Play: Our Brain’s Favorite Way to Learn
Do you make time to play each day?
My favorite daily creative play is iPhone photography. As I walk my goldendoodle through our neighborhood, usually something captures my attention because of how it’s bathed in natural light. It may be a small flower or a brazen sunset flashing across the horizon.
Because I look at a computer screen for work, I also like to play in ways that don’t involve any sort of screen. Those play times include kayaking, hiking through a park, or baking a new dessert. All these activities are relaxing and allow my mind to wander, inevitably leading to new insight, oftentimes in a way unrelated to the activity at hand.
Fabric Play
Ever since I was a young girl, I liked to play with fabric. My sisters and I wrapped ourselves in tricot yardage from my mom’s sewing closet, creating imaginary gowns fit for a fairytale ball. At age nine I learned to sew a peasant blouse on my mom’s Singer sewing machine, and I formed an enduring bond with fabric, thread and needle.
When I visit a local quilt shop, I feel like a kid who was handed the Crayola Ultimate Crayon Collection with 152 colors.
This “ultimate collection” of color is an assortment of fabrics from Moda and Robert Kaufman. The jellyroll of fabric strips and cute fish print is the Lollipop collection by Sandi Gervais. Doesn’t it look fun?!
For National Sew a Jellyroll Day on September 16, I loosened the ribbon around the roll and unfurled the fabric strips. (It felt like unwrapping a gift at my birthday party.)
Hopefully I’ll cut and stitch this rainbow of fabric into a quilt before Christmas.
Friday Finish: Pillowcases
Earlier this week I also opened my Vault of Happiness in search of a few sweet fabrics, and sewed pillowcases for children disrupted by Hurricane Harvey. (Sara Craig at Confessions of a Fabric Addict is coordinating a pillowcase drive, A Heart for Texas.) I hope a few more kids can have sweet dreams after counting cows.
I watched Jenny Doan’s tutorial for stitching this pillowcase with cuff and trim with only three seams. It’s magical! Let me know if you’ve used this method.
Today I’m linking up with Confessions of a Fabric Addict and Crazy Mom Quilts.