The last 10 months my life has been consumed by a new job which while not earth shattering has been super fun. And my studio has sat empty. I work all day creatively problem solving my way through customer service. And my studio sits empty. I wake up in the morning, thinking of ways to be more productive at my desk. And my studio still sits empty.
It's been very fulfilling, and a pleasure and the months have flown by. The work week is filled with one challenge after another. The weekends are time for sleep and recharging. It actually gave me pause when I glanced in my empty studio (all clean btw), to think do I really want to keep quilting? It's been a nice 30 year run - shrug -I could just give it up.
Then, I stopped myself and had a real Moonstruck Cher Moment
This year while amazing can't be sustained. Soon...and it's already starting to happen...I'll get things so together at work that it will start being...ya know...work.
Quilting isn't like that. Art isn't like that. Every piece whether a masterpiece or dog is a new bit of you. There is always something new to learn - to touch - to express. Quilting is a challenge, a lesson in perseverance as well as many moments of quiet. It makes old things new and ties us to many generations of needles and thread. Quilts will last.
I am always very thankful that I got to start when I was 26 and could weather these cycles of creativity. I've learn to give myself grace when I spend months away from my sewing machine. But this grace is starting to turn into season of inertia. It needs to stop.
I'm writing this all, not only to journal it for the future Nina, but for anybody else going through it. I'm hoping this spring will renew my energy and revitalize my passion. It's still there. And so is my studio.
So enough about me....What Have You've Been Up to Creatively?
2 comments:
I feel you!! I gave up quilting in the 2000 due to having kids with activities and rarely being home. Plus I learned to knit and it was much more portable. Then in 2017 I started sewing again and naturally fell back into quilting. Now I own a long arm and can't stop quilting!! LOL. But at times our priorities shift and we lean into other things. Hopefully you won't go into a 17 hiatus. LOL!
I got a new job 10 months ago. It's a killer. I get home so tired that I can barely eat, wash, and head straight to bed. Months passed and I got used to the energy level required by the job and now I have a little bit of umph left to sew. Just an evening or two a week, but it's so good. Having a creative mind is not like quitting smoking. It's in your blood. You might leave the studio empty for a while, but not for long. Although you say you get to be creative at your job (lucky girl), I am not. Working for lawyers is everything but creative, lol. I needed my sewing room as my solace. You too will sew again, I promise. ;^)
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