"An ounce of action is worth a ton of theory."
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

I love being in school again, but I find myself CRAVING fabric, needles and thread. Funny thing is, after having been immersed in brushes and paint, drawaing pads and pencils, and a LOT of Adobe Creatvie Suite these past six months, fabric INSPRIATION has been elusive.

Today, cleaning out my school bag in preparation for summer classes (photography, typography and visual dialogue), I found a gazillion blind contour drawings-- many of them of my hands, which were unfailingly nearby when I needed something to draw. Even though these drawings are out of proportion and wonky (and maybe even BECAUSE they are), I like them! I like the freedom they represent. Nobody expects blind contour drawings to LOOK like what they are and that quiets the noisy little critic in me.

Inspiration hit! I grabbed my grubby, plain art apron and started transferring the hand drawings onto it. I find that both using a light table and drawing directly on the fabric, and using embroidery transfer paper to trace designs work quite well for this purpose. The plan is to fill the surface of the apron with these drawings and embroider them in a rainbow of colors. My fingers feel so happy to be stitching again, and the experience was a reminder that sometimes finding one's inspiration is as simple as just BEGINNING.