thanks~

i’ve been struck by the recent number of thank you emails and it has been a nice reminder for me of why i do what i do (some days i do wonder!). not for the thank you emails, mind you, but for the pleasure and happiness the work evokes. i even hate to say “my work”. it just is the work i seem to have to do. that i’ve always done, one way or another, one medium or another.
i was recently watching that old Mel Brooks classic “Blazing Saddles” again while putting together some indigo packs and that line in the movie from the pledge to Hedley Lamar scene struck me again-

“Now go do, that voodoo, that you do, so well!

what a line! and so well delivered by Harvey Korman. of course i was wild for Gene Wilder from Willy Wonka-what kid wouldn’t be? but “Blazing Saddles” was one of the first so called “grown up “movies i saw on a date night (that and various Woody Allen flicks)-my being all of a HS sophomore then. some of that humor i wouldn’t actually “get” until years later.
but that line stuck with me. and reminds me that we all have a little “voodoo” that we do, so well.
sometimes it is hard to define, to see, or find. but it’s there. as a kid and beyond i was always told i could never make a career out of being and artist/maker-that i would have to find a *real* job. i immediately set out to make artist/maker my *real* job. so, you see, this sort of challenge can really get you going! even years and decades into this people ask me “So, how (ahem) are you doing??” actually expecting a story of how i couldn’t make a go of it. i understand the question-really. it’s an honest question. most sane folks would have gotten a *real* job years ago!

so really, a big part of what i find most rewarding in all of this is making something that my customers take and add their ideas to. the ribbon, the fabric, the buttons, the kits, the classes. the pleasure i get from doing this revolves around the pleasure you get from receiving the work and turning it into something that has meaning for you. even the scarves and wearables are part of that when you go out and wear and share them with the world.

a few excerpts from the emails:

Oh my, Glennis! My package arrived and I am just beside myself! I am not kidding, I am just speechless!! When I first removed the fabrics I just stood and stared in awe at all the beautiful pieces and how beautifully you had presented them. I took pictures just so I could remember how they first arrived. And then I had the pleasure of unfolding each and every piece! – so different and yet so beautiful in their own right. At first I thought the moons would be my favorite, but they are all my favorite– the solids, the folded shiboris, the moons. All I can say is thank you, thank you, and thank you.

I received your wonderful dyed fabrics on Friday. I just wanted you to know how thrilled I am.
I am also in the cwb class and am excited about using them in my indigo piece. you do really wonderful work and I am so happy to be a customer.

I am taking one of Jude’s classes – the contemporary boro – and she often mentions that she is using your dyed fabric. The package, it’s just beautifully done! The selection, I am not ready to take every thing out because you arranged it so nicely. Thank you!

she speaks little english. here is what she said when she saw both of the bookmarks….”i have love for this woman who can make the feeling of my life into this clothing of indigo . i love here this moons. is she going to spain one day? i come and see her -…. sabia.”

Glennis, what can I say? Words alone seem inadequate. I am over the moon…or should I say moons 🙂 Your fabric arrived today and I am dreaming about what they will become.
Thank you

I am so glad to be able to get some your indigo. I admire it on Jude’s site all the time. I have two of your bookmark moons and love them too.

I was at the San Jose Quilt Museum last week and I bought 3 of your lovely flowers! Two were shades of red and one was purple with a dash of yellow and green. I love them and when I wore them with a dress that week I’d already been seen it, I got the comment that they completely changed the dress and made it wow!

we’ve just got back from the seaside and there was the beautiful indigo moon waiting for me – thank you so much.

I bought an exquisite green scarf from you at the Whitcomb Hotel show. I really love it. Thank you!

Oh I am so excited. I just love your ribbon. I’m on my 3rd order and each time I receive my order I think it is more beautiful than the last. I’m dreaming up new ways to use it every time!

I serve on the board of the Pacific Repertory Opera, and we are planning a fundraiser dinner for this spring’s production of Madama Butterfly. I went to a planning meeting the other day, and wore a kimono — and the lovely scarf that you gave me. I received rave reviews. The scarf looks as if it was designed to go with the kimono — or vice versa. I really love it. Again, thanks a lot!

so, thank you all and let’s go do that voodoo, that we do, so well!