Tickets To ArtFest?

In the past - when we've said we're moving - Howard and I have received a lot of teasing or negative comments. This time the response has been different. Almost everyone has said that they think what we're doing is wise and that they've been thinking of downsizing and moving to a townhouse as well. It seems our age group is ready for less and that was certainly evident with the Sewing Room Sale.

Compared to my previous sale fifteen years ago, this one was disappointing. If we could have repeated the first hour, over the full day, over two days, sales would have been similar but that isn't what happened. The first hour was busy and after that, only a few people came and went. Even so, sales were enough to pay for the foam and the feet for the loveseats, the fabric for the chair, and a bit more. That's money I didn't have the day before so good and enough.

Before the sale, I put about a dozen patterns back in stash. Along with my recent BMV order and the patterns I'd kept there are roughly 225 patterns in the pattern cabinet. If I sewed one a week, it would take me four and a half years and I don't sew a pattern a week which means that when my BMV subscription comes up for renewal, I won't be renewing.

A few years ago, I made the same choice with the Burda pattern magazine. At the end of a one year subscription, when I hadn't cut out a single garment, I didn't renew. The same thing happened with the Verena knitting magazine. No garments knit. No renewal. Ditto the Quilting Arts subscription. I wasn't using the information and if I'm not using it, what is the point of stockpiling it?

After the sale, I put back these twelve balls of yarn. I'd only included them to see what happened. They will make three beautiful baby sweaters. It's just that I have a lot of baby sweater yarn and not a lot of babies. Oh well.

What intrigued me about the yarn sales was that people predominately bought the acrylic and acrylic blends that were balled from pulled out projects sometimes accompanied by an un-knit skein but not always. They ignored these brand new skeins of natural fibres - the good stuff at a great price. Strange.

Two pieces of fabric and four art pieces were returned to stash as well. The blue fabric is silk and would make a delicate camisole. The black eyelet is a quality piece with a wonderful scalloped edge too pretty to unknowingly part with just yet. I flipped and folded the art pieces determining how they could be cut up to make purses. It's possible and an interesting challenge.

My friend Sharon has been a God-send this week helping with the surgery and the sale and packing up afterward. She took several things for herself and two quilts to give to her mother and her aunt. So did another friend and another - who is a painter - asked for a piece to experiment with. What fun! The rest is going to charity.

As we were packing, there were a few moments with the traditional quilts where I couldn't decide whether to give them away or keep them. In the end, it seemed to me that the definition of hoarding must include when you know for a fact that you don't want something and yet you're not giving it away because you're not sure that the great unknown actually deserves it. Who knows. That's not for me to decide. What I knew for sure was that I didn't want them, my children didn't want them, my friends didn't want them, and it was time to stop being responsible to a piece of fabric and move it along. Done. Gone.

And then... over the next day... they all found homes. How strange. It was as if my putting them in the box symbolized something. The last quilt - a hand quilted Lone Star - went to the sister of a friend who lost her home in a fire. We also sent her a box of books and magazines, a crank sewing machine, and a flat iron. Things with character to fill up the empty surfaces of her perfect new furniture.

If you've been reading my blog for any length of time, you'll know that I'm very good at setting challenges and not so good at keeping them. One of my best challenges kept is The Handbag Project from this past fall. My goal was to make nine bags, one for each person whose hands were on the original quilt, using only supplies in stash. Accomplishing that goal was incredibly positive. I'll be able to do something similar with the art quilts above and hope to set similar parameters around my knitting and fashion sewing. I'm giving it thought. What will help...

... is that the floor space in my next studio is larger but the closet space is smaller. One thing that has kept me from purchasing unreasonable amounts of stuff - which I prefer to refer to as potential - is having strict limits about how much space I occupy. I designate storage space for yarn and books and fabric and just about every other item in my house and those items cannot exceed the space allotted. I believe that my stuff needs to stay in my space just as I believe that my husband's stuff and my children's stuff and the kitchen stuff and all the other stuff needs to stay in its designated space. That keeps me sane and is not a way of being that I'm willing to change however, it is one that will help me work with new challenges - I hope - because I would really like to use the patterns and sew the fabric and knit the yarn that I already have.

And then - knowing how much I also like to acquire potential, especially at phenomenal prices, and acknowledging that acquiring potential is a part of how I operate, and recognizing that the ability to acquire potential is what keeps the cost of creativity low - I'm debating a system for more clearly defining which potential I buy. Do you have a system? How does it work?

I'm not sure who took this picture but it's of the lighthouse in Port Townsend near Fort Worden where ArtFest is being held the end of this month. It's a gorgeous area and I absolutely love the town of Port Townsend. It's a quaint, organic, artsy place.

My friend Barb and I signed up for three days of workshops at ArtFest, four nights shared accommodation, and all meals for a total cost of $810.00 US. I'm mentioning this because I won't know the results of the biopsy until shortly before we'd leave which is two days after we get our townhouse and all that is too much at once right now so I'm cancelling. I suggested that Barb invite another friend to join her but she doesn't want to do that so we're both cancelling only there's an absolute, no refund for any reason, policy which I knew about in advance HOWEVER... the tickets are transferable and the new person is able to take the registered workshops or change to any other workshop with openings. Our tickets are for sale. We're open to offers. Would you and a friend like to attend ArtFest? Let us know - myrna AT myrnagiesbrecht DOT com.

I'm amazed at how quickly life can change in sixty days. At the end of December when we planned this trip and paid for our tickets things were radically different. Since then we've both had a major shift. You are never sure what's coming your way. That's learning to pay attention to.

Talk soon - Myrna

Grateful - When I drove by the townhouse yesterday, the front door was open and the visible rooms were empty. With the stress involved in the purchase, there was some concern as to whether the current owner would actually vacate the premises. It seems that they have and that's a relief.