Connections

There are a few things that I wanted to share that I've gotten a little behind on.

First, I'm happy to say that Jacky at Stitchworks awarded me a Liebster blog award. I always enjoy Jacky's blog, so I'm flattered she passed it on to me. The award is meant to showcase bloggers who have fewer than 200 followers. It originated in Germany and means "favorite" or "dearest." The rules are you must mention and link to the person who gave you the award and mention 5 other blogs that you think are worthy of the Leibster.

Yeah, it's sort of a chain letter, which I usually don't participate in, but I would like to take this chance to point out some blogs that I do really like. I don't have a clue whether they have under 200 subscribers, so I may be breaking all sorts of rules, but here goes.

Dee Mallon and Cloth Company. Dee has a wild abandon with fabric and fearlessly combines colors, prints, textures, in a way I love. Check out this page to see what I mean.

Dreamcicle Journeys. Paula experiments with a variety of mixed media and very generously shares her discoveries and knowledge.

Eclectic Meanderings. Deanna is doing lots of admirable eco-dyeing and stitching.

Ragzedge Arts. Lynne stitches and paints and photoshops and doodle draws and all sorts of fun things. Here's one of her paintings I fell in love with.

Copper Crow Studios. Tory makes fabulous wire and clay characters as well as many other interesting pieces.

Darn! That's 5 already! As long as I'm breaking rules, I'm going to throw in one more.

Madhandled Threads is a blog I recently discovered and am quite taken with. Joe does some wonderful stitching and zen-like reflecting. And he has the greatest blog name!

I've mentioned my art group, Portland Art Collective, here many times because of our shows, our retreats, our parties.... The group has 30 women who have been gathering for almost nine years now. I consider myself a pretty solitary person who is always fighting for more time alone, yet I love this group and consider it a major part of my life. If you are interested in starting your own art group, Tory Brokenshire and I wrote an article about ours in the Jan/Feb. 2012 issue of Cloth, Paper, Scissors.

And I was interviewed along with Lorraine Jones, our show coordinator, for Portland's Art Focus radio show. We talk about our group, our show, and our own artwork. I was really pleased with how it turned out. It's a 30 minute show and you can hear it here if you are interested. Note: it aired before our show last Dec.

Finally, I want to pass on this cool site of world textiles-- Fibercopia.com I especially like Maki Yamamoto's work that I found there.

Whew--that's what happens when I get behind.