I'm making progress on the Sea And Sand quilting, really I am. All the blue areas are done and I'm ready to start quilting those gold cross pieces so pictures soon to come. I've had to make some trips into the "quasi-big city" which eats into that quilting time. This week it was for a doctor's appointment. Last week it was for my car to get the recalled airbag replaced, a lengthy process that, with the drive to the dealership, pretty much blew the day. But I always get a walk in, and so stopped at city beach on the way home, where this huge cloud loomed.
I realize I have some links saved up to share so while I myself have little new to show, perhaps you will find one of these a reasonable substitute. If you are into bookbinding at all, then I highly recommend you check out these tips from Kaija at Paperiaarre. I was especially interested in her take on folding signatures - as a group rather than individually. I'd noted the difference she points out myself when making my blank journals and even though it seemed to work better, felt I wasn't "following the rules" and should hang my head. Yeah, I'm a real novice in the bookbinding world and have a ways to go before I truly understand the whys of it and when it may be better to go a different direction. But that's not the only helpful tip so go check it out. At least one of them (don't overwork) can be applied to more than bookbinding.
So are you a journal keeper/writer or someone who has never tried it and think it's not for you? I've journaled fairly consistently since being introduced to it in a high school English class. Prior to that, I kept a diary which is a bit different. More recently I've dabble in art journaling, which combines the visual with the textual. I've found great value in both and do my best to convince the wary it can be a good thing. My fave Austin Kleon is a fan of journaling and some of his pages most would not recognize as journaling but they are. Scroll to the bottom of this post to read what he has to say about journaling (originally given in advice to graduates). In fact, you may enjoy some of the other advice too.
I particularly loved the Lynda Barry quotation there as it describes exactly what happens when one starts putting thoughts to paper, the difference between diary and journal: "The point… is not to record what you already know about what happened to
you in the last 24 hours. Instead, it’s an invitation to the back of
your mind to come forward and reveal to you the perishable images about
the day you didn’t notice you noticed at all."
With my thoughts still mulling the mysteries of journaling, just today I found a lovely long blog post about journaling on Dijanne Cevaal's blog which gives another view of how one may journal and the value of the process. I love these inside looks into an artist's process, and Dijanne's journaling is indeed part of her creative process. She sums it up this way: "So this ramble is a little of how my journals actually are- a place to
explore, discover, test, think, create ideas- and the slowness of the
actual writing or drawing creates somehow greater reflection, and your
brain has time to evolve the ideas, because the slowness of your hand
dictates the exploration - much like stitching really."
Finally, here's something I ran across about motivation where the author, Madisyn Taylor of The Daily Om, refers to an "inner cheerleader" that seems to move some people along. I'd never thought of it that way and it made me laugh. I guess whatever inner voice pushes me along more often takes on a negative tone except when I do have a success and it encourages me to happy dance.
"I've noticed that some people are just naturally motivated whether they are working on their to do list, a hobby, or their career, these people just seem to have an inner cheerleader. It may be a surprise to some of you, but I am not that type of person. I need to dig deep and look in the closet for my inner cheerleader, and when I find her she argues with me. I'm sure I couldn't possibly be the only one that feels this way."
No Madison, you are not the only one and my inner whatever is more like yours I'm afraid, often argumentative. What about yours, dear readers? And now I must get back to quilting. The cheerleader is yelling at me and it's not rah rah rah.
2 comments:
Dear Sheila thanks for your updating, I just finished reading it.
I didn't see your links yet but I liked the shown quotations.
Well, I am in bookbinding for almost 7 years now and well, as I make my living being a librarian, bookbinding is only a hobby and sometimes I let pass several weeks until I decide to make one blank book.
I liked the quotation about the internal cheerleader. Speaking about my job I tell you that, if is not a cheerleader, I have a manager that always says what I must do to improve the collection of the library I work.
Thanks a lot for updating, it is always a pleasure to read your posts!
Thank you, Lucia. Ah, I remember those days when I worked under a manager. Nice sometimes to have that kind of direction, other times not so much. :-) And since I no longer have an outside job but lots of free time, I've found it is sometimes harder than I thought it would be to keep myself on track. As the Olympics begin, I remember previous years watching these athletes excel and thinking how lucky they were to have coaches to guide and push them, and maybe that's what I needed - a coach! Well, now there are actual life coaches out there but I'll just have to muddle along without one. My inner cheerleader will have to do the job!
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