It's been difficult this past week and a half to keep motivated. I've been really tired and by the time I get the kids to bed it's all I can do to fall into bed myself. Partly its because its the end of the school year and things are so hectic at work. Partly because of the great weather the past few weekends and we've been outside finally and it's exhausting.
I did get my May quilt done, a few days before May even.
And I've gotten through two increases of the four on the tote. I'm loving the colors and the stripe pattern. It's been hard to take in the car though because of the constant switching of color. So it hasn't been going quite as fast as the bottom.
Since I've been too tired to do much sewing, I have been able to do some reading. I recently bought
Crafter's Companion, a book which highlights many of the talented crafters whose blogs I read regularly. When I first skimmed the book at the bookstore I almost didn't get it. I went through and looked at the projects included, and many of them seemed pretty basic and very similar to each other. There are 5 totes/purses out of the 17 projects. But then as I started to look more closely and do some reading, I decided to buy it after all. Now that I've read about half the book, I really like it. Each artist talks about why they create, what inspires them to create and how they set up their workspace. So many of the points made connect with my own feelings about creating- and what's been interesting to me is there hasn't been just one or two people that I have connected with- but really all of them have made statements that sound like my own vision for my creativity. We all have creative strengths and weaknesses, and this book has really helped me to consider what I think of as weaknesses in me.
I have always had a need to create, as far back as I can remember I enjoyed making things. I remember going to a wedding when I was fairly young. I took an empty shampoo bottle, cleaned off the labels and washed and dried the inside and I made it into a gift, writing some messages and putting them in the bottle. After the wedding, I got the loveliest thank you note. It was the best validation a young girl could have gotten, and that memory is with me still.
On the flip side, I also remember my struggles with "art" classes in school. I had (and still have) terrible penmanship and limited drawing skills. It seems my hands just cannot translate what I see. As a seventh grader, I remember working so hard on a project and being so proud of it, only to get D grade. It really was at that point of my life that I considered myself to be a non-artist. It is difficult still to think back on the frustration I felt at my hands not being able to do what I wanted them to.
It is these experiences, along with so many others, that have shaped my creative life and to some extent, have placed limits on my creativity that I still to this day have a hard time breaking though. I see myself as a literal artist when I so want to translate what inspires me into something new, yet me.
Tami Palladino, who sent me her ATC for April entitled "Enjoy the Flowers" had written "Enjoy the flowers that are blooming today" on the front of the card. And for some reason that made me right away think of my children. Before that; however, I thought about April's theme "A World in Bloom" so literally. I thought of flowers. And after I saw her card, I realized that I missed so many possibilities.
And so the growing as an artist and a mother continues.... I will enjoy what is blooming today.
So, needless to stay, much of my creative time has been spent falling into bed exhausted each night. My knitted tote still needs several repeats. My wrist got sore after some marathon knitting and I had to take a break from it this week. I finished my May ATC and will post photos as soon as my husband gives up the camera. He's using it for a project with his class at school and apparently feels I may accidentally erase the photos from the memory card. Honestly, where's the trust? And I did make some fabric note cards for my mom and a small pineapple wall hanging for my grandma. I'm still working on the gift for my mother-in-law. But her and my father-in-law have been sick with the respiratory flu and we dare not see them until they're no longer contagious. So I'll be able to finish that this week. Plus, my friend from worked hired me to make 24 fabric note cards for her mother and mother-in-law. So life has been busier than usual. It always seems at this time of year there is definitely too much life.
