Wednesday, January 10, 2007

Sewing and Altars

I had my sewing machine class yesterday and it was great. I ended up buying the quilting attachment which includes a walking foot, appliqué foot, 1/4" foot, darning foot and more. I was never good at patchwork since I could not maintain 1/4 inch seams consistently but with this new foot it is easy.

So I decided to put the sewing machine in the craft room since there is no heat in the other room. So I have been moving furniture and re-arranging everything. Now I have one big mess. Oh well I'll get it organized soon. I sat down to sew and I could not get the machine to work, it was very annoying. Then I figured it out, the last thing they demoed was free motion quilting so the feed dogs were down. Well it turned out that I could not get them to reset. I had to call the store where we bought the machine and ask. It was a simple thing to fix so now I am happily playing with my new baby. I think she needs a name but I haven't thought of anything yet.

Today I decided that I could not take the back pain any longer so on Friday I go in for a pain shot. That means that I will really feel bad for a few days and then hopefully it will be better. Its frustrating because there are things I could do to make it better like lose weight and exercise but I find I can't do any more cause its too painful. I hope this shot works for a longer time so I have some leeway to work on the other areas.

ALTARS















People have been showing their altars so here are some of mine. This one I call my feminine power altar. Its on the top of a bookshelf. I have fairies and angels, and dolls and my Eowyn action figures and a piece of Violette art.



















This next one is where I meditate, so I have my favs the Dalai Lama and Quan Yin plus candles and such. There are candles and sage and incense and personal things. The green items are there because I was doing work on the heart chakra, whose color is green.
















This is a poster I made with friends, we just cut things out of magazines that we liked. I liked mine so much I put it on the wall where I like to meditate.














This is where I have some prayer flags. It was the only place in the room where they fit. So I just have them decorating a bulletin board. The new set of prayer flags I got will go outside in my garden this spring.

I think altars can be as simple as just a grouping of pictures too and I have lots of those but I won't bore you with them. As an example on my computer desk is a picture of my grandmother Brigid, the shrine I made for my mom, a shrine from Pam Aries and the peace angel she sent me, below all that I have a crane, art from Kai that says Imagine and a picture of stones piled up on a beach plus two clippings of words. First the phrase YOU ARE A WRITER - believe it. I look at it every day and it reminds me who I am. The other is a cut out from a calendar.

and.....Action

Stop waiting for life to
happen to you. Stop
sitting and watching
what's happening around
you. Stop being an extra in
a boring movie. Become
the star of you own
movie and create a life
worthy of a star.

I really like what that says. This year I will be creating that star like life.

2 comments:

Lisa Oceandreamer Swifka said...

this is a fantastic post! First of all how fun to get your new sewing machine. I've had mine for so long and do you know I still have no idea if the feed dogs lower for free motion quilting. (that's what happens when you do it all by hand). But I have plans and ideas for my studio so I can keep it out all the time - and then look out!
Secondly, your altars are fabulous. I have not set up anything in my home..mostly due to having a small one with limited spaces. BUT it's in my plans to MAKE the room..find a place to find my center. I liked seeing yours.
I also have some prayer flags and some blank ones to put my own blessings to them. I will be hanging them outside.
So much to do, change and rethink. Thanks for all the inspiration.(sorry for the long comment too)
Love,
Lisa
XOXO

Unknown said...

Oh dear

I wrote a long comment and it has disappeared.

I just wanted to say how much I like your altars and what a good idea to have a peaceful corner to sit and contemplate.

Did you make your prayer flags?

Could you show a close up?

Off to read more of your postings.

Best wishes

lottie

http://kooringa.com
(the link below will be to my old blog as there is no facility for 'other user'