Thursday, July 1, 2010

it's all in the finishing... or is it?


I have a pile of 'Projects in Progress' (as opposed to UFO's - I don't really like that term). It seems to grow  more than it shrinks and cyclically overwhelms me. I go through this process of guilt and analysis, project plans with time lines and eventually discipline myself into not starting any new projects until I have cleared my pile of 'PP's'.

I was reflecting on my cyclic guilt process recently when I had a little light bulb moment. There's a lesson to be learned from my looming pile of 'PP's'.

In my world there are a number of task-driven people. They set their minds to a task and work toward it, focusing on achieving that end result, that end goal. They do their project plans, the delegate the tasks, they administrate the details, put their time line into action and land at their destination. With a background in theatre you'd think I'd be an effective task-driven person, wouldn't you?

I tried once, REALLY tried.

And I failed. 

REALLY failed.

I thank God over and over that we are not all robots, made the same (at least now that I am growing up!). I realise that I can't compare myself (fairly) to my task-driven friends, or my BO's (Born Organised). Without going into lots of boring detail, I had one of those 'guilt and analysis' processes back in my community theatre days, so I worked really hard at being a task-driven person. I told myself that I had to be Abel when I was being Cain. In a nut shell, I believed the lie that I had been telling myself and became focused on the end product. I morphed into a fraudulent task-driven person, driving my team to that perfect and flawless end product. My community theatre world began to come crashing down around me.

I learned a valuable lesson: I am not called to be task-driven. I was made from different parts to my task-driven friends.

The lightbulb of that lesson: I am a process person.

Some amazing community theatre was birthed out of that laborious lesson!

I am neither prepared nor able to make a judgement on the rights and wrongs, merits and lack thereof on task-driven vs process-driven perspectives. I know that each needs a little of the other else the task-driven people would never value the the people in the process or the lessons learned along the way; and the process-driven people would never finish anything!

So here is the lesson to be learned from my ever-looming pile of 'PP's': The process of creating, for me, is the purpose in creating. 

When I make a quilt for my Snuggle-Bug I am loving her and illustrating her life in stitches. 

When I make some wall-art for my Sonshine I am loving him and honoring his personality and opinions. 

When I am altering and creating a book I am journalling my story, my journey. 

And so on.

Creativity, for me, is the illustration of my learning and growing, my challenges, my acceptance and the expression and illustration of my love.

My conclusion: it's all in the process. So now, when that cycle of guilt comes around I remind myself that the journey in creating is the point of creating, that I love the process and love through the process. I choose not to let guilt drive me towards a fraudulent and mediocre finish but to value the journey, the process, the lessons, and most of all: the people.

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Fun making cards...


A friend of a friend of a friend - yes, that's right, my friend's friend's friend - has recently become a Stampin'Up demonstrator-business owner-person. She had a party to launch her business (from what I gather) and I was invited.

Rarely one to turn down the opportunity to do something creative I went along (with my friend - the first one in the above list). 

I made two cards there and I have to say that I LOVED the stuff we used. Nearly $50 later I made a conservative order and booked a party. I could spend SO much money on their stuff! 

Anyway, above is one of the two cards that I made and below is the card opened out:


And here is the other card that I made:


Of course, here is the inside:

in case there is any doubt, the white bit is where I am supposed to write! Tough for me, I have trouble keeping to space and time restrictions! I think that I may use a Sharpie and write on the pink as well...

I had so much fun making these cards! When I can get it, I will post a link to Sally's blog - she is the awesome Stampin'Up demostrator-business owner-person who ran the workshop.

I will be having one soon.... a workshop, that is.

No surprises there!

Friday, May 21, 2010

It's time to finish my clocks


I had a request from my gorgeous son. He wanted to make a clock and wondered if we could make one together. So in the school holidays we went down to the local scrapbooking store and bought a blank wooden clock kit. After we returned home he went though my scrapbook papers and chose the ones you see incorporated in the clock above. He painted the background, numbers and the gears, I inked all the edges. He cut the papers and stuck them down. I did more inking. 

Yesturday I had some down time so did the last couple of steps, like gluing on the numbers and the gears and assembling the clock motor and hands. When he returned home from school and saw the clock finished he flew into my arms with the greatest hug and kiss, and biggest "Thank you so much, Mummy!" 

It will look great on his wall.

