A Movable Studio

Last week I moved to a new abode, still in Wellington, New Zealand, but time I have a room in someone's home. Jenny co-owns a gallery, and is away for chunks of time. Which is when I take her up on her invitation and convert her dining area and kitchen into my studio-away-from-home. The house is old,with only one electric outlet in each room, so I gently move the table so it's close enough for me to be able to plug in my sewing machine. And a towel-covered tiled countertop becomes my ironing surface. Bring out the fabric, the scissors and cutting mat, and I'm ready to go.

I have so much less in this temporary space than I've become accustomed to at home, and yet really and truly, it's all I need. In fact I might go as far as saying that I'm as content in this set-up as in my usual location. Less sometimes really is more. Maybe it has something about boiling down what I actually need to the basics. I know that having less fabric choices is actually helping me stay focussed. I'm sticking to working with the selection of brightly coloured fabrics I brought with me. Maybe there's a little wisdom in working like that at other times - to limit my choices, thereby freeing 

me up from being distracted by too many possibilities. Something to think about.

Jenny's home has her collections of books and of art, and interesting items like this cube, discovered today, each side featuring a different quotation from a different artist. This one's my favourite - "Go on working freely and furiously, you will make progress." Paul Gauguin. I'm taking his words to heart. 

And interspersing time spent sewing blocks together by machine with time spent hand-stitching a piece I showed you a couple of weeks ago. It should be nearly finished by the next time you hear from me, when I'll be ready to show you a full-on photo of it. A piece I've been working on for an upcoming Fibre Art Network exhibit has been completed, all except the binding, but I'm not able to show that to you just yet unfortunately. And new ideas are being jotted down in a visual journal I bought at the beginning of this year. just for this purpose. So lots of happy creative pursuits this week, interspersed with time spent with my now 6 week-old grandson. Life is good.