Baltimore Sonnets

Sewing life stories Library. A place where old and new stories sit on shelves.  A place where the quiet atmosphere allows one to collect her thoughts and reflect.  A place where books live and narratives from every continent can come alive. When a library becomes a place to tell stories with new tools--needles and thread--Oh, what a beautiful creative process it becomes. Some stories are born in the privacy of homes.  Some stories are born on trains and planes.  Some stories are born in cafes.  Ours came to life in a library. What an interactive, exciting way to come together and share our narratives.  Share and preserve fond memories of the past. Create tangible objects that can be passed down the generations. * Read my 2014 post about Storytelling On Fabric: https://suzannecoley.blogspot.com/2014/07/storytelling-on-fabric.html

Everyone has a voice, a vision, and a story.   Some stories are easy to write.  Some stories are more complex and take more planning to bring to life. Although I love writing stories on paper, I find that stories are more personal and have greater impact on fabric.  Fabric is embedded with emotional codes and cultural symbols. Fabric is versatile and images and messages can be stitched, glued, printed, embroidered, and painted on it.  I love teaching textile collage book workshops in the community and offering classes to people who are new to this type of storytelling.

Encountering Brilliance! For years I've admired the work of Pulitzer Prize winning American playwright Suzan-Lori Parks.  In 2002, I took my mother to see her play Topdog/Underdog on Broadway at the Ambassador Theatre.  My mother still talks about the brilliant plot of this play whenever I visit her! So, imagine my delight when I was invited to an event at the Public Theatre in NYC and Suzan-Lori Parks was there.  She is kind, brilliant, and veery generous with her time to loquacious, long-winded fans like me -- Thank you Suzan-Lori!

Fine Fabrics It has been a while since I visited a fabric store in New York City. So, last week when I was in NYC I decided to visit a few fabric stores to see what was new and to compare prices. I was really surprised by the increased selections of fine textiles.  Perhaps this was due to prom season quickly approaching.  These textiles were amazingly beautiful and there were so many different styles and textures. The one that spoke to me most was a hand embellished textile (image above).  It was spectacular in person and cost $650 a yard.  Price range for fine textiles ranged from $150 to $600 per yard.