Dearest Needleworking Friends & Lovers Of Original Sewing Creations!
Full immersion: leading up to the (pop-up clothing store) event on Friday – and the House Crawl that we have the very next day; a merry trail of the many stranieri of Guardia Sanframondi (and perhaps a couple of local randaggi), who bumble from one home to another in the medieval quarter, snacking and drinking, and ooohing and aaahing over how we have brought out the character of our magical homes.
Our blessed Arthouse never quite fits into the format of this house tour, but I love to join in anyways, and it’s (hopefully!) fun for @vincentnijman to get a peek into the multifarious abodes here in the centro storico - seeing how unique each one is… This is a really good opportunity to spread the word and make connections, in regards to hopefully selling ours very soon. We are so very ready to move: we maaaay be getting a car this week or next, and this is rather exciting, as it will relieve a massive tension around our not being easily able to visit viable properties, nor to effortlessly escape the town into the mountains/ to the river/ the beach/ go pick mushrooms, and so on.
We hummed and hawed for weeks about how to organise the house for the impending group visit, but finally settled on a ‘working art house’ theme, with my sewing room in particular being upside-down with the many, many last minute projects I’m working on, to present at the end of the week in Anna’s beautiful gallery…. And the rest of the house is taking its cue from that! We started out imagining it being more like a show home – the americani here tend to have much more sterile-looking houses than we do, and I want the contrast to be a pleasant one, not a ‘yikes: a natural home!!’ reaction!
As for the sewing: as you know, I usually present one or two pieces per week via Needlework Monday, but today there are simply way too many variables, nor can I think of how to get it together to photograph things too, between carting the garments to a friend’s house to iron them (my iron, their electricity!), sewing all the final lables on, writing and printing up the gallery spiel, stabilising the hanging mechanisms, etc, etc, etc, etc. (Just as well I have my steadfast oltra-helpful Man to keep me steady and help with carrying things up the steep marble steps!)
I have my rail(s) of pieces to (almost) go. I have some pieces ready for the possible hanging-on-the-wall part, and some things for accessorising. Then I have this volcanic energy of wanting to see if I can finish another two or three pieces before the event! It is a little manic, to say the least. And I am tripping over myself here and there, getting entangled in ideas and possibilities – racing along, but not used to working at such a fast pace: sometimes things get messy and unsuccessful, but on the whole I believe that it will be a good expo of my clothes.
Being in full immersion is just deeply-deeply fulfilling, so I am sincerely grateful to Anna for asking me to get involved in the expo with my clothing (rather than my Art., as usual). It’s so much easier to keep going and to build momentum and enthusiasm, when there’s a solid goal in sight. It may be that most folks will be at the expo to look at art, and will not be so interested to see clothing, but I do have some confidence in having had such positive feedback from friends and visitors up to now.
Plus, the show – alongside the house trail – is a beautiful way to put the lid on my 15 years in Guardia Sanframondi, BN. If we get a car this week, we literally might be driving off into the sunset next Monday – or at least, north! - and if we love the first house we see… We are VERY picky about where we’ll settle and ultimately it will come down to the feel of the place – and we only have one or two properties selected, which are around a couple of hours north of here. It will be amazing to finally have my foot on the pedals, and able to simply set off.
Guardia is a fabulous location, the centro storico is beautiful and atmospheric and the community is sweet, warm, fun - but for myself with my history in the place, my relationship with it really feels stagnant: I can feel all the threads being cut now, all the energies and cocreative flow diminishing, all the friendships outgrown - and Vincent and I’s upwelling shared enthusiasm and calling to Nature is just unstoppable!
I hope you enjoy the snaps from the house this week: I cannot wait to get some nice photos of the finished garments on myself and / or on the dress form – and to get everything in one place and on show properly – so that I can even see it at its best!
So looking forward to the next phase – of everything!
With love and all the best for your creative week!
