A Pincushion and a Poem

In my last post I showed you one of the two candlestick pincushions I had just finished, promising to show you the second one "in a couple of days." Gosh, how fast time goes and once again...it got away from me, so I've gone past the couple of days I intended. Sometimes I swear the days just dissolve away!

This is the other pincushion made from wool and attached to one of my flea market find candlesticks. As you can see, it is in the same colors of wool as the last but the embellishments are different. For instance, I've only embroidered the curved line going around the wool "ball" and the leaves. The flowers were crocheted (in two sizes). The larger ones and the ones on the button are sewn on and the ones around the candlestick were glued on. I have an intense dislike for using glue, but sometimes glue is the only way to make it work. The flowers were crocheted with bedspread cotton and a size 8 hook. The flowers were sewn on, then a bead was also sewn into the center of each flower. (Again, glue on the bottom flowers.)

The covered button on top of the pincushion was covered in wool, then embroidered, then the red flowers were added. Around the edge of the button, I sewed on beads...these are size 6/0.
Have you noticed I like to add beads to an edge?

I like making the buttons so much, I think I am going to embroider a batch of them and add them to my etsy shop when I do that "update" I've been talking about...probably mid-to-late October.

Every time I make something and then take a good look at it, I always find something I could've done better, or left off, or added. But, I don't go back and remake the thing. I just chalk it up to the fact that I'm still learning and get on with my day. You'd think after all these years of doing this kind of thing I'd know just about everything, but, wouldn't you know....I don't, however, I'm learning more all the time. Certainly makes my little life interesting!

I've never considered myself much of an artist. I suppose because the word "artist" always sounds a little too grandiose to describe what I do. Well, ok, "fiber artist" sounds a tad better, but when I see what some "fiber artists" do....that doesn't fit me either. What kind of artist could I be? Do you remember when Roseann (the comedienne) said she was a "domestic goddess?" Maybe I'm a "domestic artist" since what I do revolves around "homey" kinds of things. Is this silly? I don't know. I have a friend from Mountain View, Arkansas, who gave me copies of some poems written by a woman named Mary Elizabeth Mahnkey....who wrote in the 30's. She was from the Ozarks. One of her poems describes what kind of artist I find myself admiring.

THE ARTIST
by Mary Elizabeth Mahnkey

"She scanned the table with keen old eyes
There was the brown fried chicken
The creamy custard pies
The cool bright green of pickles
And the ruby glow of jell.
Then she hastened to the cellar
Before she rang the bell
And brought the golden butter
With its drops of frosty dew
Chilled and sweet and delicate
In a deep bowl of old blue."

This is from "Ozark Lyrics" 1934. I tried to find a copy, but never did. I love this poem. A true artist, this.

The last couple of days, I have made the prize ribbons for our guild retreat challenges. I'll show you those a few days before I leave for the retreat. And, then, inspired by my friend, Sharon, I got into moving a few things around the "Nest" to "re-organize." Even a "domestic artist"
needs the proper environment in which to create. All I have created recently is a huge mess, so I had intended to jump into the massive undertaking of re-organizing after the retreat in September, but she got me itching to do it NOW, so I jumped all the way in on Thursday! Not a total reorganization, but an attempt to make things a lot better and when I do tackle it this fall, well, it ought to be somewhat easier after this. Maybe I'll show you some of it then.

Well, that's it for today as I actually hear an owl.....the night owl, of course. so off to bed! take care, pat