Appreciating The Small and Wonderful Things

Stop and smell the roses.  According to Wiktionary it means: To relax; to take time out of one's busy schedule to enjoy or appreciate the beauty of life.
Lets not forget the small beautiful objects that make up the whole. I have recently been photographing small things and small parts of the big things. Just looking at them are inspiring. It helps me remember the small wonderful things in my life and to be grateful for them.

A cactus growing in Celebration Park in the NW.
Not sure how it got there.
Totally and beautifully out of place, yet thriving.

We all live lives with a lot to think about, yet adding the smallest of details of warmth, love and beauty can relax us and remind us what it is all about. For me it is family and the yearning for peace. If we stop to smell the roses I believe that we can all start to relax and really care about each other.

Flowers in the Defiance Park NW

My art starts with one small idea and often just one color at a time. My hand dyed fabric for my Oseh Shalom piece was on my design wall for many years. I kept it there do to its colors and simplicity. It reminded me of the beauty within before I even work, just the beauty of colors. I also cut it to two pieces, one was a gift for my sister and O.Sh. will debut for sale in my next craft show coming in October.
I now need to dye another piece of fabric to go on my design wall. I want  to look and be inspired by the beauty of simplicity in one piece of dyed fabric before I get to work. None of my current pieces seem to fit the bill. I just might take one of the photos above and print it on fabric just to remember to smell the roses.

Oseh Shalom
Mixed Media Art Quilt

Once again in Israel

I was in Israel, the second time in less than a year that I am fortunate enough to be able to travel there.

I went because my husband and myself thought that it would be good for our kids to see me again. Who knows why we felt that way. But I cannot refuse an opportunity to see my adult children and to be in Israel.
Why does this place have such a hold on me? Even coming in to land I feel elevated just seeing the coastline and being within Israel boundaries once again.
I don't know if I can describe everything that I feel about Israel, but I will try to get a few points across. I still have lived most of my life in the country. I speak Hebrew with an accent and that never bothered me. I always felt very proud of the fact that I learned the language the hard way and can even read and write it fluently. But a language crosses border especially now with the internet and international TV stations.

The Western Wall. Always an inspiration.

I always feel inspired in Israel. I take many pictures and as an artist I never know how they will influence me in the future.

Residential building in Holon

A new high rise in Tel Aviv

Coming into Modi'in. Residential towers.

I always feel at home in Israel matter where I am. I don't mind the heat and I would rather live in a hot climate than I cold one.

Me in a second hand book store on Allenby St.

The best part of Israel: My family

However the real feeling is that I just love Israel. Everywhere I go I feel inspired to do more art and to live creatively. The landscape is my home. And of course there is no substitute for walking around Jerusalem. I like walking around cities and looking at the local architecture and Israeli cities I like the most. The best part of Israel are the people. Everybody seems to care about each other, though there are times that I just want to walk on my own. I love the way people will just start talking to each other, if it is on the beach or at a bookstore. Here I have emphasize that speaking to each other at bookstores I really like. I discovered Rom Oren because of several people who love to read got very excited when I said I was looking for a Historical novel. They all heard my conversation with the saleswoman and  were convinced that I would love The Red Scarf and they were right. That just doesn't happen to me in American book stores.
Yet I just don't think that says it all. So I will leave it at this. I love Israel and I am inspired to be who I am by Israel. I hope to return to live there someday and I hope that you can visit and fall in love with Israel too.

Tel Aviv My City

My eldest daughter in Yafo. T.A is in the background.

I would like to tell you a few things about my favorite city. I long to live close enough to walk around the city regularly. My city is Tel Aviv, Israel. Yes, I like a lot of cities. I know that most people would consider Jerusalem to be their favorite city at least in Israel. I do enjoy visiting Jerusalem and I am a patron of the Jerusalem Museum. (I especially like the archaeology exhibits). However I love the atmosphere in Tel Aviv. When I am in Tel Aviv I feel at home.

Tel Aviv is a diverse city. There are mom and pop shops next door to big international names. On the side streets you can find modern buildings squished into spaces in a way that you can think that maybe they were always there. Some of them perhaps were and are refurbished and built anew. As you can see many businesses and home owners get very creative when it comes to the outside of their dwellings
When you get to Yafo you can see older structures that are beautifully built with their large stones and bricks. The newer buildings are there but they try to keep with the spirit of the ancient city. Yafo is a beach city and you can see the Mediterranean when looking west peeking out between the buildings.
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And then their is the sea. I cannot body surf like I can in the Pacific coast of California. The sea is calm and relaxing to swim in, yet you still need to remember that it is still an ocean and know how to deal with an undertow. Once in a while there are jellyfish that can be quite painful if just merely touched by one. Fortunately, they don't allow you to swim when they are in shallow swimming water. The coastline is breathtaking. As another example of diversity; I can walk along the "Teyelet" (boardwalk) and see all kinds of people and hear many languages. The list of languages that I heard on my last walk on the Teyelet was Hebrew, English, Arabic, French, Spanish, Amharic and one other that I could not recognize. It is the summer and many people from other countries as well as Israelis are visiting Tel Aviv. There are impromptu booths selling rainbow kites that many people enjoy and they add to the landscape beautifully.

St performer dancing with fire

I got to be in my favorite city with my 3 adult children, it does not get any better than that! We walked on the Teyelet all the way from Tel Aviv to Yafo. We also took a slight detour and crossed the street to the old train station. It has turned into an outdoor mall and we had some fun and saw some street performers.

  There are many more things to do in this beautiful city. When in Israel don't forget to give her a chance.

New products and a new type of product.

I have a new type of product. I originally thought that my customers would be fellow quilters and fiber artists. Indeed a small few were. The majority of people online and offline that purchased "Blessings on Fabric" got the piece framed. I am of course delighted that they want to hang my work on its own on the wall. However it made me think that I should make a finished product. So, here it is. It is backed using Eco-Felt. That is a polyester felt that is made from recycled plastics. I am very pleased that I can use something that also stays in line with my values. I use an iron on fusible to stick both layers together. This laminates the fabric so it should not fray on the sides. 

The next problem that needed solving is how to hang it and make it lye flat against the wall using only one nail. I use a metal bar that is easy to cut to size and applied velcro to it. (I only need one side of the Velcro) I just put the bar on the felt the Velcro makes it stick to the felt back and voila. 

I added my twisted threads and some hand stitching as I felt each piece needs it.

You can see the twisted threads on top bulge out. That is where the nail will hook on to it.

I enjoy making sacred art and love having it displayed in my home. I hope my customers will enjoy having Judaica, and it will help make their homes into a peaceful place to be with their families and loved ones.

Saying goodbye once again to Israel and my children

This is my last day of a 6 week trip in Israel. So much to think about. I did not do many things that I had hoped to do. The important things like seeing my children and their homes I did. We were planning a trip for a while but when we got the date for Segev's "Chomta" well it was decided that we would fly during Sukkot. 

I am always sad that I have to leave. I miss Israel a lot when I am not here. We had to leave but now I wish I could live here again.
So much about Israel speaks to me, but most important my family. Beyond that, I feel always at home here. I like walking around and seeing how much building is going on everywhere. When I visited the Jerusalem museum I took a guided tour about archeology, they were all women and I had so much in common with them. When I was in Eilat and staying at a suite, the people there got so excited when I said that I was visiting one of my children that lives in Eilat. They asked where they all lived when I told them they sighed in relief, great they all live here in Israel. You must be so proud of them, he asked and I replied of course. I love that attitude, family is what keeps us grounded here in Israel.