Movement

Several years ago, on a different blog, I wrote that there had been "no movement to speak of" in me. While I didn't feel stuck, I felt still... and probably a bit uncertain.

I was digging in a bin a few weeks ago and found a collage I'd done probably two years ago... that says, Patience grows thin, jump whispers the voice.... and in another spot, "the other side of stillness is joy".

Anyway, I finally did jump and since that moment the movement in my life has been gaining momentum, finding clear direction... and in the past month I feel it has gone from a nice sedate 30 MPH to probably 5 miles above the legal limit.... I have a class coming up, a workshop scheduled, a teaching gig in the future, an arts fair to prepare for, an adult class I'm leading at church, a community garden I have been gently pulling for beginning to take form.... honestly, I'm having some trouble getting my foot firmly planted on the ground!
Liz got me this subscription as a Christmas gift... it fills my head with ideas big and small, it has sent me on searches looking for books recommended, media not yet experienced... it is developing my vocabulary. It feeds my creative energy and makes me become impatient to get to work.My kitchen counter/dining room table are covered with scissors and scrap, ribbon and pens, needles and pins.... since last week I have been in bag making mode. Snipping, stitching, ripping out, felting a bit more, stitch, play..... pushing enough aside to have a square of counter to eat on... joy.

Using this old reliable sewing machine... my grandmother's. She made the most beautiful curtains on this machine and I have all the pleat attachments she used. I have been thinking about a new machine.... one that zig-zags, one that might embroider... one with a tension that is not fussy (like my unused newer machine that is too frustrating to use)... but I love the look and feel of this beauty... I love the smell when the motor is working.... I love that I can sit down, thread it and it works every single time, whether I am sewing through leather or sheer fabrics without changing a needle or adjusting the tension.

Here are the two re-purposed sweaters into bags I've been making. They are nearing completion and I've told myself they will be done by end of day Wednesday... the rest of the week pulls me somewhere else.....

I finished Hannah Coulter Sunday night. I did not want it to be done, it has been my still space for the last week. It is part of a series by Wendell Berry on the residents of Port William (Kentucky?). A beautiful, spiritual account of a woman's life, the community that surrounded and nurtured her, and the land that sustained them all. Makes me long for all we have lost and determined to reinvent here in this sprawling city.