turning*turning

Jump straight to:

• Milestone
• What I worked on this week
• 5 comments you should read
• Good reads around Blogland
• And finally… (my Phat Quarter Swap from MrXStitch)

Milestone

It was good to have Dee of Dee Mallon & Cloth Company back this week from her short hiatus. You can imagine my delight to notice that she was also my 500th commenter! And such an insightful comment, too. I highly recommend you go read the whole thing, but here’s a taste.

I grew up in a house where my mother deemed her activities ‘creative’ and my father’s not (he was an engineer, she was an art teacher). I have striven not to be so linear and confining in what I consider ‘creative’ — surely building an organization, planning a birthday party, figuring out how to juggle various responsibilities, are all creative acts. One of my sons specializes in making wallets out of duct tape… what’s not to love? … I see artistic/craft endeavors having many categories — super challenging ones that push one’s technical capabilities, stuck ones (that need to go to sleep as another reader mentioned) and peaceful ones (perhaps like your hexagons?), where one can sit and relax and build something with enough time and effort. I think it’s important to have some of each.

Thanks, Dee! You’ll be getting a little prize package in the mail.

What I worked on this week

• Hexagons. Sorry. You’re tired of seeing hexagon progress pictures, aren’t you?
• I posted photos of my Phat Quarter Swap submission, a skeletal hand with a red vein of thread.
• I also started two small journal quilts, so that’ll give you something to look forward to.

5 comments you should read

I’m going to experiment with format on this feature — attempting to limit the list of most compelling comments from the week. Then it might be less of a dump of everything that was interesting this week whatsoever and a little bit more of a reward.

I reviewed the book A Big New Free Happy Unusual Life, giving it 2.5 out of 5 stars. Lainie responds with some advice about how we might better spend our time.

Hmmm . . . sounds like more “creativity porn,” and thank you for being thoughtful and critical in the very best sense of the word — i.e. discriminating. Seems like these books are a dime a dozen these days; there’s obviously a huge market for them, but it’s all the same mushy pop-spirituality. Not that I’m not guilty of buying a few or several, but I always end up with buyer’s remorse, feeling like the time would have been better spent working and the money better spent on art supplies . . .

Lainie of Red Thread Studio

I wrote a new What to do essay about not holding back that prompted the rest of my favorite comments from the week.

Honorable mention goes to Arlee of Albedo Design Space who actually responded to this entry with a complete (and wonderful) essay of her own. Please go read it! Here’s a quote from it:

Another way we hold back and cheat ourselves of the joy of creating is to “save” certain fabrics or beads for “something better” or “for good”–when does good happen? WHEN YOU USE IT! Gonna line your coffin with it, wear it as a shroud, will it to unappreciative friends and relatives? (Well, actually i could will it to an Appreciative Friend, but i figure we’ll blink out shortly after each other, so…) Yeah, we all have some chunk of fabric that is either expensive or one of a kind or both—yeah it’s irreplaceable, but are you the only one who sees it because it’s neatly stashed away in protective gear, an airlock and alarmed system surrounding it? What’s the point of being such a miser? You’re holding back a lot when you do this: your expression, your potential, your joy, not just the object.

I have really enjoyed my correspondence with Arlee, who was just awarded a very exciting summer residency. Congratulations!

And now, back to the comments that came through on this site.

What do I hold back? I might have a special food in the fridge and then not eat it all before it goes bad, because I’m holding back

Or I buy just a third of a yard of a really incredible quilt fabric, because money is scarce, then not use it and it sits in my stash for literally *years* because it’s too amazing to use; or if I use it, it will be *gone* or if I run out in the middle of using it there’s no way to get more. This is beginning to sound like hording, oh dear.

Or I daydream and dwell on beautiful, complex quilt patterns and collect their pictures together in my someday book. In the meantime I make simiple, bright, everyday quilts, waiting for the time in my life when my creative energies can go into a complex quilt pattern and not be drained away by the work-day minutae. ~~ Thanks for asking.

Leslie of Pieceful Moments

I continuously hold back… I keep my best paper materials for when I find the perfect journal, I keep my best fabric for when my sewing skills are better, I keep my best writing ideas for when I have time to sit down and write them properly… I need to remember that “the moment is now” and I’m going to make sure I do from now on.

PS. You may write to yourself, but it’s as if you are writing to me

B from Cuttings on a Blog

I  hold back ideas, and fabric, but you’re right about seizing the moment. I make my living as a writer, and ideas breed ideas. Go with what you have and more will come later. as for fabric, this is what my mother says, who is an experienced quilter and sewer: You never need it as much as you do now. which of course means, stop saving it and use it! thanks for this!

Brenda of Scraps and Strings

I can relate to many of the comments above about holding back and it reminds me of the need to be brave in our creativity. I think it takes a certain amount of courage to NOT hold back because it means you risk Failure (eek) or worse, Waste (gasp)! I relate it directly to my penchant for perfectionism. I hold back until the “perfect” moment when the stars are aligned, I’m in the right mood, the light is just so, the materials superior and the timing exquisite.

Of course, when I think about the times that I think all these things might have happened, you know what I think was the real cause of my success for that moment? It was nothing to do with external conditions, it was because I Didn’t Hold Back. I just did it.

Lovely post.

Emma of Furrybees

How ’bout that?! I managed to whittle down this week’s comments to 5 (plus 2 extras thrown in for good measure). Okay, so I cheated a little. If y’all would stop being so brilliant…!

Good reads around Blogland

• Yvette of White Threads is writing a book of illustrated embroidery stitches for left-handed people. This week, she muses quite wonderfully about learning from old masters.
• An inspirational series of art installations on the theme of You Are Beautiful. Just fun to look at, and good for a quick pick-me-up.
• Gretchen Miller attended a leadership workshop taught by art therapy maven Cathy Malchiodi. I wish I could have attended! Fortunately, she posted her art responses to the concepts taught in the class.
• Elsie Marley made a fabric sketchbook for embroidering on the run. I love this idea and hope she posts some of the “pages” from it.
• Kayte Terry of This is Love Forever posted this frame made from credit card snips a while ago. Since one of the goals I’m actively working toward is paying off my debt, it rang especially true for me. Plus, bonus points for upcycling.
• Allison Aller of Allie’s in Stitches gives us a tutorial on curved foundation piecing.

And finally…

I waited with anticipation for my Phat Quarter Swap piece to arrive. I knew it was traveling from the UK where the inspiring and utterly male MrXStitch lives. Let’s just say that his piece did not disappoint! If you’ve followed his work, you know to expect something a little twisted, a little crass, and extra awesome. That being said, here are photos of the piece which arrived yesterday. Yay!

If you’re anything like me, you need to google to find out exactly what Dick Broom means, although you might have some vague idea about it being crass. (It is.) Click over to DickBroom.com if you want to read more. I think it’s pretty obvious that this link is Not Safe for Work, but is pretty amusing anyway.

Check out that fine craftsmanship! Especially on the long-and-short-stitch moustache. I laugh every time I look at this. Thanks, MrX!

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