For now, however, I am surrounded by projects that captured my imagination once and demanded that I begin, but somehow lost their charm or momentum. And here they are, vying once again for my attention; begging me to notice them or make them whole, and, in some cases, actually flirting to make me remember why I loved them in the first place!
Knitting projects...
Crochet projects...
Quilting projects, both large and small...
Some of these creations will come into being after all. I am in love again with their color or texture and I will finish. Some will take on a new life and become something I never even dreamed of when I started. But a few of these items no longer appeal to me. I've changed my mind about the colors. I no longer need a 'whatever-the-heck-that-was-going-to-be'. Or, maybe the person it was intended for is gone and it breaks my heart to look at it. The projects I will not complete will find new homes; I will contact my crafting friends and see if these little unclaimed orphans can come and be with them instead.
I think cleaning out my craft studio is like walking through my memories. I regather what is good, and useful and lovely. I set aside what I must keep, but can't quite cope with right now. And I learn to forget what is ugly and does me no good to hold onto. It is like forgiveness; forgiving myself for my bad taste or poor color choices. Accepting that I cannot succeed brilliantly at every task I set for myself, and letting it be okay that I "failed".
This time I will not chatise myself for procrastination, or waste of money, time, talent and closet space. This time I will let the UFOs bring me peace. This time I will look into the face of these 'things almost finished' and I will boldy say, "Take me to your leader!"
hi aimee b! just stopping by to let you know that you won harper's birthday giveaway at inspired mama musings :) yay!! please e-mail me with your mailing address and i will get this little owl print coloring wallet on it's way to you monday morning.
ReplyDeletethanks a bunch for your sweet comment ♥
xoxo,
erika
InspiredMama@msn.com
the ufo's are... beautiful!!!!!! It's true-- looking through them is like walking through memories..I kind of think that if something isn't finished, there's a reason. maybe we dont know it yet, but there is! xoxooxoox
ReplyDeleteso glad you like my ufo's. i am determined to finish a big ol' stack of them before i start anything else.... we'll see if that works! thanks for stopping by!
ReplyDelete<3 aimee
I dream of having a UFO week...gathering women and their rubbermaids full of UFOs at our farm, with food and adequate coffee/tea/wine to work all week...wouldn't that be an amazing feeling? Because a lot of my UFOs are actually lovely...but I just ran out of steam, or like a magpie, my eye was caught by some newer project! I love that crocheted afghan...the colours are beautiful. And thank you for your comment on my post...it takes a bit of vulnerability to write about stuff like that, and I feel like you got it!
ReplyDeletei want to live in a cobweb cottage by the sea!!!
ReplyDeleteI think as a artist we always have projects that never get finished. That is just the way it is when you are a artist. We sometimes lose our passion for a project.
ReplyDelete-Zane of ontario honey
I often dream a UFO fairy comes in and finishes my UFOs but then I wake up and I'm so sad it isn't true. I too have far to many UFOs, my most haunting is a blanket I started for my mum last year and it 's still halfway .I hope to get the willpower to finish it as Its my xmas gift to her.
ReplyDelete