New Week

My Jungian Psych course finishes up the end of this month. The title of the first of the 4-part series is Nigredo, which is a metaphor for the dark night of the soul, when the individual confronts the shadow within. I've printed off the applications for each lesson & lecture, knowing that I could spend the rest of my life working with them. Other participants plan to take a break with the work & process what they have uncovered. I've had more than half a century of therapy (on & off) and also Jung was part of my undergrad studies, so I am familiar with a lot of the concepts. I must say, however, that it is hard, hard work to be in the shadow. Its so much more intense than SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder).

Partner information was released for the mug rug swap for one of the groups I am in. My partner expressed a love of horses on her profile application. When I found her on FB, I saw a few photos of the area she lives in and some of horses. I could not tell if she raises any, or just has a deep longing to ride and be around them. This is the silhouette I plan to use and will machine appliqué. Next comes finding fabrics in the colors she likes. This is the kind of swap where you send to one person and receive from another. Facilitators for the swap are asking questions of us so we get more guidance. At this stage, and because my partner is not answering them with her preferences, I am sticking with the silhouette.

And then I worked on the next step for the fabric boxes, measuring and sewing up the sides. Now for the hand work of clipping threads, closing seam sections,  and adding buttons. I went through the first process of making the sandwich a little too fast and discovered a couple of seams that were too close, leaving a raw edge. Not sure what I will do to correct that on these, but have noticed that I cannot go too fast with it. The biggest one is made from a FQ, so is 7" square by about 4" high. 

I think that the aspect of my perfectionism rears up quite often in the work that I do, and when I don't reach 'the mark', I tend to beat myself up about it. Mistakes are easy to make for a number of reasons that could be beyond my control. Yet, because they are my projects, I take full responsibility. Because of my health issues, I know that I can make mistakes, so I am not fooling myself to think it is outside my control.

Also, I forget that most things are not meant to last forever. People, fabric or projects. Not to justify outside-of-me failure, but to recognize that I am using fabrics that came to me aged. I don't know if they were washed, or how long they sat on shelves or in bins. So as I do the hand work, I WILL examine them critically so I know what has been done.