Tuesday, November 14, 2017

Inner piece...

What with all this eye business, including two surgeries and a million appointments and tests and drops and fiddle-dee-dee, this has not been a very productive year artwise. I basically took the summer off. When I tried to to do a little sewing I found it harder than expected. I just was not seeing very well. I couldn't clearly focus on my sewing machine's needle. I was seeing two needles, unless I took my glasses off and got as close as possible to where the action was, just short of risking that I would accidentally sew through the end of my nose. Doing something like this made me cross-eyed, cranky and exhausted.



You can probably imagine how (not) conducive this was to the creative process. Most saddening of all, was when I felt like it was really time to get back to work I was empty. No ideas, no excitement. I puttered away at a new take on an old idea, but the result left me feeling even more uninspired. Perhaps I was finished with art quilting. I could retire to knit, read, write, travel! I cleaned up the studio, opened my doors for my sixth (maybe last?) Open Studio Tour and wondered what was next.

Then one day I went out to the studio and began pulling fabrics out of my collection of solids until there was a stack that made me a little giddy with the color and I started cutting triangles—I've always had a thing about triangles—then making stacks of triangles that I began sewing randomly together. And it made me happy. Matching up two triangles and sewing a quarter inch seam didn't even require my eyes to work that well—I can do this in the dark—well, almost, although it's been years since I actually "pieced" a quilt in this traditional way.



The more triangles I sewed, the better I felt and I began to see actual possibilities for this to be something more than therapy! That night as I was drifting off to sleep I saw that it needed handwork, embroidery, another something I haven't done for years, something soft as counterpoint to the geometry of the triangles. And so I've come full circle, back to the basic skills I learned long ago. You will be seeing it soon. I think this small piece is leading me both backward and forward at the same time.




Maybe it's my new thing. Maybe not. But now I'm working up a stack of log cabin blocks and they are looking pretty great. My happy is back, for now anyway.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

10 comments:

  1. I'm happy that your happy is back! I like the triangles, and look forward to seeing how it turns out. Dot

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  2. So glad to hear it.

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  3. What a cheering post. I know when I have no project that occupies my mind I feel lost. I must must be producing something that excites me. The relief when I get going again is immense. Irene from Northern Ireland.

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  4. Happy is important. I'm glad to see you back and I'm confident that, in the end, your creative self will conquer.

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  5. I'm so glad you've got some creative juices back and I can't wait to see where this goes!

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  6. I'm so happy your happy is back!!! And I love your new piece already! Sew on!

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  7. Susan Sawatzky8:09 AM

    I read somewhere about getting older and losing parts of oneself bit by bit. Even though a positive outcome after the eye surgery, it must be like that. The fact that you are able to contemplate doing other things if it really gets to that point, is the take away from the experience I think. I'm finding that the arthritis in my thumbs is causing some problems when trying to do hand sewing, so I decided to take a water color class since I can hold the paint brush without difficulty....a positive outcome to a negative problem.

    When we stop finding ways around these losses I believe that is the time to fret.

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  8. So glad to see you back... triangles are so much fun and unlock a world of possibilities. (As do log cabins :) )

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  9. I am so happy that you found your mojo. Maybe going back to the basics is how you move forward, kind of like tagging up before running home to use a baseball metaphor. Wishing you many more happy days.

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  10. Anonymous11:43 AM

    Thanks for finally writing about >"Inner piece..." <Liked it!

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