Creativity MIA

One thing (of many) that depression steals is creativity.  I enjoy various creative outlets like knitting, crocheting, sewing, scrapbooking, and photography.  But when my depression flares up, I have little interest or energy to work on projects, even when part of my self really wants to. So instead of posting pictures of all the amazing things I have made lately, because I haven't, I thought I'd show some ideas of what I would like to make:

 Vintage Sheet Quilt

I've been collecting some vintage sheets and pillow cases from garage sales, thrift stores, (and my parent's house!) for a while now. This would be my first quilt; should be fairly easy because it's just squares, no complicated pattern.

Knit Leaf Cravat Scarf

More of these cute knit dish clothes (I've already made one and I really like how the pattern turns out)

Christmas Tree Ornaments

Knitted Pears

I'm also 4 years behind on my scrapbooks! I've had my supplies out on the dining room table for a few weeks now, and work on it as my brain will allow, which isn't often.  Some day I'll get caught up.

I continue to have some good days and some bad days; but hoping that I'll feel well more consistently as August is gone and we approach fall. I love fall! Perfect time for taking lots of pictures!

(I'm having problems with new layouts with blogger, I don't know why some of my descriptions are not lining up correctly - they look okay when I'm typing them - but I'm not going to figure that out right now!)

Finished Projects

I finally woke up my sewing machine from it's winter hibernation (I hadn't sewn anything since mid-December). I always have plenty of ideas for things I want to sew, I just haven't had the energy or motivation to start something. Besides which, my sewing machine is in our basement, where I don't really enjoy being during the winter.

For Christmas I made my parents each a fleece keyhole scarf; my Mom's in a Chicago Bears fabric, and my Dad's in a golfing fabric. My Mom requested another in Chicago Cubs fabric (now you know something about my parents!) and that was good motivation for me to sew something again, little as it may be.

I had seen and liked patterns for knit keyhole scarves (sometimes called neck warmers), where you pull one end of the scarf through a small hole on the other end, to keep it around your neck. But I thought fleece would be softer, and easier and quicker to make, so I searched all over trying to find a sewing pattern. Having no luck, I decided to wing it and make up my own. They actually turned out okay! This is the newest result:


this is a short scarf; it's great to even wear around the house during a cold, midwest winter, report my parents


close-up of the keyhole - like a huge buttonhole


modeled by Isaac, because he's a much cuter model than I am!


My newest favorite knitting and crocheting projects have been cotton dish cloths. They're the perfect type of project for me - quick to make, practical, and a good way to learn a few new stitches.



crocheted - and in real life is more red than pink; didn't get the light right for the photo



These were both made from Lily Sugar 'n Cream cotton yarn. This yarn is inexpensive, easy to find, and comes in tons of colors, but I've decided that I don't really care for it. It's a little rough, not very soft to work with. So I began a mission to find 100% cotton yarn that I like better and isn't horribly expensive. I found a couple options, and am working on two new dish cloths. I'll post those when I finish them.


knitted - this one took much longer to make, but I like it better