Motivation to sew or Make your own Chickadee

Since moving to Seattle, work has been rather inconsistent, and at times sparse. Going from many years of working full time, carefully planning my time off to maximize travels and new adventures, balancing out some relaxing time with friends with a new found love for the outdoors, to having so much free time on my hands was quite an adjustment. I realized that my new found hobbies, mainly involving pilates, running, rock climbing, hiking, snowboarding needed to be balanced out by some less physically demanding ones, to give my body a well deserved break. I sort of stumbled into knitting, not too sure what to expect, and after a few missed trials, I was 100% hooked. Still, days were going by, and I wasn't too sure what I was accomplishing. I started this blog to hold myself accountable to somewhat organize my free time, to be productive and push myself to try new things, to learn new techniques. Some days I'm amazed that I can express myself in English, which I learned later in my life, and some days I struggle to find the right way to express what I want, or wonder if this word that's coming to me truly means what I think it does. I struggle with photo composition and light, but keep trying, excited to learn and better myself. I still have days were I feel a little lost, a little unfocused, but most days I feel thankful for the balance I'm lucky enough to strive to achieve in this new life.

I wish that sewing came to me as easily as knitting did. I still feel hesitant and apprehensive, more likely to put a project on hold than dive into it. I need to hold myself accountable to push myself to sew more, so here it is, I'm telling all of you, this week will be a quilting week. No more excuses for this start of a quilt that has been sitting aside since October. It's happening now. I'm taking over the kitchen table, we'll eat at the counter or on the couch, and I will quilt. To help motivate myself, I have a few new shiny toys, a result of my last visit home.

My mom's friend Diane made me this wonderful little sewing station. I adore it. I was so touched that she thought of me and sent me one. It now has a place of choice on my desk. My parents also sent me a beautiful sewing box, from Merchant & Mills, available through Purl Soho. It is perfect. 

Now that I'm well equipped, and now that you'll be expecting to see some finished projects, I have no excuse. To show my good faith, I made my own chickadee, using this adorable Make your own Chickadee fabric I found at my parents' house, printed with the chickadee and sewing instructions. Somehow it remained unmade since 1978, and I'm sharing with you the chickadee only, since the pattern and print together is copyrighted. To keep with this sewing theme, I decided to use mine as a pin cushion.