I've missed you...

This morning I had my official "Survivorship Appointment" with my cancer navigator. It's official - I'm a survivor! I'm cancer free and feeling great! Thank you to everyone who sent email, wrote comments and sent cards through the postal service - I've saved every one and read them repeatedly during my treatment and it helped enormously!

During the last few months, as sometimes things were happening faster than I could absorb, I found that picking up a needle and thread and stitching provided me with the perfect way to process the strong emotions that overwhelmed me.

Here in Iowa, we've had snow, more snow, even more snow, and then a blizzard followed by more snow. It's just beautiful, especially on the trees in our woods that I look at from my studio windows. The piece below is for my City and Guilds course and was inspired by all the snow on the trees. I was fascinated by how snow covered parts of the branch and left other parts completely bare.

The branch is made from sharply creased linen. In the deep creases I couched twisted wool to highlight the crevices that were snow free. On the top is couched silk and wool threads to mimic the deep snow on the top of the branch.

I find is very peaceful to create stitched pieces that reflect the nature that surrounds me. It helps me feel grounded in my place and connected to the community in which I live, for which I am so grateful.

So what's coming up on The Unbroken Thread? More pieces for my City and Guilds course. Work on a crewelwork piece entitled "The Queen's Pomegranate". Learning to stitch a sampler in a workshop with Amy Mitten in Madison Wisconsin later this month. A visit to the "Through the Needle's Eye" exhibition in Morris, Minnesota this coming weekend. Hopefully finishing the Trevelyon's Pocket class. More contemplative embroidering, taking time to create what my heart calls me to do, planning projects to teach so I can share the joy stitching brings to me every single day.

Oh!...And enjoying the snow!