I'm trying to get out more, be more social. It's hard for me, when I've got so much going on at home and in the studio that I'm happy and excited about, but I am also recognizing in myself how isolated I can become - even when it's for something I love to do.
When you have these tiny kids and you are choosing to be at home with them, you are also making this choice that your daily life contains a very tiny group of human beings in comparison to the rest of the world. I remember days when I felt like the only mother alive with two kids and a dirty kitchen and a pile of clothes I never got to wear anymore because the stay-at-home uniform was jeans, gumboots and an apron.
For me, knitting and sewing came as a need for sanity, a need to be doing something other than hanging diapers on a line and cleaning up sparkle glue. I started to get creative with the small pieces of time I could get to myself and it gave me a huge sense of satisfaction, that I was contributing in some way that felt artistic... it was like I was contributing to myself.
And now with kids bigger and busier and more independent.. I find more time to do the things I love, the anticipation of thinking about how I want to do something, or how this might look cool motivates me to get downstairs and work on these things...
And I get lost in it in such a fantastic way. Quilting and dyeing and knitting gives me this stuff to think about, to use my brain and work things out and discover - and LEARN, constantly. Getting busy with materials has saved me from boredom and given me a lot to think about.
I'm on this edge of seeing another side to things, finding patterns and colors in different ways and different places than I'd expected to. And that's exciting. But like everything, like someone who works too much or overloads themselves with classes and homework or simply doesn't ever come up for air, I too have to remember to balance my act. Get out. Like out of the backyard and into conversations with people. See my friends and go to shows and do different things. I'm proud of the work that I do, but I need to remind myself to put down the work sometimes, it will be there when I get back.
