Challenges of Creativity

Sewing has never been one of my strengths. My husband and daughters can vouch for that. I was one of the first mothers to hot glue Girl Scout badges on our daughters' uniforms. (Other mothers who had been sewing for hours to place the badges on sashes and vests soon realized my method had value!) However, my use of double stick tape and staples to hem my husband's pants was not as impressive.

I have been dabbling in mixed media art projects. Thus far, no completed project has emerged. I realized that sewing techniques kept hindering my efforts. I am to display a poem that I wrote about living with cancer at an upcoming workshop on grief and loss at Indiana State University. Instead of displaying a simply framed poem, I wanted to incorporate my mixed media projects with the poem and create a wall hanging.

My deadline is fast approaching, so today my Aunt Erma came to my rescue. She is the family seamstress, able to sew about anything on her trusty sewing machine. She spent the day patiently tolerating her sewing-challenged niece and trying to show me some basic techniques. The wall hanging is beginning to take shape. These photos display parts of the project, but I will wait until it is completed to post a photograph of the entire project.