choose your thoughts wisely... your thoughts become things in your life....possibilities

I have had an interesting day with some interruptions that I was not planning for. I stayed in my pink snowflakes pajamas all day and before I knew it the mailman was at the front door bringing my Creation quilt home from FAVA. The plan is to ship it back in the spring and this gives me plenty of time to find a larger and more appropriate box for shipping. I had just returned my contracts and publicity information to the exhibit committee yesterday with the check to cover my shipping costs. It was if my child had come home and I am more than ready to hang her back up and enjoy her before she returns for May's show dates. Even though I made this work it always amazes me when they return from out of state or another venue that the quilt is part of me. Having Creation home energized me to continue work on a Pulse project for Seth Apter from his Altered Page blogspot. I also have more reorganization to do before the kids pick up the large cherry table for Thanksgiving next week. Whew...most people think I have the leisurely schedules of a stay at home wife and do mostly nothing ...my artist friends are in unison that we are working constantly and daily processing thoughts and ideas. Seth is hosting a "Surprise Sunday" on November 22 at his blogspot so we are all anxiously awaiting the details. Seth has a way of reaching out to many artists he has never even met and yet collaborating with a host of artists and inviting us to think about human fragility and the intimate need we all share to make a connection through the Arts. Stay tuned and we will all be pleasantly surprised on Sunday!!!

I washed some very old fabrics today with a product designed to remove and clean deep set stains... the gown was stained and dark brown in color. The child's dressing gown is not fancy and yet was worn in the first months of a child's life. The humble cross stitches and trims were applied in a medium blue by hands of a new mother or a grandmother...maybe this was for the first male child in the family and may have been used by following siblings born into the family. This is a very precarious process in cleaning...sometimes the disintegration is evident and the fibers too weak to hold their shapes...but thanks to Dr. Cardimon and Dr. Meachum from Ohio State University's fabric restoration classes (my grad program) years ago I have had some experience on how to save the quality and integrity of the cottons fibers so I can employ them with my stitches to write my verses for my narratives. They are drying as I speak as well as some hand crochet trims made by an anonymous woman for maybe pillow cases or center pieces and doilies. I plan to photograph them tomorrow in the sunlight and hopefully they will aid me in my vision for a particular work I have in my mind's eye.

I laid out several other fibers that I have been collecting with some of my inspirations and I can not articulate how wonderful holding these fibers made me feel. I am getting closer to my goal in processing and composing the quilts. I need to start my painting with transparent SETA colors on several portraits with a multitude of women from different generations and cultures...all with their own stories and contributions to my life. Whew I have some pretty BIG thoughts but that is OK if I take one day at a time! Imagine and Live in Peace, Mary Helen Fernandez Stewart