I don’t want to work on that…
Wow! It seems I really struck a chord with everyone last week on my post Stop Hoarding, Start Creating. This week has been one of my most productive and fun this year because I followed my creative inspiration each time it nudged me.
I finished the acrylic painting and moved on to bead embroidery:
This is a small Express Your Love goddess designed to be filled with beads and embroidery thread. Yep, I’ve been working on it since our quilt along in 2013 and I expect it’s going to take quite a lot time to finish.
I don’t often want to work on this panel because it’s so time consuming. I can easily throw a few hours at this project and only have an inch of space to show for my hard work.
Still, every little bit of stitching gets me one step closer to it being done!
I also pulled out the materials in my Quilty Box and created THREE Diamond Path table runners :
But there is a project I really need to work on, but I just don’t want to mess with it. This year I’ve been trying to keep a scrapbook with at least one photograph for every day of the year. I’ve been printing everything out using a mini printer which produces business card sized photographs.
I love having this record of our year. I often forget the fun things we do together and having the scrapbook will be a wonderful way to look back and remember.
But around March I got behind and it’s just gotten worse and worse. Right now I need to print 4 months worth of photos and get them all organized in the scrap book. It feels like an overwhelming, not fun task, but I know once it’s done I will feel very happy and relieved it’s done.
Do you ever feel like this? Like you don’t want to work on something, but if you did, it would be a relief just to have it done?
How do you make yourself work on a project when it just feels tedious and boring?
I’ve decided to put myself in jail today and just get all the photos printed. They don’t have to be organized chronologically in the scrapbook (that will be next week), but they do need to be all printed out.
I’ve done jail time with projects before. This is how I finally finished the ridiculous hand binding on the 365 quilt and how I finished Duchess Reigns this winter. It’s wonderful when your creative impulse pushes you to make something new and beautiful, but sometimes you have to bite the bullet and FINISH the monster project that just needs to get done.
So now I’m off to jail armed with donuts and hot tea. How bad can this be?
Let’s go finish something today!
Leah Day
Rather than pictures, I'm doing a "year of Making" project. It was from an ebook by Kim Werker. basically you just write down every day what you did that was creative. She had exercises to help figure out what that meant for you.
I went on a trip mid-May so that threw me off, but up till that point it really helped me be mindful of doing something creative daily!
I have to keep track because too many days with none means an unhappy me. :/
I am a wonderful started, but not the greatest at finishing. Made it my goal this next winter while stuck in the house to start pulling out all the projects that have a purpose and get them finished.Chris
I love bead embroidery!!! This is a great project! Look forward to the progress!!!
I tried to put together the amount of money I had spent in a year buying fabrics and stuff for my patchwork hobby, and it surprised me how much I spend and how little I actually sew. So this year is dedicated to focus on projects getting finished. Thank you for inspiration to do just that! Lots of energy send your way, Tine (IHorsens, Denmark)
If I have something I don't want to do I tell myself if I do 30 mins of it, then I can do an hour of something I do want to do. If you listen to an audio book or watch a film as well, it will go even quicker.
I think we all have those projects. If I really need/want to get something done that seems tedious, sometimes I can visualize the action itself and get started before I get bogged down in how I feel about it.
If it is a project that always feels like a chore, I reevaluate whether I need to keep going with it the way I had planned. Sometimes I set goals that leave me feeling trapped but if I figure out what isn't working for me about the project and adjust my goals, that can help a lot.
When I was teaching school and had school holidays, I would do just one thing each day that I didn't really want to do. It usually only took less than an hour and the rest of the day was mine.
I was thrilled to read his statement. Also tenhos my black clouds will gradually sending away, away. Also likes to draw and write. This is a way to close holes and heal wounds. In my atelier I feel peaceful, free, light. I always tell my husband that I have artist's soul. Quilt is for me a way to liberation. A big hug and a kiss on the heart.