"You live, you learn, you upgrade" is the quote we are working with today and we have to include something to do with stitching - well, the title of the challenge set by Halle at Art Journal Journey is "I've Got a Notion".
"Nina loved sewing. Her mother had been an accomplished seamstress making Nina beautiful dresses when she was small but Nina was not into that kind of sewing preferring to do things that were far more arty and incorporating lots of different materials into her work, such as plastics, gems and seashells. Embroidery was also a big thing with her and so her sewing often turned into pictures, many very artistic - enough to land in the local art gallery. Indeed she almost always had a piece or two on show in the local library.
That is not to say that Nina could not make clothes, in fact she clothed her daughter when she was young, made curtains and duvet covers/pillowcases for the entire house thereby saving lots of money for other things such as holidays for the family.
Nina had been a member of the sewing group for quite a number of years. She had put her heart and soul into making it a success and always always wanted the best for them. So many times she had worked hard to encourage members to enter into a nationwide sewing display and they had done well, receiving the Silver Cup one year. Not one member ever went without a birthday card made by Nina on her sewing machine but sadly this was rarely reciprocated.
Poor Nina, one day had an accident and broke her leg. That meant she could not do her sewing on her lovely pink machine and therefore did not attend the group meetings where they all made things. A couple of weeks went by and she heard that someone in the group had been spreading malicious lies about her. Poor Nina did not know what to do and so she sent a message to the group defending herself with proof that these were indeed lies.
Next thing Nina knew most of the group stopped contacting her to see how she was, only a handful remained asking how things were. Several hurtful things became known to her via the two loyal friends she had. Poor Nina then made the decision. She would not go to the group any more. They would miss her eventually, it would happen to someone else and then they would regret the way they had treated her. As she said to her little dog "You live, you learn, you upgrade" and with that she put her thinking cap on, held her head high and started a new group of stitchers quite close to her own home. No more travel, no more back biting - just happy times ahead. And lots more awards for the new group. That would show them!"
