At least a dozen reasons why

Seems I have a bit of a problem.

Time for true confessions and since this blog is mainly my online journal,

today I'm setting down in black and white [sort of]

what I intend to do about it.

You see, the issue is, I never seem to actually

finish

any of my textile pieces ...

it's a mystery really ... all these piles of un-dones, everywhere.

I'm not sure why I keep putting them down & skip off to something else

before I can say, "Finito"

and pass them along.

Friends have asked to buy, and trade ... I have even wished for one or two pieces on hand

for special gifts.  

The whole sorry subject has been bugging me for quite some time.

Can I blame it on being a Gemini?

How about the little issue of not having a  "proper"  studio/work space?

Yeah right.  Those sound like excuses to me, too.

Truth is

I'd dearly love to see them completed and then

go away

out into the world so that I can

free

my

mind,

my shelf space,

and venture forward, unencumbered.

Amen.

I ask ya, have you ever seen so many pins?  Once, I called these cloth components

"landscapes for beads"

but most are either partially beaded

or have become pin holders instead ...

So I've pulled out twelve of these unfinished stories - twelve favorites

that I'd love to see completed

[please don't ask

how many more are lurking about] 

because I am going to do again what I did two years ago

[which helped me  focus  in the very best way]

and that is

I am going to choose 

a word

for this year.

An ever-present reminder of intention.

I know the whole word thing has fallen out of favor for many

but I'm game to stick with any thought process

that culminates in fruitful results ...

isn't any positive movement forward better than

all this un-doneness begging for a turned edge,

or a bead,

or a dye pot to dive into?!

So there you have it ...

my twelve good reasons

why I need to

finish

what I started.

You are all welcome to hold me accountable.

And as a small treat for embarking on This Road to Completion,

I signed up for a year of advertisement-free Pandora ...

have been enjoying the most glorious - uninterrupted - listening pleasures.

The best part

has been discovering musicians I'd not heard of before

 like this splendid pianist, Ludovico Einaudi.

I was learning to play the piano once but didn't finish that either.  Nevermind.

If I still played, I would want to play this.

[tis splendid with the volume turned way up ...]

Dietro Casa  =  Back Home

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Rags to become riches

This finally came off the box loom.

You can see the creases on the sides where the fabric held onto its frame for such a long time.

Before removing the weaving, I knew I needed to secure the outer perimeter.

This ~ I thought ~ was going to take quite a bit of needle maneuvering

so I expected the invisible basting to take a lot longer than it did.  But as I sat on the stair landing,

happily stitching under the bright light from the skylight, 

my needle seemed to fly through these soft cloths.

The gratitude I felt!

For some backstory, please click on this post...

it will explain everything about why I am so grateful to no longer be "stuck."

This might be one of my favorite cloth techniques of all time.  Jude, from Spirit Cloth, taught this 

in her 'Contemporary Woven Boro' workshop...I was instantly smitten and

have so looked forward to getting back to it.

So today, when I finally picked it up to release it from its framework,

I became ELATED....

I felt a lot like this

~ New Wings ~

courtesy of Duy Huynh

A new landscape for beadwork ... let's see where this goes now, shall we?

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Stuck between some rags and a hard place...

A little w.i.p...

modern day "rags" woven onto a make-do loom, once the bottom half of a box of notecards.

Light as a feather and easy to hold, just 5 by 7 inches.  Splendid idea, wish it had been mine...

... Jude Hill's  'Contemporary Woven Boro' class is in full swing

and this tension technique comes from creating a small frame from whatever we have at hand.

I know I'm not alone when I say I  ***LOVE***  this process, weaving without a foundation...

The warp is from torn bits of an old silk blouse...all the rest scraps from this & that.

*****

A silly question...ever tear cloth with your teeth?

I'm an expert now: chomp down hard at the place you are starting the tear

and pull strong & steady with one hand straight out in front of you.

Heh, you never know when such skills could come in handy...

They co-mingle so nicely, all those tiny ribbony pieces...

Here is the back looking much like an Apricot Surprise birthday present.

Fray heaven!

I couldn't tie bows (more on that below) so the ends are knotted instead...

*****

So what about this "hard place" I mentioned in the title of this post?

I am unable to sew.  Not a stitch.

Unable to use my right hand for most anything at the moment...

The doc says he can fix me up, only a matter of time...time which is ticking faster now with my boro mates.

So this is why you are not seeing any basting...no surface embellishment of any kind.

 Hope you like *puffy* as much as I do, it will have to suffice for now.

...just wanted you to know...

*****

While so many parts of our country are still covered in deep snow & frigid cold,

we were able to enjoy THIS today... 

View from the Painter's Studio

~ painting by Caspar David Friedrich, 1805 ~

Till later my friends, always so good to have you stop by,

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