memorial

Progressing

by CZeitler

I love how my Fey piece is turning out. The wings are tulle, the crown is made from beads that the person is for had purchased. I think I’ll add some red thread to the other side to signify their pain and death, then bind it.

You’re getting to know me and side-quests, these keyrings are my current side quest. They are faux cork with specialty ribbons as the loop. I love how they have turned out. At present they are being glued together then I’ll top stitch around the sides. I’m going to see if my sister wants one of the sparkly rainbow ones, or if I’ll put them all on my shop.

I am finishing up the three memorial pieces, rinsed off the top stabilizer this morning so I’m waiting for the other two to dry so I can do the fold over binding. I’m also using a tiny bit of fabric glue to ensure that the stitches on back will not destabilize, then I’ll whip stitch a couple of jump rings so that they can be used as wall hangings.

I am going to be seeing a lot of my family on Tuesday that I have not seen in years, if not decades. I have no idea how this is going to go. One of my relatives has offered me a place to sleep on the way there if I want to start out Monday night. Another has offered that I can stay with her and her daughters so I don’t have to leave immediately after on Tuesday. So I think I will head out early Tuesday morning the way I originally planned but then stay with my Cousin, I let her know I have to head out at 6am, so that should be okay.

I also randomly decided that I was going to sew a mask and a reversible hat for myself. I purchased nose pieces for masks when they were on clearance, so think that will be good for me this summer. The hat is more because I realized that with my thin hair my scalp can get sunburned easily and I need to prevent that.

I only have two more flowers and two more branches to hand sew before I can start embroidering the commissioned quilt again. All in all I have had a very productive week so far. I’m proud that I have gotten quite a bit of the items that I wanted to do complete. There are other things that I really do need to get working on, putting things onto my Etsy site, seeing about getting a couple of quick makes to set up an in person craft booth sometimes this summer, and so much more. At present the weather is going to be really hot and then thunderstorms so I don’t think I’ll be doing too much outside…though I did finally get my lawn back under control.

Things could be so much worse, I have no real room to complain. Given that until next time I hope that you Live Life a Little More Abstract!

Memorial Project

by CZeitler

Due to my Irish heritage I have always been drawn in by the idea and images of they Fey, or Fair Folk. At H&H Americas I expressed an idea that had been percolating in the back of my mind for quite some time, a multi-media textile art piece that features a dark Fey. I bought some silk fabric samples and spun some black silk thread.

Two weeks ago I received a call from my cousin. (Since I’m not using names and my Dad had 10 siblings this is a bit confusing, the two cousins are not from the same immediate family, their Mothers are Sisters to my Dad who is not with us.) She told me that our other cousins daughter, who was living with her parents, had decided to take her own life. This was devastating. I did not have the opportunity to get to know her much in life, we had only seen each other a few times and she was not outwardly expressive…I would say shy except that I think that this was a conditioned response to years of mental abuse. My Aunt was the one to find her. This was horrible, my cousin called me and I told her that I could be there 6 hours from then. She called on Sunday and I cancelled the spinning class I was supposed to teach and arrived Thursday for the Saturday funeral.

It was both horrible and lovely. I had a chance to see family I had not in a while, I helped create 4 posters…okay I cut some of the white off of the edges of printed pictures, and generally we kept busy. I was an ear for my cousin, a shoulder for her daughters, and a buffer for her mom and dad. My other cousin, the father, had been in town all week. He was mourning in his own way…not talking with anyone, communicating through text and his girlfriend, hanging up on my cousin…you know. She finally told him to ‘Grow up’ and then the whole family was dis-invited from the funeral. Her sister managed to smooth things over to the point that my cousin was the only one not invited, so I stayed with her and her husband, daughters, and a couple of other family members that decided to stay. I spent Sunday with my cousin and headed back that night, which was hard for her older daughter who had been sullen all day. I had to explain that my social battery was drained (I had just been to see them 4 weeks ago then H&H, then COVID, now this) and that I did not want to subject them to the bad mood I could feel coming on. I drove home, taking two breaks to nap for 2 hours at a time, arriving home at 5 am after leaving at 8:30pm.

Last night I had inspiration, that will be explained in a post that is coming out later this week (I superseded it with this post for reasons I will explain soon), and began on a sample or small scale version of my Fey.

The young lady that decided her life was not worth living had a small collection of beads, she enjoyed arts and crafts, that my cousin gifted me. I decided to incorporate those into this memorial project, you can see one bead and sequin where their eye is going to be. I was pleased to get a start on this project, I had all sorts of ideas running through my head, I planned on spending this weekend, after work, between machine embroidering on my (other) aunt’s quilt, draping different fabrics and exploring what colors and textures I want to bring to this piece.

This morning as I was washing up and getting dressed for work I received a phone call. I did not have the number saved, that has been rectified, however I knew that I had family in that area so I picked up. It was my Aunt whose quilt I am working on…one of her brothers (my uncle) passed away last night. I think I was in shock and forgot to ask if there was anything I could do. Admittedly I was not very close to my Uncle, however I loved him and I love his 2 children, my cousins. I cannot cancel another class for the same guild. My finances are stretched thin, so I think a card is going to be all that I can send, maybe a memorial mini quilt or something…Oh, I’ll embroider some good Irish sayings on a piece for each, they might like that.

What keeps running through my mind is that these things come in threes. I know it is an old superstition, however, that does not make it wrong. I am waiting to talk with my sister so we can figure out what to do. Into every life a little rain must fall, rest in the loving embrace of the family that came before you.

Life Life a Little More Abstract.