The Sassy Little Craft Show

book of love still life, originally uploaded by Kim's Suitcase.

Tonight!

I will have books of love, pouches, dolls, cards, and pins. Please do come by and say hello!

http://www.myspace.com/sassylittlecraftshow

Lexia Fortsien

lexia fortsien, originally uploaded by Kim's Suitcase.

This drawing is done by my lovely and wonderful daughter Beatrix, who is nine years old and loves comic books and graphic novels.

pillow with new chair

pillow with new chair, originally uploaded by Kim's Suitcase.

isn't this a neat chair, i am enjoying it so much. it has wings on the top. a fantabulous good will score. my husband and i carted it home with my little red metal wagon, which we keep on our porch for such finds.

pillow three for tea fiesta detail

pillow three for tea fiesta detail, originally uploaded by Kim's Suitcase.

I Pick Fights with Old Ladies in Coffee Shops

yes, it is true,

just ask krissy
'cause she was there

suddenly feeling like i wet my pants
shame faced i tried to explain my view

for being too loud

as the woman at the next table
gestured to me and told me to
'turn it down'

'am i being too loud'
her and her friend nod annoyed

i feel awful
in the moment of joy
this closing down

i initially apologize
but it sits on my chest
like the undigested
spanakopita that i have
just forked in

i make idle
chat
trying to let the women
be thankful for good hearing
i mention my mother
being deaf

ah yes, says one of course
that is why
subtext
you really arn't a brute, as you appeared
but do have a ligitimate reason

we will let you live

wait a friggin minute i say to myself
feeling trampled and shut down
feeling such shame
not intending to harm anyone
but also wanting to be able to raise
my voice our voices in joy and understanding
enjoying the moments and tea and the sun
coming in, in our own private space
wait a cotton pickin minute

this is not sitting down well with me
and at that point it might of been better
to take thich nat hanh's advice of
do nothing when you are angry

but i did it
i piped up for all it was worth
and said
i want you to know i feel awful
it feels as if you slapped me in the face

which at that time was not an exageration
i felt eight and too old to have wet my pants
shame
scolding

the old woman
who we suspect is never wrong
answers

i never wanted to slap anyone in the face
well that is what it felt like

the women turn inward
afraid perhaps,
wanting us to go away

and the woman who threw the gesture and words
says shame faced now
loud enough for our ears
no longer in her whisper tea room voice
now i am sitting here guilty for something that someone else did wrong

because of course she is always right'
i guess

really it was one of those situations
pema chodron calls them hooks
some people call them buttons
i have heard it reffered to as rattling someones cage

and the advice of the buddhist teacher chodron
is to notice it and choose peace
to not let yourself be hooked
based on non-violence and that we are all the same
self goo

i did get hooked,
cage rattled

and i did something so unusual for me
stood up and didn't accept it
let someone else know the consequence of their action

i am not sure i handled this situation well
too emotional too hooked but i did say what i wanted
conveyed to this other woman my feelings
from where i sat

by the window with the lovely orange gerbera daisy
single and fun in a jar on the table

next time
perhaps
i will try it again
only with more kindness

walking over
with civility
and saying
in quiet words

i am sorry you feel i am too loud
would you please come over to me
and tell me of your concern
instead of broadcasting it to the
entire room, as it makes me feel
terribly small, unimportant,
in the wrong and very embarrased

thank you.

so much for fights with old ladies
in coffee shops

i so much prefer love

pillow love and three flowers detail

pillow love and three flowers detail, originally uploaded by Kim's Suitcase.

full bloom

full bloom, originally uploaded by Kim's Suitcase.

new dress

new dress 2, originally uploaded by Kim's Suitcase.

self portrait in old new dress

a different pursuit

yesterday evening
while waiting for the delicious dinner to be done

we all played a board game

even grandma

a children's version of trivial pursuit

playing in the regular manor
taking turns from youngest to oldest
bea first pam last

the game proceeded
i won

but the lovely thing that happened
was another rule or way of doing came about
all on it's own

instead of being the sole answerer
you could 'defer' to someone who knows the answer
and if that person was willing to offer the help
you could take their better more confident answer

sort of like the life line idea of
'who wants to be a millionaire'

this game could be called
'who wants to be a community'

lately i have been thinking
about how people create their own hell

i see it often,
surely am a part of my own hell's creation

and keep going back to a story that i have heard
in various traditions
christian
jewish
buddhist

about the starving people
at the table

with long necks and short arms
that will starve
amist the gorgeous feast
unless they learn to feed each other

in our game,
in which we changed the rules
organically

the phrase
' i defer'
came to be one of the options


and it was a really good game

thanks boys, originally uploaded by Kim's Suitcase.

thanks boys!

Thank you to the boys who participated in my Mixed Media workshop: D.G, Christian, Jordan, Jonathon, Daniel, Anil and John, and to the staff especially Randi who organized the day and invited me to be a part of it. Thanks too to my sister for being such a good driver!

The day was a great success and the boys where brave enough to give one of my current passions a go; sewing on paper!
We cut and pasted, used fortune cookies for inspiration and lost ourselves in creating from such disposable treasures as the tops of potato bag sacks (they have nice sewn bits!), as well as ancient letraset ( "I have never seen anything like it in my life")
zippers, old maps and unusual books of Greek and Short Hand.

altered book project

altered book project, originally uploaded by Kim's Suitcase.

My friend Rhonda Nolan lives in the West end of the city, I live in the East end. Toronto is very big. Rhonda came up with the idea of doing an altered book by mail correspondance. This is my first page. I mailed it on the 28th of April. I am certain it has reached Rhonda by now so it is safe to post here and not spoil her surprize. Getting Rhonda's book with the altered pages was a lovely surprize because I didn't remember it was something we had agreed to do!

I am so looking forward to her response to my pages.

I really like this kind of communication.

needle, thread, glue ,rain, loose threads and some babble

biggie and little-y, originally uploaded by Kim's Suitcase.

Yesterday I had the unique opportunity of conducting a workshop day for a Home Schooling Conferance.

It was my pleasure to share the rainy day with such wonderful creative children. A special thank you to Theresa and Marina.

It was especially fun to help Sam sew for the first time, a natural with a needle and thread. I loved walking to the park with Dave and seeing the Magnolia trees in bloom. Great to see John and share in his humour. The day was really moist and the salad dressing was simply gorgeous. The bus ride home was hilarious, it was the philosophy bus with lots of opinions flying about, some disconcerning abuse directed at the driver after the ttc strike by an elderly woman who really was a very creative curser, so much so that even the driver found the humour in being dis-ed. I giggled to myself all the way home.