Spring Forward

Hi. My name is Louise and I am a cliche. Or a Hallmark card. I haven't decided which yet.

Here's the thing: when I am down, I am REALLY down. When I am up, I embarrass Pollyanna with my perkiness. Not bipolar, as  such, just super-affected by what is happening around me and my mood often reflects that. 

I have been so flat-out busy lately that my self-image has really taken a hit. "Beached whale" comes to mind. Sigh. 

Luckily as team captain of our wellness challenge team, I must lead. Me, being me, is leading by example. I bought a FitBit (complete with extra pretty wristbands) and don't want to let myself down. I have pushed myself out of my office and out on campus everyday this week on lunch. Today, I even got to take a longer break and a longer walk. Yay. Striving for equanimity in mood and fitness. This is a big deal for lots of people, I know. Let's support each other. That's what life is REALLY all about, right?

Phoenix rising

To say  that the past year has been a roller coaster in an understatement.
I lost my job and it took me a long-time to find another long-term one. I am thankful for my time as a substitute teacher, but it was definitely a draining experience. Not only that, but it was also a humbling, embarrassing, and humiliating experience. Over-qualified is a hurtful word and every rejection feels like a smack in the face.

My entire life suffered...my self-worth, my fitness, even my creativity. The blog went by the wayside as did so much else. Even six months into my new job, I am still struggling back to the surface. 

Not that I have been idle. Far from it. 

I did run the half-marathon that

 I thought that I couldn't. Huh.

New Ventures, New Adventures!

I have always been a thinker and often-times, an over-thinker. Many people are guilty of this (especially women.) Since losing my job, I have had PLENTY of time to think. Sometimes, I think about my worth or lack thereof. It is truly amazing how much of our self-worth is linked to our jobs. It defines us and I felt as though I lacked definition. That is until last night...

After a fabulous anniversary dinner date/trip to the library with my sweetie, it struck me: I AM AN ARTIST. Therefore, I have a job. I have been given a gift: time. I get to experiment in the kitchen, garden, walk, take photos, sing and dance, enjoy the sun, see my friends, and CREATE. Sitting behind a desk would limit these experiences, so why am I moaning. I should be reveling in it.

I have decided to spend the rest of the time I have been given doing just that. I will be focusing more on creating embroidery patterns to share and to sell. I will complete that blasted set model. I will embellish. I will make. JOY!

Comfort Food Re-imagined

Being chronically under-employed has it perks: I get to work in the garden more, I get to hone skills, I get to spend many of my days with my students, I get to try some new things that I did not have as much time for before. It also has its pitfalls: depression comes in waves, I am unmotivated to do new projects, and I eat...more than I should. As many women before me, my go-to stress snacks are sweet and crunchy. Ice cream though is expensive and fattening. Enter chocolate banana "nice" cream sandwiches!

Back from the Dead...with projects!

When you decide to become a blogger, you always have great intentions: posting valuable and timely content, being engaging and interesting, taking eye-catching photos. Then life happens. Careers change. Relationships need work. Self-confidence and self-worth plummet. Well, not always, but that is what happened to me.

Smooth Sailing

Everyone falls off the fitness wagon every now and then, myself definitely included. I don't get crazy, but a few too many cookies at the holidays really add up. Given that, I always start the year a little down. You'd think that I would learn my lesson, year after year. 

I am only human, I guess.

This year, I have made a few more changes that I hope will stick. I have not eaten ice cream or fried foods (other than 3 onion rings) all month. That is a HUGE deal for me

. Ice cream could be a food group. 

I have made lots of smoothies, soups, salads, and other healthy make-ahead meals. I have started tracking my food and activity. It makes me feel more accountable.

Thankful Thursday: New and Improving...

In the last 45 days, I have been undergoing a major attitude adjustment and it has truly changed my life. I am not at all ashamed to say that I started an antidepressant and knew that I had to do some work to make that a major life change. I have been learning to let things go, not to take things personally and what really truly matters to me. I have little post-it notes around my desk at work on my lap top with gentle reminders to keep things in perspective. Rather than being stressful though, the effect has been lightening and has allowed me to really devote time that I used to spend worrying or catastrophizing or getting bent out of shape in creating and learning. I am so much happier.

With this life change has come a better mood, a sharper dresser and a new zeal to learn. I just completed my first ever crochet project and as you can see above, I am working on my second. I am about to start my first knitting project done from a commercial pattern. This weekend, I am going to try my hand and wool felt applique. I have cooked and prepped food for the next two weeks and have all my meals planned through early December. Blog posts are also planned that far in advance and I am happily working on projects to share. 

My life has become my own and I am thankful daily. 

