Hi there crafters!
It’s been too long! I’ve missed you… This past month has been a bit of a whirlwind — lots of emotions and a very chaotic creative process. And when that happens, it’s hard to sit down and post, because I’m too busy living the process to be able to distill it into words here. But I’m back with some creative updates for you!
Lately, my energy has been all over the place: reconnecting with gouache paints, starting to learn filet crochet, finishing an embroidered notebook for my mom, and… spending way too much time playing Minecraft. Yep — I’m 28 and playing for the first time, and somehow got completely hooked.
I’ve been diving into Redstone engineering (basically an electrical system inside the game) and building automated machines, pretty houses, and — embarrassingly enough — catching cute Pokémon, since my friends and I are playing a modded version. It’s nerdy, but honestly, it’s been fun. Not my usual outlet, but still a creative one. So I am trying to embrace it instead of being too hard on myself.
I think I’ve been low-energy from a touch of seasonal depression (it’s the end of winter here) and because it was my birthday month. In Brazil, we call the month before your birthday “inferno astral” — “astral hell” — when everything feels off and internal challenges show up. It’s not always true for me, but this year I definitely felt it. So it’s been a slower season. Even working in a less focused way, though, I never fully stopped making. Here’s a look at what I managed to create these past couple of months:
Filet Crochet: Textile Pixel Art
I decided to try filet crochet because it kinda feels like textile pixel art. Fun, right? Except… it’s also so much counting and precision. No mistakes allowed. Of course, I complicated things by making a custom design. To make it manageable, I bought a pattern for the top so I’m not counting every single stitch blindly.
The plan: a vest/top inspired by this Pinterest post, with my custom abstract/cybersigilism design worked in. I might add red embroidery on top to give it some color contrast, like the reference piece. Here’s the design template from Stitch Fiddle, and the pattern I’m following for the base is by Isabella Madsen.
Gouache Experiments
I’ve also been slowly working on a painting over one of my figure drawing studies. It had a strong composition, and I wanted to play with layering gouache on top.
My usual struggles showed up right away: color composition. The anatomy and volume came out well, considering I wasn’t using much reference, but the colors are muddy and blending together too much. I’m also trying to avoid leaning on line-art for contrast, which is my comfort zone, so that’s a challenge too.
It’s not there yet, but it feels like it’s heading somewhere, and I’m enjoying sneaking in a few minutes of work on it when I can.
One Finished Project (Finally)
Among all these experiments, I did actually start and finish something: a beautiful embroidered notebook with Australian binding, made as a gift for my mom. That one I’m really happy with — a challenging piece with plenty of learning, but worth it. I am already working on a detailed process post all about this baby, so stay tuned for that. Here’s a sneak peak:
Reading Fuel
One activity that isn’t exactly “making,” but definitely feeds into my creative process, is reading. I’ve been trying to read more and even decided to double the number of books I’ve read this year. To help with that, I pulled a few titles from my to-be-read pile and went on a little book haul for extra motivation. Since taking this TBR picture, I finally finished a book I had been putting off forever, and I’m already a third of the way through Clarice Lispector’s ‘Perto do Coração Selvagem’ (Near to the Wild Heart ). I’m feeling good about my goal, my progress so far, and this renewed determination to keep reading. And of course, I’m always open to book recommendations if you have any!
That’s it for now. I’ll share more progress on the crochet and the gouache piece in future posts. And hopefully, I’ll manage another check-in sooner rather than later.
Until then, happy crafting!
