Love.

"A Friend is a Gift You Give Yourself" ~ Robert Louis Stevenson

When I started this blog adventure, one of the first blogs I followed was Windrock Studio.  My reasons were simple.  She lives in Colorado and her posts are lovely, thoughtful, and from the heart.  And she and her guy make beautiful art.  From those humble beginnings, the roots of a friendship took hold.  My life has been forever changed by her kindness, humor, and sincerity.
She is Susan.
If you haven't been to her blog, you should go.  Her husband Larry makes clay people that ooze with personality.  How he captures the vibe of real people in these characters is the true artwork.  It must come from  years of observing people in their everyday environments.  Susan works primarily with fabrics and lace, adding ceramics, charms, branches, feathers, photos, whatever the artwork needs to be complete.  Quotes are used in the vast majority of Susan's pieces.  She will quote anyone, as long as the saying is relevant to the feeling of the work.
In the past, Susan worked with leather and made THE most beautiful bags (Go!  Look!  FRINGE!!!!!).  Recently, she has moved from leather into denim and is making bags that are functional art.  She took all that was good in her fabric wall hangings, her knowledge in how to make a good bag, added a lot of denim as the main support, a touch of those magical charms and details and quotes, and voila ~ Love Note Totes!
The girls and I received a surprise package back in June and this superlovinggoodness was in it :




 For The Sunshine Girl

"There are two ways of spreading light: to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it."  ~ Edith Wharton

That is the quote on the Love Note Tote Susan sent for the Sunshine Girl.

From the day it arrived, Sunshine has kept a book in it, along with chapstick, a ponytail holder, and occasionally her eyeglass case.  When it is not out and about, it is right where I photographed it ~ in her room, on a hook, waiting for the next outing.










We love this sweet back pocket!



Sunshine Girl loves tiny things and this was right up her alley :-)




















For The Bug

This is what Susan sent the Bug...this quote is PERFECT for her personality.  And the photo is too! The little piece of antler dangling off the strap is the added touch that completes this  bag.  The Bug loves this bag and really loved the thought of someone whom she has never met took the time to make this for her :-)

For Me

I got a little teary when I opened my bag.  There were a few reasons.  The quote is one I live by, though I never heard it until this tote.  I am shaped by what I love...not external pressures of trends, finances, or keeping up with the Jones'.  The Garden of the Gods, the rocks in this picture, is one of my favorite places to go to in Colorado.  When guests would come visit me when I lived in Colorado, it was an easy place to get to so they could see something beautiful but walk easily as they acclimated to the altitude.   That would usually be a Day 1 place.  I saved higher elevations and more strenuous walks for later in the week :-) The lace leaves...I love leaves the most.  Flowers are Lovely but give me leaves any day!!!  And the last teary reason was in the receiving of something that had come from Susan's warm, loving hands.
I keep beading books, beading magazines, beading supplies in mine.  And a book of Leonard Cohen Poetry :-)

If these three beauties weren't enough. Susan included beads, feathers (! i love them like i love leaves !),  couple ceramic leaves made by Larry, and a few copies of the Pikes Peak Bulletin.  Larry is the editor for that newspaper.  The handwritten note meant as much to me as the Love Note Totes ~ there is something about seeing someone's handwriting that excites me so!  

Please take sometime to go see what makes Windrock Studio so special.  It feels like home...the kind of home with the sun shining in every window, a whisper of a breeze blowing through the front porch, and a welcoming warm hug that greets you just as your eye catches the margarita pitcher.