Island Inspired

Visiting tropical climates never ceases to amaze and inspire me and the Florida Keys were no different.

Forget cocaine...I got so revved up by all the postcard views and the colors and the fact that everything was so green...that I didn't need a Thanksgiving feast. The visual banquet was enough to keep me full for weeks...

I give you Exhibit A. Check out this little island off by itself...

Now if that doesn't set your mind to dreaming, I don't know what does.

I used to draw pictures like that when I was a kid. Stick-figure Me on a remote little island with a hut, a palm tree, and birds and seashells and the ocean and sun and sky. That was it.

I wonder who lives out there? I wonder if they do needlework? I mean, let's face it, that would be a pretty spectacular view to wake up to every morning. And I wonder what I would create if I woke up and saw such beauty every day...

I didn't need to wait long for an answer. We drove the hour to Key West and found Island Needlework, owned by designer Julie Pischke. Her shop didn't officially open until yesterday but the website said to call ahead for an appointment. So I called on Thanksgiving and Julie was true to her word...she opened up her shop just for me the next day. Sadly, on the day of my visit, Julie got called away by a sick friend and it was her husband and her friend, Sally, who I met that day (and Sally lives 15 minutes away from me and was just visiting -- small world)...

Even though I didn't see Julie, I felt like I met her.

Everywhere her shop is full of her life's work. And here it was. The answer to my earlier question...

Here is what an artist creates when they wake up to such beautiful views every day.

Interpreting the island life and tropical pleasures with canvas, needle and thread.

Fabulous. The shop itself is a three-story house, 100 years old and renovated by Julie's husband Richard -- they live upstairs. It's picturesque...it's gorgeous...from the open windows with propped up shutters...to the fans lazily swirling overhead...

To the color outdoors that comes in...and the color indoors that blend out...

If I were going to design, and own my own shop, and live a full-life, integrated with a loving community in an amazing location...This would be it!

I wanted to stay there in Key West. And come back on a relaxing afternoon, and sit in the front room around the table with a group of friends and stitch. The place called to me.

And I was inspired. Not just by the island...but by the woman who designed and created this extraordinary needle-life in a cottage on an island in the middle of the sea...

You got that right, Julie. Peace indeed...