Quite a bit of progress on the "Purge" (long)

 I let it be known that I was doing a "deep purge", and had some visitors this week.  The first two were close friends.  One took everything left in the bead cupboard--everything!  She also took the "not-so-nice" quilt that had been consigned to the donation pile in my last post.  The other friend bought my piece "Juncos" off the wall.  I was so very pleased, as I had been actually worrying about what was to become of it.  It has always been one of my favourite pieces, and, I believe, one of my best.

The other visitor was a lady I connected to during a casual Zoom meeting of Slow Stitchery followers, all associated with  the group Textile and Fibre Artists of Manitoba (TFAM) that I have mentioned in the past. This lady and I have connected, being about the same age and having similar interests.  She is part of a small informal group that are starting to explore embroidery.  She took away 8 standard craft storage boxes full of DMC thread, as well as two similar boxes crammed full of Keinik metallic embroidery thread.  The latter was quite valuable, and I was reluctant to part with it, but now I'm not sure I really have any regrets.

For awhile now, I've felt that EPP was going to be a big part of my creativity in the future.  I've collected the patterns, templates and two sets of papers for future use.  The third set of papers was just too expensive for me.  It was for La Passacaglia by Willyne Hammerstein.  There are support groups for this piece, and on one there was discussion about the value of taking a "Stack'n'Whack class in preparation to working the piece.  The opportunity arose, and I took the class yesterday.  In truth, I didn't have the energy to stay for the full class but feel I have what I need to finish the piece worked on during class, as well as a basic idea of the technique.  

So, I'm calling a halt to what was to have been a 90 day Purge.  Far more has been accomplished than expected, and it is time to move on to stage 2--donation quilts.  This is an effort to minimize my actual fabric stash, but it also gives me a reason to be downstairs sewing my heart out.  Always a good reason from my perspective.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Laundry Day

 Today was busy with laundry, but this also meant that I could work in the studio while monitoring the laundry's progress.  I recently made the decision to continue a year long studio purge, but not in the sense of cleaning out and throwing away.  So what do I really want to do?  I discovered three potential projects for which I have purchased supplies, but which have then been carefully tucked away for consideration when time permits.  Two of these projects have been around for years.  Well, the three projects are now at the top of my "to do" list, and two of the three are "in progress".  Today, I was a little "under the weather", so worked slowly and steadily on the quilt top for one of the four baby quilts I'm making to give to each of my almost adult grandchildren for their first born child. While I certainly have enough fabric, purchased several years ago, I'm not so sure that I'll have enough to complete the fourth and last quilt. Any...
Read more

Visiting the past

Image
  The ladies of my Wednesday group have been encouraging me to make some pot holders or placemats in preparation for the fall craft show.  Initially my reaction was horror, as that's the way I started entering sales and shows almost 30 years ago.  But on further thought I figured "why not"? I have fabric, I have experience and some skill, and there is no need for me to fill more than the corner of a table in order to be able to become part of the event. So I started some pot holders, buying some Insil-Brite to provide some insulation from heat, and choosing some colour-matched fabric to work on.  I agonized over what size to make and settled on 7" square.  Got everything cut and started cutting, then some simple machine quilting and sewed the first thing together.  A nice thick, firm pot holder.  Too bad my sewing machine started to complain when I tried to add binding.  Just not going to work. So back to the planning stage.  I read the instr...
Read more

Fibre Art Pieces for sale

Image
  In expectation of selling our house, my fibre art pieces must find new homes. Most of the newer pieces have been disposed of, leaving some older pieces of which I've always been especially fond.  I've prepared a detailed list of these, in no particular order.  Please give me a call if you see any that speak to you.  Prices are always negotiable. 1. "Fantasy Flowers" This is the very first hanging I ever made as a specifically "art quilt".  It is 32" by 29".  All of the flowers and leaves were hand made and appliqued.     Suggested price:  SOLD 2"Blue and Yellow Shibori"  26" by 301/2"   Shibori is a dyeing technique with a lengthy history in Japan.  It's very labour intensive but can produce stunning results.  As the fibre is often tied into bundles before dyeing, the image of the thread used to tie the bundles often becomes part of the pattern. I usually make my  Shibori-dyed fabric into fibre collages t...
Read more