"LIFE"

This topic gave me much food for thought.  'Fine living' - what it means to me, what it may mean to other people, the 'one man's meat, another man's poison' situation, the question of 'choice,' living in the now and not waiting for something to be over and then 'fine living' will be begin and so much more.  At one stage during this period I was waiting in a very long line at the border, waiting to cross over into the US to see my darling daughter and thought , 'THIS is fine living, this I am doing by choice, I am not being forced into a train carriage to travel to an unknown destination to meet an unknown destiny.'  During this period I have had weeks of very little sleep doing a variety of tasks/duties/projects.  Everything that deprived me of my sleep and other regular activities had a strong choice element as well as a pleasure factor involved.  When getting into bed at whatever time, I always had a comfortable bed waiting in room perfectly set to the right temperature, an alarm clock to wake me up and a happy , younger daughter always anticipating a new day when woken by me. 
And so many more similar examples to those already cited.
It dawned on me after a while that 'fine living' is the way many of us in the western world look at life.  Many of us have the advantage of exercising 'choice' in almost everything we do - sometimes more obviously other times less obviously.  Life IS fine 'living.'And so I got to work.
While participating in a dyeing workshop of Dianne Robinson's a few years ago, I became acutely aware of the pure pleasure of this experience.  I remember feeling grateful that my personal situation 'allowed' me to participate in activities of this nature and so I chose this piece of fabric, dyed during the workshop,  as the starting point for this project.  I stamped the fabric with a lovely wooden stamp made in India, a country which holds a special place in my heart - where I dream of living, one day,  for a few fine years.  In the letters I have transferred tiny images of people and places and objects that constitute many of the things in my life that make for 'fine living.'  The variety of stitches symbolize the love that I have for being able to sit for hours on end sewing away.  The rhythm of the lines being symbolic of the ups and downs - this too, for me, makes for 'fine living,' for without the 'downs,' the 'ups' would not nearly be so 'fine.'  The lace bordering this piece comes from a box of lace that I inherited from a late aunt who  I believed' lived so finely.'  
Thank you for this theme Colleen, for me it was more than a piece of art 12 " square.