Many Happy Wishes for You

Gingie house, 2012, Mauersberger

Since 2009, my friend Christy and I have made these sweet little gingerbread houses on or near her birthday in December.  This year we added a new twist and made a 3-D gingerbread tree to accompany the little edible dwellings. 

Gingie Tree with holiday deco and...the last bit of flame from a candle I've burned in memory of my mama.

See  2009, 2010, and 2011

I wish you happiness at this time of year.

Peace.
Christine

Salt and Stitches

C Mauersberger work in process, 2012

More musings on observation and stitching. 

Spread salt on black ground and create stitches upon observation.

C. Mauersberger work in process, 2012

C. Mauersberger, Photo:  Salt on black ground, 2012

I am still working on the sidewalk series seen here

Am amused that there are endless stitching compositions at my finger tips.
Literally.
Here a few salt pictures (of many).

C. Mauersberger, Photo: Salt on black ground 3, Detail

C. Mauersberger, Photo:  Salt on black ground 3, 2012

C. Mauersberger, Photo: Salt on black ground 4, 2012

C. Mauersberger, Photo: Salt on black ground, Cross road, 2012

C. Mauersberger, Photo: Salt on black ground, Circle, 2012

C. Mauersberger, Photo: Salt on black ground, Ho, 2012

My Friend

Nyx

© Terry Jarrard-Dimond 

47" h x 45.5" w and is hand stitched.

I try to keep tabs on all the blogs I follow. At times, I'm a few days behind...

Just now I saw that my friend, Terry Jarrard-Dimond, made a lovely post regarding the fellowship I was awarded. See it Here.

Thank you Terry.

I've written about Terry here and I remain Smitten, I think you will be too. 
See Terry's Here and be prepared to be knocked out.

Fellowship Announcement

Road Ahead, 2012
Work in Progress
Christine Mauersberger

I've been holding onto this information since October 17, 2012 when 2 events occurred:

1. It was my 52 Birthday and I was spending a splendid sunny fall day with India Flint

AND 
2. I received an official phone call to congratulate me for being selected  as one of twenty artists who will receive a $20,000 award each through the Creative Workforce Fellowship, a program of the Community Partnership for Arts and Culture (CPAC).


And today, I am allowed to post the official news

My husband, George Mauersberger, received this award in 2011. I wrote about it here.

We are 1 of 3 couples in the county who have won this award. 
Don't you wish you lived here?

I am humbled and have many more miles to go on my road.

Observation and stitches

© C Mauersberger, work in progress, small studies

© C Mauersberger, work in progress, small studies

Have been stitching onto a reclaimed wool skirt I previously wrote about here
The stitched marks relate to the way leaves and natural detritus collect and lay the side walk and street.

© C Mauersberger, work in progress, small studies

© C Mauersberger, work in progress, small studies

Thanksgiving in the USA

I am grateful for my husband, family, friends, and good health. For the delight I experience when I realize that on this day in the USA, we celebrate goodness, happiness, gratitude for all of our blessings.

Not the goods...aka shopping.

This is a side view of the daily newspaper received this morning.

The LEFT stack of paper is all the news that's fit to print

The Right stack of advertisements with 'Black Friday'  sales.


No, it will not steal my happiness, I do not partake in this frenzy.

Happy is where you are, alive and able to partake in the world.
Here's a few pic's from my happiness and joy, some of my great nieces who came to my house yesterday to make homemade cupcakes (from scratch!) and have fun making their own marks on my walls.

Cheers!

October Storms bring November Leaf-prints

Wool/Silk, eco-dyed using leaves from my neighborhood

Wool/Silk, eco-dyed using leaves from my neighborhood

Wool/Silk, eco-dyed using leaves from my neighborhood

Results of a walk from November 4,2012

 ©Christine Mauersberger, 2012

Ain't no sunshine

Feeling fine but missing the sun

Haven't seen her here in Cleveland since October 24, before Sandy hit...

It's been 12 days

I need some Vitamin D

Here are some pic's from my walk that last sunny day

Up Up and Away, Moving towards new work

On a wind-fall walk last week, I spotted my friend and colleague, Kristen Cliffel on her new bike.  She saw my hands full of leaves and gave me a little burlap bag that she had in her nifty basket. (I posted a picture of a piece of her artwork at the bottom of this entry)

After my walk, I did some bundle-wrapped pieces. These were made on a nice thin wool. I found a long winter-white skirt at the thrift store and deconstructed it. I wrote about stitching on it in this previous post here.

Black Walnut

My friend Diana gave me a shear piece of silk that where she had dyed it with indigo. 

I decided to wrap some whole black walnuts in it.

(The walnuts were from the tree house yard) 

Last weekend, I went to Michigan with Martha to visit her mom.

I have been thinking about my work and reflecting on October.

It was a grand time and I met many of the women I only ever have a chance to 'see' online through their blogs and websites.



Now I will return to my palace contemplation and quiet to make more marks.

I hope you are making some good marks in your life too!



P.S....

When I worked as a curatorial consultant for University Hospitals of Cleveland, I acquired this piece made by Kristen Cliffel entitled, Up, Up, and Away...

Winds of Destruction

Hurricane Sandy hit Cleveland hard. High winds and downed trees...

Via the Cleveland Plain Dealer, Peggy Turbett

Via the Cleveland Plain Dealer, Marvin Fong

We lost electricity for less than 12 hours but others in my area are still without power. This storm made me think of all of our neighbors throughout the East coast and Mid Atantic states.

If you are willing and able, please consider a donation to help those in need.
Use a search engine like Google to find places in need or donate directly to the American Red Cross Here