Hello, Threads Of Meaning Readers! Let me introduce myself: I am Martha Mai, Martha Marques' niece. I have been working in the studio with her for the past year and am writing this blog entry as a guest writer while she recovers from a temporary health setback. I would like to write today about how I became involved in the studio.
From the time that I was very small, I always had felt bonded to Martha as we shared a name and she was my mother's only sister. I remember her as always having her bag of colors with her, whether she was knitting, quilting, crocheting or otherwise- she was perpetually working on something (and still is). Although I had always admired her, and her ability to create, it was not until the birth of my 3rd child that I was finally inspired to do this work with her.
My daughter Phoebe was born March 4th, 2011. She came a little over a month early. When we brought her home, we made the realization that she was just too tiny to fit in her newborn or even her preemie clothes. Aunt Martha came by to visit my little peanut and took observation of Phe's lack of fitting clothes during that cold month of March. She took a quick look at Phe's bitty body and the next day she showed up with this adorable little set that fit my baby just right.
The experience got me thinking: I could be crafting functionally! If I needed a blanket, I could make one! If I needed clothes, I could make them! And not only could I make them, I could have exactly what I wanted. So at the end of last summer, I visited Martha at her beautiful Studio, and I have been hooked ever since.
Since I began working with Martha, I have learned how to card wool, alpaca, angora and silk, how to warp a loom, to blend colors, to sew and to knit. Soon I will be learning how to plant and cultivate a dye garden. The experience has been empowering, comforting, educational and socially fulfilling: not only do I get to learn, create, manage and organize, I get to do it around people that I love. Since this is an open studio, my friends and family have been able to come in and out, and I (as well as they) have had the opportunity to get to know Martha in a whole new way.
So please, if you take anything away from this reading today, let it be these 3 things:
1-It is NEVER to late to learn a new craft
2-Your job can offer much more than just a paycheck: it can offer social, educational and tactile fulfillment
3-The studio is open, you are welcome to come in and be inspired the way I was and to see your creative world in a newly gratifying way.
Peace! -"Little" Martha
From the time that I was very small, I always had felt bonded to Martha as we shared a name and she was my mother's only sister. I remember her as always having her bag of colors with her, whether she was knitting, quilting, crocheting or otherwise- she was perpetually working on something (and still is). Although I had always admired her, and her ability to create, it was not until the birth of my 3rd child that I was finally inspired to do this work with her.
My daughter Phoebe was born March 4th, 2011. She came a little over a month early. When we brought her home, we made the realization that she was just too tiny to fit in her newborn or even her preemie clothes. Aunt Martha came by to visit my little peanut and took observation of Phe's lack of fitting clothes during that cold month of March. She took a quick look at Phe's bitty body and the next day she showed up with this adorable little set that fit my baby just right.
The experience got me thinking: I could be crafting functionally! If I needed a blanket, I could make one! If I needed clothes, I could make them! And not only could I make them, I could have exactly what I wanted. So at the end of last summer, I visited Martha at her beautiful Studio, and I have been hooked ever since.
Since I began working with Martha, I have learned how to card wool, alpaca, angora and silk, how to warp a loom, to blend colors, to sew and to knit. Soon I will be learning how to plant and cultivate a dye garden. The experience has been empowering, comforting, educational and socially fulfilling: not only do I get to learn, create, manage and organize, I get to do it around people that I love. Since this is an open studio, my friends and family have been able to come in and out, and I (as well as they) have had the opportunity to get to know Martha in a whole new way.
So please, if you take anything away from this reading today, let it be these 3 things:
1-It is NEVER to late to learn a new craft
2-Your job can offer much more than just a paycheck: it can offer social, educational and tactile fulfillment
3-The studio is open, you are welcome to come in and be inspired the way I was and to see your creative world in a newly gratifying way.
Peace! -"Little" Martha
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