i feel overdue for an update about how my year of making is going – mostly to keep myself on track as my brain slides easily from one thing to the next. i’m also getting more ideas for blog posts, but still trying to organize them in my head and on the screen. meanwhile i’ll share what things i’ve been making & working on lately.

this past week it felt much harder to stick to this commitment to making every day (**note to self: that’s why you made this commitment! don’t give up!). some of the days i worked on something just for five minutes, just so i could say i did something that day. one day it was a few tiny short rows of weaving. another day i un-wove some of those rows because i was getting bored with the direction of the piece and needed to change it up. (hmm does unmaking count as making???). other days it was working on some hand lettering for the calendar i’m working on.*

more words next time. for now, here are some pictures:

above: progress on the neon warp weaving. i am not super in love with this one, but sometimes that can change later. so i need to weave on, weave on.

below: some of the calendar pages. i’ve been enjoying practicing and playing with lettering.

above: one earring. i heart hoops.

below: tracing from an iconic & beloved book, for inspiration & use in a future project. can you guess which book?

below: a finished weaving, ready to be hung on a piece of driftwood.

as you can see, i’m all over the place. i’m thinking a lot about the word ‘focus’ and how one does it.

i’m also still exploring how to be a maker while maintaining a full time job and career that uses a lot of my energy and resources and well, my self.   when i had two weeks off for the winter holidays, i came up with grand plans for myself to systematically learn and grow this second career over the course of the next year.    i am still thinking about that a lot, and finding lots of great resources and listening to some inspiring craft & art business podcasts while i commute to and from my job.    but i’m also giving myself permission and compassion for the days & weeks when i can only do 5 minutes of making, no matter how much my studio is pulling on my heart strings.    sometimes that really gets me down, not having the time that i would like to have to fully explore my creativity and see where it takes me.    so i’m also working on shifting that, instead of getting down about what i’m not doing, to really enjoy and savor what i am doing.

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

sara

*every year since i met my sweet man, i've made him a calendar. this one is year #5.