Moments of stillness and crafty goodness

The other day one of the children cried excitedly that there was something on the roof - being the wonderful mother I am I replied 'oh yes?' in my knowing tone, then had the surprise of my life when I looked up and saw the beautiful lizard you see pictured above, sunning itself on our skylight! So we sat there and did nothing but watch it for 5 minutes, and a blissful 5 minutes they were too, just simply being and enjoying each other's silent company. A good antidote to the rushing about I wrote about in my last blogpost.

I also did get time to do some art in the last week. Tuesday didn't quite pan out as anticipated but I spent the morning planning a doll for a competition I have entered in the mixed media magazine, 'Cloth, Paper, Scissors'. It almost didn't happen for me; this week has been flat out with Christmas activities and it came to the evening before the deadline and I still wasn't finished. Just when I was about to admit defeat my husband pointed me in the direction of my art table and said "just do it!". I did as I was told and lost myself in my inner art world and the feeling on completion was fantastic! Even if my piece doesn't get chosen for the article, I am still immensely proud of myself for completing something I wanted to do, by a deadline. At one point I did give myself a stern talking to - I realized I was making excuses as to why I couldn't complete my project, I was talking myself out of something I really wanted to do! How silly is that? Anyway, my Mother Earth doll is now sitting on my sideboard and the photos have been sent off to Interweave - check out their website, they have all sorts of resources for knitting, crochet, mixed media, quilting, etc. I won't post a picture until I know the results, seems improper to show her off before the magazine has had a chance to see her!

Today is another sweltering day - we gave up looking at the thermometer when it hit 35 degrees at 11 o'clock this morning. Yuck. Time to jump in the pool methinks. At least by that time we'd already been to Spotlight and spent ages choosing fabric - my next project is going to be the divine Emmeline apron - I received the pattern last week and I'm dying to make it. Of course we spent ages in the crafting paradise and had to extracted by the rescue party (hubby). He of course had finished all his Christmas shopping in the same amount of time. Anyway, this apron is very hip and trendy, and looks more like an item of clothing when it's on. I plan to make one from the lovely fabric (at a bargain sale price! Yay!) I bought today, and one from calico which will be my work apron; the decor will increase with time as I keep splodging it with paint.

There you have it, although it's been a very busy week I MADE time to do arty and crafty things, and do you know what, my spirit feels all the better and lighter for it. Art is definitely on my list of self-care activities - put it on yours too!