- Remember

For the past several years I have chosen one-word "resolutions" for the new year ahead: Create (2012), Blog (2013) and Stitch (2014). Easy to remember, flexible in their application, and ultimately successful, they have been gratifying. More to the point, they have become lifelong habits. Stitch even became a new index term in 2015, replacing the more traditional term Needlework in recognition of my journey toward new forms of creative expression as documented in the examples below.

So picking the word for 2016 should have been easy, right? Not so much. There are so many things I want to do: learn to draw (better), organize photographs (finally), start some of the many project ideas that have accumulated (maybe even finish some others), and gracefully enter the next decade of my life (yes, I will turn 60 just before the summer solstice).

Today the word for 2016 finally came to me: Remember ...


Remember to create, blog, and/or stitch every day ... remember the good times from the past 59 years ... remember to have fun ... remember to organize the pictures ... remember to celebrate what has already been accomplished.

Therefore, without further ado, I will begin remembering with a look back at what I stitched in 2015, some done, some not, but all of it a wonderful learning experience (with thanks to Jude Hill for pointing out that I "Learn by Playing").

The new year began with the completion of several Christmas presents
(note: the pictures have links to posts related to the making of each cloth) ...

Close Your Eyes I for Jackson

Close Your Eyes II for Griffin

Triangulation for Don

Don and I collaborated on a number of his assemblages, including this homage to Pueblo kachinas ...

One of many pieces inspired by our travels in New Mexico

Sash details

A series of explorations into Jude Hill's techniques resulted in the Table Series as they all ended up serving time in the dining room ...

Tea dyed linen

Rust dyed from a cheese grater

Linen cloth weaving, ultimately lichen dyed

The Turquoise Trail, another New Mexico memory piece

Dyeing was a major component of the year and was a contender for 2016 word of the year ...

Dramatic results from Thimble Flowers that later faded away

Gifts also figured into the year ...

Blue Heron ... a 70th birthday gift

7809 Orisha ... 
a housewarming gift from the Kitchen Towel Series

Some projects got started, but then were put aside ...

Austin Skyline

Armadillo Road

Rightly making way for more important projects ...

Hearts for Charleston

By the Bridges II

While the peace flag made in 2014 made its way to India Flint's Solace Project in Australia ...

Sew/Sow Peace, end of 3rd row/beginning of 4th row

Last, but far from least, I began the Patchplay series of posts that documented the development of my own take on traditional patchwork ...

Beginning to put it all together

Embellishing with hand-drawn stitch

Becoming The Land of Flood and Drought

There was more, enough to fill a year's worth of blog posts (128 and counting) with some left over to begin the new year (Christmas presents and more of Don's assemblages from the Porch Series chief among them). But I'm going to stop here so I can get ready to go out and celebrate our 38th wedding anniversary ... another remembrance.