Down memory lane

Coffee in hand, first thing this morning I started looking for the box of safety pins, as they are needed for a temporary transformation. These delights -

 emerged from this area -

The safety pins were not in "the needles and pins drawer", but from the top of the cabinet came the wooden box, which turned out not to be empty. This seemed to be encouragement for continuing the search and seeing what else might be lying forgotten.

Oh my. What a trip down memory lane!

First, though, the set of letters -- just what I need for a little pre-xmas project -- appeared -

 And those slips of paper, hmm... when did I write those? they have a title page of sorts, "Then and Now" and consist of phrases that describe just about any point in my life, things I was writing down (in capital letters!) in attempt to get them out of my head, clear my mind...

Thought-provoking: "too much of the wrong things"; "what's missing"; "pay attention"; "always something else to do"; "keeping busy / moving forward". It has me thinking about what we choose to do in our lives, and what is thrust upon us ... and whether thoughts like this are useful in daily life.

But the search for the safety pins continues, widening a little from the area where I thought they were most likely to be. More things emerge - more wooden boxes, for a start, and other containers that need looking into.

 In the basket is a textile piece that was exhibited in 2000.. I made hundreds of leaves out of metallic organza and strung them together, not all that well it must be said. The leaves went on to be used in a series of wall hangings, including a breakthrough piece exhibited at Art in Nature and then the Festival of Quilts. The box of badly painted pages use paint left over after a day's painting of the Colour Dictionary The tomato pincushion has some very useful large needles stuck into it, and at the back are a cross-stitched hanging made by my mother for her first grandchild (my son) in the late 70s, and a postcard of the textile outcome of a project done in an illustration course in the late 90s.

In another box were the gathered components of a project based on marks arising from overheard conversations -

 Textile magazines that didn't get filed away ...

Part of the "memory balls" project (2012), very fine thread and very light, still attached to its source yarn -

 Some work from the art foundation course, 2009-10 - a drawing project and the "self reflective journal", a printout of posts from this blog -

How far back does this go? It was made in a class (with John Bentley?) at Ormond Road workshops, which closed not long afterwards, in the late 90s perhaps.I printed it on paper and several times on fabric, to be made into cushion covers. It was one of those works that "just happened" - the source image is from a Senufo mud cloth -

 Finally, some little pictures that were taken down during the Great Renovation of 2015-6 -

Grade 2, General Gordon School (Vancouver) 1956

Made at a study day, Museum of Mankind, early 1990s - it was this little
bit of stitching that made me realise how much I'd missed sewing etc

Made in my second class at City Lit, taught by Julia Caprara.
Machine embroidered on soluble fabric, but I didn't wash out the fabric,
I liked it just as it was. That was about 25 years ago

The safety pins have yet to be found, and there are a quite a lot of shelves and corners to look in, but only two days to do it in! (There is a Plan B.)