To All Who Want Pictures

I'm holding off on pictures now until everything is done. There are so many delicious wonderful surprises in this house: painting where you least expect them, murals, quilts, books, games. The garden is nearly finished. They had to come back and do the backyard because it just didn't fit with the rest. So now we will have a patio for real, with a place to barbecue.

Slowly the art goes up on the walls, as slowly as the murals are being painted. I am of a mind to learn to do this myself, since walls as pallette is a fascinating concept.

I have come to an unusual conclusion. Buying fabric is of itself an art form. I watch people in the fabric stores, and I am fascinated with how many of them are holding their patterns -- be it for dresses or quilts or whatever -- and carefully measuring out each piece. That is so not me. I fondle, look, regard, smell, drape. I load my cart with bolts that leap out and yell ME ME ME as I pass them by. I have a half yard of sparkly silky stuff right now that I just fell in love with, and two yards of luscious silvered silk that makes me wish I looked good in a Burka instead of an aging Norwegian in a fancy schmatta. I am sure I will find something to do with it. My carts are always a riot of color, and I never really know how much of something I'm going to buy until it is spread out on the cutting table, preferably next to a couple of others.

The biggest problem I have is that my mind's eye greatly exceeds the scope of my abilities. I picture a gorgeous wall hanging of a woman bearing a water jug on her shoulder, gracefully striding down a path, with that lovely silk I purchased draped and flowing. But I have no idea of how to execute what I see in my head. It is a huge frustration. Classes are beyond me right now; too much pain and discomfort to be able to sit in a class and really learn and pay attention. And I'm not sure there are classes that teach you how to pull things out of your mind and into a multi-dimensioned reality.

Perhaps I just have to try. Just create. Just do it, as they say. And be willing to scrap it and do it again and again until it is right. If it weren't such a burning desire I would set it aside. but it calls to be done.