Life updates and creativity renewal

So hi. It’s been quite a while. I’m not going to do the thing where women profusely apologize for not doing everything when people honestly are not bothered. But suffice to say, I’m glad you’re still here, even when I wasn’t.

These last few months since the beginning of the school year have been really, REALLY hard. Transitions and change are really hard for me in general, as a black belt level control freak.

I know that typically, when I go back to work in August, my sewing life gets put on hold while I adjust to my new schedule. And then in the first few months of school, my job situation deteriorated from being damn near a utopia to a full on waking, micro-management nightmare. So I quit my job and started another one. And had all the “I don’t know how any of this works here, and also where is the bathroom, and why do the lights keep turning off” discomfort. AND THEN my landlady abruptly asked me to move out of my apartment/sewing studio. Then Northern California caught on fire (we’re fine and were not too near the fire area). And they shut off all the power in the entire county for 3 days, which created a weird pseudo-apocalypse scene on top of everything else.

To jump ahead, I’m fine. I have a new artist studio for my sewing space which I’m totally loving. (The apartment I share with my boyfriend isn’t big enough for a sewing space. And for a number of reasons, including the brutal Bay Area housing market, it doesn’t make sense for us to move to a bigger place.) But all that to say that in the span of about 3 weeks I lost both my work home and my creative home, and had to start both from scratch.

But it was a lot. It IS a lot. And it’s taken me a long time to start to feel like a whole person again, instead of just being in emotional survival mode.

I’ve definitely still been sewing. But now I need to figure out a photo set up, since I lost my private outdoor spaces when I moved. I’m having a lot of fun playing around with some studio lights, and have a backdrop on the way. So fingers crossed that will work out. Until then, I’m getting a bit more comfortable with the idea of bothering other people to take photos for me. And more comfortable doing that in public spaces (even though I kind of cringe every time someone walks by).

I’ve planned some posts and new makes to share. You can see my whole enormous list of unblogged makes in the photo at the top. I’ve finally figured out my 2020 Make Nine list and will share an update on my 2019 list soon. (See my 2018/2019 Make Nine here). I also have a whole list of goals for 2020, and a 10×10 capsule wardrobe I’ve been working on. Mostly, I’m so excited to feel my creativity come back. And I can’t wait to share it with you all.

If you’ve made it this far, thank you. I love being part of this little online family. Seeing everyone else’s makes during these rain-cloud months has been like a life preserver, slowly pulling me back to shore. It’s so nice to be home.