During late October ... if I had even five or ten minutes of "free time" ... I zoomed up to my studio and zigzag stitched on a fiber vessel. These thirteen managed to get completed in time to go to the Philadelphia Museum of Art Craft Show. (These pieces are not made using a clothesline! They are made first by zigzag stitching several strands of yarn into a cord ... and then zigzag stitching the cord into a fiber vessel. For a free tutorial, CLICK HERE.)
Yesterday was "hunter-gatherer" day, a time to collect all the things needed to set up booth 104 on Wednesday. Today was "pack the cargo van" day. Inside we have a display unit for the fiber vessels hanging above the booth walls, artwork, boxes of interlocking floor carpet, lighting, extension cords, bubble wrap, chairs, and a small file cabinet with pricing labels, receipts, pens, business cards, tape, the PayPal card reader, and lots of other very necessary things for the show.
One of the last pieces to be packed was also the last piece to be finished! This is In Box CCCLXVI, a totally hand-stitched work. I stitched it while riding to Fort Myers, Florida and back. That was just days ago. My husband Steve and I went in order for six of my garments made from recycled materials could be in a Trashion Fashion Show at the Sidney & Berne Davis Art Center. That was on Friday night!
The Trashion Fashion Show's aim was to bring awareness of textile waste. In this country alone, more than 15 million tons of textiles go into landfills. Most of it is less than three years old! By showcasing these garments, the hope is that audience members will think twice before pitching their clothes and will look for ways to Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle! My six garments in the show were The Leaf Dress, The Pantyhose Dress, You Are My Sunshine, The Class of 1949, The Red Carpet Dress, and the Flower Dress.
We were short a model short ... and so I actually walked the runway in The Flower Dress! Yet the best thing was the fact that You Are My Sunshine won first place. It has stayed in Fort Myers and will be on display with the Turf Wars: Art Speaks for the Earth exhibition through November 25th.
On our return drive, we stopped for a fabulous house tour at Cross Creek. It was a remarkable step back into time, to the cracker homestead where Marjoie Kinnan Rawlings wrote her Pulitzer Prize winning novel The Yearling and other beloved books. (Click HERE to access the website for this renown location.)
Almost everything inside was original ... including the stove, pots and pans, and cooking utensils that Marjorie used while writing her Cross Creek Cookery book in 1942.
The tour was as wonderfully slow paced as the suggestion of time surrounding the acreage.
The tour guide was genuinely passionate and able to tell great stories about Marjorie, the locals, and the house ... including a story about this bathroom, the first in the area to have indoor plumbing ... an event that Marjorie used for a celebratory party!
Now ... on to Philadelphia!
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