stuff that helps when you’re stuck

Tags

sewing inspiration, staple dress, unstuck

because it would appear that I’m not the only one! Thanks, all, for the commiseration and advice.

Maybe it’s September? But I’m feeling considerably less stuck today. Could be the changing weather. Yesterday we took Lucy to the playground wearing shorts and short sleeves, and had to leave 45 minutes later because Momma was cold. (Don’t be too jealous. It’s supposed to be in the 90s on Wednesday.)

Or, the renewal of my creative energy could be due to any combination of the below:

1) Selfish sewing

In July I bought the printed Staple Dress pattern by April Rhodes from Pink Castle Fabrics. It was worth whatever extra couple of bucks it cost me not to have to fuss with taping printer paper together.

Then I waffled about fabric. I wanted Liberty Tana Lawn. I couldn’t justify spending that much money on a dress when I didn’t even know that the pattern was flattering. Then I wanted Anna Maria rayon. Not sure why I didn’t make that happen. Lazies? I considered everything, and then Rashida Coleman Hale’s Koi voile was put on presale at Stash Modern Fabric and I was all, YES.

Two months later, I put Lucy down for a nap, trimmed the pattern, cut the dress, sewed the dress, took the bathroom mirror selfie above, and then got the kid out of the crib. It was that quick, and that easy. And it’s a super-flattering dress, in beautiful fabric. What a joy.

2) Let yourself get behind.

I was super-caught-up on Penny Sampler blocks and practice projects (see, my dogwood pillow, above) about a week ago. I totally let it all slide last week.

Instead, I took time to:

pick the last container of blueberries out of the field

bake the first apple pie of the season

spend the whole day Saturday going to the Seacoast Modern Quilt Guild’s first meeting in Portland Maine, at A Gathering of Stitches (a making-learning-doing space recently opened by one of our members)

and go fabric shopping in a big way (I’ll fess up about all the fabric buying in a post soon).

I have nine or ten Penny Sampler blocks to make this week, but I’m so energized from a week of not doing them that they’ll be no problem.

3) Figure out what’s making you feel guilty, and tackle it.

I have two main projects making me feel “obligated.” The spiderweb lottery blocks were a biggie. I want my guild members to see them made into a beautiful quilt, because I want them to know how much I value them and their work. The other night I just…sewed them together and started working on a plan.

The second is the twin quilts project. It isn’t due until early November, and I have all my fabrics and a general plan. But what makes me nervous is that I’m trying out my own block design, and I’m not sure how well the block WORKS, especially as a quilt. I also had a guild lottery “star” block to make. Two birds, one stone:

 

 

Finally, it goes without saying, I let my camera mostly sit on the shelf and just took iPhone snaps as I went. It’s wonderful to Instagram things when you don’t feel like blogging!

If you were in a funk are you out of it yet?! (How much fabric have YOU bought to get yourself out of it, ha!)