Summer writing and sewing

I only recently realized that to be an academic means that you have to wear several hats at once. The first hat is that of a researcher. If I were to imagine what a researcher's hat looks like, it would be Indiana Jones' fedora, probably because my first love is archaeology* and Vivianna rhymes with Indiana (I can't count how many times has my family called me Vivianna Jones!) The next hat that an academic must wear is the teachers hat, here I think about a helmet that protects the wearer from student apathy and constant questions that could be answered by consulting the syllabus. The final hat that an academic wears is that of a writer. The writer's hat is definitely made of a lightweight fabric perfect for wringing in your hands when faced with writers block. Of all these hats I have to wear, I'm having the most trouble with the writers hat. To further this metaphor, my hat is definitely wrinkled from too much wringing.

As a student, you take courses and have to write papers and exams to get a grade. So as a student my writing was a means to an end, a way to show my knowledge of a particular subject to earn a particular grade. This was the way I approached writing for over 15 years. This year, as my coursework ended and my proposal writing began I was struck by the realization that my writing is no longer a means to an end. It is the end itself. The goal isn't just to showcase my thoughts and research but also to communicate it in an understandable and compelling way. To be a good researcher, I think it is necessary to be a good writer. Why did no one tell me this before!?

As the shock of being a writer wore off, I started working on my dissertation proposal, it is supposed to be finished by the end of the summer. I can say that I honestly understand why everyone says that you should never ask a grad student how their writing is going! (Its usually not going as well as planned). In a way writing my proposal is like forging a giant key that will unlock the next phase of my Phd. Once my proposal is approved I can leave for my fieldwork in South Africa. How awesome and how daunting! It feels like a lot of pressure. I'm trying to take it one day at a time but its difficult not to get paralyzed looking a the mountain of work ahead of me.

By now you know me well. What do you think I have been doing to deal with my stress? Procraftinating of course! Not all of the sewing I've done has been to procrastinate (more on the below), but its all been fun!

Here are a few of the projects I've been working on:

My sister got married a few weeks ago. She asked me to make a clutch for each of her bridesmaids (including me) So I got to work and made 7 envelop clutches using Noodlehead's pattern. This project wasn't designed to procrastinate, but it had the same effect I had to take time off from writing to make these beauties. 

Here they are all together the morning before the wedding.

Hanging out in the sun before their big day.

The really neat thing about these clutches is that they match out bridesmaid dresses!! My sister had the great idea to have our dresses custom made by one of our best friends moms who is a great costume designer. She gave me all the left over fabric and I used them to make our clutches. I made a green one for my sister that matched her wedding shoes!

In all honestly, it was a really long process to make 7 of these clutches. It took me 5 days! But I think it was totally worth it. Here are the pieces of each clutch ready for assembly. Each clutch has a different lining fabric and card pocket!

The next thing I worked on was my mini quilt for the instagram based cotton + steel swap. This is the first mini that I made without a pattern. I just used different elements of quilts that I liked and put them together. The center circle is a paper pieced pattern by Jeli Quilts. The outside Xs are raspberry kisses, instructions found on wooden spoon quilts blog I have to say I love this quilt. It was really difficult to mail to my swap partner.

Check out the hashtag for other beautiful quilts #cottonandsteelminiquiltswap

Check out a close up of the center. Isn't it pretty!! 

This week I decided to work on a quilt just for me. Its an adaptation of the mini I just made and the goal is that it will be a full size quilt. It starts with the same center piece and then I will add many different types of borders to make it bigger. It should be the most intricate quilt I have made so far by the time I'm finished.

Here are 20 blocks in the making that I will eventually add to my quilt. If you look at the previous quilt you will see that these will be rotated and become the Xs to make the raspberry kisses block.

Here's a mock up of what it will kind of look like. I'll share more updates as I go for this one. 

There you have it, all the ways I've been procraftinating in the last few weeks. Including this blog post today! At least I got it all out there. Now to get back to work!!

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*That is not to say that Indiana Jones is a proper archaeologist, he is more like a tomb raider.