Ciao dearest Needleworking Friends,

Oh my, what chaos in my house, my kitchen... I shifted all my rooms around to make at least 3 main spaces for my needleworking efforts.... and now I am sitting in amongst piles and piles of accoutrements, fabrics, half-finished garments, finished pieces that need photographed, plus my usual notebooks, homeopathy books, dictionaries and essential oils...

Hehehe: it feels wonderful!

I love being in the maelstrom of creativity. It takes a certain discernment and dedication to the cause, a good amount of patience and humility, to give space to the process, but still maintain a level of control over the mess, effectively! I am not succeeding completely in keeping on top of it, but I have sufficiently positive moments of clearing the kitchen table and getting some of the threads, pins, scissors, etc., back where they belong (when not being used).

My creative process is pretty powerful: I've almost always been creating - from sewing, building, gardening and foraging as a child, to my more developed practises of writing, podcasting, visioning, painting and co-creating with folks around the world who seek to bring in the new. I've always gardened, interior decorated, made things out of nothing and set up impromptu art events, and I've had several main passions that I've evolved into intense practises in my 5 decades. The feeling of being able to develop my love of clothing in this way, after putting aside my painting Art., is quite a thrill. It feels more possible each week, and especially this week, as I began this new denim coat out of old jeans - and am near completing it.

Having been full-immersion in my painting and drawing practise all the years of my life, I thought I'd worked through all the neuroses and insecurities, but recently I am recognising that I'd in fact found myself a quiet little eyrie, and was nestled up there out of the way of conventional life (and even of a typical crafter's world), and avoiding having to really push myself: I got ensconsed in my wee slot, in being censored and excluded. It was beautifully simple and familiarly uncomfortable. Right now though, I'm seeing that I can't just sit there with paintings piling up, hiding behind them as a reclusive artist. I now see that the clothing has to go somewhere, and cannot be piled up forever!

In a couple of weeks begins a series of events, as Guardia Sanframondi is inundated with out-of-town visitors and the medieval quarter has massive quantities of footfall. Lots of folks even passing by my big wooden doors on the Via Dietro Gli Orti, which in regular months has an average of 2-5 people per day walking its cobbled way. It is my one opportunity to glean some interest, especially during the wine festival - as many folks will expect my gallery to be opening its doors, and will come down to check in on what I'm creating.

It is exciting to be presenting new things - unexpected for some of my local/ regional audience - and a different discipline altogether. It is still exhilarating, and nerve-racking. But it feels right and good, positive and brave.

I didn't feel like this for a long time; mostly I got in a slow rut with my Art.; I knew that folks were not 'getting' it, that I often wouldn't sell anything if I exhibited, and that I'd have to expend great efforts to get word out about an exhibition, with only exhaustion as my reward. I know that folks will be enthused about my clothing creations though, from the great feedback whenever I've shown anyone the prototypes. The very few visitors who come into my workspace and looked through the racks of what I've completed, have been really impressed and super-complimentary - to a level that my Art. could never inspire!

Not that my ego needs this, but my life purpose and my heart have to know that the work has a place/ belongs in the world; it has been excruciating creating paintings for so many decades and having them be effectively rejected by people. Making clothing is so much more aligned with the fullness of what I want to express: the right sentience, dynamism, colour and form, that feel utterly yummy and right - and light and fun, and sensual and ....more!

The proliferation of good feeling lets all my creative juice well up. It allows me to lean in fully and to rest back fully at the same time. It gives me space and reins me in, too. Having such good right feeling lets me just bumble and try things and play and celebrate. I didn't earn this freedom of creativity by doing any one thing, but by keeping in at the process all these years; having stayed the course for so long, and having not made compromises, means I'm well-positioned for throwing myself into a new practise like this - and winning, as it were!

It doesn't feel like I'm having a flawless path, of course; more a meandering trail of exploration and occasional tripping up and falling on my face, as I get too confident and mess up a stitch-line... Or over-ambitious and come out with a disaster-skirt (I'll share that at a later date, once I've made peace with it!)...

This is all part of evolving a deep creative practise, though - the mess, the tripping up, the further mess, the more falling down... Through the hiccups, I learn and grown, and find my stitches getting tighter and straighter! And my capacity to form a complex garment like a recycled/ reconstructed denim coat, it gets more savvy: the last time it took at least a month, and this time in a week it is mostly done.

There'll (HOPEFULLY!!!) be a couple of rainy days this week and I cannot wait for the easing-off of the scorchio. I look forward to this, even if it means I may have less power in my powerbank to charge up my sewing machine with.

I will not be stopped, however: I am quite getting into the using the machine without power!

Plus I got it set up provisionally on the old sewing table that a neighbour gifted me: it just needs a rubber hoop to connect the machine's wheel to the foot pedal below the table - such gorgeous old machinery, I cannot wait to have it working - then I won't even need the powerbank for that... Such a prospect!

Until next time, here's wishing you all the most enjoyment and satisfaction from what you're sewing and making this week....

LoVe!

www.claregaiasophia.com/