Sewing Room Overhaul for the New Year

Well, this wasn't really a New Year's Resolution.  I've been working up to this for about two and a half years now!  (Dated by a post on October 14, 2012, on which I reported step #1.)

The room had become nearly impossible to work in, let alone walk through.  The terrible clutter was "caused" by:
Kids joining our family.  I had been using 2 bedrooms, and then squished everything into this one.
Quilt repair business expanding (yea!), plus also adding in costuming and vintage clothing repair.
Business things squeezed into snips of available time, plus cleaning is not my forté.

Here are before and after photos.  Yes, I am being brave enough to share the ugly before photos!

The Arts: Visual Meets Verbal

A short while ago, I got a most wonderful email.

A woman wrote that she had seen and enjoyed my quilts at an exhibit a couple of months ago, and shortly thereafter, at her poetry group, had heard a newly written poem that matches one of my quilts.  She shared a photo of my quilt with the poet, who then asked me if she could update the first line of her poem to include the title of my quilt.  I said, "Of course!"

I asked for permission to share both the poem and the story here, and permission was kindly granted.

On Beauty - Favorite Quotes #7

I've spent some lovely hours on a sad and comforting task, helping a dear friend plan a memorial for her father by looking for good words to share.  I re-read many poems collected in my young adulthood that have been un-re-read for years and years.  I wandered into Kahlil Gibran's The Prophet, because that has good words for everything in Life.  And I stayed and wandered in those words for a good long time.  Ahhhhhhh..........

On Beauty

      And a poet said, "Speak to us of Beauty."
      Where shall you seek beauty, and how shall you find her unless she herself be your way and your guide?
      And how shall you speak of her except she be the weaver of your speech?
      The aggrieved and the injured say, "Beauty is kind and gentle.
      Like a young mother half-shy of her own glory she walks among us."
      And the passionate say, "Nay, beauty is a thing of might and dread.
      Like the tempest she shakes the earth beneath us and the sky above us."
      The tired and the weary say, "beauty is of soft whisperings. She speaks in our spirit.
      Her voice yields to our silences like a faint light that quivers in fear of the shadow."
      But the restless say, "We have heard her shouting among the mountains,
      And with her cries came the sound of hoofs, and the beating of wings and the roaring of lions."
      At night the watchmen of the city say, "Beauty shall rise with the dawn from the east."
      And at noontide the toilers and the wayfarers say, "we have seen her leaning over the earth from the windows of the sunset."
      In winter say the snow-bound, "She shall come with the spring leaping upon the hills."
      And in the summer heat the reapers say, "We have seen her dancing with the autumn leaves, and we saw a drift of snow in her hair."
      All these things have you said of beauty.
      Yet in truth you spoke not of her but of needs unsatisfied,
      And beauty is not a need but an ecstasy.
      It is not a mouth thirsting nor an empty hand stretched forth,
      But rather a heart enflamed and a soul enchanted.
      It is not the image you would see nor the song you would hear,
      But rather an image you see though you close your eyes and a song you hear though you shut your ears.
      It is not the sap within the furrowed bark, nor a wing attached to a claw,
      But rather a garden for ever in bloom and a flock of angels for ever in flight.
      People of Orphalese, beauty is life when life unveils her holy face.
      But you are life and you are the veil.
      Beauty is eternity gazing at itself in a mirror.
      But you are eternity and you are the mirror.

Unique Sunbonnet Sue

Here's a creative rendition of the well-known Sunbonnet Sue pattern.

Egyptian Appliqué Art

Welcome to Egypt!

Having just visited Turkey during the ancient Roman era in my previous post, let's continue the tour with a stop in Egypt for a little needlework history.

A friend brought over a gracefully appliquéd pillow case that had been purchased for her in Egypt. It's about 33" square, for a floor cushion.  She asked me to put a sleeve on it so she can hang it on her wall

More Ancient Mosaics

For those of you who were intrigued by my post about Roman era mosaics in France, here is another great collection of mosaic floors, these from the Roman era in Turkey, at the ancient city of Zeugma.

http://laughingsquid.com/archaeologists-unearth-three-ancient-greek-mosaics-in-the-ongoing-excavation-in-zeugma-turkey/

There are a couple of lovely photos in the article, but I also recommend the video towards the bottom of the page.  It details the incredible rescue and conservation of many large floors as a new dam was under construction on the Euphrates River.  The conservators and archeologists were working to remove mosaics and seal and protect ones that would remain on the site as the rising waters were mere inches away.

The photo above is a detail of a floor depicting the nine muses.  This is Thalia, muse of music, comedy, and dance.  No wonder I like her!  I am totally intrigued by the 3-D rippling ribbon.

Hand-Rolled Hems

Repairing vintage clothing for Basya Berkman Vintage for these last few years has lead me to learn about all sorts of clothing construction techniques that I've never had to use before.

My mentors have been the generous folks who post how-to's on the internet.  I have learned how to mend holes in sweaters, so far just with bulky knits.  I have learned how to make swing tacks.  And just recently I learned how to sew a hand-rolled hem.  Let me tell you, I am now addicted to hand-rolled hems.  They are nearly magical!  I honestly was grinning the whole time.