What better day for me to have a review? It’s my birthday, one with a zero although I don’t consider that to make it any more important than any other, it’s the International Day of Peace, and this morning I photographed a finished piece of work which I will send to Mo Orkiszewski over at It’s Crow Time.
I consider a birthday a day to count my many blessings: to reach seventy with a strong healthy body, to have good friends and family I can count on, my faculties are intact . . . I’m aware this more than many have. I’m grateful to have the ability and opportunity to develop my creativity and to travel if I choose and I’m immensely grateful for the friends I can meet up with when I do.
Having moved house recently I’ve been a tad busy but have still managed to finish my contribution to Mo’s idea for making use of an old satin wedding dress and veil she was gifted. The theme is ‘I Dream of a World Where Love is the Answer’. She bravely cut it up and sent it to artists around the world and now she has the immense pleasure of unfurling them.
Mine includes a piece of the veil which fell apart even as I took it from the envelope. I gave it the burn test so I think it’s silk and has not stood up well unlike the man-made fibre used for the satin.
I had the idea of using the veil on top of the satin, attaching it loosely with small blue/green pearls knotted through the layers as if holding on to hopes and dreams. I decided to back the satin with some 2 ply silk however when I finished stitching them together I realised the satin would be lost behind the silk so I turned it over and made the dress fabric visible. The veiling is so fragile it disintegrated as I worked but aren’t hopes and dreams like that? Unless they become goals they can dissipate leaving little trace.
Pennant detail.
When Mo opens the package, there will be traces left behind in the wrapping, if people touch it when its exhibited along with the other contributions more damage will be done, but that’s okay because even if most of the veil falls away, the foundation and the pearls will remain. Love is like that . . . it needs a strong foundation because what is built will get knocked about however the most precious aspects will remain. I wanted my contribution to reflect this.
Cheers people! It’s not wine o’clock yet but cheers anyway.
late start studio 
(((Wendy))) first Many Happy Returns for your birthday, your pennant is so beautiful & you are a magic stitcher, I tried stitching a bit of the old veil onto the palm inflorescence and it just disappeared !
Yes, I found stitching it wasn’t an option as well. I had much more luck with tying it on. A bit of a pain as I didn’t have a needle fine enough go through the holes in the pearls. I had to thread them onto lengths of vintage linen thread and then thread each end so I could take the ends through to the underside to tie off.
And thank you for the good wishes and encouragement.
Sending you Birthday wishes and love a day late. Hope the review went well. The pennant speaks of your design style and loved your description of how you approached it. Your blog title does so much to inspire the rest of us in jumping in and stirring up the creative muse.
I read emails late last night so I saw you posted. I enjoy your posts very much. I read it as i sat next to my sump pump that quit working and monitored the water level as we got 4 inches of total rain in a few hours. I live in MN near Taylors Falls. Luck was on my side and did not have to bail it but it did fill up.
Thank you for the good wishes Peggy. I tend to make birthdays last a while so while they didn’t arrive on the day I still feel birthdayish. And I hope the pump is fixed: bailing last thing at night would not make for a soothing bedtime routine.
Hope your day went well Wendy… Beautiful pennant! 😘
Thanks Gill . . . the day and the weekend were wonderful.
Happy belateds, Wendy!! Your pennant is so ethereally beautiful, your words for it even more so.
Thank you Arlee . . . and now I’m in the land of “What Next?” Maybe just finish unpacking? And of course it’s spring so some work in the garden. While all that is going on something will occur to me . . .
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So wonderful! I love seeing the super close-up photographs where I can really see the beads among the lace. Such a beautiful bead color choice.
Thank you Nancy. I loved the photography on Mo’s site . . . it rather puts mine to shame.
A beautiful response to Mo’s call …
Thank you Liz . . . I appreciate your comment.