Photo: portrait with a woman in a dark indigo skirt - a new larger embroidery artwork
Hello again, I hope you are well. Last weekend I took a moment and realised: you need to slow down a bit. Of course, easier said. But then I knew the summer cold I was fighting off was just the kind I get when I need to actually slow down.
There is a tendency in myself to want to do all the things, all of the time. Oh but I want to do that! Oh my I need to do xyz. Then I look in the mirror and I am no longer the dark-haired twenty year old of my self-imagination. I am human and I need to get tired once in a while.
So over the past week or so I have slowed down and also got on with life, quietly. I need quiet. I am one of those people who need a lot of alone time. Alone - I must remind myself - is best done without a phone in my hand.
And so - like many people I have decided from now on to spend less time online and more time with myself (and other people). This means a reduction in scrolling (particularly Instagram) and news reading. Dear friends, if I miss your post on Instagram, please forgive me. Stay in touch via email or message me here.
Instead I will devote more of the time I do spend online reading Substack essays and watching long form videos. And most importantly to me, I am going to spend more time writing. Scrolling through Instagram does not help me get my book put together.
The other day Instagram recommended that I start a broadcast channel to stay connected to my followers and my immediate reaction was: ick + exhaustion = you must be Xing joking also = no.
I actually like Instagram for the ability to share my work and more than anything make connections with other artists - but the way it operates and plays mind games is not healthy.
Thank you for reading here - this is how I want to stay connected to you. Please leave a comment, tell me what you would like me to share here, tell me a little about how you are feeling: re social media. These Sunday posts are free to everyone and everyone is welcome to join in the conversation.
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More Unexpected
I felt a wave of hope and inspiration. I asked myself what I really, really wanted to do. My plans for the week got changed up. And I sat down at my sewing machine and felt happily obliged to stitch. Two new embroidery portraits have come about over the past several days. You can see one at the start of these notes and the other below.
Photo - A Gentle Hand - embroidery artwork
In case you didn't know, I had been taking a break from my embroidery portrait stitching. I now have it pretty well confirmed - I cannot predict when these pieces will want to show up. There may be more to come quite soon, or I might need to be patient. They are such a particular way of working - as you may imagine with all those tiny details - it’s impossible for me describe exactly what tells me how and when to stitch these portraits. It’s just something that happens. Or does not.
Too often a creative person may set themselves long goals that don’t take into account their ever fluctuating creativity. We need breaks. We need to put that project in a drawer and let that project just sit for a while.
Fortunately, for me, I have other things I can do that I want to do. I am at the very core of my being a maker of things. Whether the thing is a stitched portrait, a doll or a written story. It is with great thanks that I get the opportunity to make these things. And so I must never apologise for the times when I cannot make them. Ebb and flow.
Take care of your energy this summer, I tell myself. The days will fly by.
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Shop News
My next update is today: Sunday 23rd June at 7pm UK time - I have a trio of new dolls and two new embroidery portraits. Preview them from 2pm.
Also please note: I am going to be updating on Sundays only during the summer weeks. Sundays 7pm UK time. Thanks so much for your interest and kind support.
Postcards - you may have noticed I am not currently offering postcard sets. Over the past several months I experimented with my idea for a ‘postcard club’ - sending a set of surprise cards out with an original tiny drawing. I am grateful to everyone who purchased these. After carefully considering my approach and sales, I have decided I want to offer a wider range of themed postcard sets and will be launching these in September.
Photo: a trio of new dolls - from left to right: Ethel, Olive and Rory. Ethel is rather proud of her cross stitch pocket.
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A Few Small Stories
Cross Stitch is My Yoga
Now that I have new glasses, I can see to cross stitch with less fuss. Cross stitch is my meditation, my yoga, perhaps, as I slow down my breath: inhale on the first half stitch and exhale on the second. Mindful of my posture, I try not to lean too far into the crosses or too far away. If my mind wanders I must bring it back to the shape of my cross being square.
I don’t go so far as to tell myself: be the cross. I am at peace with the thread, most of the time.
Then there are days when I improvise an alphabet and it flows so well. Only later do I realise I stitched most of the letters eight crosses high but the last row of letters nine crosses high. I breathe in, I pause, I decide not to rip it out. This is what happens in cross stitch and in life: some days you see the end as bigger than it is.
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Emergency Parking
One parked car all alone in the car park. There has been no attempt to park neatly, no consideration for other drivers. The car is parked across two spaces and its wheels are at a sharp angle. All I can surmise is the driver was in a desperate hurry to get out of that car. Perhaps there had been a wasp in the car. They simply had to stop and get out before the wasp, maybe many wasps, attacked them. Or perhaps they had a screaming child to take care of. Or maybe, and I suspect this the most: they were simply tired of doing things properly.
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Fake Tan
Due to the lack of sunshine this June there has been a noticeable level of fake tan in the neighbourhood. I note, for example, a deeply fake-tanned woman in her twenties wearing a scant skirt-shorts ensemble and carrying a red headband/fascinator. She walks unsteadily in high heels. it is nine am, so I cannot be sure if she is off to an event or arriving home the next day from one. All I can tell for certain is she is very much a shade of mahogany only obtained from sprays or lotions.
I admit, many years ago, I did once try fake tan myself. It was the early nineties so the chemistry of such concoctions was still in its infancy. It was impossible to not have yellowed, smoker’s palms the next day. I had the most magnificent streaks over my legs. My face was a bewildering yellow so I tried to adapt my skin tone with lots of peachy foundation and blue eyeshadow. I went out to dinner looking like a half-finished German Expressionist portrait. I don’t know why I did not just sit in the sunshine. I tan easily. Surely the sun came out back then?
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Summer Solstice
Summer solstice with sudden brilliant sunshine. One after another, a display of summer insects make their way into the flat. It is a slow parade of moth, wasp, hornet, blue bottle fly, and wasp and bee, and tiny unspecified winged-thing. Again and again, I stop my work to escort them out the nearest sash window. My method is a simple one: clear plastic pot and folded paper. The clear plastic is important because then the insect understands it is not suddenly night. If you trap an insect inside a dark space they will stop moving and are less likely to fly out when you are waving them out of the window. This is just my theory, of course. Nearly all the insects I help out are compliant. No one stings me though the wasps make a big show of their sting. The thing is to be the calm one in this dance and to try not to chop off any legs.
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Thank you for reading here, for all your kind comments on previous posts. If you enjoy my writing and would like to buy me a coffee, this is much appreciated. I am very grateful to everyone who supports me this way.
photo: recent book/sketchbook pages - this is the small postcard book I seem to have been working on for too long. Hopefully it might come together soon and I can make a video of looking through the pages.
I so enjoy whatever you choose to share with us here, Cathy.
You made me laugh out loud, looking like a half-finished German Expressionist painting!
The emergency parking tale reminded me of my second driving test. I was pulling into a parking space at the test centre, breathing a sigh of relief that the ordeal was almost over. Just then, a wasp appeared and began buzzing around my head. Being nervous around stinging things, I swatted furiously, managing to stop the car just short of the fast approaching brick wall. I somehow passed the test, and have never driven since that day, over 30 years ago. xx
Always a delightful read, Cathy! I believe that many of us are questioning our habits with how we spend our time, especially on anything digital. We are being manipulated by algorithms and AI and it has changed the way that we can interact with each other. This is most unfortunate when we have discovered friends around the world! As a result I’m spending much less time on Instagram. I do appreciate your Substack posts and the opportunity to feel a sense of connection here! Thank you for all that you share!