I'm back today with some works in progress. It's been quite some time since I've posted. My mother lost her long battle with cancer in April. Since then I just hadn't gotten into my craft room much. I've had special orders and little things to get done here and there, but the full out creativity to make new things just wasn't there. Partly because of the busy schedule we keep with 3 teenagers, but also, for the first time in as long as I can remember, I spent a lot of time just doing nothing. And that is not me. I'm not a chair lounger or idly lay in bed kind of person. I like to keep busy with projects. I have to believe there is a correlation between my loss and my behavior. My mom was rediagnosed with cancer late 2019, which means she went through the bulk of her treatments during the Covid breakout. Because we couldn't be together much we spent a lot of time on the phone. I talked to her every day for hours. I also sent text pictures of what I was working on. For a long time I just didn't have it in me to create. Maybe because I couldn't share it with her. Anyway, I really didn't mean to unload all of this in my post. I just wanted to say something about my long absence.
On to today's WIPs. I missed the last two shows I was planning on doing, due to getting nothing made. The next one I'm hoping to do is Labor Day weekend. For this one I am planning on bringing mostly Christmas merchandise. So time to design new things! I was given some small rusty buckets. I thought making some funky trees to have "growing" out of them would be fun! I drew up a tree and made it come to be.
I'm never certain if my paper pattern will come out right once it's sewn out of muslin. The tree was a happy surprise. I liked the look once stuffed and painted. The finished look will come later on. In the pic below there is an extra thing on the tray...
Last year, I was working on a new snowman design. I had quite the time getting it right. When you draw out a pattern, it may look good on paper, but once you transfer it to fabric, sew it and stuff it, it can look completely different. Here are some of the tries I did to get my design right. Mind you, in the end I got the look I was going for, these were just the rejects.
Today when I was making my Christmas tree design, I mixed up some green paint. My cast off snowmen were sitting near by. This is where lightning strikes... These funky dolls would made great Frankensteins! One down, 4 to go.
In the end, it feels great to get back at it. I needed a respite I suppose, but now I think I'm ready to move on and bring my creativity back out.