Clay said - "It seemed to take forever, and I vowed I would never again work a project in which I could not enjoy the process from start to finish." and "I do not have a burning desire to finish, just a compulsion to make the lace as beautiful as I possibly can. So... speed is never an issue. " May I be so bold as to say that these two statements are a little contradictory? If you were able to work faster the scarf would have grown quicker and would not have seemed so tedious, while for more challenging and enjoyable projects, working faster (while maintaining the same high quality) means that you would be able to make more of the designs you are inspired by. It's a win win situation, surely. Also, just because you can work faster doesn't mean you have to if you would prefer not to in any particular situation. Even though you are nearly finished on a project you have loved working, you do say that you have the next few lined up. Would you really think any less of your finished lace because it took you six months to make instead of eight? There would have been exactly the same amount of study needed, the same new techniques mastered, the same number of bobbin moves, the same number of pins placed. It also means that within the same (longer) time frame you would be able to challenge yourself more, learn more new techniques, make larger pieces that you might otherwise hesitate about starting. Perhaps the lack of satisfaction with your more quickly produced pieces of embroidery which didn't please you as much as the bigger projects was simply because they didn't challenge you enough, rather than the time they took to make. Somewhere along the progession of this discussion there seems to have crept in a slight inference that speed equals inferior work. Although perhaps for some people working faster might mean they cut corners on the tensioning, or leave less than excellent work because they don't want to 'waste time' undoing, for most people who work fast, it is because they are handling the bobbins efficiently and moving their fingers faster. They will be just as meticulous with the quality of the finished work. A good example would be Pat Read; her fingers move so swiftly it is difficult to exactly see how she moves the bobbins, but no-one would suppose that the quality of her lace could be improved, while the quantity she is able to make is to be envied and appreciated by all of us who benefit from her enormous output. Jacquie in Lincolnshire, who would love to be able to work faster.
- To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help, write to arachne.modera...@gmail.com. Photo site: http://community.webshots.com/user/arachne2003
