Shine

It's been awhile since I've really put the time into thread painting like I used to do. Thread painting is using a sewing machine needle like a paintbrush or if I'm thread sketching, like a pencil. Either way my sewing machine needle acts as my tool for creating a design. Today I went a little crazy with squiggles and thread. It just felt so good to be in a rhythm again doing what I used to spend hours almost every day doing. While the needle did its thing my mind just slipped into a place that cradled my thoughts and nurtured ideas growing there. I. Let. It. Happen. There's no other way for me to say it. There were times I was totally unaware of being at the sewing machine, and the places I wandered off to cannot be named. They were vast and ever-expanding. I felt fluid and stretched while the hum of the machine could be heard in the distance. I don't know what happens to me while I'm in this space. I just know it feels so good that I don't want to come back, but a thread breaks or the bobbin runs empty, and I'm pushed back into my chair with my hands on fabric.

After hours of doing this today, here are some pictures of the almost finished product. I can honestly say that I don't know why the design looks the way it does, why the threads chosen are the colors picked, or why even the choices of fabrics. I just know I did one stitch after another until it turned out like this. I named it "Shine" because that's my intention for now -- to shine who I really am even (or especially) when it scares me. So, after a day of stitching here's to shining brightly!