect poetry...really visually inspiring poetry, I write it out, put it in my pocket, then go outside with my camera to search for landscapes that match the poem. Researching and reading Mr. Longfellow's poems inspired me to create a Mr. Longfellow Pin-keep.

Faded blues, Forget Me Not Flowers, French General Fabric, Linen Backing.
Ivory buttons, seam binding ribbon and a few tarnished pins embellish this piece. And one old vegetable ivory button to hold them all together...on the back.

Cheers,

Cold and Chilled Susan

TDIPT Update Tonight

My Tdipt lisiting starts tonight

 Adopted by a Sweet French Bear

Sorry to those folks who went to TDIPT at the right time to see my new Snowshoe Hare lisitng but instead saw my old Valentines Heart Lisitng. I had problems with my TDIPT page and so the new lisitng didn't get put on till just a while ago....this little guy is there now if your interested in giving hima forever home. Does this make sense...clear as mud. LOL!

Cheerio, Susan

Up for Adoption

Well...it's with mixed feelings that I have decided to part with my Snow Shoe Hare Pin-Keep. I have grown rather fond of him and will be sorry to see him go...sigh. He's been keeping me company while I stitch and sew the hours away...those little black eyes sparkling in the sun on my windowsill...I am sure he will go to a lovely home where his wee fuzziness will be appreciated.

  You will find him up for adoption on my TDIPT Mercantile page Sunday, January 15th between 6 and 6:30 PST.

North American Time Zones

( 6 pm PST, 7 pm MST, 8 pm CST, 9 pm EST )

Price $170.00 .U.S.

Shipping by Airmail with Insurance $14.00 U.S. to anywhere in the United States or Canada.

International Buyers email me for a shipping quote.

 

One of a Kind and guaranteed to put a smile on your face.

If you should have any questions regarding this piece please feel free to email me as I would love to hear from you.

Cheerio, Susan

Another Tantilizing Tidbit

Another tantalizing tidbit to add to my Blue Bayou Series of pieces which I hope to offer up for adoption at the end of this month. The date is tentatively set for January 27th ...will give you more details regarding this sale later on in the month. 

Don't ya just love surprises though...I know I do. They make life sweet and give you something to look forward to.

Cheerio, Susan

Storm Season on the Sunshine Coast

 

  The Storm 

Against the stone breakwater,
Only an ominous lapping,
While the wind whines overhead,
Coming down from the mountain,
Whistling between the arbors, the winding terraces;
A thin whine of wires, a rattling and flapping of leaves,
And the small street-lamp swinging and slamming against
the lamp pole.

Where have the people gone?
There is one light on the mountain.

Along the sea-wall, a steady sloshing of the swell,
The waves not yet high, but even,
Coming closer and closer upon each other;
A fine fume of rain driving in from the sea,
Riddling the sand, like a wide spray of buckshot,
The wind from the sea and the wind from the mountain contending,
Flicking the foam from the whitecaps straight upward into the darkness.

A time to go home!
And a child's dirty shift billows upward out of an alley,
A cat runs from the wind as we do,
Between the whitening trees, up Santa Lucia,
Where the heavy door unlocks,
And our breath comes more easy
Then a crack of thunder, and the black rain runs over us, over
The flat-roofed houses, coming down in gusts, beating
The walls, the slatted windows, driving
The last watcher indoors, moving the cardplayers closer
To their cards, their anisette.

 

 We creep to our bed, and its straw mattress.
We wait; we listen.
The storm lulls off, then redoubles,
Bending the trees half-way down to the ground,
Shaking loose the last wizened oranges in the orchard,
Flattening the limber carnations. 

  A spider eases himself down from a swaying light-bulb,

Running over the coverlet, down under the iron bedstead.
Water roars into the cistern.

  We lie closer on the gritty pillow,
Breathing heavily, hoping
For the great last leap of the wave over the breakwater,
The flat boom on the beach of the towering sea-swell,
The sudden shudder as the jutting sea-cliff collapses,
And the hurricane drives the dead straw into the living pine-tree. 

The Storm by Theodore Roethke

 

Susan's almost swept out to sea adventure. 

 Storm season has arrived on the not so sunny Sunshine Coast...

 and I am L o v i n g every minute of it!

Cheers, Soaking Wet Susan

Blue Bayou Sneak Peek

Well...its that time again...for the last couple of years in January I have held a Blog sale centered around the color Blue...cause January is kind of a feeling Blue month. I was hoping to have a Valentines day sale but I don't think I can get everything completed and shipped out by January 14th. Instead, there will be a variety of different pieces...all in shades of blue, cream, sepia, black and white. I will post the date of my blog sale shortly.

A little reminder that I will also be listing a piece/pieces on the TDIPT Mercantile Site January 15th...hope you can come by to peruse all the wonderful work created by the folks of TDIPT.

