a jacket that has been sold! You can see Part One of this coat story HERE and Part Two HERE

Dearest Friends on Hive and in our Blessed Needlework Community…

I’m in the kitchen with @vincentnijman and trying very hard to keep my temper from flaring… whilst my fingers get strained and pricked by my needle pushing into the rather strong brown fabric of this down coat, which I’ve taken apart to make into a Super-Coat. I am fed up with it, but am pushing hard onwards, through the discomfort, because I want to finish this coat No Matter What…. Sewing at night is not pleasant, and I'm annoyed that I couldn't make space in daylight for it.

'No Matter What' can become insurmountable, if I am not present and calm. This week has been intensely challenging on an energetic level – watch out for my second post on Slow House-Hunting, coming soon – and my sewing has taken a back seat to more pro-active dynamic activities, mostly involving a car that we hired for the week from a local garage, so that we could explore some near and not-so-near places as prospective new living locations.

Being sole driver of this hired car has meant less space for stitching and (un)designing, but I have been spurred on this week by a new copy of Tauko magazine, as well as some very kind words from my dearest friend (whose gifted coat got burned by being too close to the stove, thus necessitating transformation) who cheered me by insisting that my clothing should be out there being exhibited and sold…

the extensive seam work that needs doing, on the sold coat

My powerful vision of the potential garment, plus another visit to the 50c stall this week (alone, with the hired car) – in torrential rain, so crammed in with another handful of intrepid individuals who also are so passionate about the stall that they braved the storm! - got me to sit down with the coat again. I made a failed attempt at getting new (more appropriate, for a heavy fabric like this) needles for the new sewing machine - and then was highly frustrated at them not being able to succeed in even one stitch. I still have barely used the new machine since buying it, and am determined to set an entire week aside of ONLY sewing and clothing-related activities…

I had a really great visit from a friend too, who came for Sunday lunch last week, and which culminated in her wanting to buy a coat that I made last winter: do you remember the one: the mustard-yellow old-fashioned blanket coat? Stefania looks amazing in it, and we’re discussing a price – but before I hand it over, it requires a belt, some reinforced stitching, and an overall strengthening of the form. I don’t want it to ‘melt’ on her, the first time she walks out in it!!

This last job is rather extensive, actually, and may take up a lot of sewing hours this week, but I am hoping that the restitching and extra seams bias-binding might be supported (finally!) by the new sewing machine.

the mess on the kitchen table!

Times like these, I do feel overwhelm: my skills are still behind where my hands want to sew, and my emotional attachment to perfection (being a Virgo!) is also hard to keep in balance. Times like these, I need to stay super-grounded, super-focussed, and more organise than usual. Which doesn't come so naturally right now, amongst house-hunting, cleaning up our own house, chopping wood, carrying water and foraging... I probably need to rest, and to sew from bed for a bit! The car goes back to the garage tomorrow, so things will slow down again when we're on foot.