Pride comes before a fall?

Pride. Once upon a time pride was a bad thing. Pride comes before a fall, we were told in scripture class. There were even stories of little girls or boys who were too proud and would eventually get their comeuppance. Pride was a definite nono.

But now its good! You should be proud of your achievements. Show some pride in yourself! Now you are destined for a fall if you have no pride.

I don't get it.

As a parent I feel like its so hard to strike a balance between love for your child and for yourself. So hard to pinpoint when you are standing up for your beliefs and when you are being self righteous.

You should be proud of your child! Or maybe not. Can you be proud and have perspective at the same time?

Risky business this pride analysis stuff.

I think I'll stick to embroidery.

Let Yourself Go

Today I watched extreme makeover. On this particular episode was a girl called Angela. Five years ago she looked fabulous. But life got in the way. She gained weight, bought a pair of bad glasses and...

Oh. Dear.

Maybe it is a sign? Paulo Coelho warned us about signs. I envisioned myself five years ago and thought...shiiiiiiiiiiiit.

Have I started to let myself go?

What the hell does that mean anyway? Let yourself go. Sometimes it means like really great man, surf the waves of life and go with the flow and all that. Have I let myself go in a good or bad way when I don't decline on the third glass of wine or fifth piece of stinky cheese on a cracker?

IS IT GOOD OR BAD TO LET YOURSELF GO?

I know older people who used to be really hot. They spent their life partying and having lots of sex and good food and now everyone says 'ah what a shame they've totally lost their looks. They just let themselves go...'

But they had fun...surely?

I'm not advocating being a pig or a lush. Nor am I trying to defend my love of wine and crackers (!?). I firmly believe in the importance of waking up early to practise yoga. But surely its nice to enjoy the simple pleasures life has to offer. And surely its good, if not every day, but once in a (somewhat regular) while to

let yourself go!

My selfish DIY xmas

In November I bought aaaaaaall this felt. Two very big bags full. I would make Xmas tree decorations as gifts this year, I said. Yes. And I made one. One felt xmas tree gift. Why? Maybe I got freaked out by what happened to it/her (see Seasons of love post) and lost my present making drive. Or maybe I just got selfish.

So I love sugar skulls and all the Day of the Dead decorations. I love the idea that once a year you celebrate those who have passed, with food and parties. So I took a piece of felt and stitched this sugar skull onto it. And I liked it so much I wanted to wear it, somehow. So at the advice of the very talented Loukia Richards (check out her work at http://www.myprecious.gr/designers/loukia-richards-2/ ) I made this bracelet. It being my first time making something like this it took me ages. And it totally devoured my present making time. But it gave me something to focus on through a month which brought the loss of three loved ones. The writing reads Those who live deeply have no fear of death- Anais Nin. For me that means be true to your heart and your dreams and be in the moment. I finished it on Xmas morning. So here it is, my Xmas present to myself and the reason that handmade gifts to others by moi didn't happen this year. I don't regret it coz...I like my new bracelet!

And a Happy New Year!

Well she made it to the tree! And not just our tree but a really big tree in another house altogether, and her new owners think she's fabulous. So wishing all of you a sensational continuation of Chrismas holidays and thanking you lots and lots for visiting my little blog. XXXXX

Seasons of Love

I made this felt matryoshka to hang on the Christmas tree this year. She was pretty simple. Just simple stitches. Split stitch and back stitch for the face and body and blanket stitch all the way round.

Still I managed to screw up big time! I had run out of fabric glue when it came to sticking on the white felt face. So I thought 'hey, big deal, whatever I'll just use a teeeeny bit of super glue'. Then suddenly my fingers were stuck together and I was shouting and running around aimlessly, madly washing and blowdrying the face until large parts of it had turned into felt cement. Shit.

Somehow I managed to save her. There were parts of her face that the needle could go through, and I added red pom poms to hide the glue. She still looks kind of like she's been thumped, with a blotchy eye that thankfully you can't see very well in the photo. But her destination is the tree, and she's going ahead with it.

Its been quite a rough spell. But I've seen all the riches of the world in love. I guess its kind of like how you see the most beautiful colours at sunset. Kind of like how we decorate our houses to celebrate on one of the darkest days of the year. So slightly battered I too am going ahead, dressing up my house and wishing you all happy holidays! :)

It must be love

I was going to give her away but I can't. She lifted me out of the shit in August and I feel we are in it for life!

Sometimes it pours. At the moment I have some personal stuff to wade through, and it doesn't help that when I look out the window all I can see is crooks and corruption. Its not easy living in Greece sometimes. Sometimes I fantasize about fleeing. Then I think 'where would I go?' I'd be so homesick. Thats the trouble with being Greek: you're pissed off if you live here, but you're missing it so much when you don't. So my yoga girl takes me back to the moment and the things here that I love.

I feel I can really relate to our foremothers who stitched their way through wars and dictatorships. 'Oh but they only did it because they had nothing else to do!' People tell me and I beg to differ. They loved it! It gave them immense pleasure and satisfaction. I know of a lady who made beautiful crochet lace who pressed her stitching kit into her granddaughters hands before she died, begging her to carry on the tradition. My own sweet grandmama took great joy in making stunning rugs, stitching, crochet, knitting just about anything. Everyone that knew her well knew how much she loved making things, and how these things gave her comfort in the toughest of times.

I like to look at my yoga girl. She is not a work of art, but I made her, and she and I have a history:)

Going to California

I didn't want to do this as a wedding present. I actually didn't want to do this at all! What I did want to do was a portrait of Anna and Panos, two of the most talented and stylish people I know. When I say stylish I don't mean like VOGUE. I mean that these two are so unique and charming in a way that I wanted to capture, somehow. Capture and hang on my wall! Not possible it seems. It wasn't happening.


I stalked the We Govern We and Anna's Facebook page to find the right photo. It wasn't there. She emailed it to me! It wasn't right. All I could see was her big gothy eyes from the We Govern We poster. And I wanted to stick them into the face of a big sunflower. And the sunflower made me think of the lyrics from their beautiful song 'Fields' so I stitched 'In my dreams glittering gold' under the small leaf. So a gothic sunflower, if you please.


What I find captivating about Anna's artwork and We Govern We's lyrics is this fine balance between darkness and light. She says it quite well herself in this interview: http://www.society805.com/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=51:wav-artist-anna-kararkalos&Itemid=32&lang=


Do click on the gigantic link and go look at her artwork! I apologise for being a computer moron and not knowing how to make a word a link. You mustn't hold that against her! Also do go to http://www.myspace.com/wegovernwe and listen to the music from their new album, produced by Daniel Ash (the Bauhaus and Love and Rockets guy). My favourite song is Come Atlantis. It makes me cry, in a good way.

It also makes me cry that I won't be able to make their wedding this month. So I will send this sunflower. Its my favourite flower. My Dad sent me a massive one when I left for Uni. I held a bunch of them when I got married. I unwittingly stitched one to send to California to ABC and the Bear:)