Not Still, But Still Here

Be not afraid of growing slowly; be afraid only of standing still. -- Chinese Proverb

Here we are in June! I feel like things have been a bit of a whirlwind, both at work and at home. I think this past week is the first week when I feel things have slowed down a bit, and this weekend was quiet enough for me to just spend time at home, resting and doing... not very much.

Honestly, I feel a bit stagnant in my creative life. I have. a lot of things I want to do and that I want to try, but my energy hasn't been there to make it happen. I'm a champion napper (and have been for quite some time now), so I'm just trying to rest as much as I can to recharge my personal batteries to try to do work on the projects I've been daydreaming about for a while now.

I have been making things here and there. I volunteered to sew dog bandanas for a local fundraiser for training service dogs. It seemed like a simple task at first, but it took me a few tries to make something wearable. These are all double-sided bandanas in three different sizes, which came about after I figured out that 1) I'm terrible at hemming edges and 2) I needed a lot of practice sewing in straight lines:

And well, based on the pile below, I got a LOT of practice:

And I at least had a willing model to try them out:

I also randomly decided to paint a ceramic pot I picked up off the road a few weeks ago. I didn't take a photo of it before I started, but it was a garish red and black marble pattern. I thought it would grow on me, but it never did, so one day I got up and started sanding it, and then painting it with more neutral tones:

 

I didn't want to leave it plain, so I spent the next couple of days playing around with what I might decorate it with:

I eventually decided to use an embossing tool to just play around with wandering dots:

It's now varnished and sitting nicely on my shelf. I'm pretty pleased with it:

In the middle of this time, we made a trip home to Winnipeg to visit my family. I decided to take along a small project - this time a crochet project by one of my favourite designers, Zoya Matyushenko. And by small, I mean with a teeny, tiny crochet hook:

The pattern is called Theia, a beautifully intricate mandala/doily pattern. I just adore this kind of thing:

I haven't crocheted anything like this for a while, and I'm finding that I can't sit through my usual marathon crafting sessions anymore. I had to take a lot of breaks to stretch my arms and wrists. I guess that's aging for you:

But here it is. I absolutely love it. I didn't really have any plans for this project... the last one I stitched onto the back of a jacket, but I remembered that I bought a brass hoop a while back on a whim. I dug it out and started stitching... It's the first time I've hung a piece in a brass hoop like this, and I just love the look of it. It's hanging in our kitchen and I'm enjoying walking past and looking at it:

Today, I decided to start working on one of my projects that I've been daydreaming of: a bias-cut dress called Grace from Seamwork. I've never made a dress cut on the bias, so for the first time, I'm making a muslin or voile, which is a practice dress made from a cheaper fabric so that I can figure out all the niggly things before committing to use the actual fabric I want to use. I'm quite sure I'll need to alter the fit, but I think I need to make it in the original size before I try playing with that. We'll see.

Anyway, if you're reading this, thanks for hanging around and reading my words. I know I'm not very consistent these days, but every time I think I want to give up on this blog, I feel a draw to come and write my thoughts down. I appreciate you taking the time to read it. Take care.