When I think of Brooklyn, brownstones come to mind.  They aren’t the predominate architecture for all of Brooklyn, just the parts south of the Brooklyn Bridge extending up to the West Side of Prospect Park.  In other areas you are more apt to find converted warehouses, Victorian mansions or just regular homes.  But there’s something about the Brownstone communities that really define Brooklyn. 

Brooklyn is essentially a large string of neighborhoods.  Not as congested as Manhattan, it managed to be quiet populace (if counted separate from New York, it would be the fourth largest city in the country).  What strikes me as amazing is that this many people can live together, next to each other in relative harmony.

This mini needlepoint painting shows brownstones in Park Slope just as the leaves began to gain color.  A small piece, it sits in a 4.5"x5.75 frame.  Full of color, it captures the essence of the season.

You can find this in my Etsy store.

It's that time of year.  Thanksgiving is next week, and the official holiday push follows immediately after.  I've decided that I'm embracing it this year; it's a lot less frustrating then letting it bother me.  I'm going to admire the lights, listen to the carolers, pull on Santa's beard and enjoy anything else I enounter.

I'm going skating in the park, see the tree at the Met.  and will check out the department store windows on Fifth Avenue.  Brooklyn will  get some love when I hop on over to Dyker Heights and scope out the elaborate displays there.  After all, this holiday season only comes once a year.  And it seems a pity not to enjoy it.

As I dig out the skates, I think of my favorite New York City holiday locale - Rockefeller Center.  Perhaps that will be the first stop in my holiday adventure.

With the holidays in mind, I made this min-embroidery painting.  Fitting in a 3.5"x5" frame, it's tiny.  The size helps convey the theme even more.  The stitches are delicate, capturing the serentiy of the skaters.  This embriodery painting acts as a wonderful accent piece, holiday decoration, and sits nicely on your desk. 

You can find it in my Etsy store.

The winter gives us license to hibernate as Mother Nature gets her beauty rest.  The animals hibernate, the birds migrate, even the sun decides to knock out early, essentially it’s Mother Nature’s equivalent to Paris in August.  If you really need something, it can be found with a little digging, but for the most part everyone is on vacation. 

I have absolutely nothing against the winter.  My pale skin and genetics leave me predisposed to the cold.  As my interests seem to hover around the more nerdly, sedentary spheres, it gives me ample opportunity to “get stuff done.”  (I defy you to try knitting in August). 

When asked about my favorite weather, I have to admit that it’s snowing.  Not snow per se, which gets slushy and muddy as time progresses.  Although it doesn’t bother me, seeing feet and inches of snow on the ground provides no great thrill (I’m not a skier * see note on sedentary lifestyle).  I just really like snowing.

You can feel the change in the air as a snowstorm comes.  The usual dry, crispness adopts a strange tint of humidity.  The pressure changes just ever so slightly.  And then it gets quiet.  It’s almost like the sound of a giant salt shaker dropping its contents, minus the sounds from the container.  And as It coats surfaces, they become white and pristine with just a touch of glitter.  Everyone slows down.  It’s quite beautiful.

Later, when the storm ends, children will be playing in the street, cars will be dug out.  But for that moment, however brief, there’s a collective breather. 

This image was taken from my window.  I may never be able recreate it again.  I haven’t tried, and probably won’t.  It deserves a little reverence.

You can find this in my Etsy store.

... at least it is for my cross stitch.  And I have to admit I'm a bit thrilled. 

My love for cross-stitch started right when I graduated from college.  After devoting so much time to papers and student activities I needed a new outlet for my energy.  Walking through a craft store one weekend I found a kit.  My mother had taught me cross-stitch when I was a kid and I remembered that it took some amount of time and concentration.  It was a slippery slope from there.

Using kits and patterns I soon found the itch to make my own designs.  An amateur photographer I was always snapping something there.  Finding a blurry photo of friends walking down a blustery Canal street at dusk,  this was my starting point.  Doing this started a new relationship with images, graphics; effected how I see the world.

And now these images I covet are getting some attention. 

Mr X Stitch, one of my favorite sites, which features contemporary embroidery and needlecraft posted a little feature on my Madison at Night cross-stitch painting.  This same week, my Canal Street 1 cross-stitch painting is part of the Radical Craft Show in Yellow Springs, Ohio.

As mentioned, I'm tickled pink and quite honored.

I have to admit I'm really enjoying this project.  There are two reasons why.  First, there are the fortunes themselves.  Sometimes stating the obvious, sometimes stating the ridiculous, I find myself ruminating over these little gems.  Secondly, I love the sharing they encourage. 

My lastest fortune cookie card was shared with me indirectly.  Knowing I collect the fortunes, my friend Kelly emailed me the day her entire office ordered Chinese take-out.  Her office-mates announced what they each received from their little cookies. She then passed them on to me.

"There is no mistake so great as that of always being right."

Indeed!

You can find this, along with the rest of the Fortune Cookie Wisdom collection at  my Etsy store.