New Rule

I am not allowed to buy craft supplies!!!

(At least not until after I move sometime late next year. Probably longer.)

A really awesome store near me (http://www.whollycraft.com/) is starting a pay-as-you-go craft supply closet. They are currently accepting donations and in exchange are offering $5 off a class this summer. I don't usually find their classes compelling (my basic skill set is large), but I might consider taking one for the company while working on a project. But I digress.

I went through some of my craft supplies to find ones I can give away. This is a perfect opportunity to destash. As I was pulling things to put in the box, I was struck by

1) The junk I am still unwilling to part with.
2) How inspired I am by what I have.

Hence, the conclusion that I have plenty of fabric, etc. already, and if I want to go shopping for craft supplies, the best place to do it is in my own stash! Especially since I am finishing up my degree in the next 18 months and will almost certainly be moving across the country. I do not want to move any more stuff than necessary, so I have decided not to buy more craft supplies, unless I need something specific to finish a project in progress.

Some version of this rule came into being a while ago, but I have still acquired quite a bit of stuff since then. Supplies for projects to be started immediately were declared exempt, and I suppose supplies for gifts still will be. I also have a lot of crafty friends, and sometimes they give me lovely stuff, and that clearly doesn't count. Oh, well, it might be hopeless, but I can try.

On a related note, I think I understand part of why this happens. I have a lot of projects I could do, but I feel pressured to make practical items of clothing. This is because my wardrobe is rather small (due to judicious culling and Goodwill donations) and bland (due to a focus on buying items that match everything). The solution to this is NOT to make all my clothes. The point of sewing is to enjoy it, to experiment, and to be inspired. Also, I can't make clothes that fast, and I'm not that good at it. The correct solution is to go to Goodwill more often and buy more clothes (preferably clothes that don't need alterations, because let's face it, I'm not that good at alterations and they take forever, thereby filling fun sewing time).

So, to recap:

1) Do NOT buy more craft supplies.
2) Have fun sewing.
3) Buy more clothes.

Flaming Wombat

A few years ago, my sister went on a cruise, where she played a lot of Bingo. One of here prizes was a Princess Cruises embroidery kit, which she gave to me. I like to keep my hands busy, and this was a fairly portable project, so I figured I'd stitch it. It had flowers and some lettering that read "Princess Cruises". I liked the flowers, but figured I could come up with some more interesting, less corporate lettering. 

"Flaming Wombat" seemed appropriate. I'm convinced that at the time I started sewing this, I had a friend who was in or had been in a contradance band with the name "Flaming Wombat", but she denies ever having been in a band with that name, and no one else remembers. At any rate, I think the phrase "Flaming Wombat" is far too clever for me to have thought of it on my own.

Recently, I've become interested in embroidery and also the idea that mending is "making something more beautiful". So, when I found a small hole in my shirt, I put a patch on it and embroidered it with a blackwork flower. That's when I found out that my system of keeping bits of embroidery floss in a box with a bunch of odds and ends resulted in a big, tangled mess (go figure). So, I added a lining to my newly embroidered pouch, complete with pockets and a scrap of felt for storing needles. Now, I have a little embroidery kit. Honestly, with all the colors and possibilities, it feels like a new box of Crayola crayons.

Central Ohio Weavers Guild

I've been thinking about joining the Central Ohio Weavers Guild. I don't weave, yet (I think it best not to rule out any fiber-related activity), but they have a large contingent of people who spin. I'm still new to spinning, but I've gotten to the point where I want to start learn new things and improving my technique, rather than simply making stuff that more or less resembles yarn. I want to be good at spinning, so meeting more advanced spinners seemed like the right course of action.

Yesterday, COWG had a "Spin-in", and I dropped by to meet them and see if I would fit in. I parked next to a car with the license plate "SP1NNER", so it seemed I was in the right place. Brought my wheel to finish plying some of the singles from before I started spinning with intention. Learned how to Navajo ply on the spot. Getting a three-ply out of a single strand is pretty exciting. If I can learn that much in an hour of hanging out with other spinners, I think joining this guild is a very good plan.

BarnHeart

Over the weekend, I read the book Barnheart by Jenna Wonginrich. It is a memoir of a twenty-something with no background in agriculture who desires a farm. And rather than waiting for some distant future in which she has sufficient capital to *poof* a farm into existence, she starts building it now. I loved this book and its message not to wait for some amorphous future, but to start fulfilling your desires now, especially since there's no reason not to start learning now. [This description is awful and sounds like it was written for a second-grade homework assignment, but the book is written by someone with skills and a sense of humor.]

Coincidentally, the seeds I ordered for my garden also arrived this weekend, which is good, since this book gave me an itch. The first year, we lived in this house, we tried growing a bit of this and that, and ended up with a pitiful year. The next year, I decided to focus on just growing lots of herbs. Now having had success with the herbs, I'm going to branch out a little into a few vegetables in a mixed bed using a permaculture technique. Not sure how this will go since we only get partial sun and the landlord apparently likes to spray all non-garden, non-grassy patches with weedkiller. I'm working on building a new layer of organic material in the area by decomposing a large pile of leaves, which I water diligently to get the moisture up. Maybe with the warm winter it will be dirt by spring.

By the way, "barnheart" is a term the author coined to describe a disease that starts out with the desire to get a few chickens and progresses into the realization that it would be even better if these chickens were on a farm with some sheep and a tractor. I, however, am not in danger of having this disease. All I want is a large garden, a few fiber rabbits, and maybe a sheep (I really want a sheep).