Pat's hexagons

This past few days, perhaps daze, have been spent on retreat with a group of women I can't contemplate  life without.  When the laughter and storytelling alternate with the whir of sewing machines, the rythm of hand stitching, adult beverages interspersed with home cooked delights ... all is righted in my world.  

I'm making progress on the inherited hexagons. Slowly taking shape. The needle dipping and rising while aspects of Pat's life are revealed one backing paper at a time. She was much loved. A wife, mother, aunt, friend  of many. Busy. Thrifty.  Christian. Brave. Held close in the prayers and thoughts of so many.  This past few days have been spent trying to do justice to Pat's final project -   and finding great peace in the rythm of stitch. 

Making the most of each day ...

When writing "just a minute" for Down Under Textiles, I focused for a year on what can be achieved in small amounts of time. Just how many minutes each day are opportunities to progress something - perhaps in the rise and fall of hand stitching, completing a binding, sketching, embedding knots? Making a to do list to remind me of those things I absolutely must get done .... today.
Ruling out time spent at traffic lights, using moving walkways and stairs, there are likely to be 15 minutes in every day that can be claimed in the name of art. We decided to take back a few important hours at day's end - usually spent in front of a television set. Most evenings there's now a space between end of meal and the cryptic crossword to work on something substantial. However it's those 15 minute grabs, here and there, that enable me to get the most out of each week.  They are often unplanned - the trick is to be ready to respond - oh, and to check that must-do-to-do list!

Markmaking and handstitching

Sitting and stitching - there is something quite peace-filled about handwork. This is a mixed media piece  of fabric that comprises collaged cards, tissue papers and text on an open weave fabric, covered with a layer of more tissue paper tinted with watercolours. Stitched with silk thread from Judith Baker Montano's range of thread and ribbon from Treenway Silks.  It's good to be back with a needle in my hand.