The Urge to Share

Social media is not for your friends. Your social media is for you, your dreams, and your self-expression, and it's meant to put something out into the world intentionally so that the people who are looking for you and need you can find you. --Mel Robbins

I've been struggling with what to do with this blog. I've been watching people who I've followed for years through their blogs, slowly and silently dropping out of the blogsphere. I've asked myself over and over again over the past couple of years if this practice of coming to this site and writing about stuff and posting pictures of my things is of any use to anyone. More than once over the past month, I've considered taking this whole thing offline and forgetting about it all.

The truth is, the biggest reason I am feeling so discontented about this blog is the knowledge that most of the people I spend my day-to-day life with and who see my blog posts on social media never read them. It hurts. And the thing is, I get it: most people, including me, spend a of time scrolling on social media, looking at videos and images, and never really engaging much deeper unless something REALLY grabs them. And that just isn't what happens with a random photo I post from my blog.

And yet... I was unwrapping some goodies I bought on a recent trip to Europe, and all I could think about was writing about them here. Is it because of habit? Maybe. But right now, this moment, my need to share is greater than my need to be popular. If no one actually sees these words, right now, this moment, it doesn't matter... because I need to speak and I need to write and I need to share.

So anyway...

We went over the the UK a couple of weeks ago for a trip to visit relatives. We landed customarily in London to spend a few days there before heading to Amsterdam for another few days before going to Belfast for a week. Since I'm in London so often, I tend not to take that many photos while I'm there because it's all so familiar to me. I did make a pilgrimage to Liberty London for a wallow in the haberdashery.

This is the first time I went in with an actual plan when I went in there. The last couple of times, I explored every single nook and cranny with a great sense of overwhelm until my credit card burst from my handbag and paid for a bunch of things I really didn't have plans for. After spending this past summer sewing a few things, I have a much better idea of what I like to sew and how much fabric is required for it, so I felt much more prepared for the visit. This is not to say I didn't wallow in the beauty of it... I certainly did, but I came away with things I am really happy with... not to mention with 20% off because there was a members sale and I apparently had a membership!

So what did I get? Well, I got a couple of lots of quilting cotton. I don't quilt, but I've found that I like the sturdiness of the fabric for shirts and dresses. It provides a lot of good structure without extra lining or interfacing. And these were so pretty that I couldn't pass them up:

And I did walk away with one lot of the mythical Tana Lawn Cotton, soft and buttery smooth. Part of my plan was to try to get something yellow because most of the time I get carried away by the jewel tones in blue and burgundy and green, but yellow is a colour I enjoy wearing. I thought this print was adorable:

After a few days in London, we took the Eurostar to Amsterdam. We'd never been to Amsterdam before, and because neither of us make grand plans when we visit a place, we were very open to whatever we stumbled across. We enjoyed a canal cruise, wandering around the streets, and a trip to the botanical gardens:

I did do a quick search for yarn and fabric stores in the area, and was happy to find Stephen & Penelope downtown:

When I visit yarn stores abroad, I try to find things I don't normally get at home. I was happy to see that there were plenty of lovely treats to choose from, like this cake from Budapest, Hungary. I'm pretty sure it's fingering weight. I think I might make a hat or some gloves with it:

And this pretty speckled yarn from France:

And of course, some local fare from Amsterdam, named Bicycle, of course. These are 50g skeins, and I thought it would be nice to play around with stripes with these colours, either knitted or woven... we'll see how it goes;

I also wanted to visit Capsicum Natural Fabrics, which is more of a fine textile store than a fabric shop. I had heard that it was a beautiful shop, and it did not disappoint one bit:

I came away with this fine piece of weaving in the sale section. This is actually folded in half lengthwise, so it's quite a large size. I was so excited to find something so beautiful in my price range that I forgot what it was made from, but a quick look at their website tells me that it's 100% sustainably produced wild silk with block-printed flowers on it. There was a stack of them folded on a shelf, and as I went through them I noticed they were all a little bit different, which I totally love. I'm not sure what I'll do with it yet. I might give it a gentle steam to see if it will soften up as it's quite stiff. I might leave it as a shawl or incorporate it into some other garment... but for now, I am enjoying admiring it.

So that's my bit of sharing for you, whoever you are. I feel better now that I've written something. I am going to go off now and do a bit of weaving for a while until the next urge to share strikes. I hope you are well. Till next time.