i have six small windows in two rows of three in my house.  on one side the view is out to the woods.  on the other it's out to an attached carport.  not real pretty on this side.  so i got out a big pile of old thin cotton fabric i bought for $5 when i was at a fleamarket with alice last year.  i was doing some fabric dyeing at the time and threw the fabric into a pot, not remembering now which pot or what plant material it was made from.  it came out pretty much like a darker tea-stain which i am ok with.

then i decided to hand-stitch some larger buttonhole/eyelet type openings at the top with my favorite embroidery thread which is also hand-dyed and has variation in color which i love.  when all the curtain panels are done i will probably string it with some lengths of rawhide and hang with old square nails.

is this a funny little project?  most people will never notice the hand-stitched holes i've already spent a couple hours stitching.  and the end result is pretty humble.

but this is just the type of creative project and result that i love.  so as i work i think to myself, "only me."  which, when i think further on it i realize is not true.

the other thing i think about is how the impulse that makes me do this project is the same impulse that fueled my painting and other "fine art" projects in the past.  i spent time several years ago dyeing an old white sheet, ripping it into thin strips, and then hand-sewing the strips back together.

i also took an old white baby dressing gown, tore that into strips and stitched it back together.

this stuff seems both pointless and maybe even self-absorbed but at the same time of utmost importance.  essential.  at least for me.  and the reason why i do this feels like one of the most honest and fundamental things about me.    

really inspired lifestyle/spaces...am i right?!

studio beerhorst

atchafalaya houseboat

i was up in the middle of the night last night. and i think it was meant to be.  i turned on the television and the documentary atchafalaya houseboat was on public tv. 

i am completely taken with this story. 

and i immediately ordered the book written by gwen roland (pictured above).  this is the story of a couple who set out in 1970 to live off the land and the water on a houseboat in the louisiana bayou.  the photographs were taken by cc lockwood.  they are spectacularly beautiful.  i grabbed these photographs from various places off the net but the ones on his site are so worth the look.

i will let you know more of my impressions once i start reading the book.  i am really looking forward to this.  but i also feel a little apprehensive because i have dreamt about living a similar lifestyle for some time now.  and sometimes i feel regret that i haven't just forged forward and trusted my instincts and ideas.  but regret gets a person less than a step.  and it can do a number on your head.  so i try not to listen to that little voice. 

also, as i've grown older my desire has turned from a true subsistence lifestyle  (it really may be tiring!) to just simplifying to the point where i own my own life.  where i don't have debt.  where i can spend a lot of time outdoors and i can take care of a healthy garden and do work that is enjoyable to me rather than do work just to earn a paycheck just to pay the bills. 

for me these thoughts are as basic as it gets.  because we have one life.  and we need to take this seriously.  to respect and honor the fact that we get to live.  and there are choices to be made about how to do it.  it is so easy to get caught up in living the way everyone lives around us. in living a sort of zombie existence.  in thinking our choices and lifestyle are a foregone conclusion.  in being afraid and not thoughtful and courageous.  the answer will be different for everyone but you have to ask yourself the question.

you have to have a sense of humor about this crazy ride.  and you have to accept all the twists and turns.  but in the end when you have that feeling in your stomach and that spark of enlightenment about what will make your life really mean something to you and to those around you, well, you gotta listen.

love, liane

a gift from france

One of my flickr contacts, Riana, sent me a sweet package. She is an incredibly inspiring woman and you can view her flickr stream here. She not only posts images of her life in France but writes a great deal about her daily experience and philosophy. For at least the past couple years she has hopped off the consumer treadmill and lived a slow life. She buys very little food and feeds her family plus countless neighbors from her garden, from foraging and from collecting food which is destined for the dumpster. In addition, She has been renovating an old house and it's quite beautiful.

She's been thinking about taking a break from the computer world and may not have new content for awhile but there is plenty in her past stream to explore. If you are interested in any of the things I mentioned and not already familiar with her I'd recommend going over to flickr and checking it out.

As a side note, her sister is Novella Carpenter, the author of the book "Farm City: The Education of an Urban Farmer". It's a great book and you can read about her here.

don't be jealous

but we just rocked this gingerbread house. at first we thought it was a fail..i miscalculated and ran out of dough, the walls cracked,people kept eating the candy! but lo and freaking behold, i woke up this morning and said to myself, you have got to finish the gingerbread house or this christmas will completely suck. heehee. just teasing.

anywaysssss...i thought you'd want to see it from all angles. the design is copyrighted, however. so don't even try it.

Christmas Chaos

I don't like Christmas. How's that for honesty?

I love buying a little something special for people I care about. I really love giving somebody a treat when they least expect it. I don't, however, enjoy frantic overspending, thoughtless consumption and stress. There. I said it.

I was going to share this a week ago and wrote it and then erased it. You can tell I have conflicted feelings about it. I grew up with pretty frenzied large holidays. I will admit that as a kid on many levels I loved it. But it also left me feeling unsatisfied and confused, too. Weird? And now as an adult I feel like I have to live up to the craziness for certain reasons (read: there are still people close to me who enjoy the mania.)

When I was looking for funny images to depict the frantic shopping holiday experience I found this. Ew. Shopping for what, Nits?

(the donald image image courtesy of here and nancy and mr. t were found here.)

380 square feet

Loved the story of this family here.