Monday, April 14, 2008
:diversions:
Does this sort of thing ever happen to you?
The other night, about 8pm, I was in the middle of doing a little bit of research for a writing project and needed a book which was out in the studio. So I went out there, and sitting on top of where aforementioned book was on the shelf, was a wooden bowl full of self-cover buttons where I’d abandoned them. On my first go at self-covering buttons, I had tried to use a thick embroidered linen and hadn’t had much success. I had given up and shoved the bowl on the bookshelf in disgust and then pretty much forgotten about it.
So I’m standing there and thinking “Oh that’s right. Fabric buttons. I wonder if I tried again with thinner cotton if I’d have more success.” At that point I should have put the bowl down and gone back inside with my book, but did I? No. I sat down at my desk right then, searched through the fabric stash to find some I thought would make sweet buttons and got to work. Of course, having read the instructions properly this time and used the appropriate materials - the first one worked like a dream. At this point a sensible person would have gone back inside to their original task. But no, instead I sat there, playing and making buttons until two and a half hours later, it was way after bedtime and I had a little stash of fabric buttons which are sweet, but which I made for no particular project and for which there was no urgency. Fraser, already in bed, said “Where did you go? I thought you were getting a book.”
Err - yes.
Unfortunately this is not an isolated incident and I can often be found knitting in the kitchen while dinner cooks, doing hand-sewing instead of house-cleaning, and scribbling lines of poetry down mid-conversation with friends.
When the creative urge takes you, sometimes you just have to go along for the ride!
