Zen and the Art of Sewing Machine Maintenance

Sometimes I get all caught up in my plans for sewing - my next project, what order I should do my projects in, what techniques I need to try, or look up, or avoid. Sometimes I don't enjoy sewing for sewing's sake. Yesterday as I was puttering around my studio (oh yeah, I'm calling it a studio now) doing things I don't consider actual sewing - pressing freshly washed material, tracing, transferring markings, and cutting out a pattern - I suddenly realized that I was enjoying myself. I was calm. I wasn't worried about how long it was taking me, whether I was off schedule or not. I just listened to a book on CD, pressed, cut and just was a sewer. It was nice. So nice, in fact, that I did it again today. And as a bonus, I will most likely have a new shirt to wear tomorrow as long as I don't linger here online too long.

Maybe this is a new trend I can start - mindful sewing. Why not? There's mindful eating and mindfulness meditation. Here's how you do it: when you press a seam, watch the seam transform into a neat, orderly, straight seam, slightly toasty from your iron. Know that it's stronger and cleaner since you pressed it so lovingly. Don't think about getting it done as fast as you can so you can get on to the next seam. That's how I have sewn before and it gets you nowhere... and you look shabbily homemade when you get there.

Well, back to my studio. The rain and wind are beating at my windows tonight, saying, "go to bed, curl up, and sleep!" But I need a little more sewing zen before I turn out the lights, I think. I want to share yesterday's poem (from the poem-a-day challenge) - I am finally writing poetry again and I am thankful for that small wonder, no matter if my poems are awful or brilliant.

The Lake House

You are back here again
searching for people lost and long gone
for parts of yourself
you just know you left here

Parts you miss
parts your friends ask about,
parts your family wonders about

Who are you now?
Who were you then?
How do you reconcile who you were
when you left
with who you were
while you were away?

They are not here - they stay with you
I am just a shell
a box you fill with parts
lost and found
you take the contents with you
you leave the box behind

Holy Crap, it's April

Well, in my defense, I have been sewing... but not as much as I have wanted to and I certainly haven't been keeping up with my blog. Let's just say a minor (read: major) bump in my personal life has distracted (read: demoralized) me. So without any excuses I'll get back to it. Pictures of the garments I have finished will be posted as soon as I find a willing photographer. I am working on some neat quilting projects to give my sons for Easter so I am taking a week off from sewing for myself.

I am also trying to redeem myself by doing the Poem-a-Day Challenge at the Poetic Asides blog from Writer's Digest (http://blog.writersdigest.com/poeticasides/). Each day you get a prompt and you post your poem as a comment on the blog. I posted my first one today and I'll share it here too (since it's my poem after all!). Today the prompt was to write an origin poem...

the origin of a word

how do words begin?
on the tip of your tongue, right there
but wait – gone now
my son relishes a new word
yelling it, laughing – try it again, again!

I have tried for years now to stop this from coming
this word leaves me cold
leaves me speechless, hopeless
pitiable

this word leaves me where I never thought I would be
who I never thought I would be
I’m that woman, that thing
everyone glances back as they pass by
dear, dear what a shame

this word leaves me here
at the origin of the end
where everyone does their leaving
where everything I know is right here
wait – gone now