musings on gardening, quilt making and process

Today--I just read a blog post on getting started again after a break. What to do when you've been away from your work and not feeling particularly creative. It got me thinking about process and making things.

Right now it is the perfect time for me to consider this. I home finally--after seemingly endless weeks on the road--doing a couple of craft fairs. A totally different mind set from sewing in my studio. I  feel  I know the New Jersey Turnpike better than  my own driveway.  Ugh!!!  I am so tired-- every bone in my body aches.  How to get going again?

All I want to do is weed my garden. Now--before you think that I'm really strange--let me tell you about my garden. Though I grew up on a farm, my garden is not about food. Sure, I plant peas, lettuce, tomatoes--where will they go this year so they don't get that awful fungus? But mainly I plant  flowers.

Little miniature iris--so tiny and dainty--with vivid intense colors. Just look at little "Bantam Prince"--only about 6 inches tall. Aren't the colors wonderful?

Then there are the forget-me-nots. Actually a bit of a pest.  Self seeds all over the place. It came along with some daylily I bought.  But I certainly don't have the heart to pull it all up.  The  blue  so   hauntingly electric. You should see  the sweep of color at dusk.

Even the older little yellow iris--soft sunshine. Can you resist it?

Later there'll be other iris--Siberian, Japanese--in amazing combinations of blues, magentas, whites--and the daylilies. A couple hundred and the ones I have grown seed. I love the surprises of new colors and combinations.  But I digress.

Right now I just need to be outside. Weeding.  Creating order out of a chaos. Adding some compost. Planting the rest of my peas. Hope--one row at a time. This to me is essential. I can do it without really thinking. Just relax and enjoy. Is it because I grew up on a farm?

Then I'll go buy some more fabrics. What fun. Tomorrow a few potholders--something simple. Fold and refold the fabric. A little hand sewing. Maybe a set of placemats.  In a day or two I'll figure out a new quilt. After all I just got into a show I've never done before in Wilmington, Delaware this summer--more on that later. And I do have a pile of orders.

And you--do you ever have this problem? How do you get back into being creative after you've been away from work for a while?