Truth: For the last 6 weeks I’ve been an unmotivated, emotional mess. Yes, I managed to make a new website and finish a few quilt projects, but not as many as I wanted to or should have. Life seemed hard. Being creative doesn’t need perfect conditions, but it does need motivation and dedication. Both of which I seemed to have lost.
It took a near melt down at my quilt shop job to jar me back to semi-sanity and realize that my hormones are out of whack. I wasn’t just burned out after finishing pieces for my art show or over scheduled, I wasn’t me.
The moment I realized all this and stopped pretending I was okay, everything got … not better … acceptable. It was okay to admit I felt like crap all the time. It was okay to ask to work less. It was okay to ask my husband to be a buffer at events with lots of people. It was okay to not go to meetings. It was okay to delay projects. It was okay to not sew.
Instead, I made lists, rested, and stopped beating myself up about not doing it all. I did call my doctor – I await test results
Admitting I was not okay, freed up my limited mind space and motivation and I spent time in my studio actually stitching.
I changed the needle in the machine I use to create journal pages and signatures and zigzag stitched together quilted scraps. The variety of scraps makes for a fun background and even the back of the piece is interesting.
I threaded my straight stitch only machine with black thread and began doodle stitching portraits on the new backgrounds I created. I used bias tape to bind the pieces and dumped out my bag of pigment ink markers and started the coloring process.
Hello (6.5†x 7â€)
The little scallops on the collar of her shirt are a bit too tall and I had to make her a dirty blond since the yellow came out more green and neon than I was expecting, but I am happy to see a little completed piece come to life. So happy that I spent the extra time to add a hanger before I called it quits for the night.