A Little Lost Along the Way

There are a few things that I feel like I’ve been missing of late and I am not sure exactly what they are but I am trying to work through what ever it is as best I can.  You could say that I am little lost along the way.  I hope by getting my fingers down on my keyboard that I might discover what is going on inside my head!

A total Switch off

I’ve always quite enjoyed sharing my things on my social feed and within the community, but the last few months I’ve really struggled with it.  Keeping everything going.  The Summer holidays have hit and I’ve ended up totally switching off from it.  I still go on it and scroll but I am not interested in sharing what I am doing.  It just feels hard.

This past year I’ve taken on more hours at work, with the juggle of childcare and looking after the house there have been those added pressures to be doing more, along with “staying fit and healthy”, I think I’ve just burnt myself out really.   Detaching myself from the online social world has protected my sanity.  Trying to just focus on the little things and do what is essential to me.

The Summer with the Kids

I have tried to not let the nagging feeling of I should be doing this or doing more for my Two Tiny Makes world bother me.  I know that little by little I’ll get there in the end.   I’ve concentrated on enjoying the Summer with my kids instead.

Typically I should mention the weather, it’s been rubbish here in the UK, but we have made the most of it.  Lots of day trips and strolls around the area.  A few holidays and camping expeditions.   At 9 & 7 now they really are such fun to be around, there is more ability to play and do bigger things as well as longer distances on walks.  Everything is more of an adventure!

At one point I got them lost and soaked in the hills of the Lake District which I don’t think they will ever let me forget… Mums not allowed to read the map again!!  We weren’t lost for long, just a total detour and we didn’t quite get to where we were meant to in the direction we should have done!

The One Constant

Given all of the busy juggle and the lack of being in and around the virtual world there has still been one thing that has been constant.  Creativity.  I have still been sewing.   I may not have summoned the energy to share my makes but I have been doing it.  The one thing that gives me great pleasure and joy to unwind with, a little bit of hand sewing.

Not lots, just tiny amounts.   Mostly I have been keeping up with this years “yearly” projects, it felt just enough to keep momentum on these.  I have had much joy in seeing how my temperature embroidery is turning out.  Here’s a photo up until August:

The temperature hasn’t risen above 25 degrees here in my little corner of the UK so the yellow is the hottest days.   With orange being between 15-20 degrees being the temperature that’s been most constant this summer.   I really wanted to be able to add in the reds and pinks of hotter temperatures but alas we’ve been colder this year!!

I guess this is the point of the temperature tracking is that you don’t really remember week on week what it was but seeing this in a more visual way you can really get a snap shot of how good or bad it was.   7 little French knots each day is achievable too!

My other project is the Focus Cutting Sewalong Hexagons.  I am still a little behind on where we are in the weekly prompts at the moment but over half way.  I really do want to share them all with the FCS community but I just can’t bring myself to pull myself out of the sharing hole that I am in.  For now though here is a little block I’ve been sewing:

Letters O and P of the alphabet.   I am making an alphabet stitch book and I am very behind in my stitching.  The book itself will end up being a really chunky 6″ quilted book.  I’m sure I’ll make progress on it over the coming months.

Am I a little Lost?

I still do feel a little lost. The simple act of writing this down, even if it doesn’t quite make sense or if not actually getting my point across that well has really helped.  I’ve always enjoyed writing as a cathartic process even if nobody reads it!!   When the kids were tiny I wrote a blog to keep my creative juices flowing it was a really nice creative outlet to just try and get thoughts out of my head and into text form.  That blog doesn’t exist now but this one does and if writing will help me move forward I will give it a go.

Even if I don’t make sense…. If you have made it this far, I thank you for being patient and kind enough to read my ramblings!

What am I going to do about it?

I can’t get through a post like this without some kid of actionable steps that I want to follow over the coming weeks to see if I can push myself through this fog and in turn push Two Tiny makes some Tiny steps forward.  I am a huge believer in little chunks of time.  SO if you are feeling the same as me at the moment I really recommend giving this a try.  Decide what you want to do, be it a craft project, a home task, a personal task and dedicate a short amount of time to it in the day or week.

Here’s what I am going to be working on:

•  Content – I have really enjoyed writing this blog and I want to kickstart writing again, in the coming weeks I want to focus on:
  • The Games Book Journey – Sharing the beginning to end of the last 6 months of sewing
  • A Tiny Town – A virtual story including the Tiny House Book and it’s characters
• Renewing Old Content – I have put lots out on the internet over the years and there’s plenty that needs some love and updating for today. So once a week I hope to do the following
  • Renew a Two Tiny Makes Page
  • Renew a Blog Post
  • Update a YouTube Video
• Set up a 10% off discount for my email subscribers
• Send the email!
• Dip my toes back into social – Say hello in Make Time and post on the socials!

It’s nice to put that down as a form of accountability.  I am sure that over the next few weeks I will stumble and fall but I hope to get myself back up again and give it a go…

So I may be A Little Lost Along the Way but I have a plan in place to keep going…   I do hope if you’ve popped in to read this and that it has helped in some kind of way.  I know from experience that all the things that are shared online are often a little sugar coated in the favour of the good.  Things can be bad but also good.

Take care, Karen xxx

I’ve ticked one thing off my list…

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