The Second Half

There is so much about January 1 that is important to us. It represents a new year, a new beginning, and (with the right marketing) a new us. Why save all that excitement for one day a year? I hereby announce that July 1 is my new, personal Mid Year holiday. Amid the stifling heat and humidity, it is time to reflect again, reassess challenges and priorities, and start working a new plan.

Where am I now?

• I've travelled for work once or twice a month since the start of 2008. Spring and early summer are the busiest times for me to work my day job as a trainer, but I have no trips planned for all of July and August so far. My work goals for the year so far have been hit and I'm on track for the rest of the year so far.
  
  
• My sewing and patternmaking skills have increased dramatically with my aggressive sewing these past few months. I have a good 15 clothing items in my closet that I wear regularly that I have sewn. I can sew a great dress, and I have growing confidence in tailoring/ shirtmaking, but I've never ever, in two years of sewing, made a pair of pants that fit me well.
  

• I have a huge stash of fabric and patterns. I also have clothing items to refashion. I've been very interested in the concept of refashioning, but the reality is that I've done very little to become proficient in this.
  
  
• I have a wide variety of interests and I know they will all be connected somehow, sometime in this life. I just don't know how at the moment.

My plan for Mid Year:

1. Self-imposed, two-month limitation of no new fabric or pattern purchases. Thrifting is acceptable, as it falls into reduce-reuse-recycle. I will work my stash. Let's see how restricting myself increases my creativity.
2. Take a pants class.
3. Weed out the closet in preparation for Sept 1, when I will focus on sewing for a wardrobe, not just sewing random separates for kicks.
4. Craft more, esp. when the craft projects tie together my doodling, reusing existing items in a new way, and sewing.

I'm incredibly inspired this year by Twyla Tharp's book, The Creative Habit. She writes, "It's tempting to believe that the quantity and quality of our creative productivity would increase exponentially if only we could afford everything we imagined, but I've seen too many artists dry up the moment they had enough money in the bank."

Here's to finding inspiration in new limits and achieving massive creative productivity! Happy Mid Year!