Green

Today's inspiration is Green

Green is the colour of freshness, newness, spring and nourishment.

More recently of cleanliness, ecological awareness, caring and kindness.

These are my pea shoots, pea green and sprouting fiercely with rain and sunshine to feed them.  In turn they will feed the earth that they spring from and so help grow more green.

Grass green, bottle green, British Racing green.  

Mint green, sea green, sugar almond green.

How many greens can you see?

i-365 inspiration on Pinterest

Tabard

I'm itching to sew something.

I've been sewing projects for other people recently and I want to sew for me now.

I've had an idea for a tabard for some time, since October I think.

A simple shirt-weight denim tabard embellished with vintage lace and large pockets across the front.

A modern day version of the artist's smock.

Roomy pockets for pens, scissors, hair-bands and handkerchiefs.

Something to slip on over whatever I'm wearing to become my minds eye artist.

i-365 inspiration on Pinterest

Blocked

Today's inspiration is Blocked

I've not posted here, I'd be halfway to hell if the way there was paved with good blogging intentions.

I've been working full time on another project for the first two months of the  year, it came to fruition at the beginning of March and since then I've been regrouping and working out how to move forward creatively.

I made this image a while ago, it was how I was feeling at the time.  It isn't that I am blocked of ideas it is more that I am blocked with ideas.

I read somewhere that all it takes to start a project is five minutes.

Five minutes, count them on the fingers of my hand; five minutes to start something and when you've started you keep going.

It's a nice idea and chimes with the many projects I seem to have on the go, sometimes the most difficult part is sitting down and starting.

So while I may not be posting an idea a day I am definitely un-blocking myself five minutes at time.

i-365 inspiration on Pinterest

Blank

I have a day without inspiration.

A blank

There are of course things I could find, I had an idea but the image I wanted was taken on my phone and out of focus and I'm too tired to create anything else.

Which isn't to say I've not had a good day, I've had a very productive day, I just haven't made time to think about inspiration.

And I suppose that is a part of the challenge that I've given myself to make time everyday to feed my creativity and there will be days when I don't manage that, today was one of them.

Today was "blank"

i-365 inspiration on Pinterest

Community

Today's inspiration is Community

Last night I was thinking about community, about being in fellowship with other people.

Fellowship found through common interests, common friends, or even common technology.

This morning I spotted my daughter's wobbly toys, she's decided she doesn't like them in her room so they are now in my room, she rearranges them each time she walks past.

A small community or wooden exiles.

I wonder what they are planning?

i-365 inspiration on Pinterest

Week 1 round up

At the end of my first week of blogging my daily inspiration and ideas I would like to share with you what I have created this week.

• A heart shaped cushion embellished with lace and buttons.
• A miniature heart embroidered with the letter "a"
• A school pinafore for my daughter with pockets and button details.

I hope that sharing my ideas inspires you to play and create.

Grey

Today's inspiration is Grey

Grey, so many incarnations; silver grey, blue grey, dark brooding cloud grey, Lady Jane Grey.

Grey is the colour of shadows and hints, it has a reputation as an in-between colour, suggesting it is neither black nor white but shades of grey.

Grey is the colour of subtlety. 

i-365 inspiration on Pinterest

Pockets

Today's inspiration is Pockets

Because where else would we keep our secrets?

Our neighbour gave us some pyjamas for my daughter and they have this lovely heart shaped pocket on them.

I only noticed when cropping the photo that the pocket is cut on the cross of the fabric adding a lovely contrast detail against the main fabric of the top.

What do you keep in your pockets?

Coins, hair-pins, tissues, pebbles, shells, phones, bus tickets?

All of life finds its way into a pocket. 

i-365 inspiration on Pinterest

Secrets

 Today's inspiration is Secrets

We all keep secrets, big ones or small ones.  

We might hoard them like treasure or we might whisper them on the wind to carry like exotic seeds to new lands.

When I looked for images for my i-365 Pinterest board for Tuesday's prompt of scale, there were many worlds created in miniature that they reminded me of Alice in Wonderland or Gulliver's Travels.

What secrets do we keep?

What worlds do we create?

Buttons

 Today's inspiration is Buttons.

I love buttons, I hoard them, I cut them off old clothes and save them, I buy up boxes and bags of them at car boot sales and second hand shops.  

The right buttons can add a touch of elegance or a wink of quirk into an outfit.  I particularly like buttons used as embellishment; bags and broaches heavy with buttons used as if precious stones. 

Scale

 Today's inspiration is Scale.

I woke up and wanted to make some tiny embroidered hearts.  

I imagined an alphabet made of tiny hearts, a bowl of miniature lavender filled hearts, a garland of impossibly small hearts.

Yesterday as I drafted the pattern for my daughter's school pinafore I thought of giant buttons on the shoulder tabs, the kind of quirky detail that makes you smile when you see it.

Playing with scale can add a subversive twist to our designs and transform our creations.

Pinafore

Today's inspiration is Pinafore

My daughter starts the spring term at pre-school in a few days, last term the teacher's suggested I get her trousers instead of her skirts as they are easier to manage on and off.

I don't really fancy making tiny trousers so I thought a pinafore would do the job just as well and they can act as practice patterns for prettier non-school dresses too.

I think I might also make a work-pinafore for me, with big front pockets that I can easily collect pens, scissors, tissues, phones, hairbands, etc in through the day.

Hearts

Today's inspiration is "hearts"

 I woke up thinking about them and in particular hearts made of buttons.