In between reconnecting with our family members and the wonderful ‘memory making moments’ we had together, there was time for a bit of sight seeing, re-visiting favourite places and some in-person fabric and thrift shop shopping. During the last 3 years here I’ve been working without the addition of any new fabrics to my stash, a good thing, really, because it encouraged me to use what was around me. In that scary early Covid pandemic time, given our ages it really was safer to not go shopping unless absolutely essential, and fabric shopping is rarely a matter of life and death.

Certainly the shutting down of distracting social activity outside the home gave extra time to experiment, and much encouragement to to do so from (see TextileArtist.org) that I joined when it began in 2020… I have always been open to experiment, trying something out to just see what results. In that time, too, how I use fabric has changed a fair bit. for example, I have done almost no freehand piecing. I’ve found myself using different kinds of fabrics I need to achieve my vision, some of which clearly resulted from some impulsive whim purchases the intention for which I had long forgotten, but in the last few years I’ve come to regard glittery fabric as an essential part of my stash. In experimenting with hand stitched raw edged appliqued fabrics since late 2019, I found the exciting potential of using sheers (silk and polyester organzas) and also loved the several small portions of pearlescent sheers I had….

As the allure of these fabrics is hard for an amateur like myself to capture on film, it naturally required several in-person shop visits to come up with this infusion of new glitter pieces into my stash. In addition to least 20m of mostly plain black, cream and another dark browny-grey neutral, and 6 or 7 fat 1/4s batiks, I found and bought one-yard pieces of several silk organzas that will fit in with what I already have.

Of course I always scoop up some new needles and threads, plus in this visit a few interesting notions that will come up later. One ‘notion’ or new piece of equipment, I invested in which will make hand stitching much easier, is a sit-upon embroidery hoop holder. I have one inaccessible in storage in Australia, but am tired of not having one here! In effect, it enables both hands to stitch and therefore use a bigger hoop or frame as one hand isn’t involved holding the frame or hoop; it will enable me to speed up a bit 🙂 and I’ll write a post on notions sometime soon.