Slowing Down

``You can't use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.'' -

Maya Angelou

At the end of the year I do a stat card highlighting play-by-play events for each quarter and creating number stats. (In the business world I suppose it would be like an annual report, but not as fun.) Although I produce my stat card during one of the busiest times of the year, it never fails to help me remember and understand how far I have come over the course of a year.

When starting any venture, adrenaline generates so much energy. The mind is flooded with ideas while at the same time this pressure seeps in saying that you are somehow behind. You find a way to ride the excitement while keeping fear at bay. One suggestion leads to another idea and another. Yet, there is a part of you that wonders if the ideas will eventually stop coming. The mental gymnastics continues as production increases.

After seeing my 2024 stats, I told myself I was going to slow down. Although I have become more skilled in navigating the mental uneven bar routine, I knew the pace of the past year and a half was not sustainable. I am only one person after all. But what do I do about with all of the ideas that still keep flooding in?

The art of choosing what to say yes to and what to put on the back burner to let simmer for a while is a work in progress. I am cutting back in some ways, as only 5 designs will be added to the Kamaʻāina Collection this year. However, the need to try to learn something new and to create something novel still can't be ignored.

So, I decided to challenge myself to use what I already have to create something fresh. Thus the Pineapple Quilt Collection was born complete with five different products:

• 5x7 Cards

• Dotted Notebooks

• Tote Bags

• Stickers

• Cut & Sew Pillow Patterns

For those, like me, that crave novelty or want to try something new at the basic beginner level, the Cut and Sew Pineapple Pillow was created with you in mind. As it is the only brand new product of the new collection, I have convinced myself that I am heading in the right direction.