Still having trouble incorporating periods of quietness in my week. After months of lethargy and no motivation or energy to create, I’ve had a very creative winter with so many ideas!
Stitching the last quarter – one stitch at a time!
Three-quarters of the stitch meditations are completed as I fulfill my desire to work through a 100 Day project. Much of 2020 was a period of little or no productivity in any creative pursuit, especially stitch meditations. This seems counterintuitive, as you would expect that if more of your world was in upheaval and uncertainty, picking up a needle and stitching for no reason but to focus on something else would be both necessary and helpful.
Thankfully by December, my creativity resurfaced. I am not certain if it was due to the increased sense of hope, a break from work, and the beginnings of the holiday season. But, I began creating and have not stopped!
I received my copy of Resilient Stitch and love that it is bound in the same suede-like cloth. The book is tactile and beautiful. I have quickly flipped through to look at the photos and will now slowly work my way through reading it.
Continuing to read, create and meditate – one stitch at a time!
Textile Talks is a weekly series of online webinars co-sponsored by:
This week’s subject is the association between quilting and health. The authors of the book: Quilts and Health, Marsha MacDowell, Beth Donaldson, and Clare Luz will be presenting on Wednesday, May 11, 2021, from 2-3 ET. Registration is required but the talk is free. For those unable to make this in person, the Textile Talks are recorded and available on YouTube.
Radiant Light one of my chakra quilts is in the book along with many other beautiful and poignant quilts. Read more about the quilt and book in this post.
I hope you can join the webinar tomorrow for what I expect will be a very informative hour.
The last month of 2020 and the beginning of 2021 has been a very creative period for me. I’ve continued to work on the House and Home series and have now created 5 pieces. They are in various stages of completion. This small finished piece called: Golden Light began with the offcuts of a larger piece that may be the beginning of a new series.
The palette selection began with an arashi shibori-dyed cotton. The stripes move from soft to medium blue and then onto turquoise. There are also bands of gold and yellow in this piece.
I continue to use small strip inserts that reveal bits of colour. Texture is added with rows of stitching in variegated thread.
Golden Light is the late afternoon sun bathing the sky just as the light begins to fade. Warm and relaxing.
Resilient Stitch: Wellbeing and Connection in Textile Art is the title of Claire Wellesley-Smith’s newest book. I am anxiously awaiting my copy to arrive. I loved her previous book on stitching: Slow Stitch: Mindful and Contemplative Textile Art.
I read Wellesley-Smith’s book Slow Stitch near the beginning of my 100 day journey and have dipped into it many times since. Beautifully photographed with inspiration from other textile artists. One of the things that brings me joy is just touching this book – it is bound in a soft cloth. It is such a simple, elegant and perfect choice for a book about textiles, cloth and repurposing materials.
While I wait for my copy of Resilient Stitch to arrive, I will pull Slow Stitch off the shelf in my studio and slowly savour the photographs and admire the work within.
Reading and meditating– one stitch at a time!
Pulling out the fabric scraps and sorting until one catches my imagination. Pairing with others – keeping it monochromatic, or contrasting? What colour thread? Do I add more stitches, beads, or layer more fabric? Many decisions in each creative act.
I like using up all of the same fabrics and in doing so inadvertently creating a series.
I must admit to having noticed this before and have tried to vary the colours and fabrics between stitch meditations. Mostly because I thought it would be more interesting for those reading and looking at the pieces. I don’t know if that is important or should be important! This 100 Day Stitch Meditation Journey was not for others, but for me.
Working with it all – one stitch at a time!
No matter how I try, my squares are simple. The shapes don’t overlap in a colourful display with many stitches holding each layer together. I look at others creating such beautiful pieces, admire the stitches and interplay of fabrics and textures. Yet, I can’t seem to create the same designs.
I do create simple, spare designs. Just a few pieces of fabric stitched together with a few basic stitches. Harmonious, elegant, quiet, and clean. And, always colourful and of course, restful while working on their construction.
Simplicity – one stitch at a time!
Short periods of time, capturing small bits of fabric that would have been discarded. Arranged into pleasing displays and held together with stitches and memories. Stitch meditations that conjure a specific time – just yours.
Stitched for no other reason than to just be.
It took me a long while to get to the point in the hibiscus flower quilt that I was finally able to make decisions on the background. Meaning that I can continue to stitch more of the quilt top together.
I thought at the beginning of this project that I would use neutral linens and cotton fabrics in very low volume prints. These would become the background for machine and hand stitching to create interest.
It wasn’t just the background causing me setbacks. There were a few vines twisting themselves around the flowers and I knew what I wanted them to look like but finding the fabric in my stash wasn’t easy. I tried many combinations of colours as you can see from just a couple of photos below.
With the guidance from my friend who also taught me this technique, I was finally able to make some decisions.
So, after a few years of working on this UFO and then storing it away, then pulling it out again, it’s finally finished! Or almost finished. The top is stitched in one piece and is now waiting for machine stitching to give it depth and texture.
I have put it aside once more to give me time to think about this final step. More decisions to come!
There is still a peacefulness in stitching. It calms and soothes. Sitting and listening to a book from the public library.
Selecting the fabric scraps and then the threads. Deciding on the shapes and sizes I will use.
Discarding those that don’t fit into that particular meditation.
Arranging, pinning and then beginning. All a part of the process. Creating a rhythm. Stitching and stitching until it is complete.
