The reveal, and Winnowing results

 So the seams are stitched and pressed and neat enough that it's a reversible vest, and here it is, being introduced to its back yard, which it will see a lot of, as soon as the weather gets out of the 30s f.

 And why am I not wearing it right now, out there, you ask?  Because when you make items like this, fairly heavy fabric, newly steamed, hot, damp, it needs to hang into shape.  When you tailor clothes, they need resting time on the hanger or form in order to relax.  You need to give it a chance to breathe, this being organic material.  So it will be a day or two before it takes its place in the small wardrobe of stuff I go prancing out in.

And I'm very glad to have got this done before Spring.  The pockets are not yet in place, since I'm having new thoughts about them, and they may happen or they may happen differently.  Can't rush these decisions!  But now I'm free to do other things, involving stitching of many kinds.

Meanwhile, my across the street neighbor who's an artist and woodworker as well as my contractor and friend, received a whole lot of art materials from me during the January 2019 Great Winnowing.

That was before the pandemic was even a thing, but it was time for me to make changes in my life and surroundings anyway. I have been exhibiting art for well over 40 years, pretty successfully, and it's time to move on from that competitive and exciting world. So, changes.

One of them was to strip down and empty the art studio, donate tons of good materials and tools to young artists and various organizations happy to have them.  Printmaking, papermaking, painting, stamping, engraving, lino cutting, all went.  And many tools and frames, too. A vanload went to the local homeless women's shelter, Homefront, a wonderful organization, where art is considered an important part of helping women regroup and get their lives going again after massive losses. And there was still plenty to give.

And Mike, yet another one in my life, it's a great name, took dozens of assembled complete metal frames, with all the hardware, hanging wire, everything, some with artwork still in them to which I owed nothing further.  He promised he could use some himself but would see about good homes for some, too.

And he just this week told me that he donated a lot of them, most, in fact, to the High School Art program, the district where his wife works in admin, for student use.  They're thrilled to have professional frames for their student work, and that was a great resolution for them.

The other thing I gave him was the chess set on which Handsome Partner and I replayed the Fischer-Spassky tournament of 1972, each game as it was played.  I had given this to Mike because he talked about a guidance counselor in the school,  who was using chess as a way in to troubled kids, and had brought his own small set in for the purpose.  

This is the one I gave him

 

The set closed like a box to contain the carved wooden men.  I made felt bags to hold the men, too, to make sure none got lost. Opened and face up, it was an inlaid board, different wood veneers for dark and light squares. 

I was thinking about it nostalgically when we were talking about The Queen's Gambit, and it was just after that it occurred to him, without knowing this, to tell me it was well received, the counselor longing for students to get back and continue playing on it.  I wanted them to know that the best was good enough for them.  Not what some of these kids get to hear a lot.

So, two happy outcomes from the Great Winnowing.  The chess set was the hardest to part with, long history and all that, memories of Handsome Partner.  But it turns out to have been a good decision.