I'm sure it happens to us all at some point, and if you are anything like me, it can happen every couple of months. For a variety of reasons, you can lose the ability to create. Sometimes it can be down to hormones and how they affect us. Other times it can be as a result of external factors such as illness or the stress of daily life. Whatever the reason, feeling unable to create can be really frustrating and upsetting, especially when it is an important part of your life. Creating has such a powerful and positive impact on our mental wellbeing that when we go through these periods of of inability, we can feel really down as a result. 

When I hit one of these roadblocks, I feel listless, aimless and tired. My head is saying “sew something, whilst you have time!" but I don't seem able to motivate myself to focus on a project and nothing seems to inspire me. I try to look through the projects I am currently in the middle of to choose something to work on, but I cannot pick a project and I don't feel like doing anything.
I recognise that I have these moments every few months or so and I feel like it's something I have no control of. It creeps up on me and before I know it, I am in the middle of this internal battle over doing something I inherently love to do but for some unknown reason, cannot make myself do. Have you ever experienced this or something similar? 

In the past, I have battled with myself and it hasn't worked. I have also tried just waiting it out, choosing to watch TV in my spare time or focus on other jobs. This has left me feeling unproductive and even more frustrated at times. Recently, when I experienced a spell of difficulty, my husband suggested I find a really simple project to work on and led me to an old Cath Kidston book called Stitch. The book focuses on cross stitch and needlepoint designs, which by their nature, are simple, repetitive and rewarding to do. The book came with the materials to make a little zip pouch with a cross stitch design on the front, using soluble canvas and I gave it a go and managed to complete it in a couple of evenings. It was the perfect project to do because it didn't require any thinking. All I had to do was follow the simple instructions and along with the lovely, bright colours in the kit, it lifted me out of a creative rut and got me ready to sew again. Using soluble canvas was a lot of fun. The stitches turned out surprisingly neat so now I'm thinking of lots of other things that might need a bit of cross stitch on them to give me an excuse to do some more!
So if you ever find yourself stuck in a place where you feel you have lost your creative mojo, I suggest trying a really simple project to lift you out of it. If you have any other ideas for how to break out of creative block then please leave them in the comments. Happy sewing!

​I thought I’d share a bit about myself as I know it is nice to learn about the person behind the business. I’ve been making things since I was a really young child. I used to love tapestry long stitch kits and I can remember getting sewing kits for my birthday when I was about five. They were the sort of kits that provided you with fabric with holes punched in it so you could use a large plastic needle threaded with raffia. I can remember using this kit to make purses and scissors keepers.  I can also remember doing fine embroidery as a child and trying to learn to knit. I found knitting very difficult and I have only really found the knitting bug recently since discovering the continental knitting style.
So the creative arts have always been part of my life and I have been heavily influenced by my Mum and Gran. My Gran is a fantastic embroiderer, crocheter and knitter. Her stitches are impeccable. I really love this tablecloth she embroidered in the 1940s.

I love the design as it’s the sort of thing I’d choose to do today. Her crochet work is so intricate. For this mat, which I have framed in my house, she used cotton thread and a hook the size of a pin head. She also created a whole tablecloth using this pattern. I wish I could say I will do something like this one day but I know I won’t! ​

My Mum is an amazing knitter and can knit anything at all. Her work is perfectly neat. She also embroiders and does cross stitch from time to time. Here is a picture of a christening shawl she knitted from lace weight yarn.

With all of this influence I have turned my hand to many crafts but all types of sewing remain my favourite. Throughout my teenage years I didn't do very much sewing and making, but I did love textiles at school and incorporated this into my GCSE art work. After university, I returned to sewing and bought my first sewing machine. 13 years later and I've never looked back. Sewing is a part of my daily life and I can't imagine ever not doing it. When I became a mum last year, many people said you'll never find time to create. My son has inspired me even more and I make sure I find as much time as possible, when he naps in the day or is asleep at night. I don't really watch TV (mainly as there's never anything on that interests me) so this is another reason why I can get lots done.

I find sewing and creating in general so beneficial to my life, which is why I want to inspire more people to learn to sew. A recent study by Hobbycraft found that 1 in 5 people can't sew a button on and 52% of people were never taught to sew at school. Up until becoming a mum I was a primary teacher. I loved teaching my classes to sew and always found it really surprising and exciting that the children you least expected to be good at sewing were always the best. The calming effect that sewing had on my classes was very evident and it was often the boys who really loved both sewing and knitting.
The methodical, repetitive nature of sewing is very soothing and calming. Concentrating on creating with your hands frees your mind of worry, anxiety and stress. This is because you are focusing on creating something. In this fast paced world we now live in, slowing down, taking time and relaxing with a sewing project is like therapy in itself. The sense of achievement and pride when you complete a project is difficult to find in other aspects of modern day life. In addition to this, sewing​ benefits our environment because it creates sustainable objects and moves us away from the throw away society we have become. It teaches us to respect objects and appreciate the work that has gone into crafting them which can only be a good thing. So if you are new to sewing, give it a try and I hope you become as hooked on it as I am because I am sure it will benefit your life greatly.