Wednesday, October 22, 2014

What's It All About, Julie?



Happy Wednesday, a.k.a. Hump Day!

What a great week so far! I woke to freshly baked gluten-free pumpkin muffins thanks to a nocturnal teenager. The rain should be taking a break, and we might get a chance to be outside today. The barn is coming down piece by piece this week. The concrete panels are being poured every day, and showing up on site. And yesterday, I spent the day with a good friend. It doesn't get much better than this.



Yesterday was a very productive sewing day. My friend, Wenda, came to share the afternoon, and we laughed and sewed, and time went by too fast. We played with her new sewing machine, traded fabrics, and lots of stories. It was sewing, but it was social.





And that brings me to my point: Why do we do this?

I will venture to say that each of us here comes to a point where we have, or had, a need to create. And we figure out what we like to do, and go about creating our thing until we have something neat we want to show someone else. Perhaps I'm over-simplifying it, but it's a natural tool to create a friendship with. It is our common denominator to strike up a conversation with another person whom you may not know from Adam, and it is successful most of the time.

We sew and create as an expression of ourselves. When other people like what we make, their words become our affirmation. We are encouraged, and inspired to continue. It makes us feel good about what we do, and who we are.

So, what makes it more than just the self-rewarding satisfaction, and fluffing up of oneself?

Well, you have a beautiful hand-made something to give away to someone else, if you want, or keep yourself to appreciate. People say they have dug out projects they had lost interest in, and are pursuing them again. People who had emptiness in their lives are finding it full again, and each of those is reaching out to others to do the same. This is about supporting each other through craft or art.

This blog project is my personal fight against the isolation, loneliness, and depression that affects women, young and old. Fight back. Learn a skill, reach out, and find your people. There are little groups that meet everywhere. Contact a church, a craft store, look in the newspaper, the library, or online. You will be welcomed.

Check back here in the next few days. We are working at starting a local open sew/knit/craft evening in the next few weeks here in the Tuscarawas County. We're trying to make it happen, and we'd love to see you there. 

Shield your eyes! Color bomb here. It's not quite this bright in daylight, but it's coming together, and it sure does make me smile!




Come on, Doxie Girls.
Time to get a move on.
Let's go sew.

2 comments:

evaj said...

Vilka goda choklad muffins du bakat!!Imorgon åker en väninna och jag till Houston och quilt festival där!! Ha det gott och kram från Sverige och Bambi

Julie said...

Tack, Evaj, men de var inte choklad men pumpkin smak. Jatte goda! Har det bra pa resan till USA och quilt festival och har em pumpkin latte pa Starbucks! Hej, hej.