Thursday 12 April 2007

Patience

Cleaning out the cedar chest today, going through the spring clothes, I came upon this at the very bottom, nestled in some tissue:


It is an apron done by my mother's great-great grandmother, when she was a young woman, passed on to me by my Grammy. This reminded me of another piece stowed away carefully:


A top crocheted by my Mom when she was a young woman.

What had been bothering me today and what had prompted the flurry of spring organising was my attempt this morning to quickly try a new idea. It was fun, Safiya was "helping", but then something didn't quite go right, I had to stop and start again, I sewed wrong sides together, and then...my machine broke. Well, something's not right anyway - I think it's just the bobbin tension, but still...

Patience.



The work above required patience and sticking-with-it. People who know me would not, I think, peg me as an impatient person, and I'm not....with others (although that's taken me a while, true enough - not really driving anymore helps, as does getting a bit older :-) What's surprising is that I'm still impatient with myself. I shortchange myself in my work by rushing...maybe it's because I'm still learning that my time and the craft I do is valuable to myself, if that makes any sense?

A lot of the craft I do is winging it, not really planning, nothing too intricate, something I can pick up and put down really easily or finish fairly quickly. What's been helping lately is a sketch book I got just for ideas. Now things are being mulled over instead of just launched into, but still...I'd like to go there, to really be dedicated to a piece because I can see from others the satisfaction it could bring.

Patience. Kind of appropriate that what went awry this morning had to do with tension...

3 comments:

natasha said...

amazing. it is so incredible how people used to take so much pride in the things they made, how much love was put into them and how much effort to make them perfect. i am not a patient person, i rush and most everything i do has mistakes in it, that i am too lazy to do over, so i am always impressed by people who are not that way. you are lucky to have those things.

Unknown said...

Thanks Natasha!
It's amazing to take them out and realise that other hands worked over every inch of them...
p.s. I just realised that you're the Natasha of the paper beads tutorial I want to try - too cool! Thanks for dropping by! Don't know how else to let you know, other than posting a comment on your blog - how do regular bloggers do this? i.e. thank the people that come by? am I missing a button somewhere?

Anonymous said...

gorgeous pieces...what a blessing to have them. thank you so much for these words of wisdom. i needed them.