Susan Palmer's Exquisite Now

Stuff gets done here

recent posts

  • Be here now

    When we looked up on a morning walk at Mount Pisgah, we saw the sun making a fine spectacle of itself just before it cleared the fir trees.

    I’m no photographer; I just cart around an ordinary i-phone, but the grace of nature and technology gave me this picture.

    I am so grateful for grace, the grace of friends and family who forgive me my shortcomings, the grace of earth — this tiny unique planet on an arm in an amazing galaxy — the grace of strangers who step up with aid and smiles and un-looked-for generosity.

    It helps if I am in the moment rather than rushing ahead of now. Otherwise, I don’t always notice grace.

  • What the kingfisher taught me

    A rustic wood frame for this hand-embroidery project means it really and truly is completed.

    I’m thinking about architect David Rockwell who once said: Every project is an opportunity to learn, to figure out problems and challenges, to invent and reinvent.

    Framing projects as an opportunity to learn frees up creativity. Yes, I am wanting an outcome, but I am also experiencing creative growth.

    Here’s what I learned on this kingfisher project:

    I’d rather do long and short stitches than stem stitches for tree trunks or branches.

    Having the frame before beginning helps me think more effectively about how big the project should be.

    Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good. (In a perfect world, the background fabric would be different, either a sharp white or a greenish blue instead of this very pale yellow-green. But I don’t think I’ll start over with new fabric.

    I’ve blogged about this piece a few times, here and here

    It feels helpful to write down these things so when I start the next bird project — an osprey — I can put what the kingfisher taught me to good use.

  • Begin with the end in mind

    Belted king fisher hand embroidery designed by Susan Palmer
    Hand embroidered belted kingfisher

    I finished the thread work on this hand embroidery project, a belted kingfisher I designed thanks to inspiration from one of our local wildlife photographers Norman Goo. But finishing the actual sewing is only part of the task. Now the art needs to be mounted and framed.

    And that’s where I failed. It’s where I always fail with hand embroidery. I’m so excited about the sewing, I don’t think about where the project will end up.

    Before I began, I should have purchased the frame–taken the fabric and the threads to a shop and found the size and color of the thing it would eventually be at home in. Having done that, I would size the project correctly. But no. So now I’m down to the art of the possible. What can I find that’s the right size and the right style…

    I know better. Really. But then in the intoxication of the threads, and the wanting to sink into the flow, I get ahead of myself. Next time, will I do better? We shall see.