Happy 2015! Over the past few weeks the blogosphere has been a flurry of thoughtful year-end reflections and new-year anticipations. Last year I was reluctant to read your year-end posts. While I enjoy seeing how many sewists have been taking on new challenges and I feel joy for you and your accomplishments, I also feel envy and disappointment. (Why couldn’t I sustain momentum with the stashbusting challenge? I wish I had made an Renfrew too! If only I had time to take a pants class.) This is not conducive to good mental health, nor is it strengthening the Sewcialist community. This year I am approaching the new year differently.
At the end of 2014 I felt adrift. The Leliana costume led to creative burn out. She is the costume I am most proud of from a construction point of view, but I put excessive pressure on myself and I’m still exhausted. You’ll notice I still haven’t written about her. 0_0
After PAX I just couldn’t get into a creative mood. I became overwhelmed with a growing sewing and knitting to-do list and too many projects went unblogged. This backlog bled over into many other aspects of my life. I worried my lack of motivation (and lack of completing chores) would negatively affect my new marriage. I felt so tired when I came home from work every day. I began to wonder how much longer I was going to cosplay. (I have decided at least one more year.) I didn’t know what I wanted to achieve with my blog, especially if I was not writing for weeks or months at a time. Who was this Fabric Alchemist? What was she doing?
Over the past few weeks I have committed to reading all of your inspiring year-end reviews, I wanted to bask in this community’s awesomeness and I wanted to train my brain to stop comparing myself and to banish the self-doubt. (So far, so good.) But I still couldn’t write one for myself. Another blog post?!
I am not going to find the clarity I need stewing in my own head. So I reached out to my blog buddies, cosplay pals, and in-person friends and interviewed them about their blogs, their future, their inspirations, and their challenges. I will be posting their responses and my own thoughts as part of a “Craft Table Chat” series.
Stay tuned!
The Fabric Alchemist 
I typically suffer a bit of burn out / refresher months at the end of the year, too. For both of us, the big conventions are in September and after all that you just need time! Don’t beat yourself up over things you wish you had done. While I did do a year end thing, I haven’t set any goals for my blog this year – kind of vowing to let things happen naturally. Since I started the blog for myself, this year I am trying to remember that and not put extra stress on myself unnecessarily. I love your idea to query friends, and am excited to read the results of your data collection 🙂