We took a short trip to Normandy for 12 days to visit DH's family and friends. I was only organised enough to take the green crochet cotton with me to stitch, so this is a repeat of the little bag I made earlier, except I'm using Pea Stitch Variation for the filling, and trying out open edges all around.
I didn't finish the fish piece in May, but looking back on my blog posts, I think I covered the challenge sufficiently that I can move on to the June TIF Challenge, which is, "stories that are and stories that are possible," relating to stash.
Here are my initial ideas:
"Stash exists in geological time." This is an amusing comment made by a Honiton Lace buddy, Judith Greene, now sadly passed away. We were chatting one evening in class, about our stashes and she said she had some in her loft that she knew she'd never have the time to work with, but just knowing that it was there was good for her soul. I said that I'd made a rule that I was not going to buy any more fabric until I'd used up what I already had (I can't imagine making such a bizarre rule now - in fact, I think there may be no such thing as too much stash), but that I had some fabrics that dated back a long time. That's when she made this comment. To translate this into a project, the colour palette suggests earth, rock, geology.
Fairy tales can come true, it can happen to you, if you're young at heart - remember that song? This relates to stories, and gives the idea of fairies but I don't see them in the pallette colours.
Guns into ploughshares. This idea came from the pallette, and the idea of things that are and things that could be. I see a farmer ploughing a field, with one of those big horses with fetlocks, but a rifle in the place of the ploughshare - I don't know...
The dictionary definition of stash gives the idea of concealment, of things hidden in a safe place, which makes me think of making something that you open to reveal something else, much the same as a story unfolds. Maybe a book or a box.
Schizophrenia. Part of the reason for the visit to Normandy was to see a family member who suffers from this. He lives in an institution now, and we were both really distressed when we visited him because he was in a psychotic phase, seeing serpents, being agressive with other patients, trying to scrub the walls and floors. For safety, all photos, paintings, books, pencils, etc. had been removed from his room so he really had nothing to look at or to do, and it made me think, "No wonder he's inventing serpents and spots - he's creating interest for himself where there is none." When we returned home, we looked up schizophrenia on the internet and read some case histories, and it seems that the TIF theme relates - most of us see reality in a similar way (stories that are), but people with schizophrenia see stories that are possible as well, in a kind of jumble of reality and imagination. It makes me think that they are using their creativity in a very specific way, to help them cope with their emotional world. I think I'd like to work with this idea, hoping that it will help me get through the emotional shock we had at seeing a loved one in this state. But how to represent it? Hmmmmm...
4 comments:
Your visit sounds quite powerful. Good luck with your idea.
I hope you can find a way to work with the schizophrenia idea. It might be good for you and might also help enlighten others.
This month's challenge didn't set off any bells ringing immediately and i was looking at how others were approaching the challenge in the hope that it would kick start my own thinking when I came across your post - that's very powerful and thought provoking what you have decided to work on and thanks for getting me thinking.
You were very brave to take on this topic for your June tif challenge and it has worked out well. I think it has probably helped you to cope with the whole traumatic situation you found yourself in. I had a similar experience years ago but with my uncle who suffered from dementia. He was left sitting in a chair without his pyjama trousers and his shawl had slipped. He was so unconcerned about it, when a short time previously he would have been very upset. This left me quite traumatized for some time.
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