Phoning a friend and five faves
slow, quiet note no.10
I’m now ten weeks into my self-imposed 2025 finish-up project and the spreadsheet does not lie - I am pleased to report that I have finished, completed, done and dusted the grand total of fifteen, now ready-to-hang, pieces. I appear to have developed a new (and quite surprising) aptitude for getting.things.done.
However, I am now in the middle of a creative bleurgh despite doing all the good productive things. In truth, all of this activity, the looking back, the finishing and the sorting of things is becoming a bit, well, tedious. I’ve seen all these pieces before, spent quite a lot of time with them and, in truth, I am finding it difficult to see them with fresh, curious eyes.
What I need to do is gather them all up and take them to a neutral space for a great big, creative review with a constructive but critical friend. I need someone to help me edit, group and make some decisions about what to do next. A session of ‘show, sell or scrap’ in the vein of ‘snog, marry, avoid’ would, I am sure, give some of these pieces a life beyond the suitcase and close the lid on some others. Either way, decisions will be made.
My brain and fingers are also now itching to start something new. I know this because there is a growing pile of scraps of paper stuffed into my diary where I’ve scrawled notes and drawings and the workspace on my desk is shrinking as fabrics and threads crowd together. I have started leaving myself voice notes (this is a new thing).
This is all very well but experience tells me (see above) that it might be a good idea to try a different approach. I’m brewing a couple of ideas for bigger, perhaps collaborative pieces and have approached a couple of organisations about potential residency/research projects over the summer. Clearing the decks has had the added bonus of creating time to think and reflect on what I want to make and write in the future.
In the meantime, while I continue to ponder my temporary creative bleurgh and in attempt to provide something useful this week, I give you five of my very favourite UK based sellers of beautiful fabrics, threads and all things haberdashery:
Grace at Beyond Measure selects and curates a beautiful range of embroidery, sewing and haberdashery items as well as books, magazines and patterns.
An IRL Islington destination shop full of yarn gorgeousness from around the world.
Essential Soho sewing-stop with a basement full of ribbons, trimmings and haberdashery.
A regular stallholder at Wadebridge market in Cornwall but can be contacted via Instagram for all things vintage and unique.
It’s a long way from Wiltshire but their Rye flagship store is worth the trip to stock up.
And, to finish, here are two of my most recent done and dusted which I hope will find their way into a garden-themed exhibition in the summer:
‘Cutting Patch I’ - cotton, linen, appliquéd & quilted
Cutting Patch II - cotton and line, appliquéd and quilted
Thank you for taking the time to read this week’s slow, quiet note. If you’d like to receive these free Sunday posts in your inbox, please subscribe below. As ever, your likes, shares and comments are very much appreciated.
Have a good week.
J x