Divinely Crafty

I do this every time. No matter where I am going or how long I am staying, during the time when travel is imminent I get an unstoppable urge to make stuff. I thought that I would get past it this time because I have just not been feeling up to doing too much sewing wise and normally it is a pre-trip sewing frenzie when I realize I have no travel clothes. I had already decided to do some *gasp* shopping when I got stateside since the exchange rate is well in our favor. (I am thrifty as well as crafty. ) Yes, I thought - this will be the trip where I just casually stroll over to my closet and effortlessly select a few simple items. I would relax before this trip.

It was with great amusement that I found myself making this yesterday. Because I needed it. Now.

I made it to go with this dress:

Which by itself is a great idea and it will look stunning. But when you consider that I have had the dress for 2 years (though it didn’t fit properly until recently since I have lost weight) and I have had the beads for nearly a year, the folly of it becomes apparent. It wasn’t until I was struck once more with a bout of pre-holiday making madness that made to order jewelry became an imperative. It is oddly reassuring that everything is right on track, and despite being far from where I had hoped to be physically for this trip my old habits and routines have survived in tact. I am thankful that I have creative outlets for diffusing stress and energy. I know I should probably be trying to be more still and reserving my energies for the upcoming journey, but truthfully I think if I were to try and sit still I would waste way more effort fighting the urge to be active than I would just surrendering to it.

The big blue beads were brought back last year by a friend from her summer in India. She gave me a beautiful silk bag filled with gorgeous glass and stone beads. The small pink and green beads were purchased on our trip to Barcelona last year. I love the idea that I took beads from other travels and used them to make something to wear in a time of traveling.

Tomorrow I am going to be doing some long over due showering of love to some of my most recent finds and favorites in the web world these days. I’ve made some great new discoveries, like Barb over at Craft Therapy, who is not only a fellow crafter but is after my heart with a blog by that name! She gave me an award last week and its my time to give some of my own out. So be sure to stop by tomorrow when I share some Divinely Crafty Finds!

I finished the Log Cabin blanket that I started back in early May for the wedding of our friends. Finished size was roughly 48″x42″. The perfect size to throw over your lap and snuggle up with a cup of teas and good book. True to the best of gifts, it is a bit difficult to see this one leave my home. Made of odd bits of yarn left over from projects over the past couple years, making it was a fun trip down memory lane and they type of item that would give warmth of heart and body on as cold day. Several yarns were those that I dyed myself, including a small bit of my very first skein of hand painted yarn. There was even some that I spun from sheep which were raised on the farm where the happy couple lives. Definitely a project that I will do again once I have a good stash of leftovers that needs using up. I have a few new projects lined up to work on that will start me on that quest. It feels good to have made a “big” knitting project. It wasn’t the most complicated of patterns, but it did take time. I often shy away from the longer projects because so often I will go into a flare and not work on it for a time. (Not too different than me and my blog in that respect.) If I chose a smaller, quicker piece then I have a better chance of finishing in a reasonable time frame. I didn’t rush through this one, and only at the end when I was in a time crunch did I push myself to work on it when I didn’t really want to be working on it. True to my form, I finished it the day of the wedding with 3 hours to spare. Just enough time to get my daughter and myself cleaned up and ready to go. She was the flower girl, which in the world of a 7 year old girl is a much honored role. She was up first thing in the morning asking how long until the wedding. When I told her she had 7 hours to wait (an eternity in her eyes) she groaned and asked how many minutes that was. 420 met with several more groans.

We are in our final week before we leave for our trip to the Pacific Northwest of the US. My brother is getting married and it will be the first time back for my whole family except for me. I went last year to gather with several of my sewing mama friends, where I taught a little workshop on wet felting and then I went to a course on using hypnotic techniques as an element in the childbirth classes I teach. This year I went to get started on a holistic course of treatment for my fibromyalgia. Very different reasons. So much has changed. I know from my own experience that it will be odd being back in a place that used to be home and have it seem so foreign. It’s remarkable how much we have settled into life here.

There are always a million details that pop up at the last minute. With this being a month long trip I am expecting twice that. We are moving house (again) shortly after we get back so all that needs to be squared away this week in addition to all the normal packing business. Fortunately it is still pretty calm today with a week left to go, and maybe it will stay that way if we are lucky. Cross fingers and hope for the best!

Tags: friends, knitting, spinning, traveling

I don’t usually do this, but today I am posting the same thing on both of my blogs. (For those of you who haven’t been over to see it, I blog about my family’s adventures at Beneath Our Feet.  I invite you to  have a look around and see what we have been up to. ) I was so moved by the beauty of these apple blossoms this weekend that I had to share them with all  my readers.

I haven’t been to the new orchard in a very long time (It may have been as long ago as during the last harvest unless there is a gap in my memory.) So yesterday was a real treat when I finally managed to get over there to see all the pear trees that Axel and his crew have been busy planting. All 7,500 of them. In three days. I kid you not. Did I mention how hard he’s been working?

