Hillary @Entropy Always Wins was musing about creativity and inspiration. She asked on Instagram, “Where do you find design inspiration?” Hillary is not the only one who has been considering this topic; Michelle @Factotum of Arts also posted in January about Design Inspiration. (I know I am leaving out several other quilting bloggers who have brought up the topic to float around in my mind, so please forgive my lack of attribution.) The bottom line is that design inspiration has been simmering in my mind for a while.
On Tuesday, I spent 3 hours driving to take my sewing machine to a new mechanic for basic service. On the drive, it was just me, my thoughts, and the music playlist in the car. During that time, I realized that I am immensely drawn to music, and in particular I can really get pulled into a song’s lyrics. One song that stuck in my mind that day was Sarah McLachlan’s “Possession”. The lines in particular that spoke to me were:
trying to find an honest word to find
the truth enslaved
I also dearly love writing poetry, although it has been years since I was actively writing. On the way home, I decided to take seeds of inspiration I found in song lyrics to create my own unique poetry in the form of a simple haiku. Once I had derived my own original work, my goal was to use my poetry as design inspiration for a mini quilt.
So, with that seed of an idea fermenting, I confidently told Hillary Tuesday afternoon that my design inspirations were music and haikus. I went to my favorite location to hash out my thoughts even more: my bathtub. The important features there (for me) are the plants, my hot tea, a notebook, pencil, and a relaxing and warm environment. As my Yogi tea bag tag reminded me today, “A relaxed mind is a creative mind.”
The result of my brainstorming and ideas that afternoon led me to create a project series to explore discomfort in my life with the hope that I can reclaim and redefine. I am calling the series “Uncomfortable in My Own Skin: Reclamation Project”.
