The Universe Kicks My Butt ...With Love

This is an excerpt from my monthly newsletter, The Fold, originally published in February 2022. Sign up here to receive The Fold every month in your email inbox. (Be sure to check your email and spam folders for the confirmation.)

Workin' The Cattle

Deconstructed garments and other fabrics, machine pieced and quilted. 39"h x 33"w, functional -or- wall hanging, $675

Winter-yellow grass. Warm sunrise on dots of snow. A pervading hum.

Workin' The Cattle is a quilt I made inspired by the Jentel artist's residency in Wyoming. Jentel is on an idyllic piece of land surrounded by ranches. When I was there, the neighboring ranchers were "workin' the cattle". I didn't find out exactly what that means, but it was the source of a continuous, low-level mooing in the distance. Read more about the process behind this quilt on my Patreon blog (part 1, part 2).

To purchase Workin' The Cattle, contact Caroline at Cerulean Gallery by calling (214) 564 1199 or emailing caroline@theceruleangallery.com.

Love Letters, Delivered Obliquely

I try to be a good person. I try to meet the world with empathy and compassion, try to consider other people's perspectives before giving them the side-eye. I try, but I don't always succeed.

Recently I took myself to a hotel for a two-day work retreat (very productive, and coincidentally, the same two days as a winter storm). While enjoying the complimentary breakfast, I overheard the desk clerk deliver a rant about ...things I won't detail here. Suffice it to say, our views on The Way Things Are don't match up.

Reader, I judged. Hard. Then I went back to my room, packed up (it was the end of my stay), and prepared to head out. When I returned to the front desk, I saw these:

Y'all, the desk clerk, as in the person I was judging a second ago, made these. They're books with the pages folded over to form words and other shapes. She showed me pictures of other ones she made. (I asked her if she had an Etsy store or anything, but she said she gets so much work by word of mouth that she chooses not to advertise.)

I heard the Universe whispering in my ear, "Way to go, Judgie McJudgerface. See what happens when you pass judgement against another person? We turn around and kick you in the butt. Metaphorically. With love."

Love letter received, Universe.

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