Threads of life

Another busy week - WHERE does the time go?  I spend a considerable amount of time - while i'm doing other stuff - wondering how people have time to make so many things, even if they have full time day jobs ... I have a part time day job which takes up most of 3 days a week - the other 4 days I can more or less spend doing what I like, but there is so much to do!  I left full time work 3 years ago for various reasons, and I really don't know how I would manage to fit a full time job in these days.  I have known people who say "I have to work full time otherwise I would be bored" .. How can this be?  There is just too much to do in life .. how could a person ever be bored?

Much of my 'spare' time is spent on Sew Curvy - the website/advertising/admin and ofcourse packing and sending orders.  The rest of my time is spent in various amounts attending to the garden, my 4 lovely hens, the allotment, my son now in his GCSE years,  cooking - no processed food in this house, Mr Marmalade, dog, home/housework, soap making,  and sewing, not necessarily in that order.

Sometimes I have coffee/drinks/cake/social time with friends.  And I also like to fit in some 'craft networking' by way of blogging, tweeting, and workshops/demo's at local sewing related establishments.

I have always been creative, but when I stopped full time work and took a year out, I had time to delve deeper into my creativity than I have ever had a chance to do .. In hindsight, there were so many opportunities open to me, that I am not really sure why I returned to 'the office' - I suppose if I didn't 'get out' by going to work, I would quite easily and happily stay indoors sewing all day, every day .... I think 'work' is good for me such as it is.

BUT ... All I want to do is stay indoors, sewing all day!  A day in my ideal life, might go something like:

• get up early
• take dog on long walk through woods and fields 
• return from dog walk via allotment to tend/harvest for a while
• on return from walk, have breakfast, do housework/domestic duties etc.,
• from 12.00 midday, sew, create, design.  Things on my making list : ongoing creation of my own stylish wardrobe, 'green'/alternative wedding dresses, corsets.
• finish around 5 (but more realistically 6), cook tea, relax...

As far as my work with Sew Curvy goes,  if possible, I would like to branch out into bra kits.  I like encouraging people to be creative, to explore.  That is my motivation behind Sew Curvy.  To be honest, the suppliers are 'difficult' and sometimes I wonder if it's worth it, but then I get lovely comments from my customers, and it does seem more than worthwhile.

But really ... I want to make things.  That's what I want to do.  And Sew Curvy takes up alot of my 'making time'.

Last weekend, I was at a shop in Oxford doing corsetry demonstrations.  I do workshops there too - dressmaking, corsetry, pattern cutting.  It's exhausting, but ultimately extremely satisfying and so interesting to meet all the different crafty people.  While doing my demo's  I met a lady who makes lace - also doing demo's.  AMAZING!  No wonder it is so expensive!  Maybe one day, I will commission some hand made lace, for a special hand made corset ... ahhhh dreams!  

So many bobbins to shuffle with the two main 'workers' which keep the weave together and define the pattern.  So many variables to choose from, and yet such order required to get it right.    It reminded me of life.  We have our anchors, and around them we arrange our threads, shuffling them with the constants, the ones which keep it all together, and and we weave the fabric of our lives...

I am really interested to know how other people fit in their creative time?  Is your creativity a compulsion? If you don't do it, do you get bad tempered and/or depressed? How do you make sure your life is balanced?