The Sea, The Sea ...

I am starting on a new creative collaboration with my good friend Marji, and just thought I would share a little about what we are getting up to. 

Although we live a few thousand miles apart, Marji in Seattle and me in Suffolk, we both want to stay connected - as though we could just drop in for a chat and some inspiration with each other. 

• Idea: take a theme for a month and share ideas and influences, to just see where it gets us. It may just help get me doing something regularly - I'm a bit like a rusty wheel which takes a bit of effort to get moving again. Our first month is "The Sea".

Pins from my Pinboard

• Where to start?

~ Jotting ideas down on paper.

~ Searching on Pinterest and then creating a pinboard. See here for my 'Sea' pinboard.

~ If you always click on Google as a first port of call, maybe it's time to look to Pinterest. 

   Just compare my search for seascape:

Having got started on writing and pinning, I couldn't wait to get sewing. Just had to decide what to sew!

I always bring back sea-ephemera from the beach visits, an arty way of describing old bricks and driftwood! At the moment it sits around looking lost, needing an anchor to place it in our home. 

Cue: sea-sewing project to create a fabric cloth for some sea glass to gather on.

I love trying to machine stitch words at the moment, so with wave patterns seen on Pinterest and Hokusai's "Great Wave" in my mind, I got started.

"Oh dear," you say, looking at my stitching. Yes - a lot of practice is needed before my writing will pass the legibility test. But there is always the thread unpicker, or even quicker I may just cut it off!

But that's ok - it's all part of the creative process.

If you are interested in following Marji and my creative process come back again soon. We plan to meet every Tuesday on our blogs to share what we've been up to.

Fact file:

To see Marji's seascape thoughts go here

If you need help on using Pinterest start here. 

If you need an invite to join Pinterest email me here