Losing Control

wise donkey

I don’t know what made me do it, but I pushed the speed button on my sewing machine from two to three, the highest speed, and started to sew.

I was  stitching down the edge of the hankie I had cut in four pieces to use in a streaming pillow for Susan.  It was a trade, 150 vintage hankies that belonged to her mother for a pillow.  She asked if I could use a hankie or two in the pillow somehow.  I struggled with the idea for a while then came to the conclusion that the hankie had to be a simple one for me to work it into a streaming piece.  Susan’s mother had so many unique and interesting hankies, but they were such strong statements on their own, there was no room for anything else.  So I cut one of the white hankies with an intricate design on it and put a piece of turquoise fabric under it so the design would show up even more and stitched each piece to a corner of the pillow.

And, like I said, for some reason, I decided to stitch them down on high speed.  Never having done it before, you’d think I would have experimented first,  but I wasn’t even really thinking about it enough to make that kind of decision.  I just did it.  And I found, with the machine on high speed, I had less control. The machine was stitching faster than I could think.  Those loopy squiggles, had a life of their own.  It was out of control and freeing and I loved it!

The next one I did (on the bottom left, the first one on the bottom right) I tried to make little boxes with straight lines.   I loved the way they looked, all uneven as if they were in motion.  The thing is, it both did and didn’t look like something I would usually do.  My work is more careful, this was more expressive.

I didn’t have the guts to try drawing the representational images on high speed,(I will practice that)  but did stitch the sun and water and parts of the tree (and all the design elements) on high speed.  And it was liberating, even exciting.  I feel like I found another new way to draw on my machine.

I’ll finish the pillow on Monday.  Susan has three donkeys and chickens and the word in the pillow came to me during meditation this morning.

14 thoughts on “Losing Control

  1. Maria, this is fun for me to see as Susan and I are close friends even though she lives in one part of the country and I, in another and another country to boot. Her Aussie dog…also known as “the Master of Michief” is named for a star, did you know this…perhaps you did. And the donkeys…I don’t know how you manage to draw them with the machine so well….it’s a wonderful piece and I love your writing of “unlock my voice”, so apropos for many of us. I am so glad I checked in tonight and found the streaming pillow for Susan.
    SandyP in Canada

  2. Maria, I love this creation! Your mind is amazing. I just can’t figure out how you think. You are obviously super highly intelligent and I admire you so much. (Don’t freak, this isn’t a love letter.) Being loopy and high. Taking risks and chances and living so freely is pure magic! It’s our time at last! Wheeeee!
    Have a fun weekend, Cindy

  3. This is so ingenious, Maria and your joy shines through as you capture Susan’s joys, too. She will love it, I do.
    Hope that floor man comes soon. I had an old floor like yours once. Nearly asphyxiated myself trying to get it clean to no avail. I finally moved. LOL.

  4. I like the hankies as part of pot holders. The little designs on the hankies i have are what i find interesting,and colors.
    Your work is part inspiration to do my own and love to see how animals are celebrated in any medium as part of our lives.

  5. Oh, I LOVE it, Maria! With great excitemtent, I showed it to my husband Buzz, who has not seen your pillows….he looked at it for the longest time. Tipping his head from side to side to closely examine it, then he said *WOW, that is amazing. Maybe she should sew on high speed more often* LOL! It is beautiful, thank you so much!
    Susan

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