clearing out

 

 

One of the many paradoxes of  caring for small children as an artist is that while I'm caring for them I have lots of time to think up new projects or ponder solutions to artistic problems, but very little actual time to carry these thoughts out. I'm not sure how this works, or how to describe the time vacuum of small children, the closest I've come so far is that it feels like I'm busy being interrupted, mostly. It's like they have this orbit that pulls you in and before you know it every thing you do is put off by something else, or your mind is absolutely free to explore but your hands are totally occupied.

Anyhow- I've been feeling like in order to get anything done in, I need to focus on one extra activity only, and I've chosen clay, so I'm putting away the sewing for now. Of course as soon as I've decided this I also thought up about fifty projects I'd like to make ( Christmas presents for the girls, because it's that time of year again) and came across a ton of mending and altering to do.  I also thought that it might be a great time to update my studio- take out the carpet, and rip down the wallpaper and paint and build better storage. So it'll probably be spring before I actually get the studio into shape so I can work on clay, but that's my lot in life right now.

I've been chipping off the small projects that I have piled up too- I finally got these frames up on N's room, and finished the floor pillow I made for her last year for Christmas (she'd been using it but without the button in the centre the stuffing shifted everywhere).  I'm really happy with how the frames look on the wall, and happy to have the blue bird that was my Grandma's up in a safe place.


The tutorial for the floor pillow is this one- it was a heck of a lot of sewing but totally worth it in the end.