A time of loss

 This has been a week of experiencing loss. This week I learned of the deaths of two friends from the sewing universe.

Anne van der Kley died earlier this week after a long battle with congestive heart failure. This photo pretty much sums up who Anne was.

She was entirely larger than life in every sense of the word. Anne had a career as a nurse before she became well known as a fiber artist. Anne's medium was a serger

a machine that was developed as a utility machine for the garment industry to both sew and trim garments at the same time. If you look at the side seam of y.our t-shirt you will see a serged hem. Anne pushed sergers to create art. Anne published several books and was a popular teacher for sewing conferences.

I never took any of her classes but we had become friends through a sewing discussion group that I have been part of for more than two decades. We had gotten together during some of her visits to New York for some garment center adventures.

Ann's publicity photo exactly captured who she was. During this past year, she was often in what she called "the sin bin" and the rest of us would call a hospital. in what seems like a typical Anne move she used to post photos of her meals, especially in the hospital that felt that meals were part of the road to good health and recovery. Anne shared photos of one gorgeous healthy meal after another.

We all need friends who have the gift of turning the mundane into an adventure. I will deeply miss my friend Anne.

I was stunned to hear this week that my friend Sandy Snowden had died nearly a year ago. I can't remember exactly which sewing discussion group led me to meet Sandy but we have been corresponding for at least twenty years. Sandy was a frequent commenter on this blog.

Sandy was really accomplished as a needlewoman. She participated in the City & Guilds certification program in fashion. ( I don't know exactly what City and Guilds is but it seems to be a very serious British certification program in various handcrafts that involves lots of serious coursework and also the production of lots of carefully researched carefully worked  handwork ---there is no American equivalent .) During that time she shared garments made for her assignments, recreations of vintage garments with members of our sewing discussion group.

Sandy was invited to participate in some contests. She produced this ensemble in 2007 for a Bernina show.

Sandy participated in invitational quilt shows.

Sandy was deeply religious. Lately, Sandy's work had become more abstract and prayerful.

Here are Sandy's words about this piece.

This work acknowledges 24,000 individuals - Indian Christians who were physically attacked in one year because of their faith.

I have stitched 80 beads each day for 300 days - 10 beads in each small square eight times.

To be honest, I didn't quite get this work while Sandy was doing it. Now as I re-visit it I am so moved by Sandy's literally numbering souls.

It can be hard to speak or write about spirituality as expressed in our handwork without sounding obnoxiously self-righteous. Sandy and I recognized in one another that the work of our hands was a kind of prayerfulness.

I deeply miss the wisdom of Sandy's comments and her thoughtful advice. 

Sandy's work had over time become much more abstract.

This is from a project Sandy participated in to help visualize the number of refugees in the world, 25 million. Each stitch represents one person.

Sandy's work had become the stitching equivalent of a niggun, a wordless tune used to raise you to spiritual heights.

My world is a bit smaller and a bit less good without my two friends.