My New Normal

I miss this space.  My sewing room is not occupied by me often enough.  I get it now.  I get why people have been amazed at my "productivity" with sewing as I've raised little kids.  I wrote this post maybe, largely, because I felt a wee bit defensive.  (When people are so incredulous that you have a hobby that takes longer than five minutes and you have young babies- surely you must be neglecting something or someone crucial...)  But seriously- I get it.  Lately, when I look at a project I completed in years past, I feel a bit amazed that I made it and I wonder how I had the time...

When I had my first son, in the weeks of his newborn-ness, I literally thought I might sell all my sewing supplies because I couldn't imagine being able to get back to it.  Funny, right?  My hands are so much more full with three little ones.  Moving across the country has also thrown a wrench into my routine: I am still trying to make friends and be involved in the community and socially, I can't afford to not be a part of MOPS, a book club, the PTO, the local modern guild....  

Speaking of MOPS, some members had a craft/bake sale and ten quilted coffee cozy's were my contribution:

I had a fun time pulling scraps for these.  You might be able to tell I have a pink/green/yellow WIP going on right now.

I have a finished baby quilt to share tomorrow for a baby shower that's on Saturday.  I recently read an interesting book about habits: Gretchen Rubin's Better than Before.  She outlines four personality types when it comes to habits and within her framework, I quickly identified myself as an "obliger." I meet outer expectations and fail inner expectations.  This is why, lately, when time is so scarce, I am succeeding at getting gifts and projects with a timeline completed, while my personal projects with no due date are dormant.

It's all good!  I am not trying to whine- but I miss sewing and getting things done.  I hope to figure out ways to fit more of it in because it's SO good for my soul and mental health, particularly as my life has become so much busier.

Here's a quote from a great book I just read, Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert:

I firmly believe that we all need to find something to do in our lives that stops us from eating the couch.  Whether we make a profession out of it or not, we all need an activity that is beyond the mundane and that takes us out of our established and limiting roles in society (mother, employee, neighbor, brother, boss, etc.).  We all need something that helps us forget ourselves for a while--to momentarily forget our age, our gender, our socioeconomic background, our duties, our failures, and all that we have lost and screwed up.  We need something that takes us so far out of ourselves that we forget to eat, forget to pee, forget to mow the lawn, forget to resent our enemies, forget to brood over our insecurities.  Prayer can do that for us, community service can do it, sex can do it, exercise can do it, and substance abuse can most certainly do it (albeit with god-awful consequences)--but creative living can do it, too.  Perhaps creativity's greatest mercy is this: By completely absorbing our attention for a short and magical spell, it can relieve us temporarily from the dreadful burden of being who we are.  Best of all, at the end of your creative adventure, you have a souvenir--something that you made, something to remind you forever of your brief but transformative encounter with inspiration.