Seamingly

~ Liz A

I started here, with the cabinet Don and I bought for our 25th wedding anniversary in 2002 …

I couldn’t recall the maker, so I emailed Paul Pittman, owner of the first gallery I ever considered my favorite: A Touch of Earth in Williamsburg …

As I read his email to Don, my voice cracked and my eyes filled up at the very end. Lianne may have departed this world in 2018, but her spirit is still present in the shop I wandered so many times that I can still envision all its nooks and crannies. And in a wondrous bit of serendip, I realized, perhaps for the first time, that the gallery opened the same year as Don and I married.

My heart full, I began to play around with strips of cloth …

which of course I rearranged, ending up with this …

And having spotted an interesting reel whilst scrolling through Instagram …

I was especially mindful about the colors I chose for the visible seams (thank you for your teaching, Jude … and thanks too for wonderful cloth from Connie Akers, Deb Lacativa, and Malka Dubrawsky) …

Last for now … if the visible stitch colors are less than visible here, I do hope they’ll be most apparent to whoever is sitting at the table enjoying a meal.

And oh … wait … what if I make napkins, too? How cool would that be?!

10 thoughts on “Seamingly”

  1. LA – what a brilliant cabinet; connected to terrific life and celebratory memories; and now recorded in you cover of art and memories in your home – so talented – so meaningful. Go gently with the memories of place and people. B

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  2. Liz~ YES to napkins!! But, I’m a cloth napkin gal 😉
    I like the light colored fabric that you switched in, very nicely represents the lovely cabinet. I’d have gotten tears in my eyes too with that memory-filled communication. Be well.

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    1. me, too … I have nine handstitched linen napkins that we use at every single meal … and have always used cloth napkins because they are so much more functional than paper … my laundry loads always hold several, which get air-dried on my wooden racks after I fold them in half and smooth out the wrinkles … I almost never iron them (except when I want to show them off to company)

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  3. The execution of your new idea/project is wonderful. You have such a mind and eye for details. I always knew about complementary colors, but didn’t really grasp the idea until a few years ago in a painting class, and just the other day I was plotting on the color wheel, looking for the third color to balance a piece…all of it a kind of magic trick in my head.

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    1. Deb G mentioned Interaction of Color by Josef Albers that I just got for $15 on Amazon … really interesting because it’s somewhat like a lesson plan for teaching color awareness by using scraps of color clipped from magazines or other print sources … I’m planning to replicate some of them using scraps of cloth … fingers crossed it will be as interesting as I hope

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    1. thanks Maggie … I guess it was kismet that I ended up living in the midst of my most favorite colors in the world (and so cool to discover that the cabinet we bought while still living in Virginia was made in Texas!)

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  5. I am so there for the napkins – yes! And how could that cabinet not inspire your strips of fabric – they were made for each other. And I really like you talking about taking care with the stitching that shows – had never really thought about how that could be a feature. All gorgeous!

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    1. I’ve just recently started to use two strands rather than one when seaming strips together … the stitches are far more apparent, which is much to my liking

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