These days I'm very busy beading a larger wall hanging. Beading is somewhat mindless work and gives me lots of time for thinking. I'm also in the preparation stages of a new beading class and spend time practising my teaching. Sounds strange, I know, but as I work I'm thinking " Now, how would I teach this?" This sort of execise leads me to think about how I learned a particular technique. ( I told you that beading gives me lots of thinking time--maybe too much!)
What I've realized is that every stitching/beading/quilting/painting class or experience I've had, has had a place in developing the skills that I use today. The piece I'm working on is hand beading on a free-motion, quilted fabric--to which I have also applied acrylic paint. The beading stitches I'm using were learned in a beading class, but I'm also using a beading technique that I learned in a stitchery class. The fabric is controlled using a set of Q-Snaps, bought for use when hand-quilting, but set up in a method learned in an English Goldwork stitchery class, and using a frame weight hand-made for use with canvaswork.
My skill-set is unique, and used in a variety of ways, and combinations. Being referred to as a "quilter" doesn't begin to describe me, or what I do. No wonder it makes me feel uncomfortable.
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Hi!
Thanks for the nice email in response to my artquilt list introduction. I like the fact that you document your artistic adventure every few days and with regularity. I do the same. It serves me well ... as a way to remember what I was thinking about when approaching new work. I also agree that beading is one of those marvelous activities that sets the mental stage for deep thinking. So true!
So ... your name "Mouse Factory". My business name is "Mouse House". We must be "related" in some strange way! My nickname in college was Mouse due to the sound I made sucking in air through my teeth ... something I only ever did while impatiently waiting for my customer's food to come up on the counter while waitressing. I knew that when I finally got out of waiting tables I wanted my own business and that it would be located in my house so that I could also have a family. I thought I would be dealing in antiques and selling them through occasional antique fairs. Mouse House, instead, became a custom picture framing business that fifteen years later allowed me to continue with art.
Susan
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