Blog 533
This has been another week of variety which suits me just fine.
Our torpid lockdown days follow the same monotonous routine so it is a joy for
me to have numerous projects on the go in my playroom. I am there most
afternoons and I can’t really express how uplifting it is to be immersed in
colour, thread and fabric. I don’t know how others are coping with lockdown without
a similar creative outlet. I don’t watch a lot of TV, just selective programmes
which I can record and watch at my leisure so I have plenty of time to read and
play….and build snowmen!! My efforts last week lasted no more than 3 days and
this is what was left on the lawn. Yesterday I could have built another one
after substantial snow falls and, with last night’s freezing temperatures, it
would have lasted much longer too!
I have storage boxes full of teaching samples and projects
that I have been unable to use or sell in the past so I am at the stage now where
I am ready to re-purpose them or bin them! Some stuff has gone straight into
the bin but there was one colourful picture that I really loved. It used to
hang in a large frame above the fire place for over 6 years until the frame
dropped apart with the rising heat from the fire. This has now become a large
bag and it is something I will definitely use when I am allowed to attend my
sewing groups again.
In the sorting out/throwing out process I rescued what I
could to make small labels for my growing collection. They have not been
bordered yet nor has a ribbon been added, but they are pictured below. Label 1:
this was added to a piece of work made for my 60th birthday by a
very special quilty friend; it’s very special. Label 2: this is a section from
a stitched textile which I made at Suzette’s. Label 3: this is made from a
strip of off-cut fabric from the picture used to make the bag above. Label 4: hand
embroidery in the style of Laura Wasilowski.
The multi-coloured quilting thread arrived this week so I
was able to bash on with the strips for the Square Dance quilt. This project has been an ideal diversion this
week when weather conditions haven’t been favourable for our usual daily walk. I
am at the stage now where all the strips have been quilted and they have been trimmed
ready for reconstruction.
In case boredom set in, I sent off for another jigsaw and
here it is completed. It was a joy to do but it wasn’t without its challenges.
As I was doing it I recalled that we used to attend balloon festivals in Bristol
when the girls were small. If conditions were right (and often at 5a.m.!!), it
wasn’t unusual for over 100 balloons to be air-borne at any one time. It was a
spectacular sight. We are hoping to attend one in Yorkshire later this year if our
covid circumstances improve, so it’s arms vaccine-ready and fingers crossed!!
I am very fortunate in that I have always been a
happy-go-lucky sort of person and I can find pleasure in the most trivial
things in life. So this week, even though the local landscape is covered with snow
and ice, I was thrilled to find that there are early signs of spring if you
care to look. You can always trust Mother Nature to remain true to her rhythms
and, as the days are lengthening, there’s nothing like a tree festooned in catkins
to give hope for the springtime to come.
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