When life gives you lemons...

You know how the old saying goes. We all do. We have heard it a million times. As we transform those lemons, we sometimes still get a sour bit. It isn't horrible and it won't kill us, but it is not what we wanted or expected.

Yesterday, I was supposed to run a half-marathon, my second. Recently though, I had gotten off my training schedule and wasn't logging the miles that I should have been. I was immersed in rehearsals, a late summer mini-vacation, a new attitude towards my work day, being a good partner, and various other little projects. My blogging suffered but my IT band suffered more. 

In a last ditch effort to prepare for the race, I started amping up the miles last week. In doing so, I tweaked a recurring running injury. I underwent  2 1/2 months of PT earlier this year and almost lost the entire running season. By Thursday, the band was swollen and I knew that I had to make a big decision. I wasn't so upset about the money, I could still cancel the hotel room and I had registered for the race in February, so I wasn't missing the cash. I had, however; invested a lot and time and energy into training only to fail at the follow-through when it was most important.

I was disappointed in myself. In my heart though, I knew that if I tried that I might not be able to finish and that would be even more difficult thank not starting at all. 

So when the starting gun went of on Sunday morning, I was home. I spent the day making soups and baking. I drank lots of tea and sang along to my ipod. It wasn't what I had planned on doing, but in its own way it was just as rewarding and just as comforting. Instead of lemonade, I used those lemons in my tea. As the week goes on, I will be posting about tea and tea-related things. It soothes my soul and that is EXACTLY what I need right now.

Thankful Thursday: Upcycled Cookie Tins

This has been one of THOSE projects. Boom! Great idea. Get supplies. Try it. Mess it up. Stash it for a few weeks. Try again. Another mess. Finally, quasi-success! 

WIP Wednesday: Embroidered Sketchbook

Today was a rough day. As a gal with MS, there are little challenges that I have to deal with daily. Tinglies, numbness, fatigue are part of my life. Not that it is a huge deal and not that I am not blessed, but some days it just adds up. I had a MRI scheduled for this morning. I got to the Imaging clinic on time, changed into my gown and was ready for a slightly loud and annoying process. Little did I know how annoying...

WIP Wednesday: Re-purposed tins...sorta

Sometimes, a project just doesn't work out the way you hoped that it would.

You think that you are prepared with the right tools. You are excited for the outcome.

And wham. Failure.That can really take the wind out of your sails.

Re-purposing cookie tins seemed straight-forward enough. 

Some cans, some paint, some tape=something cool and usable. 

Seem being the primary word here. This is what I did and what I will do to actually fix the problem. I hope.

WIP Wednesday: Embroidered T-Shirt...and Weasinart

This weekend, I had a meltdown. I had a project that I was working on and it was going all wrong. I was frustrated...very frustrated. It made me second guess all that I was doing and frankly, why I was doing it at all. Why am I doing all these projects? Why am I writing this blog? Is anybody even reading it? You know, one of those "self-doubt, nothing that I do is worth anything, I should just quit" meltdowns. And I almost did.

I don't have the answers to all those questions yet. I know that I like to work with my hands and make things. I know that I like relating what I do to the rest of the world. Readers? Well, hopefully they will come with time...

Meanwhile, as I am sorting out the why of the blog, I really want to make it better. I am thinking and wondering. What will make the blog better for you? More photos? Better photos? Different layout? Different features? Please let me know. 

While I switch things up and make them better, I am working on several other projects in the Weasinart:

A free-embroidered t-shirt

Upcycled Canisters (or: "The Meltdown Project")

A fat quarter apron

A steering wheel cover and match seat belt cozy

Regrouping

Three steps forward, four steps back.

 Just as I was starting to re-focus and re-align my priorities, life has thrown me another curve ball. Everyone deals with hardship, it is true, it just seems like I have gotten more than my fair share recently. I have to have surgery...nothing life-threatening or even huge, but still costly and a more than a little stressful. That being said, my sweetie and friends are super-supportive and caring and they bolster me everyday.

I have been taking baby steps towards normalcy as I prepare for my "work"--I have cooked more seasonal dinners, reconnected with more friends, resumed my half-marathon training (though barely), begun work on my script for the fall play and have walked back into my studios.

Projects lay unfinished. Fresh supplies lay heaped on my cutting table and bundled on my work bench. New tools cry to be used and patterns beg to be begun.

So I have started to organize...chose what projects I want to complete first...brainstormed themes for upcoming posts...planned more yummy dinners...and move forward.

I want to finished my bird embroidery, complete my TARDIS plushie,
make a tote for school, and make some metal pieces with
my new embossing die...I need another Craftcation!!

