Wednesday, August 7, 2013

The aftermath of a project

There comes a point in every project--at least every one of mine--where you just need to get it done. That happened to me and my crazy pumpkin last week. And that's when things got messy.

 

My pumpkin was done in time for guild Saturday morning, but at the cost of working on it all Thursday and Friday evening. I was concentrating only on what I needed to do, so when I got home from guild Saturday afternoon, this is what I encountered.

My threads were a mess, buttons and beads everywhere, scraps of fabric on the floor. I have a lot of cleaning ahead of me before I am ready to start the next project. Does this happen to everyone, or just me?

 

One good thing though. When I started cleaning up, I found two clay figurines I made in first or second grade. The polar bear I mentioned in my very first blog post. An early fascination with polar bears is what inspired me to pick up a needle for the first time. My rabbit fascination is still with me, but how I make a rabbit hasn't changed much in the last 30+ years!

Messes are an inevitable part of my creative process. Sometimes cleaning up provides inspiration for my next project--usually when I find the materials for a project I had started, but forgotten about. In this case, I found the lost inspiration for the piece I had just completed.

 

4 comments:

  1. I feel the same way when I turn and see all the mess of my creative ventures. Even when I try picking up as I go along, there is still "stuff" that looks messy even to me. My desire for neatness and to be creative are always in conflict!

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  2. There is always bits that need to be put away,threads,buttons,beads.How messy the bits are depends on if I have worked right up to a dead line.

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  3. oh I know what you mean, I sew in my kitchen so keep that in a reasonable state but the spare bedroom often looks like a bomb has hot it which is where I keep everything

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  4. after 45 years of stitching, quilting, knitting it gets no better. We had to buy a bigger house to hold the creative aftermath!!!!!
    mom

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