Finished Objects

"Finished Objects" will (hopefully!) be a recurring theme of this blog throughout the next weeks. I have committed too many resources, both material and spiritual, into too many piles of unfinished business that are now simply clutter. Clutter that obscures my work table. Clogs my mind, and certainly my creative processes.

We won't even mention the "G" word.

Sigh... can't avoid it. I feel G*U*I*L*T. Until the carpet cleaner forced me to pick everything up off the floor of every corner of the house, I had managed to fool myself into believing that it "wasn't so bad". Oh dear. It's bad. Really, really bad.

When I picked up Alice's Christmas stocking (dormant since at least 1997, when we moved into the Farm House) I had no idea that I was within 2 weeks of finishing the thing. Sheesh... If I had finished it then, I would not now be suffering torments of eye strain because I am simply not up to the challenge of this level of fine needlework anymore. And Alice wouldn't have been sighing for the last number of years over the fact that her "temporary" stocking faces the "wrong way."

There are a number of dolls sitting naked on my "to be completed" shelf that could be dressed in a day if I weren't too lazy to do so. I'm afraid I also have to count the 2 skirts that need hems, and Jake's jeans that only need a small patch to be wearable again.

Thinking of the space that completing these jobs would free up in the studio ought to be good motivation to doing them. Alas, there is always the siren song of the new project or upcoming class that I need to shop for.

I guess I also ought to confess that I am addicted to my "stuff". Paper, fabric, books, beads, paints, powders, books, brushes, pencils, pens, scissors, stickers, glues, glitters, fiber, yarn, books, sheet music... did I mention... BOOKS?

SOOOOOOOOOOooooooooooooooooo... I have taken stock of the situation, sat myself down, and told myself that I will buy NOTHING until I have finished these projects. Not buying art supplies in and of itself ought to fund most of my Christmas shopping this year. OK, not really, but it will help!

So, to inspire myself, I am going to record the 3 "Finished Objects" that are worthy of note from this weekend.

Let's call this one "Out of the Ashes". The center panel of this quilt is a piece I made when Jake's little sister was pregnant with her first child. As you can probably guess, it was intended to be a baby gift... That child, my nephew Nathan, is now... um... 10?

Last year when I downsized my fabric stash after deciding that I don't want to quilt anymore, I gave yards and yards of fabric to my church's new quilting group. This panel was in that pile. The ladies in the quilting group added the borders and turned it into a twin size quilt to raffle off as a fund raiser. I think they did a marvelous job on it; it is much prettier in this incarnation than it ever would have been had I finished it. It is even HAND QUILTED.

I am also within hours of finishing several dolls. Details to come!