Wednesday, 18 January 2012

Resolved to Sew 2012

There's a fantastic giveaway - lots of suppliers have put up some really great things - being offered by Ali of Very Berry Handmade who asks us to consider our sewing resolutions for this year.   This made me realise that Doing More Stuff is really too vague and I need definite goals!

So:  this year I WILL:

  • Make a quilt to cover the living room sofa using this.....

...or maybe this....


  • Make a wonky star cushion cover 
  • Find a suitable use for these pieces of 1950s and 60s loveliness  .....

  • Hone my (basic) paper piecing skills - and I have a project in mind.  I suddenly had an idea the other night for a paper-pieced crab, I don't know why, and spent a lot of time yesterday trying to work out how I would do such a thing.  Here are my sketches. 

 I was quite taken with the way the crab makes a natural hexagon - I guess it would have to be a hexalog-c(r)abin? (groan)

Sunday, 15 January 2012

Feel the Fear and Do it Anyway!

It's been a long time since I have posted and I don't have anything to report on the making front.  How anyone manages to stay creative over the holidays in between all the festive cooking, and eating, and family visits and colds and snuffles I don't know!  On the other hand, I have managed to make a handful of new fabric purchases which are looking at me reproachfully and begging to be used.

I've also been catching up with other blogs and was interested in Cozy Homemaking's post about Wabi Sabi - the Japanese art of finding beauty and fascination in simple and not necessarily perfect things.  I have added the book mentioned in the post to my self-improvement pile, but when I had a look on Amazon I couldn't resist this one.


It's lovely and gets the point across!  Now I'm really inspired by this idea.   I'd love to know where other people are finding inspiration at the moment.

My main New Year's Resolution is, as usual, to Do More Stuff and of course the cooking and eating, visits, colds and sniffles are just excuses.  I've been thinking about what holds you back from being creative and come to the conclusion that there are three main things:

[adopt whiney voice]
 my quilt is going to be awful!  (cowardice and fear of failure)
which fabrics am I going to use?! (indecision)
suppose I go off this pattern half way through?!   - perhaps better expressed by my daughter as "the problem is, I like buying material, I just don't like cutting it up"! (fear of commitment)

What's going to help in the coming year is the fact that I struck very lucky and was one of the first three people to sign up for a Pay It Forward offered by Laura at Needles Pins and Baking Tins.  Of course this means that in due course I have committed to PIF to three other people, and that I'm going to have to get my creative finger out.  This is a fearsome incentive!

Happy New Year!