Thimbles

There has been so much in the way of hand stitching in my life, over the years, that finding the correct size thimble, has frequently been a problem. My hands are small, and very small thimbles are rare.  Those labelled small, are usually a little too big. Many years ago (plus or minus 40 years ago)  I found one that fit, in an antique show at a local mall.  I used it to the point that it bent to take on the contour of my finger.  It was used to the extent that it developed a hole, through the metal end.  I took it to a jeweler who patched the hole for more than I had originally paid for the thimble.  A few years later another hole developed, and I took it to a different jeweler, who told me that it was gold (!), and probably dated from the 1840's.  Also that it was brittle from use and time, and there wasn't much point in patching it, as the problem would continue.  He was right.  There are now two more holes, and it is very difficult to use.  I grieve a bit, as it was a faithful part of my life for many years.

About 25 years ago, I found another thimble that sort of fit, at a trade show in North Dakota.  It was steel and manufactured in England. Despite the price, I bought it as a spare to the gold thimble, but still preferred to use the gold one.  Over the years I lost track of where I kept it, but would stumble upon it from time to time. I found it again recently and gladly started using it.  Then one day I couldn't find it and both my husband and I figured it had fallen off my work table into the garbage basket, and had been put out in the garbage the previous day.  I continued to struggle with the gold thimble.

About a week ago, I considered taking on the finishing job for a piece of fine needlework, something I used to do for hire in the past.  I knew a good thimble would be the make or break of my decision. I found one, quite by accident on the internet, and bought it--in size XS.  Yes, it was very  expensive both in price, and added exchange and shipping.  It arrived today.  It's just a bit too small.  Arg-g-g--h!

But--this is so important to me, that I'm considering ordering another one in the next larger size.  

Working through the list

Tuesday was a wonderful day. A friend and I visited the Winnipeg Art Gallery to see the exhibition "Summer with the Impressionists".  This was really a once in a lifetime opportunity,  and well worth the time.  I recommend it to anyone who has the opportunity to see it.

Meanwhile I've been working through the list of projects that have accumulated over the last while.  At the same time, under hubby's encouragement, I've been slowly working on the cull and purge task that is constantly with me.  One of the things I recently found was this collection of metal bell pull hardware.  The largest piece is 12", and the smallest 4", not really something that would likely be used in quilting.

But one of these was perfect for the piece I finished yesterday.  Several posts ago, I spoke of a marge Shibori mandala that I ended up cutting into smaller pieces.  This piece is 8" by 26", and I'm very pleased with how it turned out, especially after I used some of my very special beads in it.  I think this will work well for the exhibition I have coming up in September.  I have titled the piece "Autumn", in an acknowledgement of the colours and leaf stamps used.

New starts

The physical problems continue.  Last time I was into Urgent Care, we joked about "Frequent Flyer Miles".  However, things are settling down, and with the completion of the last piece, as mentioned in my last post, it's time to move onto something new.

But that can be a two edged sword.  There are so many ideas in my mind, both "arty" and "quilt-y".  I have finished four charity quilt tops, and matched them with batting.  Now I have to find backing, and actually quilt the darn things.  But I also bought a dress, that needs a casual handbag, and I'm looking at a "Hobo" bag.  There aren't any commercial patterns that I can afford, so I've had to design my own.  Did so, and made a muslin, that appears workable, but settling down to actually make the thing is going to take a bit of time. There is a small hanging with beading half done.  Uh Huh.....  

There is also a Craftsy class, partially finished, which opens up a whole new direction for my work, and one I want to explore.  I have started gathering supplies for that.  Oh Dear.

And today I felt the urge to think about trying some hand embroidery. Not something to be started lightly, given the arthritis in my hands.  So I dug out a major project that I've kept tucked away for about 12 years.  There are two parts to it, either of which could be finished on its own.  All of the hand embroidery is finished on one part, and all of the thread and fabric is there for the second.  Maybe a few days spent on some complicated finishing would cure me of any desire to go further.