And while things were drying on clock number one I finished the final step for clock number two - putting in a photo:


Ok, so I don't really feel like it's finished. I still want to add some text to it, and I am spending some time thinking it through and planning the where and the how and the what (it will look like). I made this clock for my precious big girl's birthday. She was suitably blown away by it. Big hugs and thanks yous galore. I love the way that we have cultivated gratefulness in our children.

Thursday, May 6, 2010

One of my almost-finished projects



This is a bag known by its pattern as the 'Bow Bag' (for obvious reasons!) that I almost finished a few months ago. Shameful, I know. There are two things that hamper my ability to finish it: one is pure and simple lazyness. the other is a distinct lack of what I need.

Let me explain...

The lazy part is because I need to simply cut a base shape out of template plastic to put into the bag so that it sits nicely and squarely. It you look closely at the bottom of the bag you will note that does not! I have the plastic, all I have to do is cut out the silly shape and put it in. Why don't I do it? Because there are so many other things (that are way more interesting!) that I would rather do with my spare minutes!

The lack is because I simply have not found the right button for the closure. I must find the right button! I must!

So, there. Another thing that is sitting in my shameful ufo pile. Shameful because it is ssssooooooooo big. But a happy pile to look at and explore none-the-less!

Maybe now that I have owned my lazyness I might just find the motivation to finish...

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

It's been a while - a long while



OK, so it's been a while since I last posted anything. It's amazing how times flies when you're having fun. Or blink. Or stop to smell the roses.

That's what my life has been like lately -  A lot of fun, a blink and remembering to smell the roses as I go. I'm getting good at that. You know, remembering to savour the here and now. Cherish the moments. Because I am sure that yesterday I brought my first baby home and today she is bathing, dressing and feeding my youngest baby. Seriously. All it takes is a blink.

Creatively I've been busy, but not really completing anything and certainly not starting anything new! I am trying, really trying, to beat my ufo pile into submission. It's not really working, but I'm having fun with it anyway!

OK, that wasn't the complete truth. I have started (and finished!!!) a couple of extra projects. They were quick, ones, AND they helped my blessings, so I can be excused! I am so blessed! As though they knew what I needed (and what my blessings needed) two different people blessed me with two different pieces of fleece fabric - one covered in fairies and one just plain black. I made a pair of pajama pants for each of my  girls (nice, warm, fleecy ones) out of the fairy fabric and a tracksuit for my boy out of the black. Very simple and basic, but I really enjoyed doing it - I haven't made clothes in ages. I had fun embellishing them too, because I just can't keep them plain. Some decorative stitching and some boyish buttons on the tracksuit, along with a contrasting zipper on the jumper... My gorgeous boy loves them so much that he won't let me wash them - he has them on the end of his bed as I type ready to put on after school tomorrow, just like he did today and yesterday and the day before that, after he wore them half of Sunday and all of Saturday. I think that I may just have to sneak them away, they are really going to stink! Just as well that they are black, I suppose!

Anyway...

Today I worked on some bears that I am selling, and took some photos of a fabric alphabet book that I am making for my blessings - in all honesty, it's for me too :-P

I will see how the photos of the alphabet book turned out and (assuming that they are OK) I will write a post about it later. I might also take some pics of the bears I am working on as they are now, so that I can document the process of them 'coming to life'!

Renee
PS - I'm thinking about taking on some study - not what I thought I would be doing with the rest of my year!

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

The therapy of the creation of teddy bears

Every so often I have a group of people ask me if I'll teach them how to make teddy bears. If I can possibly make it happen, the answer is always an enthudiastic "YES!". I love to share the joy of creating a bear from scratch. It is so easy and so rewarding. For some it is theaputic and for others it fulfills thier sensory seeking tactile cravings. In the last two lessons when the creator's bear starts to come to life the smiles are immovable and the joy is contagious. There is so much self-satisfaction in taking a fat 1/8th of mohair fur fabric and turning it into something that almost lives.

Anyway, to my absolute joy and satisfaction, a group of friends has asked me to teach them the art of teddy bear making. We are getting together this week to make some decisions, choose patterns, choose fabric, and basically get prepared to launch into it next term. The aim is to have them done by Christmas. I usually teach an 8 week, one lesson a week term, so I think that we can do it!!! I will post photos of our progress.

Above are a couple of the patterns that I designed... From right to left they are Jamie, Bop and Taku. Though you can't really see it, Jamie has wings. Her brother, Bumbly, is a bee in gold and black, with gold wire wings.I usually teach bear making on James, a cousin of Jamie. He is a great size to begin on and to cuddle and hold. Also economical.

Sunday, March 21, 2010

The beginning of a brand new week!

