The gallery opening afterglow is real, the weather helped too! We celebrated a full week of sunshine with fruit, family time and more creativity. After achieving my big 2026 goal in January - getting into a gallery - I set a new one: tufting a piece 100% from upcycled textiles. This week I focused on that, dyeing and prepping materials. For the first time in my adult life, I'm also crafting from a predetermined list and it feels good to cross things off.

I love getting to introduce people to tufting, specifically this 1970s speed tufting tool. It's magical really, loop by loop being able to transform yarn into the most inviting, delightfully textured, art. The process is devotional, slow and challenging - my arms are getting kinda buff! It's also practical for my off grid studio set up, if not I would be reliant on the weather. This is Passion, my latest piece and the first step toward my new goal.

Showcasing my art in a gallery was my BIG audacious goal for 2026 that I was lucky enough to achieve in January. Which gifted me with the question, what's my next audacious goal for 2026? I knew the answer right away. Tufting a piece 100% from upcycled textiles. So with that goal, and a week of sun (so much solar, yay!) I focused on dyeing textiles.

This week I focused a lot of my creative energy into upcycling textiles to help me move closer to my goal. Each piece I’m making is using more and more second hand fibers and that truly makes my heart sing! Completing a piece that uses 100% upcycled textiles seems like a not to distant possibility, which feels so surreal and fully aligned with my values.

Last week I talked about re-organizing my studio. Since the containers I ordered will take weeks to get here (one of the less glamorous parts of living in the middle of nowhere), I spent my time preparing. Winding up textiles, getting ready for the next work. Building my stash of upcycled material.

'Ease' is about the tension between softening and staying grounded, letting go and holding on. It unfolded gently while I was making it. I treated myself to rest, took my time creating it, while staying deeply connected to the process. Duality, tufted into one surface. 'Ease' is part of my collection Both, At Once. Its companion pieces 'Bold' and 'Elevate' are both showing in Storied Ground at the Kahilu Gallery.

We celebrated a full week of sunshine with fruit: apple banana, papaya, surinam cherries and pineapple. Sweet Pea is mesmerized by the way I spiral cut the pineapple peel, so sharing this meal prep photo with you is in her honor.

I found this fabric with embroidered cut out spots and knew I wanted to make a quilt with it. Instead of storing it away, I added the project to my 2026 wishlist and as a year long gift to myself Im going through the list. This was such a joyful midweek project. Check back next week to see what this cutie quilt becomes.

Our current house project is building our porch/kitchen. A main staple in our kitchen, my husband would call it a mild obsession, are our open mouthed 32oz jars. We decided to build out shelves to perfectly fit the heights of the jars we use. I love the way it turned out.

There's still more to do, it's not 100% finished but I did get to take all of our jars out of boxes and set them up. I can't even begin to tell you how satisfying I'm finding the process.

As a family we've spent most of this week outside. I was dyeing textiles, helping Bubba put in a fence (the boars have returned - long story, I'll share more next week) and enjoyed all sorts of treats from Sweet Pea's mud kitchen. The fence we put in goes right behind this play kitchen so I wanted to capture the cuteness before the space changes.

I appreciate you being here, it means more than I can put into words.

Love,

Coco