I took the time to smell and arrange the flowers. And my
favorite retro cookbook has inspired a theme week!

Can't wait to make a retro inspired apron as
an awesome holiday gift!

As I deal with it all, I will run my
way to serenity...I hope.

How Tuesday: Capturing the sun

Last night, I was having doubts about this blog. Readership is low and I was uncertain of its value. Is anyone actually enjoying it? Hmmm...


 Then I went to play rehearsal. What a disaster...doubt about all my creative pursuits abound. 


Then I remembered this week's theme: sunshine. Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, " Most of the shadows of this life are caused by our standing in our own sunshine."


If no one else is reading the blog isn't really the point. The point is to be accountable to my creativity. The point is to live the life I want as an artist. I am glad that today's post is How Tuesday. I need today's activity more than ever--I have captured the sunshine. 


I made several solar prints to hang in the studio to remind me of the outdoors and my connection to nature as I work. Here's how I did it:

I bought photo-sensitive paper at my local science
museum but it is also available online.
I gathered some items from my yard for my prints.
I placed the items in front of the paper inside the frame.
Because the plants were in the thick side, I clamped the frame closed with
a binder clip. 

After a few minutes in a sunny window, I removed the plants.
The longer the paper is in the sun, the greater the contrast.

I decided to make a sewing specific piece for my sewing studio using
buttons, lace and fun trim.

All done and ready for framing!

I added the sewing print to my cutting area. The light is not a good as
I would have liked it for this photo, but it came out very well.

Framed my 3 favorite nature-inspired prints in inexpensive frames 
from the dollar section of my local craft store.


No matter the weather outside or my mood,
 I will always have these prints to remind me of sunny days.

Metalwork Monday: Hammer Therapy

Sometimes, when you are having a rough time, it is difficult to recall why you like doing the things you do. Is it habit? Is it boredom? Or do they really still give us joy?


After the week I had been having, I doubted this morning that I would be be very productive. Heavy thoughts are still troubling me and focus has been tough to come by, but I took a couple of days off specifically to make things. So today, I put the pigtails back in and went into the jewelry studio. I had been avoiding it, primarily because since the turn of the year, business has been slow dead.  I had been spending many hours, designing and creating, but to what end? No one was buying.


I committed to posting a new metal working project every Monday, so I had to at least make one piece. But I also had a bunch of pieces that I had etched last week that needed to be made into something. Hmmm...I had to chose between the disappointment of not selling my work and the thrill of designing something totally new. Granted, if I made something truly stellar, I might sell it. Hmmm...


In the end, being creative won. I was able to make multiple pieces and I am very happy with them. I will list them in my shop later. Plus I have several more pieces to put together tomorrow. Additionally I worked on 5 other blog projects and will begin work on my sampler tonight. As a very wise man once said, hard work is its own reward.

Sunday Funday: Crafting through the Crap

Today was not what I expected. Last night, I was incredibly excited to get up at make things. And then, I actually did get up. All the problems of my real life kind of piled up and knocked me back down. I am having a down day to be sure--insecurity, career fears, monetary issues--things that we all deal with but I have been having an especially hard time with them this week. It is hard to think about just creating when everything brings up another issue.


After a long talk with someone incredibly dear to me; I got up,  put on my favorite working ensemble and put up my hair. I got out some supplies, turned on Mad Men and got to work on today's projects.


 I was, and am, distracted. I mis-measured some of my fabric because I was thinking of something else. I had to pull out seams because my mind wasn't completely on my task. I struggle to stay in the zone. After a while though, I got into more of a groove. Cutting table, sewing machine, ironing board, cutting table, sewing machine, ironing board...


My seams are not straight. My composition could have been a little better. But I made something. I intend to make more as the night goes on. I have two more days to do whatever I want. I have a huge list of blog topics and an even longer list of projects to work on. My mood is still not great. My mind is still flitting, thinking of problems. But it also thinking about thread, fabric, glue, tag board, and metal. 


Many people say "Fake it 'til you make it." I say "CRAFT THROUGH THE CRAP."

One of my two fabric inspiration boards.
I chose several fabrics that I hope to incorporate into
a quilt. I decided to put it on my cutting table to keep
me focused and inspired.

Sadly, this hair means business.

Four themed fabrics sewn into a panel.

After sewing together and pressing, I wrapped the panel around
the glass of a frame that picked up at the thrift store.

For my second panel, I used an old gilt frame that I also picked up
at the thrift store. It was trickier since it was older
and had last been used for a professional
framing job.

Added it to my inspiration wall near my sewing machine.

Fabrics that I absolutely love.
I am definitely making this into a girly
birdy quilt.