What Is Your Metronome?

Yesterday, I went on a road trip to where I used to live to see my stylist and get a haircut. I think she may be the only aspect of the city I miss. Driving through I was so glad I don't live there anymore... which is good... considering I moved. 

I went to Re-Store to hopefully find cabinet doors for the new upper in my kitchen. They didn't have any. I went to Chapters to look for books or a magazine. Nothing intrigued me. I stopped at Walmart to see if they had another set of the sheets I like. No. I bypassed Michaels. No matter what they had, I didn't need anything. The yarn store has closed and even if it was still open, my new drawers are full. I stopped at Fabricland and in spite of all the 70% off sales, I bought only what I stopped for - an outdoor fabric for my front porch. It was a successful trip from my pocketbook's perspective! And my hair looks great too. 

On Tuesday, I washed all these painted canvas remnants and hung them over the railing to dry overnight. They were from an assignment I did with my coach - Diane Ericson - years ago. At one point, I attempted to turn them into zippered bags only the canvas was way too stiff to turn them right side out once stitched so they ended up back in pieces. 

There were six different prints with less of the paisley bottom left and the mottled print top right. And that was fine until I decided there needed to be nine rows, not eight. I substituted a different print for the one paisley block and pieced another mottled one from scraps. I doubt it will be visible to most and even if, that's fine. I needed two more blocks. 

For each row, I butted the two blocks side-by-side and zigzagged them together. This is a step I'd do differently next time. It wasn't stable enough and caused issues further down the line. A strip of fabric underneath would have held everything together much better. 

When I joined the rows together, I pinned them to a backing fabric and stitched through all the layers. I'd do this differently too with strips under each horizontal and vertical seams instead of nothing under one set and a big piece under everything else. The backing created more bulk but didn't stabilize the individual row seams just the seams between the rows. 

I was concerned about the rug just feeling like fabric on the floor so I used two layers of polyester batting between the top and the backing. One would have been enough. 

I started stitching the layers together by re-zigzagging over each seam being careful to pull the fabric layers so they lay smooth without wrinkles. I went edge to edge across the grey border I'd added on four sides. This fabric is remnant from chair covers I took apart after I no longer had the chairs. The next step will be to add rows of straight stitching between the zigzag rows and flatten the pouf a lot more. 

A friend and I are doing a book club together. We assign a portion of the book to read and then talk every second Monday, usually for a couple hours, about what impacted us. Right now, we are reading Twyla Tharp's book The Creative Habit which is about developing the habits that will support the development and honing of your creative talents. 

A metronome is a tool used by musicians that makes a steady rhythmic ticking sound to help keep the correct tempo of the music. The word metronomically is an adjective meaning happening regularly or keeping to a regular beat. In the book, Twyla gives examples of how different artists get started into their work and asks the question what is your metronome?

I read the book for the first time in 2006 when it was published, once in-between, and this is my third reading. At this point, I don't know which is the chicken and which is the egg. Did I read the book originally because I am habit and ritual oriented or did I become habit and ritual oriented after reading the book? I can't actually say but what I know for sure is that I've already developed a lot of the habits she is talking about and they are hugely successful in my life as a whole and creativity specifically. 

My metronome is being prepared for returning to the studio. Above my reading glasses and posture brace are on top of the work to remind me to put them on. The seam ripper is there to remind me to take out the basting along the outside edges before continuing to stitch the layers together. By preparing like this, when I return to the studio I don't have to figure out where I was and what I planned to do next. It's sitting there obvious and ready. In a previous post, I showed a note I'd written to myself about what was next and the parts - purse feet - were sitting on the work surface ready to insert. It's the same thing, different version. 

What is your metronome?

Talk soon - Myrna

Grateful - a haircut