So, I had a big deadline. Last week, quilts were due for the Empire Quilters Guild show. I knew I wanted to submit two quilts, but I didn't have anything around that I felt was worthy. So, the crazy in me came out and I decided to create two quilts *from scratch* with six days to the deadline. Now, before you say, "not possible," I have to tell you that the only thing you have to have ready by the deadline for this particular show is the quilt top. It doesn't have to be completely finished. Still a ridiculously hard task, but much more doable, right?
Despite the coughing and nose blowing, I managed to make the deadline with two, largely uninspired, mostly finished quilts.
Just a week later, my brain has been ticking and I am already kicking myself for some choices I made because I was rushing. I have been able to make some adjustments and changes and I'm hoping that it will all work out, but I am reminded that you can't force creativity. Sometimes you just need time. Time to sit and stare at it. Time to just be frustrated and let it simmer.
Stay with me here as my brain wanders…
One of the things about being on a scrapbooking design team is needing to create on a timeline. And not only needing to create on a timeline, but needing to do it with certain supplies.
I remember the first time I got a bunch of stuff in a design team kit that I just *hated* and would never have chosen for myself. It was a tortuous process to deal with it. I just stared and stared at the kit. And I thought about it as I rode the bus and stood in line and before I went to sleep. I let the kit sit on my desk for days until the deadline was looming over me and I *had* to make something. And it ended up being easier than I thought. Because, I had given myself time to think it over.
I have a friend who is a playwright and her husband once said that she writes her plays in a matter of days. She corrected him and says that she writes her plays over a series of months. It's just that she only sits down at the computer for a matter of days. She spends months working the characters and the plot over in her mind. And it isn't until she's truly ready that she sits down to write.
Some lucky quilters have design walls, like the beautiful one seen here. It's a blank space where you can hang fabric and just let it stare back at you. No commitment to hours of sewing. Lay it out and think on it. Other artists have inspiration boards – bulletin boards that they fill with colors or designs that inspire them. Why put it up in your creating space? To give yourself time with it. Even just peripherally.
As a kid, whenever I had a bad day, my Mom would say, "Go to sleep. Everything will be different in the morning." And she was right. Sleeping on it usually works for me.
I think that's my problem with all the advice the scrapbooking magazines give you for "finding time" to scrapbook – 15 minutes here, 15 minutes there. Yes, sometimes that works. But for the most part, feeling forced to be creative for 15 minutes is a self-defeating idea – at least for me. I like having time to screw up and fail and get frustrated.
I know that sounds weird.
But it's human nature. We don't change unless we're forced to. And sometimes I need to push past the easy choice or the obvious choice and find something new and fresh on the other side. And I need time in order to do that.
Georgia O'Keeffe once said, "To see takes time, like to have a friend takes time." Perhaps advice to all of us when we're stuck – walk away. Take some time to let things percolate. Plant the seed and then let it grow.
First when I started reading this I though, mmmh- no I’m fast, but actually no, is not true. When I get something to do for on a deadline, for example a kit, I unpack everything, lay it out and think of what photos and stories would go with it, then I get a bunch of photos and lay them on the pile too – and leave it all for a day or two. And then it hits me -LOL. The only thing is that I guess because I work at work ALWAYS on deadlines – I’m never really getting to close to the deadline. Mhhh – and maybe studying law also make me talk and write too much 😉
First when I started reading this I though, mmmh- no I’m fast, but actually no, is not true. When I get something to do for on a deadline, for example a kit, I unpack everything, lay it out and think of what photos and stories would go with it, then I get a bunch of photos and lay them on the pile too – and leave it all for a day or two. And then it hits me -LOL. The only thing is that I guess because I work at work ALWAYS on deadlines – I’m never really getting to close to the deadline. Mhhh – and maybe studying law also make me talk and write too much 😉
First when I started reading this I though, mmmh- no I’m fast, but actually no, is not true. When I get something to do for on a deadline, for example a kit, I unpack everything, lay it out and think of what photos and stories would go with it, then I get a bunch of photos and lay them on the pile too – and leave it all for a day or two. And then it hits me -LOL. The only thing is that I guess because I work at work ALWAYS on deadlines – I’m never really getting to close to the deadline. Mhhh – and maybe studying law also make me talk and write too much 😉
First when I started reading this I though, mmmh- no I’m fast, but actually no, is not true. When I get something to do for on a deadline, for example a kit, I unpack everything, lay it out and think of what photos and stories would go with it, then I get a bunch of photos and lay them on the pile too – and leave it all for a day or two. And then it hits me -LOL. The only thing is that I guess because I work at work ALWAYS on deadlines – I’m never really getting to close to the deadline. Mhhh – and maybe studying law also make me talk and write too much 😉
Thoughts from last week’s entry on art and scrapping and where they meet? Julie, I had to share this quote from The TEN YEAR NAP by Meg Wolitzer. “There had been a time in the world when art was art and craft was craft, and everyone knew the difference. Art could be spotted right away, because the real thing was rare and gave off a particular sheen-and also because the artist could usually be found lurking nearby, anxious to know what you thought about “the work.” But craft was all over the place, splayed out on folding tables at country fairs, or on drop-sheeted floors of houses and apartments where children were in residence. With art, you might be said to have a good eye; with craft, mostly what you needed were hands.
