You're ready for whatever comes next, but circumstances may not be as forgiving as you wish. Someone's unexpressed feelings can create a drag, as if you are a boat that's pulling a heavy anchor along behind it*. Once you realize that you cannot find the source of the weight, your first impulse might be to get angry. However, misplaced emotions won't help your cause. Instead, think about all your options and, for now, take the course of least resistance. You can set yourself back on track more easily in a few days.
Spent my childhood making doll clothes and mud pies in Buffalo NY and Whitney, up in northern Ontario. Everything was a craft project for as long ago as I can remember, so naturally I had to go into art. After an unsuccessful career in business (emotionally unsuccessful, that is) I went back to school to get my masters and teaching certificate, and was fortunate to land a high school teaching job right away. I died and went to heaven because I had ALL THOSE TOOLS to make projects from and then inspire the kids too. I loved my job.____________________________________the Business-Now Line____________________________________
Sandy's First Quilt- circa 1976After I had kids I pretty much did my projects at home- I was still a weaver and lost a lot of friends on moving day when they saw what they had signed on for. The kids took to sitting on the loom and stretching the warp threads or worse, breaking them so it was a nuisance. I turned to quilting for several reasons- it was non toxic, it was portable, it was meditative, and in the end there was something useful. It took me several quilts before it hit me that I didn't have to follow all those instructions so off I went on my own and it was like I discovered a vein of gold running through Massachusetts.
Back then there weren't 'art quilts', there were reproduction quilts or contemporary quilts. We were still judged the same way a traditional quilt would be judged, and actually still did all handwork. i rebelled at that and started using my machine to sew pieces together but stuck to hand quilting until that ship finally left the dock too. I found some like-minded supportive souls, and THEN I was able to call myself an artist. And I started teaching again, first with local guilds and then on across the country. I loved it, loved teaching adults who actually wanted to be there, loved prying them away from old thought processes, and loved sneaking in a basic art class with every 'quilt' class I gave. It was so gratifying to have a woman tell me that noone had ever told her she was an artist before, but she discovered she now was!
Teaching began to get in the way of my life- I was sacrificing several days of preparation and packing, then I was away a few days at a time, came home exhausted and had to catch up the normal family stuff as well as do my own work, so after agonizing for several years and feeling bad about what ever I did, I finally declared myself retired and could devote myself to my own work full time. I've never been so happy because I now have permission (from myself) to goof off, to play, to try new things. I don't have deadlines any more or many family obligations so my time is my own. And I'm now in Florida with a studio away from the house, where it doesn't snow, EVER.
And that's where 'In Stitches' picked me up!
A little nudge to push you towards the 'in Stitches' magazine new issue, for any of the great articles written by the list below! In addition we are running a little blog hop so you can see what we are all up to. Today, go visit Betty Busby and leave a comment for her. At the end of the day she will draw a name for a prize. And then Barbara does it on Wednesday, and so on until next Monday when it's my turn. Who doesn't want a PRIZE? I know you do...
Sandy Donabed
*so leave a comment and get my prize next Monday! I'd love to get rid of this anchor!
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