Featured | Quirk Gallery

Excited to announce that I made a few special knits just for Quirk Gallery over at Quirk Hotel! 
Definitely a dream to have some pieces of mine grace their beautifully curated collection of goods. 
Head over to check out these OOAK knits as well as some other wonderful unique pieces made by other local designers! Quirk is also an awesome spot for an afternoon drink or early morning coffee stop if you're out and about downtown. Once you hang out in the lobby and gallery you'll pretty much never want to leave. 

To Your River

Been traveling these wide roads for so long
My heart’s been far from you
Ten-thousand miles gone

Oh, I wanna come near and give ya
Every part of me
But there is blood on my hands
And my lips aren’t clean

In my darkness I remember
Momma’s words reoccur to me
"Surrender to the good Lord
And he’ll wipe your slate clean"

Take me to your river
I wanna go
Oh, go on
Take me to your river
I wanna know

Tip me in your smooth waters
I go in
As a man with many crimes
Come up for air
As my sins flow down the Jordan

Oh, I wanna come near and give ya
Every part of me
But there is blood on my hands
And my lips aren’t clean

Take me to your river
I wanna go
Go on,
Take me to your river
I wanna know

I wanna go, wanna go, wanna go
I wanna know, wanna know, wanna know
Wanna go, wanna go, wanna go
Wanna know, wanna know, wanna know
Wanna go, wanna go, wanna go
Wanna know, wanna know, wanna know

Take me to your river
I wanna go
Lord, please let me know
Take me to your river
I wanna know

—River by Leon Bridges

Featured | Etsy Excellence: The Simple Guide To Creating A Thriving Etsy Business

A photo posted by Leney (@agirlnamedleney) on Jan 28, 2016 at 12:39pm PST

I am so honored to have been one of the etsy sellers interviewed and published in this book!
It's chock-full of amazing advice and tips for new and old Etsy shop owners alike. 

In honor of the beautiful and thriving creative/maker/artist community that I love so much, I'm giving away this copy as well as a few extra little goodies to one of you guys! 

TO ENTER //

1. Repost this photo on your Instagram and tag me

2. Follow my Instagram account @agirlnamedleney 

3. Tell me what it is you're passionate about.
Whether it's in regards to why you yourself have an etsy shop, want to open one, or an over arching theme and passion in your life- I want to know! I love talking with passionate people so let's talk about those dreams and goals you have yea?

4. I will announce the winner on Monday on my original post on instagram so check back then!

Mary Elise | Senior Portraits

Her beauty is the kind that makes you want to be more like yourself, not more like her.
Which, if you didn't know, is the best kind of beauty there is.

//

So loved shooting this exceptionally wonderful girl's senior portraits in North Carolina last fall.
These are just a few of my favorites that I wanted to share as I'm currently working on publishing more photos from the archives in the upcoming weeks...

Home

i recommend listening to this song as you read, for it embodies the feelings of the following words almost exactly for me.

i came across this post again recently and was almost tearing up at the feelings that these words evoked.
home.
how blessed i am to have a place to call that. 
several places actually.
a place to not only call that, but to feel that in. 
comfort. 
contentment. 

the all-is-right-in-the-world knowing that can only come in a structure that is all-yours or all-theirs and you know all the intimate corners of.
and it, in turn, knows you intimately as well. 
for it is the sole, constant, witness to your comings and goings, your ups and your downs, your triumphs and trials.
it is nothing if not vigilant in that way. unconditionally welcoming you into it day after day, night after night, offering protection and safety from the outside world whenever you need it.

i moved into my very own all-by-myself humble abode last year and it's been something that's truly shaped me as a person and an artist in ways i didn't know were possible. 
the contentment i feel in living this new kind of independent lifestyle is overwhelming at times.
i love my home, my space, almost more than anywhere else in the world.
it's mine. i'm solely responsible for the ability to stay here, maintain it, keep it a good and happy space and I absolutely love that. it's funny how your priorities change during different seasons of your life. i feel as though last year it was more so along the lines of saving as much money as i could so that i could travel and see as much of the world as i could. and it's not that traveling isn't still a priority for me, it definitely is, but more prevalent for me in this season is being able to have this place i call home. and as a result that doesn't allow for as much money for traveling. 
which i'm honestly okay with.
because i've discovered this is something necessary for me to thrive and be the best version of myself in this current season. and i've also learned to come to terms with that and not apologize for it, to myself or others.
(not apologizing for things is another topic i will write about another day...)

i hope you have one place, if not several, you are able to call home.
how precious a space to call by that name really and truly is.

this is a place where i don't feel alone,
this is a place where i feel at home.

Sheep Dreams

I've really gotten to the point where I'd just rather live on a farm with a bunch of sheep and fig trees and call it a day if I'm bein honest...

But maybe a farm on the water somewhere though.
So I can still go sailing.

I don't think it's any secret how obsessed I am with sheep/anything fiber related. It's a dream of mine to learn how to sheer a sheep and process and spin the wool all on my own.
I learned how to spin yarn from a drop spindle, around this time last year, which was one of the highlights of my year if I'm being honest.
But I want to learn more techniques as well as how to spin more efficiently on a wheel. 

This is a photo of a sheepy friend I made last fall. In going through my archives I came across it and fell in love with it again. 
Definitely hoping to make some more wooly *friends this Spring... We'll see.

*Submissions/suggestions/applications for friends along these lines are always welcome.

 

The Girl With Two Homes

i feel like my home is here.

i feel like my home is there.

close and far i feel at home.

i presently am here and you presently are there. 

either/or i call it home.

here is familiar, and so is there.

near and away i feel at home.

A Winter Sail

A crisp overnight sail.
Listening to The Replacements, drinking beer-then-whiskey, "I don't think Morrissey cares about French girls", knitting in the cockpit, stuffing over-layered limbs into sleeping bags and underneath piled high blankets and watching the night progress and move behind and around a lone lit lantern with a kind of enrapture and attentiveness that can only come from being in the warm belly of a boat on a winters night out on the open water.

Hurt

i am so sorry that this hurts. that that hurts.

but the fact of the matter is there will always be hurt.

there will always be something easy enough to find, in or around us, that will cause us to curl up in attempts to protect ourselves from the quick-sharp-pain. from the slow-burning-fire. there will always be something trying to snatch us away from present joys and contentment.

but, truly, you have the power to not let this present hurt, this current i-don’t-think-i-can-handle-this, crush you. to not snuff you out. 

you’re strong.
you were born with a light in you that no darkness can extinguish, if you recognize it, embrace it. 
take a hold of it and own it.  

know that hurting people hurt people.
know that you are more than this present situation.
this situation does not define you.
this hurt won’t last forever.
there will always be hurt, but there won’t always be this hurt.

wake up tomorrow knowing that there’s better things out there.  
that you may be broken now but that you will be whole again soon.
the night may be filled with weeping, but joy comes with the morning.