If I Do Something...

It's very strange having a child move back home. That's not something I've experienced before. Guess, I'm growing up again. While he has a lot of things for one room, it's not a tremendous amount in terms of the moving time required so by dinner time Kyle was mostly back in his room, had requested a specific dinner, and had invited a friend over for dinner and a movie afterward. It was all very normal except for the comments on how clean the house smelled... the anticipation of sleeping in his own bed again... mentioning how fun it would be to cook in a kitchen with spices... and enjoying a large jug of milk... and... and... and... apparently a different child has moved in. So interesting.  Have you had a child (young adult) move back home? Any advice?

I have wrongly and unjustly accused some nameless, faceless person of stealing my garden ornament when all along it was buried under a taller than I thought pile of now melting snow. You can just see its fin. The garden fish was never gone, just hiding. Bad me!

Of the three sweaters bought last week, the hand knit one is being left for a different project and I'm using the blue and green ones for my version of the magazine inspired patchwork sweater.

Here's the page in Altered Couture again in case you missed the picture only mine will look way different because while it's inspired by this article, it's also inspired by a RTW sweater I tried on at a dress shop a week ago, and by the purple cardigan with frill I sewed in fall 2010 which was in turn inspired by...

... this frilly grey sweater from Winners. In attempting to find a picture of my purple version, I realized that I have a LOT of pictures that still need to be sorted. More work but work that would make things easier to find. It's amazing how many pictures you can take and how quickly they can get out of hand. Do you have a picture system? Does it work well? How?

Pictures aside - here's the pile of chopped up sweater scraps. The green and blue sweaters are from the pile above and the grey and dark blue sweaters were originally from my husband's closet and lately from my stash. Two lengths of grey yardage and one of purple yardage were added to the mix. I think that's enough to work with.

Starting can be the hardest thing. If you do something, you have something to respond to. If you do nothing, you have nothing. Last night, I serged together a few squares for center back. I've started and now I can keep going. I'm using black thread simply because it was already in the serger and it worked with the fabrics. There was no need to make things more complicated.

My friend Barb reminded me that I hadn't posted a picture of the finished purse. Here it is on Millicent. This is B12-1 - such an exciting label - the first of the to be sold bags. Several of my friends have asked for business cards because when they wear their purse, they receive inquiries about where to buy one. Once I have 6-10 of each - bags, bracelets, and necklaces - I'll set up my website with gallery pages and links to purchase and give them cards to give out. SO EXCITING.

This video is twenty minutes long. It's SO WORTH the time, at least it was for me and I think it would be for anyone who wants to be creative. It's about showing up and doing the work and a new (but actually old) way of looking at creativity that takes the pressure off of self. We don't need to be innately talented or creative geniuses. Our role is to show up and do the work. That's such a valuable step. I've discovered through showing up that we learn to do the work by doing the work.

Elizabeth talks about what comes next after having written the phenomenal best seller Eat Pray Love. She talks about her own fears and the ones others dump on her, about how she feels those fears but isn't willing to cave to them. That's something I struggled with - I'd ask myself what possible thing could I do next that would be as wonderful and fulfilling as the thing I was doing that I absolutely loved that has ended. Guess what. It's the very same thing, new version.

For Elizabeth, she's a writer. After writing a bestseller, her job is to continue writing no matter where that leads. I'm a maker. My joy is in the making of things and in the sharing of how those things were made. Whether those things ever become phenomenal best sellers - or not - my job is to make them and to share the lessons learned.

I've taught that lesson - do something - for years in my workshops and even so it took me a long time to apply my own lesson. If you do something, you'll have something to respond to and if you do nothing, you'll have nothing to respond to. So simple. The truth often is. You know how I circle. I may need to learn that lesson again but for now, it is good and enough.

Talk soon - Myrna

Grateful - for vulnerability and sharing so that we can learn from each other.

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Personal Growth - In the video, Elizabeth shares a story of a poet who occasionally lost a poem because she wasn't ready to do the work when the words came to her. She talks about the poem rushing through her in search of another poet. If I do something, God will work with and through that something. If I do nothing, he'll have to find someone else to do "my" work. That's MY work. I need to show up. Do the work. Leave the results in His hands. LET GO!