I feel like a kid in a candy store. In fact I feel a bit like a 3 year old surrounded by every favorite treat trying to figure out which one I want the most! I feel a bit overwhelmed in the most wonderful way! It has been so very long since I have had a treat like this. A chance to simply fill my own personal bucket. To stay inside my home and do what makes me happy. I can honestly admit that I am being a bit of a spoiled child and doing just that.
I mean, I did my chores, most of them. The house is clean except for my play areas and they are functional clean - let's be honest you can only keep a space in use so clean. I will admit I haven't ironed yet - but work is still 6 full days away. There is time for that next weekend. The rest. It's done.
Playtime can commence. In the three days I have been off, I've completed quite a few candles, 36 to be exact. I'm not sure that I am finished, I have some beautiful jars that I want to fill, trying to decide what scents move my heart the most. Those will no doubt become gifts. I might not be finished, but for now that is tucked back away in it's little spot. I have moved on to another project or two or...
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| Just a few that have already shipped |
Soaps have been started, even the lumps of coal, yesterday alone saw 3 different kinds of soap created. I will probably get one or two more done this morning. Or I might be a big girl and complete all of one project - soaps - I think there are 5 more that I want to get done this week. Might be more. Recipes and supplies are overflowing the shelves. But then so are the soaps. Awe, I know creator challenges, I guess it is a bit first world.
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| Lumps of coal |
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| Just a bit of soaping chaos |
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| Kokum and Eucalyptus soap |
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| Eucalyptus and Cotton |
I have a couple of quilting projects going on right now. Hubs is going to help me put one on the long arm. And I have a couple that I need, and want, to get finished. I spent a chunk of Sunday helping a friend learn to sew so that she could make some memory sachets. Gifts for family to remember a dear loved one that passed this year.
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| Friendship quilt - started 2001 |
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| a treasure from Paducah, KY |
It filled my heart to pass along the skill, ironically her text came as I was working on a small quilt I had started at the last quilting class I had taught - so many years ago. I'd been so busy helping others that my own project never got finished. I'd found it while looking for something else, tucked away in a bag. Waiting for love and attention. I will finish it this break.
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| Almost done, finally... |
Helping her was the highlight of that day. I didn't do much, showed her the skills, and stayed to help through the hiccups. I tidied my sewing room - maybe I should call it a studio - ya know sound fancy. Nah... I'm not a fancy kind of person. I folded up the bits left from all the mask making I have done this year. I will be thankful when that is simply a bad memory from a long ago time. I emptied out an assortment of craft bags that were just tossed aside once the project was complete. And as she gained confidence and started whipping through the project, without any assistance, I curled up in the big chair Hubs hauled in for me to sit in while I helped and worked on a special Christmas gift for one of our great nephews.
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| Cute, am I? |
She completed around 60 small sachets and I finished the gift I was crocheting.
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| currently on the needles |
Evenings have found me sitting beside the Hubs enjoying some down time with knitting needles in my hands. I have found a new scarf pattern that I am over the moon in love with! It's quick, mindless, flows so gently (no matter what kind of yarn I use) and creates a beautiful scarf. One can never have too many scarfs, right?
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| dyed by my favorite artist |
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| Hand spun and knit by me |
I am currently trying to ignore the call of my spinning wheel, trying to finish other projects...
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| So lonely... |
If I am going to be completely honest, I might have an addiction or twenty. I love to create, it fills my heart, it makes me feel calm, centered, productive. I love the feeling that comes from giving a gift that I personally created. Nothing against shopping (which I hate), I know that just as much love goes into searching for the perfect gift as making one. For me and my well being, I love to create.
The challenge comes in, that I have so many different things that I love to do that I sometimes feel like I am spinning in circles. Torn between far too many loves.
After soaping today, we are going to get out my new scroll saw, it's new, never been out of the box, although Hubs bought it for me several years ago. When my old one died mid-project and I'd had to improvise to finish it. I was just doing wood working back then. But today, I am going to be breaking out my paints. So many have joined our family since the last time I cut wood or held a paint brush. Mittens need to be made. Sleds need updated. Ornaments are waiting for paint. I can't wait!
I've also found time and the desire to write. I was pretty sure that was never coming back.
There was a time that I was much better at prioritizing my life. Even working a 40 hour a week job and raising kids there was always time for things that filled my soul. Slowly, other things wore me down.
I am going to count this time as another gift from 2020. The gift of time. I feel refreshed for the first time in a very long time. I am finding calm and focus. I know, ironically, as our world is wrapped up in chaos and confusion, stress and anxiety, I am calm. God is in control of the things that were wearing me down. I don't have to be.
As much as I am enjoying sitting here warming my toes, sipping my magically refilling coffee (yep, Hubs still believes what I told him so very long ago - even the Bible says it's his job to take care of the coffee - "HeBrews") and munching on my yummy Lebkuchen cookies that I found at the Global Foods market, it's time.
Who knows what treasures I will have to share the next time I write...
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