sewing at the coffee bar table, whilst we wait for the ferry for my friend Nadine to leave the island on...
Dearest Needlework friends,
Hallo again and the happiest of creative new years to you all!
getting into this simple project, as a way to distract from the agitated vibes of family!
My new year has begun with a lot of deep reflection on my cultural roots and how they relate to where I might move next... And much rumination over what was achieved in my sewing in the past year or so! I'm much limited at present in what I have access to for needleworking, and yet I've had a couple of significant experiences here in the family home on the island in Scotland where I grew up.
In particular, I was moved by looking through the old sewing boxes of my step mum's: in them I found items that I had even left, when I left home at 16. Old lace and ribbons, buttons and threads that my mum and gran had handed down to me. I was not expecting to find these treasures, as I sorted through Margaret's things, hoping to tidy up for anyone who might sew in the house in the future. Most of the women in the family are super-busy and more interested in speeding-up-life things - like technology and working too much - and certainly my dad is unlikely to be picking up a needle and thread in his late 70s!
Margaret did mostly house furnishings, in terms of sewing, and machine-sewed so far as I know... The pieces of lace that I found were unlikely to be used, but I can already see huge and beautiful potential in them! Edging on skirts, blouses, underwear... Contrasting the aged creamy deliciousness with dark or deep colours. I am excited about this.
As well as grieving Margaret's loss - this is the first time I've been in the family home since she has been gone (and she was with my dad for over 40 years), I also came across various photos of my female relatives long gone, which somehow reminds me of times when almost everything would've been hand-sewn and homemade.
my dad's mum and dad: in Glasgow, probably around the 1940s
Somehow, just seeing a few snaps and reading letters from those days, I am reminded of older, better natural values and ways: being in the old family cottage on the island hillside also reminds me of this - of my own childhood, and of older times, where all was done by lamplight and all was done in a natural pace. Which reminds me also, that I live in such a place with even more history to it - and I should tap into this more!
I like to spend my time when I am here, walking on the beach or hill; there are treasures for the eyes everywhere, and this inspires me with colour, texture and even with materials that one day I might be able to integrate in my sewing work. Am excited about finding pieces of shells washed up after our very stormy December, which I may be able to drill holes in and make into buttons, or toggles.
I had hoped to be working on many sewing projects during this trip, like a small and sacred 'commission' project that I've been discussing with a friend in Tasmania, and silk underwears: I hoped to be immersed in tartans and secondhand shops here with piles of Scottish textiles, but ultimately, especially since I was knocked out by terrible flu-like symptoms, and being too distracted and weighed down by the epic hard work of being around my family - it just has not transpired. I yearn for my home space, with all my tools of course, but also with the outside air inside, the warm sun giving comforting heat at midday, and the glorious positive atmosphere that I have long cultivated in my own home, which powers a vibrant creative environment! And I miss being able to pop out to the gardens and pick oranges, to stretch my legs between bouts of sewing!
old pottery found whilst beach-combing - making me dream of south Italy and my beautiful Arthouse!!
Next Monday I'll be getting on a very long bus journey again, and might be more able to focus on some stitching to pass the multiple days in transit! At least I finished a couple of repairs here: my dad's ripped body warmer (caught on a gatepost: had to argue him out of fixing it with tape!), and a suitcase which I'm taking back with me (MUCH bigger than the one I arrived with; hoping to fit a few fabrics and books, plates and shoes in?)
I use this cover every day now
At least I made (detailed throughout the post) a small but meaningful mobile phone warmer (my phone is awfully sensitive to both heat and cold), with a most beautiful fabric that I found left from one of Margaret's sofa-covering projects. I started it whilst having a lovely cuppa out with Nadine and my dad, in Brodick - then finished it later than day by adding some giant poppers/ snaps to close it. I love it. It is a fave fabric, which I've used the rest of this month in Scotland, wrapped around my legs to keep the cold out.
The old mobile phone warmer that I had (above), I gifted to my dad, as it fits his phone so perfectly. I originally made this from an old glove - a single glove, whose partner was lost a long time before - a simple sewing-up of one end, and the stringing of a length of wool into the 'neck' of it to make it secure-able.
missing Nadine's beautiful presence: this is her on our living-room floor, making a varsity style jumper, with Berlioz and the date he was born in! It was brilliant having her sewing company for a few days.
