evolving style

After not sewing for a few days, I went back to it today. I was digging through more of the fabric piles and I found two projects that were half finished. They were vests for me. A few years back, I thought I would make a vest for each month of the year to fit in that month's decorating theme/season. I had one for June in a sunflower pattern and one for July in a 4th of July pattern.

I took out the two vests and looked at them for a minute, and decided not to finish them. Wearing vests isn't really my style and I wasn't sure they would fit anyway.

For the first time EVER, I decided not to finish a project, and I didn't feel bad about it. I hadn't sewn the lining to the fabric yet, so I cut out as many squares for fabric blocks as I could and then threw away what I couldn't use.

Slowly but surely, I'm going through my fabric stash and making decisions what to do with it. Many of the projects I will still finish. There are more for me to start. They may not go to the person they were originally intended to, and maybe I will use some of the fabric for something other than what I originally bought it for. I've also added the option to simply not finish the project and to cut up the fabric into squares for blocks or other projects.

Deciding not to finish a project doesn't mean I've failed at something. Tastes change over time and maybe that project doesn't fit who I am anymore.

A few months ago, I went through a folder that had pictures I had cut out of magazines. These were pictures of decor or craft projects I thought I would like to do. I threw out almost all of them because they just didn't fit my style anymore. A few were of paint projects that I just wasn't interested in doing anymore. I'm not a painter. I can't paint a doll to look like it has a real face. I can't blend colors to look shaded or make things look real. When we were getting ready for one of our moves, I gathered up all my paint supplies and gave them to the Relief Society. I decided there was no reason to keep the paint when I wasn't using it.

Lately I've been thinking I want to revamp the decorating in my house, especially my kitchen. I'm not talking about giving everything to the DI and starting over from scratch (although that would be fun). Rather, I'm trying to look at everything with fresh eyes and try to imagine using things in places other than where they've been. Just because something's always been in my kitchen doesn't mean it needs to stay there or stay in the same place. I'm not quite sure what I want to do yet, so I'll be taking some time to think about how I want things to look.