Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Candy Stripers Taught Me a Lesson in Self Awareness

Sometimes we just trudge along and do what's in front of us to do but it feels as if we are trying to run through molasses. I've been experiencing that lately with Glint Gear, particularly when it comes to finishing labor-intensive projects that I'm excited about. 

Now, I've had a lot of other circumstantial things come up that required my attention outside of the fun of Glint Gear that contributed to the "molasses." But outside of that, I had a light bulb go off this weekend when I was resisting working on a gorgeous special order piece. It's turning out amazing. But this particular type of bag requires a ton of production and many hours in the making, and I just didn't have the oomph to sit down to focus and give all the time it requires to complete. 

For about a week, I had been toying with a way to bring more consistency, ease and fun to the rounded-top cosmetic pouches I make using Glint Gear painted canvas scraps and remnants versus reinventing the wheel with the applique design each time I make one. My focus for Glint Gear these past 6 months has been to narrow down the bag types that I make to a handful and begin to bring more cohesiveness. The idea hit me this week to take painted canvas scraps and just do simple wonky striped appliques in a common color scheme on the front of each one. On the back I would sew simple vertical lines in the matching thread color and top it off with a complimentary zipper color.  

I've been working on that special order bag way too long and knew I needed to buckle down and work on it. But what I really wanted to do was play with the new idea for cosmetic pouches. So... I decided to just do one and get it out of my system and then work on the special project. Well, the one turned out SO cute and was so much fun to make that I had to bust out 4 more. And then I was able to sit down and get a nice chuck of the labor-intensive special order done! 

What I realized this weekend is pivotal as I move forward with Glint Gear - when I have a lot of production time ahead of me on one bag and it seems like there's no end in sight to it, I MUST halt production on it and whip out something easy and pure fun like the cosmetic pouches. This way I can feel a sense of accomplishment and get instant gratification. This in turn gives me a second wind for the labor-intensive project. 

So, all that being said, here is the overhaul of the applique design for the cosmetic pouches. They are so fun and cute and are now cohesive. I don't obsess over cutting out the stripes perfectly or try to line them up straight. I cut them out by hand with scissors and arrange them in a pleasing & fun way and whip it together. 

These pouches remind me of yummy pieces of candy, so I'm calling them Candy Stripers. They are here to nurse your spirits and brighten your day just like they do mine when I'm creating them. Which flavor do you like?


 

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