As a result of all this, my studio is in chaos.

It feels like I'm spinning around in a circle, with too many options and not enough time.  I get so excited about all of these projects, and keep running off on a tangent, and accomplishing nothing. Time to sit down with a cup of tea and develop a plan for all of this exciting work.  Perhaps the first item on the list would be to tidy the studio.  Just eliminating the chaos would help me feel in control.

Whoops!

I spent quite awhile talking about the piece, but never showed  a picture of the final design.  I hope you can read all of the lozenges in the larger picture.

I had originally planned on the title "  Shadows of my Mind", but that no longer feels appropriate. There are a a lot of emotions pulling at me right now, as I deal with frequent, emerging, physical issues.  One has been the emergence of what may become chronic pain.  We have found a medication that is appearing to control a good portion of it, with the rest being bearable.  But I keep asking myself "what next?"  All the while that I've been attending medical appointments and juggling meds, I have found peace and relaxation working on this piece.

I'm now considering, seriously, giving it the title of " Living with the Pain".  A few years ago I did a piece titled " Caging the pain", when I was dealing with the aftermath of bilateral knee replacement surgery.  So maybe I am starting to develop  a series, as a reflection of my physical journey.  

Over the past few years, I have seen a change in my art.  No longer am I producing pretty, technically challenging, sale-able pieces, but rather I've been moving in the direction of more concept pieces.  This was certainly true in the two pieces I entered in the  show Prairie Perspectives, currently  travelling throughout the Province of Manitoba.  This piece supports that change.  Something to think about, and I can't yet determine if this is a positive or negative change, or if it just represents growth in my art.

When one thing goes wrong, they all go wrong (long)

I've been working on a large, weird piece in fits and starts for about a month now.  The background fabric, backing and binding all came from a very large piece of hand dyed fabric, intentionally made for the vision I had.  I wanted to make faint shapes of brain cells on this background, and finally decided to mark them out, and use Caron d"Arche pastels to create soft colour. Went out, drove almost all the way across town,  and bought the pastels.  I have never used them, but have used both oil and chalk pastels before, on fabric.  No big deal, right?  Got home and found out that I had bought wax pastels and had no idea how to use them at all.  Very expensive crayons. So hit he internet. Not much help.  Asked friends.  The only suggestion was to paint the areas I wanted to use them on with fabric medium before suing the crayons.  Well, once that was done I was committed to the process, but I sure don't recommend it.  The areas with the fabric medium finished much darker than areas without it.  So instead of faint brain cells I had obvious brain cells.

For the first time in my life, I wanted to put words on a quilt, so FMQ'd 11 words between the brain cells, all representing some sort of negative thought. These appear to be just part of the quilting, unless you look very closely.

Next was the background quilting--matchstick quilting--with thread breaks every time the line went over a brain cell, or over any of the lines coming off the brain cells representing the axons,  whatever the name is for the other time of lines joining the cells, as well as over the words.  The process took almost a month of working 2-3 hours almost every day.This what I ended up with.

Next was to make oval shaped appliques,  containing  positive words, to be scattered over the  quilted background.  I prepared these with my hand-dandy Appliquik tools, using a heavier than normal fusible interfacing to support the machine stitching I would use to crate the words.  Got all the words marked and started to stitch.  

 The seam allowance that had been glued to the back of the oval refused to play nicely with the edges of my slider in the area of hole used to allow the needle to go up and down.

The struggle continued for awhile, as interfacing has never worked well against the bed of the machine, but finally I got rid of the slider.

Next problem with  stitching the words was that the heavier interfacing I had used as a stabilizer didn't work.  Every one of the ovals appliques need to be blocked.  That meant getting them wet, but I had marked with a water-erasable pen, so that was part of the job anyway.  Then the moisture softened the fabric glue holding the seam allowance in place.  A bit of a panic, but it got dealt with. Here they are with three still to go.

 Hopefully these  can be stitched to the background tomorrow.  I will be s-o-o-o glad to see the end of this project!