Someone Call the Mechanic, I've Stalled!!!

Yup... I've stalled... Broke down... Constantly pacing and jittery as hell... Once again I think I've taken on too much (flexed my brave muscle a little too hard), and I think I've burnt myself out leading to another era of depression... Yipee...Now I can feel myself starting to withdraw from the world, and everything is getting that much harder to do again...

Thankfully, some things are wrapping up for me, so I can relax a little bit (hopefully), and get back to what I truly enjoy. Creating!! I got turned down from another store, which really didn't help the terrible week I seem to be having (lots of family stuff going on right now).

But, even though I'd much rather just lie here and wallow, I'm standing up again!! I'm taking the weekend off from thinking about money, or making money with all my cool stuff, and just create. For some reason (don't remember why), I didn't sign up for the market this week, so I have an open weekend ahead of me. I can catch up on sleep, relax, sketch, paint, write, and do whatever I want!

You know what this is?! SELF-CARE!!! Once again I've neglected self-care, and didn't say no, even when I probably should of, and everything just piled up on me. So this weekend I'm digging myself out of all the crap I've buried myself in, and just chillaxing. Maybe I'll go Market Shopping for next year? Who knows!! I am for sure living this weekend on a whim.

I'm also thinking of removing shipping charges for my Etsy shop, just to get myself going!! I've started my Facebook page and finally actually invited people to look at it. And speaking of Etsy, I totally just revamped, re-priced, and removed all shipping charges. Just to get me started. I JUST WANT THAT FIRST SALE!!!!!

Ugh... Anyways, I guess I'm not in as huge a slump as I thought, but I have to say I'm incredibly excited to not have anything to do this weekend. I'll probably do a few sketches, and for sure start sewing a larger bag together for etsy. It's not as big as I originally wanted (ran out of yarn and REALLY need that first sale to keep putting in money), but it's still a lot bigger than my purses/clutches. It also has multiple woven strands of different colours as well.

Oh!!! I also figured out how to weave really neat patterns on my loom. ...some of them I don't like, checkers and diamonds... But I think I can really do something cool and this kind of feels like the next step for it.

So, I wouldn't say that life is looking up, per se, but I have experienced some interesting new techniques that I'm pretty excited to try.

Ciao for now!!! Talk soon!!!

Me weaving in a historically correct outfit:)

My loom on display (and my crazy Mom and Aunt touching it when the sign says not too:P)

A Needle over the Edge

Well folks, I finally snapped! First, I was trying to figure out how to sew a historically accurate skirt for my dress. I figured that to speed things up on such big seams I would use my sewing machine.

Backstory on this, I was sewing another outfit back in January and I broke a needle on my machine at pretty much the same time I ran out of my good thread. So, I managed to find another needle and some more thread, both second rate and kinda crummy. But it was the night before a big event and I needed the outfit. Chaos ensued. I wasn't sure at the time of it was the needle or the garbage old thread I was using. Well, now I know it WASN'T THE THREAD!! I have now come to the conclusion that I need a new needle for my machine (after half an hour of playing with the tension of the machine, the bobbin, and just about everything else). It was in this time I completely snapped. I yelled, I screamed, and I may have done some damage to the pieces of material for my skirt...

Anyways, long story short, I but the dogs in their kennel and went for a walk to the library to pick up some books I have on hold. Turns out Wednesday is the one day a week when it closes early! Ugh!! So, if I couldn't calm myself down by wandering around books, by God I needed chocolate. To 7/11 I went.

Then it hit me, meditation. I was so all over the place from stress and frustration I needed something to bring me back and center me again.

I've been playing with meditation for a little while now, and so far I've had some really good results with it. Lacy Young is the genious who introduced me to this. I had been curious about it for some time, but didn't really know where to start. So, while listening to my favourite podcast, I finally got some clarity. Lacy was featured in one of the New Years Resolution episodes, and it was love at first listen. Ever since then I've been scouring her website (link above). She has soooo much good, free (my favourite price:D) content it's unbelievable. Her guided meditations are to die for. This is what I've been using for my inner peace lately.

So, the moral of this post I guess, is keep breathing no matter how frustrating life gets, and find something that gives you some peace. It may not be a crappy sewing machine needle that finally sends you over the edge, but if you're not careful something definitely will.

Ciao for now!!

P.S. These are some wonderful pieces of art I cranked out after I calmed down😊