Reminders of where you are in time and space and process.

Well, I'm here to say how wrong Mark Twain was when he (alledgedly) said, "don't make your avocation your vocation". Next month completes my 10th year in this evolving adventure of self-employment. As I review this decade since abandoning my career as a chef (which, btw, I thoroughly loved, though perhaps not all the venues, equally), I appreciate this dynamic balancing act that has come to fulfill my creative, social and financial requirements. I am living my dream.
As I appreciate this life I've created, and marvel at the path it has taken, would'nt ya know that lately I've crossed paths with a few folks that have factored into my adventure. And then on Monday, while marketing, I look up from my grocery cart and am delighted to see Mau standing next to me.





Mau, aka Marian Schoettle, is an internationally recognized fiber artist I had admired since seeing her garments at Julie's Artisan Gallery on Madison Ave in New York City. Imagine my surprise, years ago, when we met in our post office and I realized we both lived in the same small town. Turns out we were both also mad hot lovers of our library and even worked on a library project together. At that time I caught my favorite expression from Mau, "it is what it is". Indeed. And for a while, I even shared her sunlit Studio 419 in a former shirt factory in Kingston NY at 77 Cornell St.
Speaking of her studio, September 3rd, 2-6pm, she is having a studio sale.
If you can't get to the studio, she has an online store that is offering a 30% sale all of September, (and is actually recognized NOW!) if you use coupon "mau2011".

Check this out, even if you don't know the language, there are pics!

Her current work is post-industrial folk wear. Nomadic...adaptable...featherweight...unique...practical, her collection of contemporary street wear is made out of the ubiquitous modern material tyvek, adapted and manipulated here for personal use. This is not the same tyvek of souvenir jackets and bike race pinnies. Along with excellent performance properties, the material looks deceptively fragile and perishable like paper but is in fact a tough and resistant modern material. (25%recycled + mau recycles)
The material is made in the USA, surplus materials are gathered from the local computer, snowboard and automotive industries, and design studio scraps are recycled.
Mau says: "Clothing is an expression of culture. High design, smart clothing, and trends don't drive me to create. I'm trying to find the genie that is so commonly found in folk wear to appear in work that is of our time."

As I appreciate where I am today I look forward with even greater enthusiasm and joy to what is to come: another book, this one featuring new beadwork projects and original stitches I've devised since MASTERING BEADWORK; another (my 3rd) time teaching at TAFTA plus in Australia; distributing Tulip Co beading needles, bead crochet hooks and felting needles to beadstores nationwide; teaching tour in Europe; 10th year teaching at Bead & Button Show (or was it 10 this year?) and I'm certain even more desires and ambitions will be fulfilled...another trip to Japan?
Thank you for sharing my fully felted and "beadiful" life.


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