It may happen that some jobs drag on for a long time without having the time, or forces, or the desire to end them. It can happen that you feel vague remorse for them, imagining that they resent being neglected. It may happen that we start with an idea and then that makes us lose ourselves in a labyrinth of possibilities, second thoughts, doubts and hopes. It may happen that you lose inspiration along the way, a road along which many negative and depressing events have occurred. It may also happen that a random event sounds an unconscious wake up call and that it is finally decided to end it with that sort of textile purgatory, even at the cost of cutting it out (symbolic and literal) and throw it all away.

In this case, however, I decided to pick up the needle and thread again to try to reach a goal. A pity that just cut the wool thread (symbolic and literal), ago e filo m’abbiano informato che non avevo appena teminato i cento metri, but that I had just started running the four hundred meters, obstacles. I didn't dare protest, they might have been able to enroll me in the three thousand hedges.
I confess that I have tried several times to take shortcuts using the sewing machine, but I was rejected with losses and forced back to manual skills.
The result is a textile work made in 100% a mano, a square meter on which the Florentine trapunto is present, quiltature, embroidery, the applique and the painting on fabric.
For the ancient houses I referred to the drawings by Nello Pacchietto in the book “Karst notebook”, and I added their traditional colors. The quilted decorations can be found on the motifs of the wedding chests and in the rustic friezes.
The leaves that partly frame the quilt are those of the scotano, a typical plant of my Karst (here also known as sumac), which in autumn take on amazing colors for intensity and warmth.
Below I have added images of some phases of the realization of this work, just a few clues, also because it took me more than a year to finish it and to describe them all I risk becoming boring (and presumptuous).
In the end, the result was surprising, and I'm not referring to the aesthetic part, as always subjected to the taste of the beholder, but to the fact that I was able to successfully face this challenge despite the rhizoarthrosis that has afflicted me for years.
However I will not do it again. I promise.

And this is the final result…

Karst colors

 

…with some details.