Making a new Apron design

I live at the cutting table. Its mess is a reflection of the workings of my mind. Its layers speak to me alone and form a language only I understand…. another designer may be able to come in and pick out enough of that language that they would understand… or maybe not.

My Work Table

I know I want to work in trees and that the lime looks like a perfect compliment, so I keep it on hand.

Mary, The Dress Form

Finally I drape my choices onto her to mimic what I am about to sew. I am happy with my decisions and I love how everything  looks under the skylight. I love how the sun and shade dance over everything, like deep in a forest.

Mary tries on the Woodland Apron

The dress form and I are best friends. She holds my designs as best she can and demonstrates what it will look like on a person. I love her. Sadly, I spend more time with her than anyone alive. She holds the pieces I have cut, just to fit her. I can’t decide on the lime or graphic brown and white for the waistband. She holds my choices while I sip coffee and decide.

  She is so patient with me and never seems to tire.

Woodland Apron

Even once I am done, I long for the lime print and ache for a place for it to reside. A large bow on the head would present so dramatically. Lovely, here in the studio, but I hardly perceive anyone cleaning with a lime print perched theatrically upon their head. I could be wrong. It has happened.

Joy and Peace, Susannah

Crookedness

What is wrong with being crooked?. …..Why do lines need to be so straight? Roads are never straight, they meander along the rivers and homes that lay upon the ground. The road simply travels amongst what lays. Straight lines are not a product of nature, rivers, streams, and the earth itself is round. Plants never grow in straight lines, they pop up wherever they want. Even the earth takes its toll on what we build, time and age are the natural processes that remove our linear lines and create graceful curves in the roofs of the homes we build, gentle dips appear in floors as they age, and yet we remain attracted to straightness, control and linear appearances in everything.Why must I make my life so linear?

Quilting is linear and precise but I like my quilting crooked….or at least straight lines lain in crooked directions.Lines that head to who knows where , meeting up with other lines ..or not.
How many times I have headed out and changed my direction, like Robert, I headed where I saw no steps…and when of the mind, I took a turn …or two…. and found myself here. Each arbitrary turn or change brings us to a new place, passing those who follow their own paths into their own unknown.
Where willl tomorrow take me? What lies beyond the very next bend? Maybe something extrordinary, maybe something boring, maybe something more painful than I have known before. If I am afraid I can always stop and sit awhile in this place in which I find myself for now, for knowing it makes me feel safe….and once I have rested here, my fear may subside and once again I will rise and take steps in a new direction and become the person those turns create. I may embrace who I become or find myself in grief for who I use to be.