DIY, why?

One thing I find somewhat constant recently is that inactivity leads to one of two things: 

1)Useless,which makes me nervous, I need to be doing something, but now I'm too nervous to do anything, thus I am useless [restart cycle here]
or

2) Sleepiness, I'm not doing anything, so I might as well sleep. 

This usually leads to days where instead of studying and working on things I should be working on, I waste time and then sleep, wasting more time. This makes my stress levels higher the next day, but by then ill be too nervous.. and the cycle repeats.

The best way, I find, to combat these feelings of anxiety and percieved uselessness is to entertain myself with seemingly productive projects. The key is this: If I am doing something, anything, it will be easier to start doing truly productive things. This is where my obsession with DIY comes in.

Do It Yourself- 

Pretty big concept, why buy something when it is much more satisfactory to make it ?

My interest in DIY came about a few years ago when I visited a website called Instructables this place changes my existence forever. It is a website where, essentially, people post their projects in steps which you can follow and copy. All materials are posted, even prices at times. The best way to start a project is by seeing someone else who has already succeeded, right? 

If I know it can be done, Ill do it... 

I've made small robots, bags, plushies, you name it...

Right now, for example, I've started a Mario blanket based one this Instructable.

So the first thing I did was design my  blanket, easy right? 

First i decided on the levels i wanted, I'm a gamer, and Mario games hold a special place in my heart, specifically Super mario, it reminds me of all of the random afternoons that I spent with friends, wasting time and playing this, even though we had epic Wii games we could be playing.

Sohere is my design:

A condensed World 1, a cloud bonus world, and a dungeon compete with bowser fighting platform.

I made this on graph paper for a reason too, 40" by 54", leaving me enough space to add some [?] boxes at the top to act as pockets for the cross stick character and felt coins.

So now the next thing i need is the materials, I went to Jo Anns and spent about 50$ on this project:

-Light blue fleece 

-Black fleece

-Grey fleece (backing)

- grey, red, brown, white, green, yellow, and gold felt

- fabric paint

- long green zipper
- yarn

- puffballs 

-thread: white, black, brown

Yay! level!

I got home and I got to work! I began by sewing the background, the blue to the black, and cutting the black to the appropriate measurements.

I then cut and sewed the top of the dungeon ( I wanted the level divisions in first). After, I began to cut out and arrange everything needed for a lovely blanket.

And then I started to sew... I cant actually say if Im doing this in any order the only thing I've really done is first the divisions between levels, and then everything else.. whatever I feel like, in no specific order. I sew, take a break and use the paint to add detail, sew with the yarn, for thicker lines...

 Right now Im still working on it, but this is what I have so far: 

 Ill keep you posted on this one project, and I hope I inspire you to do something too!