Where's your sewing mojo?

January is a strange month and to be honest I'm always glad when it comes to an end. I'm not wishing my life away but I love February for it's shortness and for me, it's a month of expectations. Spring is around the corner, the hours of daylight are beginning to noticeably stretch out and I get a month off paying my council tax (and next month too, woo hoo!)

So, where is your sewing mojo this February?

Did you do so much sewing to prepare for Christmas and the winter, that you've now lost that enthusiasm somewhere amongst the bad weather? Or is your passion for your craft shining through the storms? Have you made anything this week?

February is a great time for crafting: the weather is still not the best so we can justify staying in and getting on with it; it's still Winter so making a wintery project is still interesting to us; nature, as Spring approaches brings with it great colours to inspire us, and we can start using the fabrics we have left from previous summers to stitch up beautiful items ready for the summer to come.

Look at this Magnolia tree in bud against the blue sky of a February day.

Don't just look at it and pass on. Look at it and see...

• The potential - will these flowers be bright pink, pale pink, or the beautifully typical white of the species?

• The promise - despite, or even because of it dying back during the Winter, this tree will soon be resplendent in it's glory and may even blossom twice in the short months until is dies back again to rest next winter.

• The reality - sky is most often blue - only the clouds get in the way.

• The inspiration - how many colours can you see? I see blue, brown, grey, black, green, pink, white, red.

  
  

What else can you see in this photo?

Do you have a piece of fabric in your stash that incorporates all these colours?

Or, even a fabric that is the same as your favourite colour in the picture?

If you do, why not dig it out, choose a small project and make it today? It'll do wonders for your mood and your sewing mojo.

Now, having looked at the photo, have a look in your own metaphorical mirror.

Don't just look, look and see...

The potential - in you, as a stitcher and a person.

The promise - the more you do, the better you get and the more passionate about your craft.

The reality - you can do it!

The inspiration - the encouragement from people around you, the colours in everything you see, the patterns available to you, and the imagination within you.

If your mojo is right up there with you - great! Keep going, stay creative and enjoy every moment.

If your mojo has gone into hibernation, here are a few tips to get you going again.

• Set yourself a small goal - I'm going to do some sewing! For example: some crumb quilting; a small quilt block you can add to later; a tiny pouch; a coaster; some EPP, or other hand stitching maybe. It needs only to take a few minutes. Choose something small so you finish quickly and get that sense of achievement.

• Set aside a specific time to start, and don't let anything (within reason) stand in your way.

• Take inspiration from wherever you can. Sit a while with a coffee and browse: the internet; Facebook, e.g the albums in Lizzy's Creative Friends group; a magazine; a pattern collection; a photo album. Anything!

I find, if I choose a project I love, even if I've made it lots of times before, I get inspired by my own actions. I don't have to work hard at it because I'm familiar with the pattern. It doesn't take me long because it's small and easily achievable. It gives me the feeling that I want to make something else.

Motivation waxes and wanes for all sorts of reasons, that's life and perfectly normal.

Look again at the photo of the tree - a few frames ago the picture would have been so different - just a melee of dead looking branches, as the tree rested a while. It does us no harm at all to rest or take a break. Look at the results the Magnolia tree gets, after a short period of no growth, no generation of flowers, and little admiration in it's own mirror. However, it very soon becomes a dramatic display of beauty, just like your next project.

Wherever your mojo is, make February the month to shine creatively. You've got this!

See you in March.

Happy Sewing.

Kath x