Roberta Sokolov had both.”
I don’t know if that relates for you, but I wanted to share. Hope you feel all better soon…you crafty artist!
Thoughts from last week’s entry on art and scrapping and where they meet? Julie, I had to share this quote from The TEN YEAR NAP by Meg Wolitzer. “There had been a time in the world when art was art and craft was craft, and everyone knew the difference. Art could be spotted right away, because the real thing was rare and gave off a particular sheen-and also because the artist could usually be found lurking nearby, anxious to know what you thought about “the work.” But craft was all over the place, splayed out on folding tables at country fairs, or on drop-sheeted floors of houses and apartments where children were in residence. With art, you might be said to have a good eye; with craft, mostly what you needed were hands.
Roberta Sokolov had both.”
I don’t know if that relates for you, but I wanted to share. Hope you feel all better soon…you crafty artist!
Thoughts from last week’s entry on art and scrapping and where they meet? Julie, I had to share this quote from The TEN YEAR NAP by Meg Wolitzer. “There had been a time in the world when art was art and craft was craft, and everyone knew the difference. Art could be spotted right away, because the real thing was rare and gave off a particular sheen-and also because the artist could usually be found lurking nearby, anxious to know what you thought about “the work.” But craft was all over the place, splayed out on folding tables at country fairs, or on drop-sheeted floors of houses and apartments where children were in residence. With art, you might be said to have a good eye; with craft, mostly what you needed were hands.
Roberta Sokolov had both.”
I don’t know if that relates for you, but I wanted to share. Hope you feel all better soon…you crafty artist!
Thoughts from last week’s entry on art and scrapping and where they meet? Julie, I had to share this quote from The TEN YEAR NAP by Meg Wolitzer. “There had been a time in the world when art was art and craft was craft, and everyone knew the difference. Art could be spotted right away, because the real thing was rare and gave off a particular sheen-and also because the artist could usually be found lurking nearby, anxious to know what you thought about “the work.” But craft was all over the place, splayed out on folding tables at country fairs, or on drop-sheeted floors of houses and apartments where children were in residence. With art, you might be said to have a good eye; with craft, mostly what you needed were hands.
Roberta Sokolov had both.”
I don’t know if that relates for you, but I wanted to share. Hope you feel all better soon…you crafty artist!
your ideas really resonate with me. i need time to “percolate” also. thanks for putting it into words. and i bet the quilts look great:)
your ideas really resonate with me. i need time to “percolate” also. thanks for putting it into words. and i bet the quilts look great:)
your ideas really resonate with me. i need time to “percolate” also. thanks for putting it into words. and i bet the quilts look great:)
your ideas really resonate with me. i need time to “percolate” also. thanks for putting it into words. and i bet the quilts look great:)
Love your blog entry about taking the time to “mull things over”. I find myself doing that often. And I’m a BIG believer in “things will look different in the morning…” That is SO true!
Love your blog entry about taking the time to “mull things over”. I find myself doing that often. And I’m a BIG believer in “things will look different in the morning…” That is SO true!
Love your blog entry about taking the time to “mull things over”. I find myself doing that often. And I’m a BIG believer in “things will look different in the morning…” That is SO true!
Love your blog entry about taking the time to “mull things over”. I find myself doing that often. And I’m a BIG believer in “things will look different in the morning…” That is SO true!
Great post! I love the way you think – I can relate so much. I think I am going to try laying things out and mulling them over too. Sounds lovely.
Great post! I love the way you think – I can relate so much. I think I am going to try laying things out and mulling them over too. Sounds lovely.
Great post! I love the way you think – I can relate so much. I think I am going to try laying things out and mulling them over too. Sounds lovely.
Great post! I love the way you think – I can relate so much. I think I am going to try laying things out and mulling them over too. Sounds lovely.
very thought provoking post. I tend to just jump in without little planning and hope for the best. Maybe taking a little time to sit back and mull things over would help me love instead of kinda like my creations
very thought provoking post. I tend to just jump in without little planning and hope for the best. Maybe taking a little time to sit back and mull things over would help me love instead of kinda like my creations
very thought provoking post. I tend to just jump in without little planning and hope for the best. Maybe taking a little time to sit back and mull things over would help me love instead of kinda like my creations
very thought provoking post. I tend to just jump in without little planning and hope for the best. Maybe taking a little time to sit back and mull things over would help me love instead of kinda like my creations
But time is so hard to find nowadays. Thanks for pointing out how important it is.
But time is so hard to find nowadays. Thanks for pointing out how important it is.
But time is so hard to find nowadays. Thanks for pointing out how important it is.
But time is so hard to find nowadays. Thanks for pointing out how important it is.