I Did A Thing, volume 42

One of the best things I did last year was make the decision to switch role and go part-time at work. On a professional front, I have the opportunity to explore a different area of law, as well as a different side of my company. On a personal front, working part time allows me to prioritize my mental (and physical) health, spending time with my family, and space for creative endeavours. Over the last couple of years, I’ve realized that the latter is enormously important to me, not only in terms of personal fulfillment but also in terms of health. My creative hobbies played a key role in keeping me (relatively) sane during the pandemic. They also helped me to re-discover meaning in my life after the trauma of 2021.

What was especially transformative for me (and possible only thanks to many hours of therapy) was that fact that I made the decision to cut back my work hours without planning to take up any compensatory side hustles. I am simply trading money for time. Free time. Free time to do as I choose, to make my life healthier, more balanced, and more meaningful. I can never discount how fortunate and privileged I am to be able to make that decision. It has made my life infinitely better already.

I feel like I needed (and wanted) to address that because you may see an uptick in posts about my art; I always get asked questions about how I manage to find time for art and other hobbies, and I hope this will partially answer that. As a sidenote, I am sad every time I am asked those questions, because it makes me think that other people are having to forego things that are personally meaningful to them because of other priorities. A healthy work-life balance is what I would wish for everyone … but at the risk of veering into broader discussions not fit for a frivolous blog, I better stop there.

Anyway, what’s been happening on the art front?

A lot of embroidery and beading, that’s what.

I haven’t felt called to make stone jewelry lately, so I listened to that and focused my energies on other things. I am exploring a few different themes (and have plans for some additional ones) including the Demeter design for earrings, and my waterlilies series of embroideries. I’m trying to be better about keeping records of my designs for future reference (I used to draw them on pieces of paper and toss them as soon as the design was transferred onto my canvas or felt), so that I can continue to evolve the designs.

I made a few new Demeter-style earrings for people who loved the original ones (they were sold at my art fair this summer).

It’s important to me that no two pairs are exactly the same, so it’s always fun to think of new combinations and permutations.

I also discovered the fun of working with feathers.

This was a prototype pair (the Persephone design) which I made for myself. I love it so much, and I am waiting for another suitable pair of feather earrings so I can make another one in this series.

This was a special pair called “Nishiime” (“my little sister”) which I made for my best friend who is Ojibwe/Anishiinabe. She helped me translate the name; I wanted to choose something that I felt reflected our relationship.

I made some one-offs too.

I also ended up upcycling a couple of necklaces, but this time using embroidery/beaded pieces with a floral inspiration:

Embroidery-wise, I made a couple more waterlily hoops:

The fun is coming up with different interpretations and embroidery techniques each time. I have another one (which will be number 4 in the series) which will be different again.

I made another cactus hoop (second in what is now a series I guess), improving upon an earlier design with more intricate detailing (and some new tricks):

I also made a pansy hoop, inspired by a vintage embroidery pattern I spotted on Instagram:

I chose to deviate from waterlilies with this because I just loved the riot of colours. Working on this hoop, though, really helped me perfect my satin stitch technique. It’s given me some new ideas for developing and implementing other designs that rely on this stitch. In fact, I’m working on a birds of paradise hoop at the moment, which is putting those lessons into practice.

That’s it for now … tell me, what personal projects have you been working on lately? Doesn’t have to be crafty — could be home design, DYI, cooking, reading, anything.