Starting afresh

 We have been back for a week, and it is always a week of going slowly, of taking time, of adjusting to sleep, to catching up with folk and ourselves; of reclaiming the garden and reminding ourselves where things are and what we do!

By Saturday I was feeling like I could do more than potter so as I tidied up my sewing stuff I remembered that I had wanted to test out hem stitching on my sewing machine, so that I could use up linen remnants and make serviettes. I love serviettes!

I found this bag with a few notes to self from past Fiona.

I recalled (vaguely) that I had purchased the magic pen, but the dissolvable stabiliser? Where would I have bought that? Did I get that? Where did I put it if I did? 

I came across this folded piece of what looked like interfacing. 

How would I know if it was dissolvable stabiliser? I did my own test. Highly scientific!

It dissolved in warm-hot water in seconds! So I was pretty much on track. And then I even wrote another note to myself and pinned it to the stabiliser for future reference.

I watched a couple of YouTube videos about wing needles and hem stitching and set out to discover how many hem stitches my old fashioned sewing machine would do and it turns out to be 4. I read up on the foot to use, popped the needle in and drew up four lines in removable pen. And off I went.

I was excited by the results.

The strips of dissolvable stabiliser on the back. It prevents the fabric from really puckering as the dog feeds move it back and forth and back and forth to make the stitches.

And then I dissolved it, dried it and ironed it, and here is my sample piece looking flat and tidy. I just love it.

So my next step is to work out how to make serviettes, maybe with mitred corners, and how to incorporate the hem stitching into them. That is where the magic pen comes into things I think... we shall see.

And some flowers from the garden...

A gradual and slow return, but with fun along the way! 

Thursday Thoughts...

“The twin purposes of art: 

1. To make sense of pain 

2. To fathom the sources of beauty” 

John Ruskin

One of the reasons I love poetry so much I think is that it brings things down to their essence. It oftentimes takes away the extraneous, the unnecessary, the fluff, the make up and the fancy dress and lets you look long and hard at the simplicity and the true nature of things.

These words do that for me a bit with art.

As we make we are so often trying to make sense of pain or darkness or troubling experiences. At other times we are trying to express the sheer joy and beauty of this world and this life. To investigate both sides and discover how they can be expressed and shared.

I am quite happy to think that in this case, things can be simplified into a binary of sorts. I know that there will be variations and modifications within these two categorisations, but again like poetry, they have revealed to me the essence and true nature of art.

James Turrell, "Within Without" Skyspace, Canberra 2018

Thursday Thoughts...

"Once you learn to read, you will be forever free." 

 Frederick Douglass

Being able to read most definitely opens doors and opportunities and in itself is a kind of freedom. A freedom to choose. A freedom to explore. A freedom to refute. A freedom to think. A freedom to debate.

Reading enables so many things and makes so many more things possible. I imagine if ever imprisoned, it would be the greatest of solaces to me - in my mind I could be free; even if my physical body could not.

In lots of ways this is exactly why education is so important. Why reading widely and reading things that you might not know about or understand, or even agree with, is so important to a full and rich life.

Education is also freedom.

Farewell and favourite moments

 My goodness. We have been at the cottage for three months and I can honestly not really believe it. It is somehow time to tidy, sort pack and head back to Maleny and our life there.

It has been, as ever, a joyous time filled with the beauty of the landscape, the generosity and warmth of friendships, and daily moments of joy and wonder.

As I remember back to the beginning and reflect on our time here, so many special moments appear. I have just edited this to say there are more photos than usual here - I just keep remembering lovely things!

Spending my birthday in this special place on Loch Fyne.

The daffodils, the bird and the lambs...

Our trip to Norway with my brother and sister-in-law

Weekly trips to our favourite bakery and book shop - Cereal at Tongue.

The warmth of community at our Pop Up Art Show

Our weekly Biblio breakfasts...

Special time spent with young friends

The joy of Spring flowers and rare finds

The satisfaction of some hard work and maintenance jobs done.

The light the light and the sky

The joy as our garden grows...apples and plums beginning...

Solstice sunset (10.21pm) with a BBQ on the beach with dear friends.

And the cove at 11.42 pm - that line of sunset light lingers, and the night is not dark.

And our happy place - the cottage on a beautiful big blue sky day.

And what you don't see is all the meals and morning teas and chats in the garden and cups of tea we have shared with dear friends and neighbours in the village and beyond. What a time it has been...

It feels a bit like this is a love letter to this time, and this place, and these people...

Art as distraction

 There has been some pottering in the last wee while and another small jewellery commission or two to do, but my main making seems to have come about because we are heading back to Maleny soon. On my to do list was "clean up art desk", and so I dutifully went upstairs to begin said task.

But the task involved picking up all the paper scraps I had lying around, along with picking up pens and glue sticks that needed to be put back in the drawer.

That all came together and before I knew it I was making cards and book marks. Galore!

Not once, not twice, but at least three times I attempted the task and each time I got distracted. I am nevertheless now proud to report that the desk has actually been tidied. I got there in the end, but there were a bunch of wonderful detours along the way.

So lots of small collage pieces became cards, using up the scraps of black card I had left over from the Pop Up price tags.

B had the good idea to cut an equal size piece of white paper and stick it on the inside, allowing folk to write on the card even if they didn't have a white or metallic pen. Smart move.

I decided to make up two packs of four cards and sell them as a bundle.

And then there was some leftover brown paper. And I spent many a happy moment drawing lines on it with my white pen. Then doing a few flowers and sticking them together and sticking them on cards I found I had made last time but not used.

All good tidying.

Random lengths and widths of black paper and card have become bookmarks.

And moremeditative line drawing and flowers have come together as a variety of black and white cards

Here is the result of my to do list item tidy art desk.

I was showing a friend some photos of my silver nest and she saw these images on my phone as I flicked through and she asked about  them and went on to purchase 5 cards and a set of the 4 small ones! She told another friend who bought the other set of four cards and three more of the others. So an added bonus is more room in the suitcase!

Evidence of the tidied art desk - tick!

Thursday Thoughts...

“Hope inspires the good to reveal itself” 

 Emily Dickinson

Once again it seems like the quotes I am coming across that speak to me, are quotes that we need in these times. Isn't this just the loveliest of thoughts? That hope inspire the good to reveal itself?

As I sat and ponder this one, it made me slow down, and think about what hope can do and it truly does help us to see the good things. To pay attention to small acts of kindness or generosity or resistance or care.

Well before the self help books of our era, Ms Dickinson seemed to intuit that with an attitude of hope it is easier for us to notice good. It is then more likely that we will participate in this virtuous circle, that we will find the energy to continue because we have seen others doing good.

Another nice element of the quote I think is that she is suggesting that the good is there. It exists, it is being quiet and doing what it does; but that hope enables us to see it. Hope doesn't manifest the good; it simply reveals it. In fact it inspires the good to reveal itself which is even better in a way, giving agency of sorts to the good!