A muse is a guiding spirit or a source of inspiration.  I don’t get my inspiration from one single place but from a whole collection of places or objects.

Take some of my recent makes; conversations with my friends and family inspire a lot of my projects.  The Toddler Apron was inspired by a friend’s daughter who hated keeping a normal apron on so I designed an apron for her, the Changing Mat was for a friend who’d just had another baby and the Toddler Travel Tablemat was inspired by my messy nephew!  My sewn canvas wall art was inspired by a piece I’d seen when I attended a friend’s wedding.  A lot of my baking is inspired by the event and person that I’m cooking for.

I’m currently working on a beautiful green scarf knitted with the strangest wool I’d ever seen – it’s gorgeously fluffy and soft and I thought it would be perfect as a Christmas gift (I’m getting organised!), my initial inspiration for this piece came from the wool which I saw in my local knitting shop.

I’ve often buy material or wool without having a specific project in mind and use it when inspiration strikes.  In my sewing room there’s a pad of paper which has loads of ideas scribbled down on it; some of them will be made but some of them will be adapted and changed and become a completely different project.  If I’m lacking in inspiration, I will often sit in my sewing room looking at the stacks of material and wool and leafing through my notepad.  I’m off there now in fact – I wonder what will be created today?!

Shared on Sunday Scribblings 28.08.11