Thanks to taxes I did not get a story written this week, but to give you a break from the tedious April Fool's jokes and pranks I thought I'd do some updates on my other creative endeavors. In typical me fashion I forgot to post any stats or pics on the textile art I accomplished in February, but I didn't finish anything for the entire month, so there wouldn't have been anything to report. :) For March my big accomplishment was completing my koi quilt project.
In pursuit of being a zero waste quilter I also made a storage bag for the quilt out of the leftover fabric scraps before I sent the lot to Kat.
For the rest of the month I worked on smaller practice pieces in preparation for my next quilt, which will be made from recycled linen and slow stitched with perle cotton threads. This piece I made from some old cotton I recycled from a lumpy cutter piece.
Slow stitch practice is a constant exercise for me, not only to keep my fingers limber but also to keep my head where it should be when I'm working on quilting and embroidery. I did a lot of thinking while I worked on this piece, made from two vintage hankies, and made peace with yet another old rift between me and my mother.
Although it's been almost a year since Mom died I'm still processing the loss, I guess. It's different than it was when I lost my dad. His death was (and sometimes still is) like a physical wound, as if part of me had been ripped away. With my mother it's more of a debate with myself and my emotions, some of which I'm now suspecting will never be resolved. I'm still going to work on it because I do want to make peace with her on everything.
During the month of April I plan to begin work on the linen quilt, but I think I'll line up some small side projects, too. They will give me opportunities to take breaks while I'm working on the quilt, and hopefully prevent me from becoming overwhelmed.
1 comment:
I loved my mother though I didn't always get along with her and some days, I think she would have been happier had they not ended up adopting me. I think she wanted a child desperately, they'd tried for a few years, and they finally did 'get' a little boy that they had almost a year. They were getting ready for the hearing that would have finalized everything when social services, whatever they were called at the time, showed up unannounced with a person in tow, told my mother it was a relative of the boy that they'd managed to locate from somewhere down south, took the baby from her arms along with a blanket and a couple diapers and left her standing on the doorstep in shock. When they had the chance to adopt me, she never really got close to me. Maybe she was always afraid something would happen and she didn't want that hurt again until it became a habit with her. I don't know. Maybe she wanted a boy. But it was a private adoption and I wasn't born when the arrangements were made so they had no choice. I have days where I miss her terribly and days when I don't and I feel guilty about it. But I deal with it and move on. On the other hand, my dad too left a gaping wound. There's no doubt I was daddy's girl.
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