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
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