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Rediscovering my creativity

The title says it all… I’m really rediscovering my creativity! As kid I loved to do all sorts of crafty things, with my greatest passion for drawing. When I went to high school I stopped with most of these, except drawing and I loved our arts classes. In my last two years of high school I was not allowed to choose drawing as a subject anymore, because I already had biology as an extra subject (which I loved too). So.. I quit. Not deliberately of course, but other activities gradually took over. And then I went to university, more specifically Industrial Design, where I hoped my creativity could bloom again.

But there was something awful for me about some of the projects: no real freedom in designing! And some projects simply were not close to my heart. After one year of Industrial Design I felt I was failing at begin creative…! Within two weeks of realising this I made the switch to Biomedical Engineering. Now, almost six years later, I’m working on my graduation project. :) Thanks to this switch I’ve learned that I also really love diving into mathematics, chemistry, biology, physics and trying to creatively solve engineering problems. But I did not create tangible objects for years.

And I’ve missed it without realising it! Last week I showed you my first hand sewn critter, the squirrel plushie, and a clay creation of a little giraffe. And I told you I bought my first sewing machine (a little cute machine from IKEA), which I was going to try right after posting the previous blog post. I did. I LOVE LOVE LOVE IT.

Three little squirrels. The small floral and the bigger yellow
squirrel are machine sewn, the little black cutie,
called Lightning, is hand sewn. :)

I made another small squirrel, a pink floral one and yes I was still too stubborn to start with a larger beginner’s pattern. To be honest I kind of botched it, but still cute, right? ;) Another try for a squirrel, this time a little bigger and OK, I admit it.. it makes it a little easier (or is it because I became more used to my little sewing machine?). The third squirrel is the one in yellow polka dot with some blue. This one turned out reasonably well (only one ear failed), although I don’t think it’s the best fabric combination ever. ;)

I unpacked my sewing machine last Thursday night and immediately started on the pink floral squirrel and stuffed it on Friday morning (took the day off). Right away, I started the bigger squirrel which I finished somewhere in the afternoon. I then remembered I forgot to buy a present for a housewarming that evening, so I figured I could just make something, ha! Sooner said than done, I also made three little hearts. Please excuse the bad quality photo; it was late and I made them with my phone right before giving them away. :)

All this sewing wasn’t the only creative thing I did this weekend. I also used the FIMO polymer clay again and created a little monkey and a Mippo pendant!

It’s just awesome to see these kind of end results and being able to hold them in your hands. When I’m confident enough, I might just add some of these creations to our shop… :) but for now it’s still my mom’s creations! We sold one of our little giraffes this morning too, so what a great day! :)

What should I make next? On my sewing to-do-list is already a fox (pattern here) and an aardvark (I plan to make this pattern myself). On my FIMO clay to-do-list is a cat, Mippo earrings and some cute buttons for some of my mom’s creations. What would you like to see me make next? :)

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