Grasp your dreams. Reach for them. Take appropriate risks. One of the worst things you can die with is potential. Die with failure before you die with potential. Potential is something to be realized, not guarded and protected. So, dig it up! Invest it! And you will find that it is true - life comes from the inside out.- 9 Things You Simply Must Do to Succeed in Love and Life, by Henry Cloud
The quote above was in yesterday's study. It made me laugh... especially since my current project is working through the Bits & Pieces of Potential Boxes (BaPoPBs). Although my boxes are not what the author was referring to, what I might create, or learn, from them is definitely along those lines. It's so fabulous to have started working with them that I definitely don't want to die with that potential unrealized. There will be failures. Yesterday I kept cutting out out two of the same pattern piece instead of one right side up and one right side down... from limited fabric... which led to problem solving.
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My second BaPoPBs project is the knitting bag I mentioned last week. Originally it was for me until I was working on it and thinking about how it didn't really "look" like me and the thought popped into my head that of course it didn't, because it wasn't for me, it was for a woman at knitting who is dealing with "stuff". It's so funny when my projects talk to me. At one time if I'd heard someone say that, I'd have wondered about their sanity and now I say things like that all the time.
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The bag started with the strips cut off from squaring the sides of the twin quilts for the guest room and a pair of floral pants that I'd shrunk out of. Now that I see a picture of me in those pants, they were perhaps too big to begin with but OH SO FUN! I'll miss them... but not the weight. I can sew smaller pants.
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The inside of the bag is a another pair of pants cut up and the binding on the straps is the left over from the two quilts. I used a light purple thread to topstitch pulling the color from the fabric's colorways. The floral and the stripe were actually companion prints although I bought them separately, in different cities, and months apart.
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Because the strip cut from squaring the quilt wasn't wide enough, I cut it in half, zigzagged the two long sides together, and then used a strip of the floral fabric to cover the seam.
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The pocket above left was shaped from the pleats at the side hem of the pants and the pocket above right came from part of the back pieces. The buttons are from my "button stash". I've always loved the look of little buttons so it was great to use seven of them along the one pocket. Seven purple ones. Even better.
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A facing from the floral fabric finishes the top edge and secures the straps. The inside seams are wrapped in a fuchsia bias tape. I have LOTS of scraps of these fabrics left still so I'm using them test sew a little girl's coat pattern that I frankenpatterned from several others. I want to make sure there aren't any issues with the draft before I use it for the "real" project - a combination of knitting and yardage.
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I'm getting ready to do an update on the blog so I'm reading books about designing blogs as well as ones about making videos and taking photographs. I took 120 pictures of this bag in a variety of settings. I doubt I'll ever get to using manual camera settings but I'd like to get better with automatic ones and with software like Photoshop for manipulating images. Right now, I'm concentrating on lighting, composition, and varying the settings which is why there are pictures of this bag on the bricks in the carport and on the orange chair by the yarn store.
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And on the tile in front of the closet doors and on the porch in front of the rock siding.
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And on the driveway leaning against the rocks and on the tile against the wicker chest of drawers.
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And on the purple chair and on the orange chair at the knitting shop. I'd love some feedback about what works and what doesn't. I think I see progress.
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Thea is the wonderful young woman who owns our local yarn store - Intwined. She helped me do some photos in the shop and held the bag for that "with a real person" perspective. I learned from some of those photos what doesn't work which is always good learning. Thea also organizes the Monday night knitting group that I go to - a great group of women.
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The yarn shop is right across the street from the art gallery where my Friday knitting group meets. The store carries a good supply of different yarns. It's always fun to visit and dream. When my grandson was here in May, I took him in to visit Thea's puppy and since he's always passing me my yarn and "helping" me knit, he wanted Grandma to buy some of the pretty yarn for herself and maybe a ball for him too. Such a sweetie. A yarn enabler. I can live with that - LOL.
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It has been a BLISSFUL week since my "it's only an idea" epiphany. I haven't been battling any ideas - entrepreneurial or otherwise - at all. I let them flow and then choose what I want to work on and move forward with that. It's been a calm, more focused, settled and creative week. YES YES!
On Wednesday, I'm having another procedure done on my hip and then there's another two to three months of resting before I see the surgeon again. It's a good thing I'm getting the hang of this "active resting" and having so much fun in the studio. Having a long want-to-do list helps too. And friends. Yesterday, a friend came for the day and on Sunday, another is coming and staying until Monday afternoon. TOO FUN! If you haven't had the opportunity for studio play dates with creative friends, I highly recommend it.
