The ninth issue of Taproot is currently in the process of being sent off to the printer. With this ninth issue, and the start of our third year, I'm starting to notice some patterns and rhythms that have evolved for me around the work that I do with the magazine. The quarterly nature makes it a most manageable flow - though the work to make the issues happens throughout the months, it never feels too rushed, and there's always a bit of breathing room between issues and from one task to the next. We are trying to work in the very way in which we write about living in the pages - and vice versa. But nevertheless, there are always a few weeks in the process of each issue that are packed full of heavy editing, proofing and layout time for us all. For me, that means a greater than usual amount of time is spent sitting still in front of the computer screen, or pouring over the printed pages and proofs in my hands. This is the time - I notice - that my hands get twitchy. That I have what feels like a million ideas for knitting or sewing or some other such crafting, but not the moments - just then anyway - to get to doing it.
But what I have been doing, I realized this time around, is stockpiling. Turning away from the screen long enough to pick out a pattern and some fabric, then leave it sitting out where I can see it. The next day - another is added to the pile. And so it goes like this, stockpiling projects for later and reminding me that soon enough I'll get to stitching them. And soon enough, I do. Soon enough the work of the pages is as done as it can be. Then, my restless fingers find their way to the piles - just as soon as I've reconnected fully with my babes, and caught up on the laundry (definitely the former, not so much the latter).
I woke up this morning to these three finished dresses for Annabel. I'm hardly sure when they were even made - it felt so lickety split. My studio floor looks like a tornado came though - and I think that's just what happened last night after everyone else in the house went to bed. There was no stopping to clean up as I went along, no pausing to determine the next fabric - just straight sewing. It felt good. Balance restored.
And as a result, my baby girl appears to now be just about ready for spring....
(From left to right - Sweet Little Dress by Leila & Ben, in an older Japanese print. Bubble Dress by Oliver + S in Anna Maria Horner's Field Study. And Suzanne by Citronille in Essex Linen.)