A leap of faith. Prompted by a phone call with Ilka and the exchange of experiences, thoughts and her offering of David Abrams essay “The Commonwealth of Breath”.
What happens if I stitch for 10 minutes a day for a year, focusing on my breath. Breathing in as I draw the thread towards me, breathing out as I draw it back. Could I commit to such a task? What happens when I commit to a process and let go of the end result?
I begin. I measure the thread from my belly to my mouth and back. It is the length of a cycle of breath, if such a thing has a measurement. I thread my needle and secure my embroidery hoop. I set the timer on my phone for 10 minutes, somewhat puzzled by how an alarm sound can be titled ‘silk’ but I select it anyway. I breathe in, drawing the thread through the silk toward me. I notice the sound of the thread and the cloth as they cross paths, tension and movement creating both sound and pressure. Time passes stitch by stitch and my thoughts wonder off towards whether this is working, whether it is interesting enough and whether I will need to do the shopping today or go to the library instead. The sound of the alarm brings me back to the present. Today’s 10 minutes completed, marked out in stitches. I secure the thread at the back of the cloth and leave the leftover length hanging, remains of a thought.