The blanket dress.

Isn't inspiration a funny thing?

When I first had the idea for this dress I was unstoppable. I had so many ideas and so little time. I machine felted the blanket, I cut out the dress, I sewed it together, I crocheted a trim for the neckline and pinned it on, I experimented with ruffles and then I got interrupted and that was it.

For the past month this dress has been hanging on the back of my kitchen chair.

I have looked at it thousands of times but I haven't really seen it.

I have started and finished lots of other projects since I started the blanket dress, but after the initial rush of inspiration I lost interest in it.

Actually, I don't think I had lost interest in it, I just had no idea where I wanted to take it.

Mostly my creative work takes place in such short bursts of time that if I haven't answered all the questions in that time, often I find its difficult to get back to.

But this afternoon while I was having a coffee with Bren and debriefing a talk he'd just given to a bus tour, the blanket dress fell off the chair.

Almost without thinking I picked it up and started gathering fabric and pinning ruffles on.

All of a sudden I was excited about this dress again and couldn't wait to get to my machine to sew the ruffles in place. I was so inspired.

I gathered and stitched on the sleeves and some ruffles around the hem and then all too soon it was time to go and pick the girls up from school and I had to leave it again.

I hope I get back to it soon because at the moment it inspires me. I have plans for more ruffles down the back and perhaps some sort of pocket or flower detail on the front.

But who knows how inspiration works. Maybe it'll be another month before I get back to it. Maybe the best projects are the ones that aren't started and finished all in one go. Maybe the longer I work on it the better it will be.

I just hope I have it finished before the leaves start growing back on the grape vine again.

I hope something is inspiring you this week.