Four Weeks Friday

On Sunday morning, as my friend sat down next to us in church, she slipped her hot pink phone into the left cup of her bra where she could feel it on vibrate. She's expecting. One call and a happy event and she'll be cuddling her new role - Grandma. While it makes me laugh to watch her carrying that pink phone everywhere and hopping to its tune, at the same time it's strange how many of my friends now have grandchildren and the possibility that I too could be a Grandma at some time in the not so distant future. How did we get here?

I'm forty-nine. I don't remember turning four. I do remember turning nine. Forty-nine is nowhere in my scope of understanding even though I've been at this stage for half a year now. That approaching fifty thing feels old at the same time as graduating your youngest child feels young and free and more available to possibilities. I certainly do not feel Grandma-ish although I know that when and if it's my turn to slip a pink phone into my left bra cup and hop to its tune, I'll learn and I'll do my best - to figure out how to answer the phone and how to be Grandma. Life is about relationships... and learning.

Ten years ago - when I made the original quilt that became The Handbag Project - I stitch signed my textile pieces with my full name. That evolved to signing just my first name and then later, once my pieces were mounted on stretched canvasses, I signed the back of the work so that the buyer could hang the piece in any orientation they chose. Since they were abstract designs, that seemed a nice bonus added option. It's rare to find my full signature on anything anymore. JoAnna will have a "rare" bag. The signature section of the original quilt ended up along the side.

When we took occupancy of this house, the previous owner had not completely emptied the basement. She was an elderly woman with limited help and many possessions that proved impossible - like a pool table and a scrabble board to name two. The table went to the neighbours and the tiles onto my button shelf. Since JoAnna is a teacher, I really wanted to use the letters and planned for them to go on the back like a label. They didn't fit there. They're on the side.

The Handbag Project is almost complete. I'll show you this last finished bag tomorrow. Now that I'm done sewing, I want to learn about photography and - hopefully - take better pictures of each piece. I've ordered a how to photograph your craft projects book only it was a pre-order and won't be here for another month. I'm not sure that I want to wait that long to ship these bags out of the house but it could be worth waiting for the learning and the possibilities of the pictures. We'll see what I can come up with on my own and then I'll decide.

With each piece, I had no idea what the finished bag would look like. I started with something - the hands - and responded step-by-step to the developing bag. Along the way I learned. For instance, this last bag has stiffener in the bottom and side. Stiffener was new and now that I've tried it, I have some take-away knowledge about what to use (cardboard in this case), cutting the shapes, the size of the shapes, inserting the stiffener, and if and where I'd use stiffener again. We learn to do by doing. We learn to do better by practicing. I'm a huge advocate of self directed learning. Try it. See what happens.

Last Friday, Shams showed a fabulous "tablecloth" skirt on her blog complete with detailed pictures, a tutorial, and a link to an on-line calculator for the only potentially difficult aspect of the design. It was a workshop in a posting, so detailed and precise that any of us can make that skirt by following her instructions. In fact, I'm thinking of making it for the Christmas party in a few weeks. Sham's posting was generous and thorough so imagine my surprise when...

... in her next posting I read about a request for a sew-a-long. Really? A sew-a-long? For a skirt that is a square with a hole cut in it, an added elastic waistband, four long and four short seams, and a hem. At the risk of offending anyone - which would not be my goal - and with the hope of encouraging everyone - which would be my goal - Shams gave all the information that's needed. No hand holding, step-by-step, sew-a-long is required. So unless the critical part was to sew in a group and finish together, just do it.

Just follow the instructions, cut out the fabric, stitch as directed, sew it up, and see what happens. If it turns into a skirt you love, fabulous. If it turns into a skirt you hate, that's fabulous too BECAUSE you have learned something. If it turned into a skirt with potential, try it again, in another fabric, learn about the drape, about length, about ways to finish and press the seams, about manipulating the pattern, about more or less ease at the waist and so on. By my calculations, this skirt will take just over two meters of fabric and not much stitching time while offering great opportunities to develop your "try it and see" muscles, grow your artist, and gather learning in return.

Last week, I commented on how all the books seem to be written at the beginner level. They claim to have "everything" you need to know about XYZ subject and then, once I crack the cover, I find they've left out the very information that I wanted to know. It seems that everything - using beading as an example - is how to string beads as opposed to how to design a necklace using the principles and elements of design. I think one reason for this abundance of lower level information is illustrated in the request for a sew-a-long for a five piece, straight seams, not hard to do, skirt. Doing and even failing are the greatest teachers in the world. Just do it.

As said, my version may be a Christmas skirt. The party is in two weeks and four weeks Friday is Christmas. That seems way too quick like the year has flipped by in fast forward and it should really be spring that's approaching, not winter. I love the holidays but only when I'm prepared ahead of time and can enjoy them from a "done" perspective. I have a few traditions that are important to me each year and the rest I let go. One absolutely key to me element is to shop early. When the kids were younger, I finished shopping in October. Now, I wait slightly longer because "big kids" take longer to know what they want but I'm definitely done by the first of December. And we shop together. Howard and I are going today; we'll be done tonight. Good and enough. Gifts are not what I consider the highlight of Christmas. My daughter and son-in-law were not coming and now they may be able to come between Christmas and New Years. A hug in person - that's a highlight.

Talk soon - Myrna

Grateful - risk taking, just try it and see, ability, pink phones