Recent Finish

There were pieces left over from the large blue painted piece I recently finished, titled "Hidden Meanings", shown in the last post.  While one was used to experiment with stitching and such, the other one became a long, thin beaded piece.  I haven't figured out a title for it yet, but was able to get it bound and finished yesterday. Neither have I given much thought to what price I might put on it  It's about 9" by 29".

A new Piece?

 I'm hoping so.  As part of the workshop I'm taking, I painted two large pieces of fabric according to the instructor's guidance, but using my own colour scheme. They are each about 36" by 45".  This week I tackled the first one.

I carefully cut it and added 1/2" strips, mainly of white, but with a few of a blue that matched the blue in the piece.

This I then cut into three pieces, one 24" by 34", and two about 12-14" by about 12".

All of these pieces will be machine quilted, but with invisible thread, and only hold all the layers together- not for any decorative reason.  I will then cut the long skinny pieces to a more appropriate length. This should give me a couple of smaller scraps to experiment with, in terms of embellishment.  Finally I'll embellish each section in some way.  My hope is to end up with a large and a small piece to add to my exhibit at Gwen Fox Gallery in May.

Getting older

 As I age, I've come to realize that no-one, other than me, knows what is in my studio, or almost more importantly, what value might be attached to my "stuff".  Lately, I've been "purging", and directing things toward someone who might recognize the value, or might actually use it.  Today I passed a large, shopping bag size, parcel of various silk embroidery threads to a friend, who is a member of The Winnipeg Embroiderers' Guild, and who had agreed to pass them along to the Guild, although she had permission to do with them as she thought fit.  It was such a relief to send them somewhere where they might be welcome and used.  This evening I decided to get all of the empty boxes off my storage room shelves, so that I could see exactly what remained for future purging.  You guessed it, I found a large box  containing a mix of specialty embroidery threads, including a fair bit of silk.  I just put it in a larger box and left it on the shelf.

This whole process is one that every crafter must go through at some point in their life.  It's a very emotional experience.  After the best part of an hour at it, I came upstairs almost in tears.  Have I been a colossal fool to have spent so much money, and it all does represent a significant amount of money, on what some would call junk?  Sometimes my husband thinks so, even as he is being supportive of my drive to create.  But in the end, I also have to acknowledge that these "things" have given me a great deal of pleasure and serenity over the years.  They have been the focus of most of my social life.  They have served their purpose, and now it's time for them to give the same pleasure, serenity, and socialization to others.

But won't send them to the thrift store.