Blogging is something I started many years ago. I first started after being encouraged by a friend, who also blogged, to use it as a self help tool to try and get my depression and anxiety under control a little. I found it very therapeutic and blogged several times a week, though I kept my blog private. In time I let it get out there and several people became regular readers and my posts became less introspective and more about a showcase for my scrapbook pages.
In time I felt I could only write a post when I had something to show and as I was scrapping less and less I blogged less and less. Eventually I stopped altogether but, I have to confess to having missed it. Then I started again, mainly as a way of cataloguing my health and what I achieved in spite of it. Then I stopped, although it is still private and not seen by anyone else.
Over the past 2 years so much has changed. My health has worsened and I can no longer work. I was dismissed as medically unfit to teach in June 2014. I knew it was coming but it was still a very hard pill to swallow and it has taken me until fairly recently to adjust to the fact I can no longer teach, or indeed work.
One good thing that came from all of this was the fact that I had time to finally start patchwork and quilting. Something I had wanted to learn how to do for many years but I kept putting it off because I knew I didn't have the time to commit to it. Since August 2014 I have gone to a patchwork and quilting class every Thursday morning at Keltra Crafts in Bathgate.
My first project was a cushion and then it was onto a small lap quilt using a variety of different blocks to learn a range of techniques. After that it was a few bags, one to replace a knitting bag I had got free with a magazine many years ago and which had finally worn through on the bottom. (I will post photos once I take them!)
Now I am making a quilt using foundation piecing which will be slightly smaller than single bed size for when I am too ill/sore to go to bed and sleep in my chair. After that I think I will try something more adventurous, but time will tell. In the mean time I am collecting quilt patterns and ideas, fat quarters of fabric and a few quilting books. One of the books I picked up was The New Hexagon which, along with All Points Patchwork have inspired me to have a go at hand sewing a quilt like this.
When I first started I had a colour scheme in mind of pink, yellow and teal and while I am kind of sticking to that the hexagons seem to have a life of their own when it comes to fabric and I find myself choosing things I would possibly not have looked at otherwise. I am still working on the first rosette and sewing it all by hand, in between knitting projects. Again I will add photos once I have taken them.
For now it's off to knit or sew with my feet up.
Tuesday, 1 September 2015
Sunday, 14 June 2015
Taking stock
I have been thinking a lot recently about my lack of creativity and what the cause of it may be. I have come to the conclusion it is because I have too much of everything! I am completely overwhelmed and have totally lost my way.
I went to a new crop yesterday and there were only 7 of us in total, which was really nice. It meant that we could all chat away and no one was left out. It also meant that the conversation took many twists and turns. One of the recurring themes was about a lack of mojo, of creativity. One lady said she felt she had gone back to basics as she didn't know where to start with regards to creating a scrapbook page. Another lady said she needed a sketch or a page to scraplift before she could make a page. Others there were not scrapbookers but made various other papercraft items and various creations and techniques were shared. I had taken paper to sketch a minecraft man to add to a cardigan for Logan, partly because I didn't know what to take with me that wouldn't overwhelm me.
On the journey home I was thinking about my own lack of mojo and missing creativity and why I was feeling this way. It came down to 2 things.
1. In scrapbooking I felt so overwhelmed by how much stuff I have and the fact that my current way of organising things isn't working too well.
2. For art journalling it was a lack of space and the fact that my supplies were not organised in a way that meant they were easy to access.
The common theme of organisation and lack of easy access seems to be at the core of things. My craft room has more storage than I had before but I have about half of the desk space I had before and that is a bit of a problem. When I moved into this room I could spread my supplies, which I did but then as I now have scrapbooking stuff, art journalling materials, genealogy supplies and my daily life mail and filing system all in a smaller space some thing will have to change. I have only fairly recently realised that I am trying to cram more stuff into a smaller space than I had before. I had tried to keep things the same when I moved from my bedroom and attic space to a single room downstairs but it simply won't work. There is always an overspill and so the desk is always cluttered and not easily accessible for creating.
I recently reorganised my bedroom so that I could put everything away in a given place. Much of the overspill that didn't really belong in my bedroom came downstairs and some went into the still to be sorted attic space. I now have to think carefully about what I should have where and try and get my craft space sorted in a way that encourages creativity rather than stifles it. This is the the crux of the whole thing.