OK, so last week I managed one out of seven early morning wake-ups. Shameful, I know. This week I am aiming much higher! I will begin Tuesday morning, which means early to bed tomorrow night.

Tomorrow is Monday and Monday is sewing day! This week I am going to embark on the happy task of creating hip protectors for my precious Nan. I am going to make the first pair out of plain white so that we can test my pattern out. If it works, I am going to make them in some brights as well. I am also hoping to do a bit more work on the space quilt / wall-hanging, but it all depends on how long it takes me to get that hip protector pattern to work! It will be rather un-interesting to all but me, so I'll try not to ramble on too much about them.

Have a happy week!
Nay

Thursday, March 18, 2010

The colour book is finished!

Here it is, all finished, and ready for my cute little poppet to play with and practice her colours on. I have to say that I really did enjoy making it!

Following are a couple of pictures of the book open, just to give an idea of what it looks like:


And one more:

Yay! Another finished project! One down, 99 to go...

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Early Morning Creative Quiet Times

I did it! This morning I got up at 5:20am - yes, AM! It was so hard to drag myself out of bed in the cool dark of the morning, but I did it. At 7:30am I am still sleepy and can see myself crawling back into bed everytime I blink. Glen tells me that it will take a while for my body to get used to it. He says this as he bounces around this morning as the amazing morning person that he is. I am going to keep it up, but I really do wonder if I will be able to convince my body that getting up before the sun is really a good idea...

Having said all that, I did spend some good time pondering Proverbs 31. One of my first posts related to a book that I began making on the Proverbs 31 woman. I set myself a project to creatively study my way through the verses and learn about what it means to be an 'excellent wife' whose worth is 'far above jewels'. This morning I was working on the first part of verse 10: 'An excellent wife who can find?' Though the question is answered in great detail in the following verses, today I am left with more questions than answers. I know that she is rare, that is part of why she is so valuable. But what is an 'excellent wife' - what does she look like? and, what does it take to be an 'excellent wife'? and, how do I become an 'excellent wife'? These are my questions. I am a little trepidous as I embark upon finding out the answers to these questions, because I know tthat I am just not going to stack up well against this vastly elusive woman.

Space Quilt Wall Hanging for my boy

Monday is sewing day. So this past Monday I sewed. I acheived a lot, too! 

  1. I made a pattern for hip protectors - I am going to make them for my Nan so that she doesn't smash her hips if she falls. The ones you buy cost $90 each and she needs to have at least 8. I figure that I can make them for a fraction of that price. I just need to get myself an overlocker!
  2. I made a pattern for a child's apron. My big girl is having a sleepover for her birthday - activities will include cooking and craft. She would like to make her friends an apron each with her brand new birthday sewing machine as a thank you gift and to use during the sleepover.
  3. A while ago I aquired the following Bernatex fabrics. My boy loves space so I thought that I could make a wall hanging to go with the space quilt that his Grandma made for him for his birthday (I will put up a picture of his quilt soon). Above is a picture of the wall hanging so far...
And here are the fabrics that I used to make it:


The main piece is a panel of lots of different 'spacey' squares, and a starry boarder at top and bottom. On the top right is an orange pattern fabric that I thought looked kind of planet-ey and on the bottom right is more of the star fabric. 

If you are interested in the details, here they are:

I cut the the picture squares out into 7 1/2" squares and the others into 7 1/2 by 3 1/2" rectangles. Then I cut the orange fabric into 3 1/2" sqares. Next I cut some of the starry fabric into a few more 7 1/2 by 3 1/2" rectangles because I didn't quite have enough of the other. After that, I randomly sewed it all back togther into 10" squares. Next I made the 10" squares into 3 rows, added an extra square and rectangle at the end and sewed the rows togther. It still needs boarders, then it will be quilted and bound, but for a couple of hours of work I am really happy! And so is my big space loving boy!!!

Monday, March 15, 2010

OK, so that didn't work!

I had the most interupted and not-deep sleep last night. I think that it was partly because I was conscious of getting up early, but mostly because my brain just would not switch off. Grrrrr! I was still prepared to get up at 5:30 and just start this thing, but it turns out that I fell into some deep some time after 4 and that Glen also had a bad sleep - he is the one in control of the alarm. He turned it off at 5:30 and I didn't even hear it. Oh well! So I will try again tonight...

