Day Nine of Ten

Carrie wrote - Last weekend, my husband and I were in a used bookstore and I found a copy of a book written by you! I didn't realize you'd already written a book on organizing one's sewing room. I bought it and will start reading soon. Have you written others?

Yes - along with Setting Up Your Sewing Space, I wrote Triangle Delight, Strip Quilts in a Hurry, and Press for Success and one of my pieces appears in the compilation Sunbonnet Sue is Alive and Well. For quite a few years, I wrote The Quilter's Web for Quilter's Newsletter Magazine. Between 1999 and 2008, I wrote about a dozen online workshops, which is just as much work as writing a book and more than some. I taught roughly 1,200 international students a year. Popular classes included Press for Success, Studio Makeover, Self Expressions, SE Studio, and Women Art Life. I also travelled to teach real world workshops - no more than three or four times a year and usually for no longer than three days. Travelling to teach was difficult with children at home.

In the beginning, I wrote about, developed patterns for, and taught techniques around traditional quilt making. Eventually my interests and focus evolved to teaching art & design, the how-to of creating independent work, textile art, and creativity coaching and to exhibiting and selling textile art pieces. My last exhibit was this past January 2010. No further exhibits are planned and I haven't taught since the summer of 2008. I closed my business at the end of 2009. I miss teaching tremendously and hope to have the opportunity to teach again some time.

Over the twenty plus years of my career, how I worked and what I taught changed considerably. That's one of the things that intrigues me about writing. While what we write reflects a moment in time that is ever changing, in print it remains forever unchanged. Anyone reading Setting Up Your Sewing Space today is reading about how I thought and created twenty-two years ago. It is understandable that they will believe I still think that way and yet back then I was a completely different person - more practical and less emotional, more product and less process driven.

Back then, a sewing room was a sewing room and I believed in organizing it for maximum production. Today, I refer to my space as my studio. It is womb-like. Its purpose is to nurture both the artist and the process. I've come to dislike speed sewing techniques and mass production in favour of enjoying the journey, the learning, or the creation of unique pieces. At one time, I was all about finishing. Now, finished products are more the bonus of the process rather than the goal.




Today is day nine of ten that Howard is supposed to spend mostly flat on his back with a little sitting and a little walking. I do anything that involves lifting, reaching, bending, or twisting. That's a lot. For the nine days that we've been home and the seven before that we were at the hospital, I haven't done a stitch of sewing BUT - - - I have spent long periods of time in my studio either sitting, knitting, reading, or staring out the window in a bit of a daze. This space is calm. It nurtures me. I am tired. More tired than I think I've ever been and so thankful for this amazing space that restores my soul and helps me to recharge. When I write and teach about studio makeovers now, it's all about creating a sanctuary. What a gift.

Talk soon - Myrna

Grateful - tomorrow is day ten