Visions Revisited

I got, what I felt, was a wonderful response to my last post, and I thank everyone that left a comment.

I read each comment and there were many different forms of inspiration, music, materials on hand, memories, nature, etc but for me it came down to one thing, "Visions". It seems that for each person, whatever their "inspiration", it helped them "see" something they wanted to create. It gave them a vision, a path to follow, a starting point to a final creation. So my next question is: What motivates you to get started? What is it that gets you going in the morning, afternoon, whatever time of the day you choose. What is it that gets you to begin to realize your vision?


I am inspired by memories, materials, nature, events, many things, but I do not always act out on those inspirations. So what is it that gets us going on a particular project? Sometimes for me it is about the level of complexity involved. How difficult it is to put this vision together? Other times it is about timing. Can I afford to stop what I am working on to move on to something else? Then there is always materials. Do I have everything I need, and if I don't can I afford the time and cost to run around looking for it?

before

after (almost done)

I feel, in the end, what motivates me is the desire to "see" my vision come to life. I love working out patterns and designs just to see if it is possible to achieve what in my heart I feel and see.


So, what motivates you to work? What is it that gets you going to begin to realize your vision? Whatever it is I wish you lots of it.

Inspiration

I listened to Pikaland's chat last night on "creativity" and enjoyed her thoughts on the subject. I came away from that chat thinking that before we can be creative we must be "inspired". There has to be something that inspires us to be creative, some thought, experience, something. Something that provokes us to express something of ourselves in some way, with each of us having a uniqueness of our own that comes from different experiences and thoughts.

As a quilter I find inspiration in fabrics. I have loved to sew since I was a child watching my mother create beautiful prom dresses and bridesmaid dress for family and friends. The textures of the fabrics were fascinating, smooth, soft, cool to the touch or rough, grainy, stiff and difficult to crumple. The colors, warm, bright, fresh, pale, vibrant, all evoking a connection to memories such as a cold winter's day or a bright fresh spring morning, the purple of a beautiful eggplant or the bright red of an apple and the cool aqua of the ocean. Memories are often the inspiration to create, such as my Fiesta bags, inspired by memories of childhood in my home town.

What inspires you? Where do you find inspiration to create whatever it is that you do? Let me know what inspires you and what it is that you create.

"Fiesta"

It is amazing how one word can turn a whole city into the biggest block party ever, Fiesta, say that word and every San Antonian immediately gears up for fun, food, and friendship.

As a native San Antonian I grew up thinking that Fiesta happened everywhere, that all cities celebrated like we did. I have memories of being carried on my father's shoulders as we walked from our parked car to the carnival area downtown. We were not "made of money" but we enjoyed the celebration, my parents made sure of that. Dad parked the car in an area that we could afford and that meant finding free parking on the street, blocks away from the main attractions. This in itself was not an easy task as the thousands of visitors and locals headed downtown to join in the fun of Fiesta. We had fun at carnivals, although my mother was frightened of carnival rides and would not let me particiapate except in the smallest of the Kiddie rides, and I guess that is what instilled in me a fear of fast rides to this day. By the end of the week we had attended the carnival and were ready to head out to the Fiesta Flambeau Parade, held on Friday afternoon of the closing weekend. We sat or stood in the blistering heat of the mid day sun to watch marching bands, military formations, horses, and what seemed never ending parade floats go by, and all this meant a sunburn for sure. We didn't know about skin cancer in those days and the most we had were sun hats and maybe sunglasses to protect us from the sun, of course Dad always tried to find a spot in the shade for at least a little bit of comfort.

The first River Parade I ever attended was when my own daughters were children and we sat on the banks of the San Antonio River watching barges float by. Each barge was decorated with brightly colored streamers and paper flowers with music playing as the crowds sitting on the banks in the grass cheered and waved. Other spectators stood in the windows of towering buildings or watched from the bridges at street level as they stopped for a moment to glimpse at the commotion from below on the river. The party that was happening on the street was just as much fun as what was happening down below so no one felt left out of the celebration. This night time parade is the first of the starting weekend of Fiesta in San Antonio, TX.

Today Fiesta has come to mean so much to so many San Antonians and the list of Fiesta activities has grown and there is even a website, http://www.fiesta-sa.org/ to help you keep track of days, times and any information you might need so you don't miss out. After spending so many years away from home we returned to live in this area in 2001 and introduced our then 12 yr old to the fun of A Night In Old San Antonio, and she had a blast.

These memories and the fact that Fiesta is just around the corner along with the perfect fabric, I was inspired to create three different bags for my etsy shop.