Talk soon - Myrna
Grateful - improving photography
The quote above was in yesterday's study. It made me laugh... especially since my current project is working through the Bits & Pieces of Potential Boxes (BaPoPBs). Although my boxes are not what the author was referring to, what I might create, or learn, from them is definitely along those lines. It's so fabulous to have started working with them that I definitely don't want to die with that potential unrealized. There will be failures. Yesterday I kept cutting out out two of the same pattern piece instead of one right side up and one right side down... from limited fabric... which led to problem solving.
My second BaPoPBs project is the knitting bag I mentioned last week. Originally it was for me until I was working on it and thinking about how it didn't really "look" like me and the thought popped into my head that of course it didn't, because it wasn't for me, it was for a woman at knitting who is dealing with "stuff". It's so funny when my projects talk to me. At one time if I'd heard someone say that, I'd have wondered about their sanity and now I say things like that all the time.
The bag started with the strips cut off from squaring the sides of the twin quilts for the guest room and a pair of floral pants that I'd shrunk out of. Now that I see a picture of me in those pants, they were perhaps too big to begin with but OH SO FUN! I'll miss them... but not the weight. I can sew smaller pants.
The inside of the bag is a another pair of pants cut up and the binding on the straps is the left over from the two quilts. I used a light purple thread to topstitch pulling the color from the fabric's colorways. The floral and the stripe were actually companion prints although I bought them separately, in different cities, and months apart.
Because the strip cut from squaring the quilt wasn't wide enough, I cut it in half, zigzagged the two long sides together, and then used a strip of the floral fabric to cover the seam.
The pocket above left was shaped from the pleats at the side hem of the pants and the pocket above right came from part of the back pieces. The buttons are from my "button stash". I've always loved the look of little buttons so it was great to use seven of them along the one pocket. Seven purple ones. Even better.
A facing from the floral fabric finishes the top edge and secures the straps. The inside seams are wrapped in a fuchsia bias tape. I have LOTS of scraps of these fabrics left still so I'm using them test sew a little girl's coat pattern that I frankenpatterned from several others. I want to make sure there aren't any issues with the draft before I use it for the "real" project - a combination of knitting and yardage.
I'm getting ready to do an update on the blog so I'm reading books about designing blogs as well as ones about making videos and taking photographs. I took 120 pictures of this bag in a variety of settings. I doubt I'll ever get to using manual camera settings but I'd like to get better with automatic ones and with software like Photoshop for manipulating images. Right now, I'm concentrating on lighting, composition, and varying the settings which is why there are pictures of this bag on the bricks in the carport and on the orange chair by the yarn store.
And on the tile in front of the closet doors and on the porch in front of the rock siding.
And on the driveway leaning against the rocks and on the tile against the wicker chest of drawers.
And on the purple chair and on the orange chair at the knitting shop. I'd love some feedback about what works and what doesn't. I think I see progress.
Thea is the wonderful young woman who owns our local yarn store - Intwined. She helped me do some photos in the shop and held the bag for that "with a real person" perspective. I learned from some of those photos what doesn't work which is always good learning. Thea also organizes the Monday night knitting group that I go to - a great group of women.
The yarn shop is right across the street from the art gallery where my Friday knitting group meets. The store carries a good supply of different yarns. It's always fun to visit and dream. When my grandson was here in May, I took him in to visit Thea's puppy and since he's always passing me my yarn and "helping" me knit, he wanted Grandma to buy some of the pretty yarn for herself and maybe a ball for him too. Such a sweetie. A yarn enabler. I can live with that - LOL.
It has been a BLISSFUL week since my "it's only an idea" epiphany. I haven't been battling any ideas - entrepreneurial or otherwise - at all. I let them flow and then choose what I want to work on and move forward with that. It's been a calm, more focused, settled and creative week. YES YES!
On Wednesday, I'm having another procedure done on my hip and then there's another two to three months of resting before I see the surgeon again. It's a good thing I'm getting the hang of this "active resting" and having so much fun in the studio. Having a long want-to-do list helps too. And friends. Yesterday, a friend came for the day and on Sunday, another is coming and staying until Monday afternoon. TOO FUN! If you haven't had the opportunity for studio play dates with creative friends, I highly recommend it.
Talk soon - Myrna
Grateful - improving photography