Before we moved back four years ago to Queensland (our home State where both my husband and I were born), we lived in a quaint little river-port in South Australia called Goolwa. That delightful place was the first 'Slow Town' in Australia. In 2007 Goolwa was declared Australia's first 'Cittaslow', reacting against Fast Foods and embracing and encouraging 'diversity, local culture and traditions, local produce and products, taking time to bring together a sustainable community'.
In recent days, I have been realising that I need to take that heritage on board and slow down some areas of my life. I seem to always be in a rush! Even with my craft, I try to get everything done as quickly as I can, rather than take time to enjoy the process.
Well I discovered something that needs to be tackled SLOWLY! I rushed in and made the March block of Jinny Beyer's gorgeous free quilt pattern and it was quite a disaster. So out came the unpicker and on came the video lesson and I slowly put it together again and this time I was fairly pleased with the result:
I put a couple of my Silk Ribbon patterns in my store this week and that made me realise that I need to do some more of this SLOW embroidery.
It is such a rewarding craft where every stitch counts and every flower can be enjoyed as they are created slowly one at a time.
The "On the Wing" pattern is available here.
Silk Ribbon goes well with applique too as in another of my slow patterns - the Beehive Needlecase:
Beautiful roses are so easy to make with silk ribbon and I always enjoy slowly forming each petal:
I've put the Beehive pattern in my store too.
In contrast, one of my fast patterns has been published in Handmade magazine. The Bow Clutch is designed to wear with your hand under the bow strap.
I have used some beautiful Oriental fabric and picked out the burgundy for the piping and bow contrast:
I love that there is room for both fast and slow projects. At the moment, I'm just making a conscious effort to embrace the slow movement, no matter what type of design I am stitching.
Enjoy your week.
Val
4 comments:
Val, I have never heard of 'Cittaslow'. What a great idea that is! It doesn't do us any harm to slow down, does it? :-)
Good luck with 'slowing down' and I hope you'll enjoy the slower pace - I highly recommend it! I love all the projects that you shared. I haven't done ribbon embroidery in a very long time but I still have some ribbon and you've inspired me to try it again. xx
Happy Easter to you Val. I hope you do enjoy slowing down a bit. Love all those little projects.
Happy Easter, Val. The slow movement sounds wonderful, though I might miss my Sausage McMuffin with Egg from McDonalds.
That butterfly is absolutely gorgeous!
Take care,
Susan in Texas
Post a Comment