Thursday, November 17, 2011

Letting the light come in

I can hardly believe it, Lobsters, but last week, I actually turned on my sewing machine. 

Before Sofia was born, Manny got me a sewing machine for my birthday in order to fill decades of dreaming of becoming a proficient quilter. I made a few squares, baby came, and then I went into early retirement. I finally have space for craft projects now, but the supplies and tools all just sit there, mocking me as I run back and forth chasing my little mobility machine. 



But this week, fed up with my computer, and finally relieved when Sofia went down for a nap [she hadn't been napping for a few weeks], I turned to my sewing machine for revitalization. By some stroke of fate, I managed to whip the project out before she woke up and without any huge disasters or even re-starts. This is not usually how well my crafting works out. Not that the finished project is worth any lavish display, but it is functional, and that's enough to satisfy me. 

I know there are lots of blogs out there with incredibly helpful tips and tools for making everything in your house yourself, I even knew a guy who once promised me a home-made video-cam [and this was in the '90's when I didn't actually believe these would ever truly exist, and was mostly mocking him when I told him, "sure, I'll take one"]. This is not that blog. I didn't use or even make a pattern, I just kind of flew by the seat of my pants. My most careful decision was the fabric, the rest was mostly just me messing around. 

But just the messing around felt good. To think the project through. To pull together all the tools. To feel the fabric break beneath the cutter. To smooth the pieces away from each other. To guide them through the machine. To let the friction work between my fingers as I turned it inside out. To experiment and adjust. To iron out the finished product. To wave it before my then awake daughter to show her what I'd made.

I am not sharing so much because I think you are all dying to sew your own curtain tie-backs, but just to celebrate the joy of creating, and to appreciate the gift of light. 
I have been warned hundreds of times since our August arrival that the early sun sets are one of the hardest parts of enduring Maine's winters, being so far north and all. But like many things we are experiencing here, you don't truly understand the wisdom people are granting you until you live through it. It gets real dark, real early, and its real weird. Sofia woke up from her nap and was honestly frightened by the fact that it was already completely dark out. Now, any bit of vitamin D we can expose our epidermis to is an urgent issue of gratitude. 


So while in the summer I was so relieved when they finally installed our curtains (privacy, protection from the warm sun in an house without air conditioning), it is now a relief to be able to pull those curtains back and just let the light come in.

It is a rather passive act, letting the light come in. I did not make the sun, I do not warm our house with the suns rays, but I made way for the light to do its thing after a time of not. I don't know that I'm really much of a crafter, but it felt good to craft. I don't know whether I am a writer in the making, but it feels good to write about this and share with you. I don't know if I am an artist in the making, but there is a harmony with my deeper self when I am able to create. I do know that I am a creature of the light, and it warms my soul to let the light in. 



2 comments:

  1. impressive craftsmanship, zoe!

    also, i giggled immaturely at "But just the messing around felt good."

    ReplyDelete
  2. So many thoughts about this post! One being- yes, you are a writer and an artist for sure and I'm glad you share them both with us! Another being that I distinctly remember you saying when we were younger that you identified with the rain more than the sun. I absolutely despised rain back then and loved you and had a hard time reconciling the two, haha. :-) So it made me smile to read that you are a creature of the light! Your tie-backs turned out beautifully.

    ReplyDelete