Time

 So I have been working on a couple projects since heading back to work this week.  They are all portable and very, very satisfying.  I love creating things that are both beautiful and useful.  In looking at my new favorite embroidery book,   Embroidery Companion: Classic Designs for Modern Living,  I am constantly inspired to slow down and look at those things that have beautiful detailing.  What does this detailing mean?  I think it means that something was important enough to take time and create a detail that would enliven a utilitarian object or garment.  Time - what do we do with our time?

To me, time is life, and when we say we don't have enough time it is kind of saying we don't have enough life.  Time is the great equalizer of all humanity.  We all have the same amount of time in every day, it is the same for every person.    There are no extra hours for the privileged.  What we do with our time is the true measure of wealth.  Do we squander it engaged in activities that rob us of joy or peace?  Do we let it slip through our fingers, complaining about the unfairness we dealt with during the day?  Or, do we just watch it fade away, with those mind numbing, yet totally amazingly, entertainment inventions that have become imbedded in our lives.

Yes , I am talking about those time thieves, the television and the internet.  As useful and entertaining as they are, they do rob us of time to talk to those right in front of us, take a walk in the crisp cold air, or play a game with our little ones.  And the funny thing is that I know that I can justify the hours easily.  "I am researching."  "I am exhausted, but don't want to go to bed yet."  "I just want to unwind...."  But, I know as I go to bed, I regret those hours, especially when I don't get the satisfaction of feeling like I actually accomplished something in the real world or I spent a few hours watching some fictitious person living a really interesting life.  Hmmm..... life is always more interesting than fiction, if we take the time to live it.

This little bag is from another great book, if you are interested...... Scandinavian Needlecraft: 35 Step-by-step Projects to Create the Scandinavian Home.