Inaugural Post - Why I Sew

Hi there,

Welcome to kindred crafters. My friend Sara and I decided to start this blog as a way to facilitate our own discussions about crafting. You see, we live several provinces apart, and chat several times daily, via email, about what we're up to, what is inspiring us, and what we'd like to try next. Crafting has really brought us closer as friends, and these emails about crafting have been peppered with tales of our respective family lives, work lives, and everdayness.

So . . .we thought that maintaining a blog might make this easier and more fun. I'm a newbie at crafting, in general. Sara is an old hand, and has proven to be my mentor. I have found SO much inspiration online, and have seen evidence of a real community out here, that I'd like very much to be a part of. So this is our foray out there.

I thought a good way to start would be to record why I sew. I sew because:

1) It's fun.

2) It makes me feel useful.

3) I have a real sense of pride when I hear my two year old say "Mama sewed it."

4) I see a new community of women gathering online and in real life over sewing, creating, crafting, and it excites me.

5) It's so very fun.

6) I am constantly inspired by what I am seeing online and at craft shows.

7) Sewing is a skill that I see almost immediate improvement in my skills, which is very reinforcing.

8) I get great satisfaction with finishing a project. I'm a bureaucrat by day and sometimes it feels like things never get DONE, ya know? Sewing things at the end of the day makes me feel like I have accomplished something.

9) It has brought me closer to Sara, which has been most awesome.

10) Did I mention it's the most fun?

Why do YOU sew?

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This week I made a few dolls, based on a pattern provided by Emily Martin, of the Black Apple, on the Martha Stewart Show. My daughter, who is 2, will be attending a birthday party for her cousin this coming weekend, and was in need of a gift. When I came across the pattern online, I figured it looked manageable for a sewing newbie like me, and it really was. My decision to attempt this was cinched (and the work was doubled) when I showed Margo and she said "and for me, too?". One doll became two. I learned quite alot whlie sewing these dolls, and think that I improved on my original with the second doll. I LOVE that about sewing. I feel it's a skill that will continue to grow and push and stretch my abilities and interest. There is so much out there I want to try!

So that's it for me. We both welcome any and all comments, and are both so looking forward to sharing with one another and other kindred crafters.

- Donna