SOULFUL WORKING WITH HANDS TO MAKE BEAUTY

Yesterday. I know I wanted to give my brain a total rest, and needed to do something crafty, embroider, or knit. I did a few rows of knitting, and then wanted to embroider, but was hampered – have been hampered for over a year in fact in this endeavor – by the difficulty of threading needles. So yesterday I thought I would have Meera do it, and then the thought, but I don’t have a pincushion, led me into a delightful all day long activity. I knew I wanted something lovely, thought of my paisley shawl remnants, hunted for and found them, and spent about four to six hours of utter engagement making two of them. I have put silver and glass beads on them, too. They are not refined in the stitching and that was part deliberate, part haste, but I like the overall gypsy effect, functional, yet with an eye to color, using a thick yellow embroidery thread. I will try to make the others – I don’t need anymore, just the need to make them! –

more elegant, with thin silk thread but their elegance is already undercut with the haphazard nature of the patchwork, making do with what I have.