CREATIVE KICKSTARTS

kawandi style quilt in hand painted fabrics

Sometimes it can be hard to get back into the swing of things at this time of year. Here in the Northern Hemisphere with the cold days and dark nights all many feel like doing is hunkering down in cosy jumpers and eating cake.

No? Just me then!

I get slumps in my energy levels at any time of the year. Sometimes I am tired, or my attentions have had to be focussed elsewhere. At times like this it is hard to get back in the flow of things.

Over the years I have developed a few strategies that help me to ease myself back into things.

small kawandi quilt

If you are finding it hard to get your mojo going right now maybe some of these activities can help.you too.

slow stitched kawandi quilt

MY Creative kickstarts.

  • Playing in a sketchbook/notebook.

  • Spending some time on another creative pursuit.

  • Playing with my stash.

  • Making a scrap busting project.

  • Looking at UFO’s.

  • Taking an online workshop…

  • Taking part in an online challenge…

landscape quilts

What you see here are the results of first playing with my stash and attempting to make a kawandi inspired quilt, seen above.

After completion I wanted to use up the scraps and so I put together these small landscapes. They were started at least a year ago, maybe longer, but just this month I picked up the unfinished one and added the stitching on the water and stitched the edging.

using scraps to make a landscape quilt

All together these activities ticked playing with my stash, making a scrap busting project, and looking at UFO’s.

improv landscapes in fabric
how do you paint fabric

Joining an Online challenge.

These are the fabric pages I have collected together in order to take part in Ann Woods 100 day stitch book challenge.

After taking part in The 100 Day Challenge last year I had no intention of attempting it again, but when I saw Ann’s instagram post the thing that struck me was that it is very doable.

15 minutes a day slow stitching on one page, ending in a 20 page book.

This is very much up my street. My first page is almost complete and I can see how easy it will be to keep it going.

If I miss a day I am happy to spend more time the next day to catch up.

Take a look here if you would like to join in.

I will be sharing my progress over on Instagram but that is not compulsory.

Following are a couple of some other kickstarter projects that I have undertaken for myself.

making small ladscapes

SEE THIS HERE.

Plus links to more scrappy, stash busting.

SEE THIS HERE.

This covers spending some time on another creative pursuit.

I would love to know what you do to get yourself out of a slump, creative or otherwise!

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