Happy New Year my Friends

 May the Blue Bird of Happiness alight on your side of the fence.

--------------------
"Every new year people make resolutions to change aspects of themselves they believe are negative. A majority of people revert back to how they were before and feel like failures. This year I challenge you to a new resolution. 

I challenge you to just be yourself."

Aisha Elderwyn

Have a Mice Day!

Susan

Snowshoe Hare

The snowshoe hare (Lepus americanus), also called the varying hare, or snowshoe rabbit, is a species of hare found in North America. It has the name "snowshoe" because of the large size of its hind feet and the marks its tail leaves. The animal's feet prevent it from sinking into the snow when it hops and walks...but sometimes the snow is so deep that it has to wear extra foot apparatus...ironically, called snowshoes...to prevent it from sinking even further. Its feet also have fur on the soles to protect it from freezing temperatures.

For camouflage, its fur turns to grey or white during the winter and rusty brown during the summer. Its flanks are white year-round. Its ears are shorter than those of most other hares. In rare cases it may also be seen wearing a black wool coat which adds an extra layer of warmth.

In summer, it feeds on plants such as, grass, ferns, leaves and carrots; in winter, it eats twigs, the bark from trees, and buds from flowers and plants and carrots, along with the Arctic Hare, it has been known to steal vegetables from gardens. This animal is mainly active at night and does not hibernate.

 

The snowshoe hare may have up to four litters in a year which average 3 to 8 young. Males compete for females and females may breed with several males(Naughty).

This particular Snowshoe Hare is of the miniature wool felt variety with a painted head, black glass bead eyes, embroidered nose and a needle felted sheep's wool tail. Braving winter conditions, and donning his cross stitch snowshoes, he has walked to his outdoor larder to retrieve a (wool-felt)carrot for his supper.

This little fellow is about 5.5 inches tall from the tip of his ears to his chenille stem feet. The entire piece is almost 8 inches tall by 6 inches wide. 

Just wanted to share my very latest creation with you...it has been a long time since I've sat down and made something...feeling pretty rusty...trying to get my sewing mojo back again. Overall I am happy with how this pieces turned out...first time I have cross stitched snowshoes onto fabric and then placed a character on top of the snowshoes...I think it worked out as he does look like he's wearing them. 

Back to work...

 Merry Christmas my Friends!

Susan

PS...thank-you for your kind comments...I have really enjoyed hearing from you!

The 12 Days of Christmas Cats

Wishing you all the joys of season...

Merry Christmas!

Susan

News and Views...home renos

Kitchen before

Kitchen removed...no stove...2 burner hotplate cooking at its best...

The laying of 2 foot by 1 foot slate, each piece weighing in at about 10 pounds each...350 tiles.

Buttering the tile with mortar...laying tile is HEAVY, labor intensive and VERY time consuming work. First you have to remove the existing flooring. Mix the mortar, trowel mortar onto floor, lay orange plastic Ditra onto the mortar. Plastic Ditra provides stability for the tiles as well as tooth for the mortar to stick to. Then trowel on another layer of mortar, then lay buttered tile onto the mortared floor...I am getting tired just thinking about it. 

 Mixing grout

 After you finish laying the tile ...you then have to seal it...TWICE...ugggg.

I was on my knees with a small sponge brush painting each tile with sealer. We then grouted all the tile seams(((can I say...HUGE MUCKY MESS)))...scrubbed the whole floor...TWICE. Then I again painted each tile with sealer...are you tired yet? I was! I didn't even mention all the tile cuts you have to make. All in all I am completely in love with my new slate floor...I have to say that I didn't take into consideration how much work it would be for hubby and I...would I do it again...maybe...a big maybe. But the best part is we saved about $5000.00 to $6000.00 by doing it ourselves. Professionals charge exorbitant amounts to lay this type of floor just because it is so labor and time intensive.

The finished floor...

I individually picked and placed and replaced each tile a dozen times till I was happy with where it was...colors and textures evenly placed throughout the floor...again...time consuming but worth every minute.

The photo above shows where our kitchen was...we actually have our new cupboard boxes installed but I haven't taken photos of them yet...that will be a later post. We are currently waiting on our painted cupboard doors,counter-tops...in the meantime we are beginning the task of laying wide plank fir flooring. Whats that old adage..."No rest for wicked"!  

 OTHER NEWS 

I have begun setting aside time so I can to create new pieces...I will have one or more listed on TDIPT January 15th. My studio space is all set up and I am very excited and happy to be working again. To celebrate my return I will be hosting a Give-Away which I plan to have in January or February...so stay tuned. 

 Please feel free to join my email list(upper right of blog) to be notified of my up and coming sales.

In the News

Part two of TDIPT'S Stampington article will be in the January issue of Prim's Magazine...it will feature some of my work as well as other TDIPT artisans.

Pre-order Prims

  Cheerio for now..Susan