Fabrics

Dear Martha,
What an interesting and lovely topic.  I know you love fabrics by that beautiful quilt you made for maze's buddy.  That was a work of art and a gift of love. 
My Mom sewed all our clothes when I was a kid,  so I knew and loved all the fabrics.  My favourite for a summer dress was Dotted Swiss.  I liked Organza,and Bengaline, Tafetta, Organdy,  Moire, Pique.  I used to know the names of so many.  Maybe others will remember the time before polyester.

I wonder if you can know how beautiful and miraculous I think that quilt is ? …

INDEED I DO … from the years of exposure to the quality of life …
which my mother encouraged me to partake of and enjoy.

When I was in highschool and girls still wore dresses to school, my mother and I had a deal; she would buy me fabric and I would sew the dresses. Part of the shopping trip entailed walking around the store and not only looking at all the fabrics but toughing them as well. To me the feel of the fabric is as important as the color and pattern. I don't sew very much these days but I still like to go the fabric store and browse, feasting on all the colors and feeling the textures.

I like the feel of felt.

 Maze, your comments reminds me of  when I worked in an office many years ago,  there was a real Creepy Guy named Joe, and he used to always fondle the girls by coming up to them toooo close, and saying in his lizard-like way as he touched some part of you , “ooooOOOOOO! I love the fabric….”.   I would always give him an icy stare and say, “It's felt!” .  But he didn't get it……

I just like touching different textures. I wouldn't have a clue as to what to do with it.
However…I have a virtual house, so I've been exploring lots of fabrics and patterns sites to decorate my house with…so I enjoy texturing my 3d house, re-doing it seasonally and for holidays…LOL.

My mother made our clothes too… when we were too young to have any taste…it was like something straight out of The Sound of Music, LMAO. xD

 I was here … :-))

I was saying that whatever we feel becomes felt so quickly that whatever we feel and enjoy has to become incorporated in what we felt so when we feel again, we know the feeling.

 I like the part about felt and I was thinking of the fabric felt. what a funny thing felt is. anyway what a quilt that is. So what do you do with your fabrics ? do make a collage? 

All this talk of “felt” makes me want to sing: “Feelings, woe woe woe, feelings!” 

Felt … I love felt! a friend gets old wool sweaters and washes them in hot water (creating felt) and then cuts them up and makes ….( you will love this Martha)  Felt Bunnies! Then, she decorates them, dresses them (sometimes in other fabrics) and then sends them traveling. Like the traveling gnome. She has friends take photos of the Traveling Felt Bunny in their various locations.

I chuckled as you described your bookmark turned into tote bag! How cool that you're doing that for your daughter. Mostly, I love this blog … as it so “Martha” and I love that you love fabric, touching it and cutting it and sewing with it and making creations!  yeah, what a quilt that is!

I love fabric too…the possibilites.  The picture of the quilt is awe inspiring.  I made one quilt…it was for my daughter and it took about 5 years because I did it by hand (and due to ignorance, alot of it was denim!)  It was during the time my daughter was in the truly obnoxious, breaking away stage and we couldn't be together for longer than a few minutes before the hostility would show up.  Making the quilt kept reminding me that sooner or later the breaking away stage would be over and we'd be close again.  I smile every time I think of that quilt now.

Martha, 

I love your message to the grandchild…every child should hear that one.  And I loved your comment about my daughter's quilt, especially;”…to carry silently in the nonverbal language of the heart, how deep our love is!” 

My problem with denim was that getting the needle through it mirrored the difficulty that she and I had in our communications….sometimes it was very slow and painful.  I could even see that at the time…difficult, but ultimately worth all the effort in both cases. 

helenrscp and martha …

I am thinking I will make a denim quilt for my daughter … now 16 and we are a year into the painful disconnect in our communication. Some days are magical in that I get a glimpse of the young woman emerging and/or of the little girl from yesterdays gone by … but most are awkward and confusing (for both of us, I'm sure!). Pulling the needle over and over again through that denim is quite the metaphor for how “it goes” …

I also creating a Journal going that is just for her (she won't see it till … ?) so that I can express some of what I want to say, what I see and that she just doesn't want to hear or know … right now.  A lot of what's in the journal is nonverbal … color, shapes, photos, paint, and yeah, some words. Anyway - thanks for giving me this little comment box to share that with you.

yes, life is so beautifully layered …

Yes, you both understand perfectly.  It's so wonderful to feel understood…that was such a painful chapter in our lives.  The therapist we turned to told me that teenagers have to think that their parents are both mean and stupid so that they have the motivation to break away…that sort of helped:)

The young woman will win out and all will be well.  It is such a gift to have an adult/peer relationship with my daughter now.  She called today and we talked for a long time about everything including our inner lives and spiritual “aha's”.  That's my idea of pure joy.

Martha, thank you for bringing this back to mind.  And Peridot, be gentle with yourself through your daughter's separation process.  The journal is a brilliant idea and best of luck with the quilt.