Denim Pillow

This is my first real sewing project, done in one day, all by myself! In the learning process, I messed up the first one, but am so pleased with this one. It's made from one of my old shirts.

  

Winnie the Blue Denim Whale

Earlier this year I found a super cute denim fabric whale on the blog Valaan Villapaita. The blogger, Mevrouw Walvis, had no pattern to offer but another inventive blogger Lacey created one here. I shared it with my sister who was eager to try her hand at it.

When I visited her and my Mom in California this March, we devoted an afternoon to sewing together. With one fabric whale already created, my sister Maria helped me cut and sew the beginnings my first whale and her second.

At home again, I worked on some details, including the eyes, but then my unfinished denim whale sat and sat and sat, waiting to be finished. A few weeks ago I brought the main pieces to my revived Sewing Group and the very talented Jodi helped me figure out what to do next and even machine sewed a flap to attach the tail.

This weekend, I decided to devote time to this neglected project. I had already named her Winnifred the Whale, nicknamed Winnie. I added more stuffing and hand sewed the underside of her tail. It’s far from perfect, but the work is done. “Done is better than good,” Elizabeth Gilbert says in her book about creativity, “Big Magic.” Unfortunately, I tend to be a Creative Butterfly, flitting from project to project, leaving a trail of uncompleted pieces in my wake. I’d like to work on finishing products before jumping into a new ones but that often doesn’t happen.

But there’s a real sense of accomplishment when you complete a piece of creative work, whether it takes days, weeks, months, or years. It feels so good to hold the work in your hands and declare it done.

Here’s to finishing all those handiworks shoved to the back burner of our creative interests!

Fluid Art class

Fluid Art is hands down the best art or craft class, in person or online, free or expensive, I’ve ever taken! It’s filled with so many levels and layers and I’m excited not only to do the lessons but also bursting with new ideas.

The above photos show one of my little accordion books holding some of my first “mini-masterpieces.” It's very minimalists but I love it.

Amy Maricle of Mindful Art Studio is the teacher—warm, open, kind, and very present for her students. We have a private Facebook group as well. Although I’m taking the class two years after it was unveiled, Amy and fellow students are encouraging and helpful.

We are working with Golden High Flow acrylics, which is a new paint for me. Up until now, I’ve mainly used heavy body acrylics. High Flows have an ink-like consistency that, with Amy’s guidance, can do amazing things. I was attracted to the class by the wonderful video promo and was hoping it would return me to my first love--painting. It has far exceeded my expectations! Not only am I learning new things, I am feeling different. More enthusiasm. More excitement. More focus. More discoveries. More painting!