Moving Towards Journaling

I am a list maker. Long lists, short lists, tiny diagrams with notes. Part of it has to do with having a visual memory. I can remember something I saw in a magazine by the position on the page, and usually which side of the page it was on. Writing something down gives me that visual memory connection, and usually I don't have to look at the list again to remember things. However, I have stocked my purse, sewing box and portable project bags with small notebooks for creative reinforcement.

My library queue has The Artists Way by Julia Cameron on it, which I've read before, and probably should just buy the book. Ideas come to me at any time, and don't always get recorded or acted upon. Last week while quilting a dense but pretty climbing daisy pattern, I realized the design would work well as an applique pattern. In the continuous quilting pattern, the vine, leaves and flowers are all connected, but it would work well with the leaves and flowers floating or just slightly overlapping the vine. Journaling would pull up some of these flashes of inspiration, and help me develop them further.

My project list is mostly sewing/quilting related, and it should probably be integrated with my Ravelry knitting/crochet queue, just for a reality check. Unless I'm working on a specific project with a deadline (for a gift), I let my projects that are worked on guide me, and I'm OK with several things in progress at a time. Usually.

Working on projects that aren't coming out well usually cause a flurry of new project starts. I started a Corded bag last week, which isn't a happy project. I kept telling myself it was almost done, but after a small sample of crochet using the same yarn (Noro Daria which is more of a cord than a yarn), I started a sample with some CotLin yarn, and then purchased Boo the Bat from Mochimochi Land and actually completed all of the parts in one evening. It's my way of putting off ripping out the Corded. Boo is coming out great, so in a way it is encouraging me to make a better finished product with the Daria yarn.

My creative process is often a start in one direction, then turning a different way for an outcome that wasn't expected, but better than the original idea. Journaling will help me make those changes more freely.