Sunday, January 3, 2021

2020-- year of turning 80, not getting Covid, & Making Quilts, & some more


2020
Well....Quite the year....

George & I revisited Oaxaca where we had been in 2004/5 for three weeks. It felt very different. Oaxaca had changed & so had we!

We came home & a month later Covid-19 came into our lives. I made a wall piece about how angry I felt about how the pandemic had invaded our lives. 

Then I began to see how all the uncertainty was contributing to my need for less anxiety. The walls in Oaxaca were the inspiration for The Wall of Tranquility.

 This was my start.... & below the finish....


It's hanging in my upstairs hall & it does calm me down.

I started 'going through things' in the house: discarding old clothes, unwanted cloth, old projects that could be revived-- there were quite a few of those.

My Life in 8 Parts was one of those old projects.  Here are the parts.
 
I fall in love with cloth                                          I like to make things

I love to sing in harmony

I had wonderful teachers

I have many zones of reading                                                         I have two families

 
I like to dance                                 I take photos

So here is the whole quilt.
Not much on great composition, but that's not the point of it!

Another project-in-waiting was going to be called Helping Hands.
 

I had a collection of "small things" that eventually became my milagros.
The whole project shifted.
I added many scraps of cloth from parts of my life & more milagros.

Then came the jeans project. These jeans were wearing out, I had really worn them to death, but couldn't bear the idea of throwing them out. They were members of a very special club in my life: Grey Cloth with Black Print.
I had a high school dress, & many grey outfits through the years. I'd worn them all out.
SO I cut out the seams & the waist band & reassembled them.
Front & center! Hand-quilted.
Back, machine quilted.

The details were fun. A Pilot pen in my right back pocket & a tube of Chapstick in my right front pocket.  I have measured out my life with Pilot pens, Chapstick, jeans, wrist watches, cars, homes, & many other things.  I decided to write along the sides of the pant legs.
The quilt-backs dramatically show the difference between hand & machine quilting!

The last quilt of 2020 I want to show you I call Grey Moths. In B.C. in the fall we had a big outbreak of small moths.  The quilt started like this before the moths alit....
(I was still hanging on to & enjoying the tranquil colors.)
& below, not quite finished.

Turning 80 was a shock......
 

............but I'm doing okay.
That's it for now.






6 comments:

  1. Hooray for a Sew Daphne!! I loved seeing the quilts I haven't seen. I want to see the Helping Hands and the gray moths in person! xoxoxoxoox

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    1. Thanks Jos.
      It's been interesting giving myself more permission to do what I want in this period.
      Quirkier, maybe....

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  2. Happy Birthday, Daphne!! You’re NOT 80! Far too young for that! You ARE an inspiration!♥️

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  3. That was the most fun read I’ve had in ages Daphne
    Love your cloth adventures
    Thanks for sharing. I needed that! And yes! Happier New Year to all!

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  4. Now and then we need a boost in pandemic times.... I find old friends and friendships the deepest well of such boosts, and they are an easy way to turn the tide of worry and anxiety. Friends are funny, kind, and wise. As this person says, your cloth adventures are a world in themselves, I feel better already, even though my cloth adventures are a study in "unfinished." Good intentions. So instead of cruising through the internet (often the opposite effect, frustratingly out of reach)... I loved the photos, the labels, the appreciation of what we see, what is around us. Such a reminder of your thoughtful self. Loved it! And yees, happier new year to all. Maybe even dare I say, a reasonable way to distribute vaccine! For all!

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