Five Professions

I'm injured, and stuck doing things that keep me off my feet. It's torture. But it means that I have time to post.
Last night a group of friends had dinner together and one asked us "If you could be anything in the world, even if it's totally impossible, imaginary, or ridiculous, what would you be? Name 5 professions you'd choose." My immediate thought was "Impossible! I can't think of anything! I like what I'm doing ..."
One friend answered that it would have to be something creative, because the act of creation is inherent in him (us all?) and it's the most fulfilling. To create and to have an audience learn/grow from that creation. I couldn't agree more. For him, it was music. The idea of being able to write beautiful music. And to teach. To give others the tools and inspiration to go out and create for themselves. Again, I was in total agreement. But for me, it's visual arts more than music (though the idea of being able to express myself in music sounds not only impossible, but amazing!). And so while teacher was on the list (which I took a bit far by saying I wanted to be a divine goddess/teacher, but hey, we're fantasizing here, right?), I also said I wanted to paint, to paint the most beautiful, inspiring, life-altering paintings ever created. Why not aim high!? Also on the list, an architect/city planner. I'd love to design and build communities that are thoughtful, truly communal, practical, whimsical, beautiful, smart. And finally, I want to study animals and learn to communicate with them.
And while this was an exercise in fantasy, I almost shamefully admit that there's a small part of me that thinks I could actually do this stuff. But I better get busy

Inspired!

Not so long ago, a friend shared these amazing coats with me. I fell in love, and my craving for one of those coats was crazy-huge. I told myself, "No matter the cost, I totally will get one, because they're amazing, and I deserve it, and the artist deserves to be selling these like mad." And then I saw the prices, and changed my tune entirely. Well, not entirely. She still deserves to be selling her coats like mad. Just not to me, because that's mad amounts of money. I can't do it.
It's the same sort of thing that happens when I go into Fiona Bleu, my most favorite store (and the owner is THE NICEST guy) in Morro Bay. I always say to myself, "Hey, it's probably a good idea to buy some art. I want to support these amazing artists, and I want some amazing art on my walls. I bet they could do some layaway for me." And then I go in there and think, "Hm. That's more money than I make in a year. Maybe not." But then I leave the place all crazy-inspired, and totally ready to start making art myself.
So, yeah. Those Katwise coats did it to me. But I don't have the skillset (or the right tools!) to do something like that. So I thought. Just yesterday Mother Earth News shared this book on their Facebook page (coincidence? I think not!) So I checked out The Sweater Chop Shop on Amazon and decided that maybe I could do it. Maybe I should try. It looks like just another huge mess I could make, no? Ah, but it would be pretty fun.

don't let me forget about these

What a simple thing. I could totally make something like this, and I am going to. Later. When I don't have so much else going on.

Oh, I do love the accessories

The purses are coming out really awesome. Every single one has something I adore about it, and something about it that sucks. The process of learning how to best assemble them is really not going as smoothly as hoped. For one thing, the smaller purses are very difficult to sew; it's like they require a very tiny sewing machine to fit inside the opening to topstitch that final seam. In my first attempt, I hand-stitched it, since the machine was just too cumbersome. But hand-stitching is too time-consuming. Another problem I encountered is my own darn brain. I went ahead and finished the purse before inserting the magnetic snap. Which meant that I either had to undo everything, so I could reach in between the lining & the outer fabric, or I had to sew on a little regular snap. I did decide to sew on a regular snap, but that turned out badly as well, since it really is important to sew through the stiff stuff sandwiched between the outer & lining, but important to not sew through the outer. In any case, it looks sloppy now, and I'm sad because in all it started out as my favorite purse, the most professional looking and pretty.

In case making a gajillion purses wasn't enough stuff to do, I got all inspired talking with a friend and want to make hats, too. I bought a pattern for some hats from the goddess of everything (I don't know what else to call her!) -- Amy Butler. Her fabrics are beyond belief. And I have to admit, I often wanted to be a wrapping paper designer growing up. More so than anything else, but I never voiced this desire, because I didn't really believe there *was* such a thing. But I still want to design fabric, wrapping paper, wallpaper ... anything with repeating patterns. And I know I'd be really good at it, but I have no idea how one goes about that sort of thing. Anyway, as it is, there are too many other things I am digging doing right now, so I will just let that one be on the back burner a while.
Whoa, that was a ramble. But see, Amy Butler's work kinda does that to a person! For more inspiration, check out her inspiration page ... full of beautiful photos and links that will get your creative juices overflowing!

The pattern I got is similar, but not exactly like the hat I really want to make. But I have never made a hat before, and am hoping that after doing several of these, I can edit the pattern to be closer to the hats I want to make. I'm fairly certain that this pattern will teach me the basic construction of a hat, and I'll be able to go wild with my own designs. The same thing happened with the purses. Now that I understand how it works, I am editing each one a little bit to be more like what I envision. It's really quite fun to learn something new this way.