Inspiration during Isolation

We all have our stories about how we are getting by during this time of social distancing. Some are cooking a lot. Some are binge watching. Most of us spend a lot of time reading about this virus and how it is changing our world and what we need to do protect ourselves and loved ones. I’ve been doing all that, plus more walks in the woods with my dog, a bit of cleaning, sewing face masks, and lots of dreaming of what I will do when we are able to get back to normal life again.

We are taking the social distancing seriously in my household, which isn’t too hard for me since after retiring from commuting and teaching for 25 years, I’m pretty happy hanging out at home. But what is different right now is that my business of creating fabric designs went into a bit of a pause. I have been selling most of my goods at local farmers markets and craft fairs. But the winter markets came to an abrupt halt in March, and I’m not sure about summer markets or fairs. So the pressure to keep printing and producing is off right now.

That has given me time to assess and play around with projects that I didn’t have time for earlier. I created a new blouse design in lightweight gauzy linen that I’m pretty happy with. And I’m piecing together some new pillows. But I’ve also made some brand new blocks that I can’t wait to get out there. The only problem is I can’t get out there right now, because of the cursed virus!

So here’s a sampling of my new stuff.

My sister in law Judith Secco is an amazing photographer and she and I thought it would be fun to do some craft shows together this summer. I had the idea of taking some cues from her photographs and translating them into blocks that I could print on fabric, and that’s how these crows were created. If you search ” Seven Crows of San Simeon – Judith Secco Photography,” you can see where I got the inspiration. I’m finding these crows to be quite addicting. You can expect to see them on totes like the one above, but also on napkins, tea towels, pillows and clothing.

My newest designs started with plain linen fabric. Sometime back in the fall I ordered some really nice linen in a burnt orange color. I didn’t get around to making anything out of it, but recently the color made me think of Indian designs. I looked at many traditional Indian block prints and made lots of sketches of paisley shapes. Finally I settled on a border design and a larger lotus -like block. Here it is on the fabric that first inspired me.

I hope you’ll check back in often in the next month as I will continue to add new material.

Stay well and wash your hands.