Take a look around your studio or home office.

How much fabric and paint are lining your studio shelves? Or packed away because you ran out of room?

How many books do you see? Do you house even more on your Kindle?

How much more do you think you need before you can start to create what your heart is calling you to create?

I know all about hunting and gathering all the information you can.

You think if you learn more, you will know more, and what you create will be even better.

You think you are missing that one fabric that will make the difference in what you create, when all along what you need is right in front of you.

If you take one more class, then you will have enough to really master that painting technique.

And on, and on.

Problem is you don’t need all that.

What you need is already right under your nose.

The answers to your questions, the missing fabric, the skills, the knowledge. It’s all right there for the taking.

You just need to put aside the desire for more and take advantage of what is right in front of you.

How do I know this?

Easy. I have been there. I would order a book thinking it might have something I needed, or more appropriately, some bit of knowledge I lacked. Or I put off starting a project because I needed that perfect color fabric or shade of paint. Obviously the exploding shelves weren’t enough.

I got in this mode last week when I was working on revamping one of our signature programs. Funny thing is I didn’t need anything. I just needed to make the decision to start.

Today

Stop the hunting and gathering.

Have a little bit of faith.

Sit down and start to create.

It’s your turn!

What is it you need to start doing? What’s stopping you?

Threads: The basics & beyond
Debbie Bates & Liz Kettle
Landauer Publishing; $27.95

Do you want to understand how and when to use the myriad threads on the market today? Threads will get you off to a great start. The authors, Debbie Bates and Liz Kettle, suggest creating a “passport”: 5″ by 7″ “quilts” made from fabric, batting and stabilizer that will create a book. You’ll use a different page to sample each technique using your sewing machine. Techniques include thread in quilting, thread as paint, thread as texture, thread as structure, thread as ornament and thread as embellishment. When you’ve finished creating your passport, you’ll be more knowledgeable about how and when to use thread as you build your skill level. While the book focuses on machine work, it would be easy to translate the passport concept to handwork.

Here’s a link, if you’d like to add it to your library.