Well hello....
Seeing as how it’s been a while since I posted, and from a quick look at the calendar, I would bet you’re hoping I’m going to spill the beans about this Year’s retreat lineup, am I right? Or is there so much noise out there that I am speaking to an empty room..? That would serve me right for letting this space be so quiet for so long. I cannot tell you how much I hate writing the “I-can’t-believe-it’s-been-so-long-since-I-posted-to-my-blog” post. So I’m not going to. Let this serve as my nod to that trope. Yes, I am still here. Quiet lately. Processing processing processing. Believe it or not, I think I’m still working through the change from the open studios in Portland to this site-specific reality. It was two years ago I closed down Cove Street, but last year felt like a wash with my Father’s death and the increasing insanity in DC. Instagram has taken some of the wind out of my blogging sails in the past year. That said I was not feeling much wind at all last year. This post is a warm-up for the pending post about the retreats, because, YES! it is coming. I am fine tuning, fact-checking, tweaking, and generally trying not to forget anything important (which you know I will anyway…) for those descriptions. I am planning to post them on Sunday the 20th, unless something goes awry. So hang on…. (that is anyone who’s still out there listening/watching this space….)
That post will set me off down the path that drops me into the company of a delightful group of humans whose company I cherish deeply. Those two weeks are like lighthouses for the rest of my year. There have been some shifts in my life this past year. I spent a lot of energy railing against our current political situation. It felt like the right thing to do at the time, and I don’t regret it. However it took a toll on me, emotionally and psychically, and I can’t keep that up. It was unsustainable. Screaming into Susan Collin’s voicemail daily did nothing for my well-being. I find myself in some strange limbo, still incensed about what is being uncovered in this country, and further afield, but unsure of what to do with that anger, in light of my psychology. I went to ground after the election, and feel as if I am just poking my head back up to see what’s going on. There is change afoot. Do not know what it will be, but I feel it coming. To be clear, I am referring to my own personal change, have no idea what is coming for us politically. Does anyone?
My Making backed a bit off the manic pace of the year when my Dad died. But I find myself more thoughtful and considered with my choices of projects. And that’s a new, and good, feeling. My wardrobe has settled into another uniform. A different one from the past couple of years, but a uniform nonetheless. Pants, much?
I have been stuck in a groove with the Lander pants and the Wiksten Haori, and knit tops: the Monroe turtleneck, the LB Pullover. I made SO many Archers last Fall for the Lladybird workshop that I may have burnt out on that pattern a bit. But I loves me a button down, so I am turning my eye to the new Olya from Paper Theory, and have some more Kalle’s in my future. I have traced the much-discussed Persephone pants, but am hovering, concerned about fit issues…. Wow, that was a lot of pattern name-dropping….! It’s such a dialect for those of in the sewing universe, I wonder what we sound like to those outside of this community?
When I’ve gotten the retreats tight and loaded then I can turn my attention back to the analog Making. I am feeling a new spark of something in my quilting. I’ve got some things to say about that, but gonna hold off for a dedicated post. In the meantime, this is a project long in my head that finally came to be in fiber this Fall. It is Essex Linen Indigo dyed over a period of years that reflects my time at the studio in Portland, a retreat or two, and my own awkward dabblings in the back yard. It was my Quiltcon entry this year, but it was not accepted into the show. I was not crushed by that news, applying was a bit of a lark, and a good exercise for me. I am happy with the quilt regardless of it’s show worthiness. I greatly enjoyed the hand quilting and want to find another project to work through that process with.
So, I’ll be back in a minute or two, with the full monty about my 2019 retreat offerings. In the meantime, Happy New Year! Hope your Making is sustaining you. I am eternally grateful for the community of you all…!