the new atelier/ living room!
It is a gloriously bright, if cold, sunny morning – and for the first #needleworkmonday in a while, I am in a cosy kitchen and sewing room, since we re-installed our wood-burning stove and waterboiler. It is fabulous. The Masterpeace remedy is working VERY well for me (and 
the coat still looks a bit lumpy at this stage...which will change soon
The first thing I wanted to do, with the stove installed, was to sew! I got right onto the sewing machine – (which is now right in front of the stove!!!) - and repaired two sets of trousers for an american friend here. I resewed a ripped seam on Vincent’s beautiful bird silk boxers, and we moved the sewing room around to make it part living room too. In the 15 years that I’ve lived in this house, I’ve never had a sofa in front of a stove, and this combination is utterly divine, in a busy workroom; a space to move away from the machine and sit comfortably to do finishing work – and to have my Beloved by my side reading or writing – and enjoying meals together in the cold months, by the fire!
the breast seams are in, and the skirt is sewn into the bodice - yippee!!
This used to be the coldest room in the house, but this week it is toasty and delicious. I had not realised, even though I’ve voiced something like it to my Love, but the cold has been the biggest block to my sitting down and writing, sewing, creating altogether: my symptoms have been worsened by the cold, and by not having hot water to full-bodied relax and cleanse in. The difference to our whole house and routine now is significant.
the front-side panels are in place, needing just to be edged nicely
Another neurosis which appears to be slipping away during this dynamic healing process, is this deep-rooted sense of unworthiness, through my incapacity (as my inferior ego sees it) to ‘get life together’ and ‘make something of myself’. This has been a terrible preoccupation, since any conventional ‘busyness’ and paperwork-related activities were crushed by censorship and the lockdown contrivances. It has been hard to remove oneself completely from even the edge-of-society connections that we had previously, and to go it almost entirely alone in the world. That has had a great dampening effect on my creativity. But this is changing now.
the cord trousers, sewn into the cut-off jacket...
There feels to be a change in the world, the turning of the tide, and consciousness – in plants, animals, ourselves, our connectedness, and the very elements – appears to be tangibly rising…. expanding… becoming more interesting and interactively dynamic.
the purple zip which will run down the full coat length
I can feel the magic of it waking up – the alchemy and sentience that I knew as a feral child on a Scottish island mountainside: the sentience that Avatar-like runs through us to and from all things. I can sense messages from the holistic fabric of reality, and that even helps me create in needlework. I was able to return to this second coat, which has been quite stuck in its development since our stove was out of action.
this is how the upper front will sit, once the zip is in place
Again, I got into muddy waters, overthinking how it could be finished – perhaps trying to control the shape of it by my mind, instead of allowing a natural shape to form! It felt like it was getting a tad gothic – like "sexy vampire" – and I really dislike any kind of cliché that wants to intrude in my unique inventions!
Making such a long coat as this, I got stuck on it being a bit imperfect too; ‘unsymmetrical’. But again, this is another aspect of the original and handmade: I have to allow some imperfection to give it character, and not to lose myself in the forever work of making it overrefined. Overworking a garment, like with a painting, can really spoil it.
I had this issue when I painted sometimes: losing a really great phase of a painting which had more nuance of expression, freedom of brushstroke. I don’t want to create contrived clothing! I want each garment to grow into its right form, almost by itself – with me just acting as the guardian of what‘s ‘coming through’.
the extension segments, at the bottom of the front panels
So this red coat is almost complete, and is likely to be finished today, or very soon – as Vincent is already off downstairs to saw wood, and I am about to light the stove for a wee morning fire, and to have some hot water for a daytime bath – heaven!
I’d never have thought about putting the stove in my atelier, but this is just such a beautiful improvement of our house on every level: I’ll be writing later this week around the Moving Of The Chimney – oofah! - what a week it has been, getting it all in place again. But the finished effect, not just of hot water again, and lovely long showers, but the fact of a warm workroom. I had been really accepting of suffering, and now the comfort of being warm enough… it really changes everything. I cannot wait to get deeper into my practise now…
Until next week…