While I was there I noticed that some of the apple trees that were recently planted were still in bloom. I was very happy to see this since I missed the primary explosion of blossoms in early May. One row of these trees in particular caught my eye. The color of the blossoms is a deep vibrant, almost on the verge of purple. I had never seen such a color in apple blossoms, most of which are a white with hints of pink. I asked Axel what variety it was and he could not remember exactly, but said that it was either sunlight or moonlight but that he would have to check his list to be sure. They planted a few new varieties to test this year. I also learned that not only are the flowers an unusual color but the flesh of the apples they produce will also be unusual. They will be red inside as well as outside! I don’t know much about this type of apple, but from what I gather its a rare variety that they are introducing back into the market. I can’t wait to get a look and a taste of them.

I had brought my camera along (double checking that I had my memory card) in hopes of getting a good picture of the new pear trees, which as it turns out don’t make much of a photo right now. Maybe once they take root and start getting leaves. So much to my delight I was able to take some pictures of these gorgeous blossoms and even managed to get some snaps of a bee busy doing it’s part to help with the apple growing business.

Here are a couple more shots. I could sit and look at these flowers all day. They are so beautiful, and exactly what I needed to lift my spirits.

Tags: apple blossoms, beauty, flowers, nature

As I type the title for this post I take pause. Can I really say that this has been “one of those weeks”? The implication is that this week has been somehow worse than other weeks. And while it has been a doozie, I’m not sure if it qualifies as particularly worse than most weeks. When I look back and take stock of the many weeks that have passed in recent months quite a few - most even - could qualify as “one of those weeks”. It sounds terrible when I admit this, but truth being good for the soul, I guess it’s liberating to be open about it. Maybe taking a look at this stark reality will lead to change that is desperately needed.

But yes - this week. What a week it was. Much of my time was spent at the hospital with my oldest daughter dealing with one heck of a nasty cut on the bottom of her foot. (Most of that time spent in horribly uncomfortable waiting room chairs. Seriously - I wouldn’t mind long waits if they didn’t hurt so dang badly. My poor fibromyalgia self was in agony. Plastic feel remarkably like concrete when it is under one’s tush for too long!) The cut as it turns out was not just a cut, but the doorway in which a large piece of wood gained entry into her foot. Say it with me - trying not to cringe too badly - OUCH!!!! I’ll spare you the play by play but the short version is 4 trips to the Minor Injuries Unit, 1 trip to x-ray, and 2 games of hardball with hospital staff (who refused to believe there was anything in her foot), way too much pain suffered on the part of my daughter, and finally last night after a round of local anesthesia and a few choice incisions - out comes a massive chunk of wood. Over 2 centimeters long and 1/2 centimeter wide! Nothing in her foot… yeah, right. There was at least one doctor and nurse in town feasting on a big old plate of crow last night. I’m happy to report that already today my daughter can walk on her foot with considerably less pain (given there is no longer a plank inside it) and we are all relieved that barring any unforeseen complications this episode can begin to be put behind us. Any thoughts for speedy healing of what is now just a nice big nasty cut that you could send her way would be welcome and appreciated.

Of course, as happens with us fibromites, all the stress and physical strain from the above ordeal has led to a very bad flare of my pain and fatigue as thick as it gets. My eldest summed it up quite nicely when she told me yesterday, “You look like road kill mom.” Only road kill has it easy. Road kill, I presume, is no longer feeling pain having departed this life. You know you have it bad when you envy road kill. yikes.

It’s times like these that make being a mom with a chronic illness really hard. Parenting on it’s own is a hard job. Its an exhausting job. Painful even with the mishaps brought on by rambunctious little ones, and painful in the sense that one can feel pain of the soul and emotions (and lets not forget the pain of birth!). But with a chronic illness those hard,exhausting and painful times have potential to turn into debilitating times. A few hard or stressful days can set you back for weeks. A few hard or stressful weeks can turn into months of setback. Which brings me back to the beginning of this post and my revelation that this week isn’t an isolated occurrence. With a chronic illness all weeks have potential to be “one of those weeks”. We operate from a different baseline, a normal that isn’t what others consider normal. All of my children have had to adjust their expectations according to how I am feeling. They are used to mom not being able to make it to school events, they are used to tip-toeing around the house when I am getting some much needed rest. They know that their home life is very different than that of their friends. Myy littlest, her eyes filled with concern and worry, knows when to ask if she hugged me too hard because she knows that on bad days even her gentle touch can hurt. Its not always easy on them, but they manage. We all manage it seems. Some days better than others. I think we managed fairly well this week, all things considered. In many ways it was better than last week which on the surface appeared to be an easier week, but that underneath was full or turmoil. Maybe that is what I meant when I gave this post its title. “One of those weeks” that despite all odds against it, we found our way through it. Perhaps it wasn’t so bad after all.