i just like to make things.

As 2008 is drawing to a close, I have been quite reflective, reminiscing but also planning for the future. Today was a self-proclaimed Sewing Day, and I continued working on all the presents for my friends at school. I still have miscellaneous WIPs scattered throughout the sewing room, and as I worked I found many of these projects, half finished and rather wrinkled. I finished a bathroom organizer that I had started awhile back; it’s just a basic strip of fabric with pockets for my makeup accessories and such, so that I could hang them on the wall. It just needed a backing, and I added some ribbon strips so it can hold bobby pins. I’m an expert at finishing things much later than I would actually have use for them. But still, I think it’s cute.

I’ve also been working to deplete some of my flannel stash; after making many pairs of pajama pants, I have lots of oddly shaped, but rather large, scraps that I’ve been saving. I intend to make baby blankets out of them that I can donate to organizations that will put them to good use… there’s nobody I’d rather help more than poor little babies. So it’s a double good; not only do I get to drain bits of my stash, but I get to use it to help others. The first two have gone well and they’re fun little projects; simple, flat things without many pieces, but they require thinking since I have limited supply of each fabric and they’re in such odd shapes. I hope to get a few more done before I head back to school next week.

I finished Ben’s plushie on Christmas Eve, and now that it’s unwrapped, I can share it with you as well! It’s a Sackboy from the PS3 game LittleBigPlanet. The game is one of Ben and Andy’s favorites, and the little Sackboy is just adorable. In the game, you can dress him up in all sorts of different costume pieces, which can be collected throughout the different levels. He was hard to make, harder than those before him in the “Christmas plush” series, but he turned out all right.

But throughout this day, as I fluttered between projects, I realized just how much I simply like to “make things”. I scoured the internet for inspiration for new projects while I sat pinning the Christmas presents; I have unfinished projects of every type but I still don’t feel like I’ve got enough to busy my hands. My next project? Some sort of paper punch collage. I’m going to try and find a good shaped punch on sale… my first thought was hearts, but I have a tiny hope that a whale punch would exist? It’s a brilliant idea, simply beautiful, and I am quite excited.

The usual sewing, plus papercrafting, collage-ing, jewelry making, and a poetry project in the works… perhaps this slew of projects will help to quell my neverending desire to create things.