A Time of Reflection

For many of us New Year's Eve is a time of reflecting over the past year and pondering things to come in the new. I'm not really one for a lot of resolutions and goals, but the idea of choosing a word for the upcoming year, really speaks to me. So that is what I did a year ago. The word was very personal to me, but as I navigated some of the storms, of the last year it served me well.

Last year was more about getting through than attaining any major quilting goals.....or any other goals for that matter. My quilting was more of a life raft than anything else.....but what a glorious life raft it was. It was a place for me to breath. Three quilts are the result.

Picking up the Pieces

Finding My Way Home

Shards of Glass

The words that moved me most this year came out of the mouth of our three year old, granddaughter, Autumn. After a bit of tiff with her older sister she came down stairs and said "Mommy, my heart is frozen." A little while later she said "My heart is thawed out now."

The sun is shining through the windows, as I sit typing this morning.....and my heart feels not quite so frozen. My word for 2016 is "PERMISSION". Ah, the freedom of that word. I'm giving myself permission to be happy, to let go, to move on............and what ever else comes to mind. Permission to create, to say yes, to say no.......in other words permission to follow my heart.

Thank you for your support over the last year.....your comments are alway so positive and uplifting. Your kindness means so much to me.

I wish you all the best for the New Year

Marianne

Finding My Way Home

It's not that one necessarily starts or sets out to create a "Grief Quilt" but rather that one is grieving during the making of that quilt.  It is my experience, that the life behind the quilt has a way of showing up, in the quilt.

I started my journey, map in hand, with the cocky idealism of youth. With a relatively pain free childhood behind me, I thought I knew where I was going. Nothing really prepared me for the unexpected bumps in the road. The mountain tops and the valleys....the exquisite moments of joy and the dark valleys of pain.

Somewhere along the line I threw my map away and discovered that many roads lead home. At times there is the death of a dream but often around the corner is the birth of a new one.  The longer I journey, I find the less I know....perhaps that's a good thing.

There is vulnerability in working improv, as it documents one's journey through life. Perhaps this is why I love working this way so much....for me it's cathartic as I loose myself in the process. 

Then suddenly, the quilt is finished and I am often somewhat restless and bereft at that moment. Such was the case when I finished the quilt I started in Krista's Hennebury's Class (Improv Under the Influence).

Finding My Way Home

Finding My Way Home...close up

The center of the quilt is the orginal set of instructions or map, if you will.  Then somewhere along the way, the quilt took several twists and turns of it's own. The colours started to mingle and things started to fracture. I also incorporated several different techniques along the way....changing things at will. 

I will always see this quilt of part my journey of finding my way through.

Below are several process shots.

And through it all we had a wedding......

 My two beautiful daughters at the rehearsal...

And of course, there is nothing like my beautiful grandchildren to give me a reason to Find My Way Home!!

Well....I sort of fell off the Blog Wagon

Yes, that's exactly what happened this last year.  Every time I would attempt to find some "Normal" another crisis would present itself. "Normal" whatever that means, seems to have eluded me. I am one of those people, who loves the ordinary, simplicity of everyday life. Holidays and Special Occasions aren't on my list of highs. It's the days in between that touch me. So the drama of the last year or two have definitely put a damper, on my ordinary days. 

 

Coping with loss is never easy, but we usually aren't given a choice. Some of the aspects of my life which I thought were strong, were in actuality quite fragile and oddly enough some the aspects that I thought were fragile were in essence very strong. To find strength in weakness and experience brokenness in what I trusted to be strong has both broken me and strengthened me at the same, odd as that might sound. It's left me spinning in different directions and it shows in my creative life as well.

 

 

 Today, I had a lovely ordinary day. I had the afternoon to myself, which seems rare these days and spent it playing with my fabric. I'm back in Victoria and hoping for several more lovely, ordinary days.

 



 



I'm not sure where this is going..........but oh my, it felt good to play.

 

Yesterday we took a little road trip to Nanaimo.....

a bit of a shop hop.

 

 

 

As you can see, I might have fallen off the Blog Wagon but I certainly haven't fallen off the Fabric Buying Wagon....even though it might be a good idea if I did!!!!

 



 

Reflecting

In the quiet of the evening I sit and reflect on this last week or two......

I am off to Calgary on Friday to teach two day work shop on my Colour Shot Quilt.

This quilt is like an old friend to me.......just how did I put this together again??

Hmm.....maybe I better practice up on my curved piecing.....the not so wonky type of curved piecing that is.

No worries....I still know how.

It's been a time full of sadness, as my very dear sister in law passed away very suddenly and unexpectedly last week. Almost everyday I spent some quiet time reflecting on her life. She was the same age as me....we were sisters in law for over forty years.

The funeral is over and our loved ones have gone home.....the house is put back together.  She was loved and will be sorely missed by all of us.

I had an Epiphany

Sometimes we dream......
We dream of all the quilts we would create if only REAL LIFE......yes, if only REAL LIFE wouldn't get in the way!!! 

I'm not going to have a lot quilts to show for 2014 when I sit down to write my New Year's blog post this year. REAL LIFE just kept getting the way. Pondering this thought is when I had my epiphany......

It's out of life that quilts flow.

Lots of tears flowed as I created "Shifting Impressions".

There was rage in my grief, as I slashed a quilt and then started "Picking up the Pieces".

But in the midst of one's difficulties there is usually some sunshine. 

My four, precious rays of sunshine were very involved in the Christmas Cookie Bake....after the house was clean and ready for Christmas (you think I would know better!!!!).

After layer upon layer of icing....

Would you look at that spectacular batch of cookies!!! (gingerbread monsters...according to my grandson)

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas!!

Where Do Your Quilts Come From?

Do you ever ask yourself that question? Where do my quilts come from??

 For me, they come from many places. Sometimes I create a quilt out of necessity....a baby quilt for example. I need a gift and I make one. Other times a piece of fabric sets my creative juices in motion. But lately, some of my quilts have been coming from a deeper place.....from an emotional place if you will.

All these pieces are leftover from another project I started a few years ago. 

As you can see, that particular project is still a Work In Progress....but no matter, I try to keep my studio a guilt free zone. 

I'm also working on a few other Quilt As You Go techniques......sometimes just playing with different techniques brings some of my quilts into being.

It's rare for me to have a name for a quilt so early on but this quilt is called....PICKING UP THE PIECES.

Not all that original, but oh so relevant......

Waiting and Wondering........

Last week I walked along the river.......

Spotting pussy willows along the way.

I even saw a beaver actively building his dam.

Yesterday, my Mom had a massive stroke....so today, we sat in the hospital, waiting and wondering.

Just last week, my Mom was recovering well from cataract surgery, anticipating spring and adjusting to her newly improved eyesight. It doesn't look good.

We are in shock, but thankfully we are together as a family....so we wait together.