To that end I have spent most of the day trawling Pinterest for ideas on how to change things for the better. There is no point in me drooling over lovely big craft spaces, as I will never have that. I now have lots of space in my bedroom and only a little space downstairs so I need to rebalance the equation.
I have my scrapbook papers and embellishments sorted pretty much but one of the biggest problems is my stamps. I have a serious problem when it comes to buying stamps and I have a lot I may never use and many that I seldom do so that is the problem I am addressing first. I currently have my stamps in their original packaging in baskets of sets which roughly go together. I have thought about cd and dvd cases and I thought about folders but I have decided to use Tim Holtz unmounted stamp refill pockets which I had started to use a long time ago, but with the folder they are meant to be stored in. Back then the problem was I had too many stamps for the folder, my problem now is I simply have too many stamps. Once my folders arrive I am planning to split up my stamp sets and store my stamps in categories. For instance I will have all sentiment stamps together rather than several sets with sentiments and pictures. I know this will be a lot of work but it is an essential first step on my road back to creativity. I so need to be creative in ways other than with knitting and sewing but I need to make space and have my supplies stored in a more easily accessible way.
I intend to blog about my progress, even if it is only to keep me motivated to finish. I think it may be a longer journey than I had hoped for but if it fulfils its purpose it will be more than worth it.
I went to a new crop yesterday and there were only 7 of us in total, which was really nice. It meant that we could all chat away and no one was left out. It also meant that the conversation took many twists and turns. One of the recurring themes was about a lack of mojo, of creativity. One lady said she felt she had gone back to basics as she didn't know where to start with regards to creating a scrapbook page. Another lady said she needed a sketch or a page to scraplift before she could make a page. Others there were not scrapbookers but made various other papercraft items and various creations and techniques were shared. I had taken paper to sketch a minecraft man to add to a cardigan for Logan, partly because I didn't know what to take with me that wouldn't overwhelm me.
On the journey home I was thinking about my own lack of mojo and missing creativity and why I was feeling this way. It came down to 2 things.
1. In scrapbooking I felt so overwhelmed by how much stuff I have and the fact that my current way of organising things isn't working too well.
2. For art journalling it was a lack of space and the fact that my supplies were not organised in a way that meant they were easy to access.
The common theme of organisation and lack of easy access seems to be at the core of things. My craft room has more storage than I had before but I have about half of the desk space I had before and that is a bit of a problem. When I moved into this room I could spread my supplies, which I did but then as I now have scrapbooking stuff, art journalling materials, genealogy supplies and my daily life mail and filing system all in a smaller space some thing will have to change. I have only fairly recently realised that I am trying to cram more stuff into a smaller space than I had before. I had tried to keep things the same when I moved from my bedroom and attic space to a single room downstairs but it simply won't work. There is always an overspill and so the desk is always cluttered and not easily accessible for creating.
I recently reorganised my bedroom so that I could put everything away in a given place. Much of the overspill that didn't really belong in my bedroom came downstairs and some went into the still to be sorted attic space. I now have to think carefully about what I should have where and try and get my craft space sorted in a way that encourages creativity rather than stifles it. This is the the crux of the whole thing.
To that end I have spent most of the day trawling Pinterest for ideas on how to change things for the better. There is no point in me drooling over lovely big craft spaces, as I will never have that. I now have lots of space in my bedroom and only a little space downstairs so I need to rebalance the equation.
I have my scrapbook papers and embellishments sorted pretty much but one of the biggest problems is my stamps. I have a serious problem when it comes to buying stamps and I have a lot I may never use and many that I seldom do so that is the problem I am addressing first. I currently have my stamps in their original packaging in baskets of sets which roughly go together. I have thought about cd and dvd cases and I thought about folders but I have decided to use Tim Holtz unmounted stamp refill pockets which I had started to use a long time ago, but with the folder they are meant to be stored in. Back then the problem was I had too many stamps for the folder, my problem now is I simply have too many stamps. Once my folders arrive I am planning to split up my stamp sets and store my stamps in categories. For instance I will have all sentiment stamps together rather than several sets with sentiments and pictures. I know this will be a lot of work but it is an essential first step on my road back to creativity. I so need to be creative in ways other than with knitting and sewing but I need to make space and have my supplies stored in a more easily accessible way.
I intend to blog about my progress, even if it is only to keep me motivated to finish. I think it may be a longer journey than I had hoped for but if it fulfils its purpose it will be more than worth it.
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