A Year Ago Yesterday

Gabor Mate (with that little accent over the e that I have no idea how to do in Blogger) is a doctor in the downtown eastside of the City of Vancouver. If you're Canadian, you immediately know that's a really tough area to work in, one filled with drugs, alcohol, prostitution, violence, homelessness, and all sorts of other issues. It's so far removed from my life that I'm in awe of the people who work there and the people who survive on those streets.




In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts is Gabor's book about addiction. A childhood friend has an addiction to cocaine. The children of two friends are addicted to crystal meth and other substances. To understand them and what they are going through, I wanted to understand addictions more and what I've come to understand so clearly is that we all have addictions in different forms and what addictions do to our brain wiring.

I tend to be very compulsive about new ideas and learned early not to go there because I can be so easily sucked in. I never smoked, drank, or did drugs although I remember clearly the day that I absolutely had to get in car to drive to the store to buy Pepsi. Pop seems harmless but when you're telling time by your consumption and you can't imagine going two hours never mind two days without it something is going on, something not good. I was appalled with myself. Even so, I've had to quit several times.

With longer sentences and bigger words, Gabor defines an addiction as something that you know is harmful to others and to yourself and you do it anyway at great cost and great pain. He himself is addicted to classical music spending $6,000.00 in his most extreme week. And to work. In our North American culture, being a workaholic is darn near a badge of honor and yet when I think about the things I did and didn't do in the consumption of my work appetite, that's one addiction that I wish had passed me by.

That I was a workaholic came from totally out in left field. I started my business to work from home and to be with my children and it ended up absorbing every minute of every day, partly as a creative outlet, partly as an emotional escape from some of the stresses in our household. I ran the business for twenty years and closed it a year ago yesterday. In retrospect, I wish I'd done it sooner. I gave up too much for too little. What is, is. Moving on.

I've been sewing fashions for the past year. When I opened my business, all of my creative energy focused on designing, writing about, producing and teaching quilting and then textile art. Fashion sewing became that thing that I wanted to get back to and when I closed my business, it was time. It's SO FUN.

One of the things that I really love about sewing fashions is the opportunity to focus in on details and to create unique garments that wouldn't exist otherwise. On the weekend, I layered and channel quilted a boucle. Although you can purchase pre-quilted fabrics, you won't find a pre-quilted pink boucle (again with that accent on the e that I have no idea how to do).

Above, I cut out each piece individually placing the pattern upside right on one quilted section and right side down on the other. Individual cutting is another attention to detail step. It's not my favourite way to cut out and yet it needed to be done with this garment. The combination of what needs to be done and what I want to do is just the way it is. I've made a decision to enjoy all of the process rather than rush any steps because one thing I know for sure from my career is that when you do your best at every stage, the results are worth the work.



I'm sewing Simplicity 2745, a little girl's coat, in a size three. It's for the granddaughter of a friend. I'm not sewing the coat because it's less expensive than buying one or because it's easier than shopping or because it will be greatly appreciated. I'm sewing it because two ideas collided - little girl coat and pink boucle - and I wanted to explore that thought and see where it took me. I'm sewing it for me and for my expression of creativity.

It's been a delight to discover that sewing fashions is far less expensive than creating textile art. I am REALLY enjoying that factor and I've become quite an expert bargain shopper. Yesterday, you saw some lining fabrics purchased on Monday. In total, I bought 23 meters for $65.41 by waiting for and shopping in the bargain section. Two days earlier, those twenty-three meters at the regular floor price would have been $391.00 meaning that I saved $325.59. Isn't that fascinating?

The fabrics, threads and embellishments used in textile art are incredibly expensive. So are the canvasses that I attached my pieces to. One small piece could easily cost several hundred dollars. In contrast, I picked up some thick, grey, t-shirt knit the other day for $1.00 a meter at the Wal-Mart selling out the fabric section sale. It's enough to make two t-shirts and to explore two creative ideas without breaking the bank. You'd have to know how absolutely stressed out I was by the end of my business, and in particular by how much my art form had begun to cost our family, to know why that makes me do the happy dance.

Good deals are everywhere. I've learned to admire a new fabric and then ignore it until it either does or doesn't go on sale because, whether or not it does, something fascinating will always come along. I've begun to wonder if I'm addicted to fabric or whether I'm addicted to the good deal and the creative potential of those pieces.

Contrasted with the work that Gabor is doing, addicted is being used in its light and somewhat meaningless way indicating that I'm very drawn to something as opposed to consumed by it to the detriment of our family. Yes, I have a stashed up studio but I am by no means a hoarder. There are limits and everything is contained within the closet of one room of our home - my studio - the greatest place on earth.




Yesterday, I put together the patterns for the Self Imposed Sewing Club along with the two fabrics that I for sure want to sew up. I'll talk about that some more tomorrow. SO EXCITING. Today, I'm working on the coat. Wendy is coming over this afternoon instead of tonight as usual. While she doesn't sew fashions, it's wonderful to have a friend in town who sews and to spend time together each week.

Talk soon - Myrna

Grateful - healthy fascinations