Creative Quiet Time

Tomorrow I am going to be the supportive wife and try really hard to be a morning person. Hubby dearest does exceptionally well doing the early morning thing, so I am going to do it with him to give him moral support to get started. I am going to use it as my 'Creative Quiet Time' and work on my Aspire book. I am looking forward to it, I just hope that I can convince my brain that I am a morning person too!

Sunday, March 14, 2010

Blog Makeover

Ok, so I decided that if I am going to get into this blogging thing, then I need a pretty 'Nay-like' blog. Those that know me know that I prefer to make my own designs for things, so would not be surprised that I set out to try to learn how to make my blog pretty all by myself (with heaps of help from Glen). As I looked at tutorials I discovered that it is going to take me more than a night and some basic Photoshop skills to achieve such a purpose so decided to look for some FREE premade templates to use while I learn. As it turns out there is next to nothing Nay-ish for free.

But then I found 'Simply Fabulous Blogger Templates' and 'Premades with a Purpose'. There are definately some Nay-ish templates there! The one that stuck in my head is the one you now see. By the time I found it I was starting to think that I would have to pay if I wanted anything that would suit the picture in my head. As I looked at Lena's stuff, I realised that she is only charging $US5 for her premades. Being the detail person that I am, I read all about her and what she is doing. Turns out that she is selling Blog templates to fund an adoption. So, even though I chose a freebie I decided to pay for it. I'm not putting that out there to make myself look good, I want to support what she is doing. So if any of the two or three people that actually read this need a blog template, go to her. She has beautiful stuff, is doing it for a great cause and is worth supporting. And thanks to her very easy to understand tutorials I figured out how to put her button over there on the left. Yay for me and yay for learning!!!

Thursday, March 11, 2010

Allira's Quilt

This is not a brilliant picture - my amateur photography skills just don't extend to large quilts. 

 I began this quilt for my now 9 year old when she was 18 months old. I had just begun to teach myself to sew and was amazed by all the quilts at the Stitches and Craft Show. I don't know if it's pride, creativity or stupidity, but I prefer to make things that I have designed rather than the designs of others. I wanted this quilt to reflect the interests and personality of my precious little girl, so went about designing little appliques to be interspersed with hearts and 4 patch blocks. Needless to say that this project has taken me over 7 years and I have not even finished the handwork on it. What you can't see in this picture is the embroidery on each square. I also have a couple more appliques to put on and the words of a song that her Daddy dedicated to her - this will be transfered onto the white boarders using an image transfer technique that I am experimenting with. And I need to put the quilt toghether, quilt it and bind it. And then I will be done. I am aiming to quilt it over winter (it will keep me warm), so I have to get working on it!

Some Canvas Art

These are a couple of canvases that I have been working on. They are not finished yet, I need some time to look at them and ponder how to do the next bits. They are on my wall so that I can look at them and ponder...

You can't really see it in this picture, but the crown canvas has swirls in the background. I am thinking of writing about the significance of the crown in the crown. Hmmmm, does that even make sense? What I mean is that I have some stuff in mind to write in the white space of the crown, and it will not stay white.  Hmmmm.... I hope that is a little clearer! I think that I may also do some more to the background. They are quite small: the top canvas is about 10 x10cm and the bottom one is about 20 x 20cm.

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Stuff that I am making...


Recently I realised that when I make things and give them away I have no record of what I have poured my heart and soul into creating for someone special. So today I took photos of a few of the (hundreds of) projects that I have on the go at the moment. I then decided to document them here. It is so much fun to blog, but there is that part of me that worries about what people will think of my creations. I know that I have been blessed with beautiful friends who only offer encouragement and support. But creating a blog is really putting it out there! Today I decided to swallow my fear of criticism and just diarize my progress. For me. I think that it may just give me the extra motivation to get my (many) projects finished!


So, here is the first one:

Isabella's Colour Book
I come from a long line of hoarders and find that it goes against my training to throw anything away. As such I have a reasonably sized basket of scraps. I figured that if I was going to justify keeping them, then I had better find a use for them. So I combined my scraps with my sizable ribbon collection and made a series of rough mini-quilts which I am in the process of making into a 'book'. Isabella is learning her colours and has been enjoying playing with the bits as it has all been coming together. As a sensory-seeker I have had so much fun making it and playing with the texture. If Bella doesn't take to it, I might just keep it to play with myself!


This picture shows the beginnings of the 'binding'. It simply consists of eyelet holes and big rings to hold the pages together. I was having issues with creating the eylet holes, so I am going to work on another method. There will be four holes in each page.



And this picture shows the back of the pages, just because I wanted to record them!