Tag Archives: weekly photo challenge

music, other, sewing

Riffing . . .

2 Comments

. . .  on Nana Cathy’s Monday post, Morning Pages, in which she refers to Julia Cameron‘s book, The Artist’s Way.

In her post Cathy asks how people cope with their inner critic. She  also talks about a newer book (by Cameron) that I haven’t read, The Artist’s Way for Retirement: It’s Never Too Late to Discover Creativity and Meaning.

This newer book’s title is something I’ve promoted forever, so there are searches going on . . .   expect further comments anon.

Getting back to that inner critic — those are the bits I chose to write about in my older blog.

[Older blog?, I hear you ask.  Let me explain . . .

Before I started writing about sewing, I blogged about classical singing, because I’ve spent my life studying, teaching, and coaching classically-trained singers and musicians.

When I switched to sewing I decided to keep some of those earlier blog posts, and that’s how Del’s Other Stuff was created. Later, I also used it for the WordPress Weekly Photo Challenge, which eventually ended, may it  R.I.P.  😿]

Please understand — the posts I’ve listed below were written from a classically-trained musician’s point of view; however, I think you can easily replace music with your own area of creativity.

Going back to Cathy’s query, ‘how do you deal with all the nagging negativity?’

You turn each statement around and replace it with its’ opposite, the positive. Do that firmly. Repeatedly. LOUDLY!

Stomp around and yell if you have to! Just be sure you’re being positive. That’s the only way the other leaves: It’s forced out and replaced with the truth.

Which might explain why a brisk walk can sometimes be a good thing. 😉

In no particular order, below are some of my older posts on Cameron’s The Artist’s Way. I hope you find them useful.

Squidgy package ! ! ! 🤗

And just so’s you know there’s still fabric and sewing and all assorteds going on here, I’ve included a sneak peek at the next stage of my current soft furnishings project. . . . . he-he!

Hope all you lovely readers are keeping going with your own creative pursuits. Being constructive is a positive activity, with all sorts of positives attached for yourself and others.

I’m looking forward to reading your thoughts and comments!

Can you spot the third fabric hiding between those gorgeous top and bottom layers?!

 

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how sweet it was

Am sad to see this going away, and hope something even more enjoyable will come along soon.

This was posted over on my sewing blog in December of 2013.  I love photographing candles in the dark, and working with mirrors is also intriguing.

Many lovely photos from people in other parts of the world have enlightened and delighted me over the years. They will continue to be read and enjoyed.  I hope more will come along in future.

 

 

WordPress Photo Challenge

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much loved heirlooms

Aeons ago in a galaxy far away there lived a young woman about to go out into the stars to live life on her own.

The young woman’s two grannies, being far-sighted and wise women, had taught the young woman the needle arts. They knew from their life experiences the young woman would need them in her travels.

It seems they right. But we’ve already noted they were wise women.

As they were generous as well as wise, they decided to gift their young charge with some of their own skilled work. In due course the young woman received these gifts, one of which is shown in these photos.

The young woman began travelling from galaxy to galaxy, always keeping her granny treasures amongst her valued possessions.

One day she met another traveller and they decided to journey together. He soon learned to value the granny gifts, and the skills they had taught the young woman.

Which is why, when the couple decided to have their own young people, the not quite so young woman passed on the granny wisdom to her young people, too.

A story submitted to the WordPress Weekly Photo Challenge.

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variations . . .

I’ve often photographed fabrics that might work well together, entire outfits, and checked out colours and accessories by photographing them. These different views often present surprising suggestions.

Late one evening I suddenly wondered if a long unworn necklace might be a good match for a certain fabric.

Lo and behold, I became fascinated by the necklace ~ rediscovering its beautiful ingredients.

 

 

 

 

WordPress Photo Challenge

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silence is golden

silent halls

This was taken during a visit to the bookstore on the University of Chicago campus, just before it moved.

These doorways always remind me of a seminary, or a cloistered nunnery… or a cloistered something!

To come from a bustling campus into a gorgeously cramped space full of books for sale, and then into this back hallway, with no echoes of anything ~ sheer bliss!

WordPress Photo Challenge

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weathered whimsies

Here’s is a bit of the mosaic lobby flooring of the 100-year-old building I lived in for most of my Chicago years… which came nowhere near 100 years.

Maintenance were laying new lobby carpet one morning, and jackhammering this out.  HORRORS! Not anything for me to save except some photos.

Far too much of that still goes on in the Windy City and elsewhere. However, the Art Institute does collect bits and pieces of architectural gems from past years, as I discovered one day.  (see right)

(left)  Whilst visiting in Palo Alto (California) one summer I managed to have tea at a favourite tea shop, and admired their vintage cup & saucer collection for sale with other accoutrement.

Lastly, below  is an example of a woolen scarf, originally knitted whilst in Chicago, and not worn since.

Rediscovered just before our latest Arctic blast, I frogged (unraveled) it and crocheted it a bit wider this time.

At the top is what 6″ pieces of the frogged yarn looked like before washing. Below is how they straighten out after washing.

Stay warm, or cool if you’re Down Under!

 

WordPress Photo Challenge

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a new year, and new beginnings

Here are a couple of photos from the past, it being too cold just now for foraging in fields for new photos.

This was taken indoors in Chicago, using typical winter indoor plants. Guess I was yearning for blossoms and greenery.

Also from Chicago… It was late March and extreme warming flooded the area, with dramatic results in all the parks. This was taken in a tiny South Loop (downtown) park squeezed between two old building.

The entire area had been heavily occupied by printers and associated trades until the 40’s and 50’s, so park designers chose to use type face on the seating blocks, using neighbourhood street names as they would have looked to those  historic typesetters.

Submitted for WordPress Weekly Photo Challenge.

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..a few of my favourite things…

As Nigel Slater said recently on BBC’s Women’s Hour, I also perk up the moment autumn starts cooling the summer temperatures.

That’s when I begin making plans and actually feel like doing things.

In hot weather—particularly hot, humid weather—I become a sleep-deprived slug.

Not surprisingly, my favourite things all have to do with the cooler temperatures of Autumn and Winter.

Here are a few of them that I hope you all will enjoy.

 

And to all of you, may Peace, Joy, Health, and Happiness abound in your experience now, and in the New Year to come.

an all-time favourite is tea & biscuits. . . yes, I dunk.

Submitted to WordPress Weekly Photo Challenge.

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ascending or, what goes up!

In 2010 I was in Arlington, Virginia enjoying some of the sights, including this fantastic  stairway.

At Signature Theatre, “…  a Tony Award®-winning, non-profit professional theater company…”  this stairway leads from the lobby up to the stage and café floor.

It lights up under the treads, with the colours changing, as I hope you can see from these two photos.

WordPress Weekly Photo Challenge

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Vita brevis (Life is short), ars longa (& art long)

how much of this is temporary – the life of the composer? the piece of paper? the rose? the musical interpretation? the concept of beauty in multiple forms?

“The aphorism quotes the first two lines of the Aphorismi by the ancient Greek physician Hippocrates.”     Wikipedia

Vita brevis,
ars longa,
occasio praeceps,
experimentum periculosum,
iudicium difficile.

Life is short,
and art long,
opportunity fleeting,
experimentations perilous,
and judgment difficult.

Submitted for WordPress Weekly Photo Challenge.