Crafting as Healing

Recently, I've been going through a tough time with the loss of a pretty big piece of my life (job). I'm struggling with being back at the job search, missing the work I was doing,  and finding somewhere where my skills and desire to help people fit. It's a process. Part of my process for dealing with change has always been healing hurts in my life through crafting, so of course a trip to visit my parents resulted in my mom and I going to a quilting show, buying some fabric (thanks Mom!) and making some fancy pillows for my couch. My partner always jokes that we don't ever just hang out, we "work' which is true in a sense, but I think that my mom and I do our best hanging out while we are tackling a sewing project or an organizing project. Or maybe my family is just weird, who's to say?

At any rate, I've wanted some of these pillows for a long time. My mom has some pillows like this on her couch and has also made some for my sister. The awesome part about them is that they're stuffed with all the scraps of fabric and batting from all of my mom's other projects, which makes them reusable friendly and super heavy and firm, which is amazing for couch pillows that need to stand up to lots of use! They're roughly 19' by 19", have a zipper so the covers can be removed to wash them, and are quilted free-hand with a walking foot on the sewing machine. My mom's good advice for the free-hand quilting was to have a plan and to let the fabric guide you as to the design that you make. I think they turned out pretty great! The inside of the pillows is lined with flour sack tea towels and the actual pillow part is also made of this flour sack material. There is just something amazing and healing about taking some fabric, gathering other materials and creating something out of nothing that is useful, taps into your creativity and allows you to spend some time creating and chatting with wonderful people.

Other things I'm currently loving for their healing properties:

• Audio books to keep me focused-especially ones on minimalism. I just finished The Year of Less by Cait Flanders and I'm currently listening to You are a Badass by Jen Singero. Hoopla is amazing and free with a library card. 
• New car! Bad timing, but I just purchased my first car and am loving being able to easily go for a family or friend visit, as well as expand the regions I'm able to job search in
• Harry Potter Rifftrax-combining my love of Harry Potter with my love of making fun of movies.
• Puppy cuddles. 
• Sunshine and things growing in the park
• Amazing and supportive friends in my life.
• "Unicorns are real" bullet journal for keeping me organized
• Remembering the amazing healing of blogging and journaling to help me document my accomplishments and actions