Rebuilding Joy - January 7

Mimi woke up today wanting to "make a poster". To her that means fabric collages made by raiding Momma's scrap bags and creating a scene on a big piece of canvas.
I offered to help her once it's finished... To anchor the pieces down with some machine stitches. She politely declined. "no thank you. I want it to look completely kid-made."

Color scheme happiness

Not a ton to report in the " re-building" category today... I did get a haircut, which meant I was treated well by my awesome hairstylist... and I ran a number of errands. (not inspiring)
But I did come home to a package of fabric from a friend, and that's always great. She'd offered to cut the fabric for me with her accuquilt cutter and I sent her fat quarters from a color scheme I'd been wanting to explore. I mailed it out on Tuesday and by Friday, this beautiful pile came back!
She even added in three fabrics from her own stash as an added present.
I've been wanting to play with tumblers for a while, so this will be a fun project to pursue.

Rebuilding Joy - Jan 4

I couldn't pic which photo was prettier, so you get both.
The lemon tree in the backyard is going crazy with lemons. Its not a big tree, but it is mighty fruitful.
I'm busy digging up recipes for lemon chicken, lemon cake, lemon everything.... I've been drinking fresh lemonade every day.
These smell just as good as they look. I swear, the sunshine makes them smell better too.

Rebuilding Joy - Jan 3

I took the kids for a hike in Bronson Canyon. Southern California can be weird with weather... The summers are often cold and gloomy, but we always have some strange weeks in January and February that have winter light, but hot summer weather. It was 80degrees this day and we breathed in deep and heard the silence of the canyons underneath the famous "HOLLYWOOD" sign.
This tree in particular caught my attention. The patterning on its trunk blew my mind.

Re-Building Joy

Someone recently posted this laughing photo of me at a wedding on Facebook. It's a fun pic, but the day I saw it, I got really sad. I cried. The photo had been taken 365 days earlier and I felt so far from that huge laugh after the past year. The two pics on the right are pics from this week... I'm still able to smile and appreciate moments and laugh and dance and sing, but I'm clawing my way out of a lot of pain and definitely don't have that depth of joy and hope that is so evident in the first pic.
I've started to go to a counselor. This week I told her that I was setting aside Jan 1- Feb 29 (my leap year birthday) to try and focus on doing things that will heal me and feed my heart. I am planning on finding at least one thing a day that will be a healing activity. She loved that idea and spoke to me about "Building Joy" back into my life. She pointed out that unless I am filled, my family will remain wounded.
I was unable to write many details about what was happening this past year, but you know it was hard. The real reason I quit making those hand-stamped charms was that my hands shook so hard that I could no longer make them. I cried over so many charms as they sat ruined on my desk and decided it was time to give it up.... That's only a sliver of where I've been. But that is then. And this is now. And...
IT IS MOST DEFINITELY TIME TO REBUILD JOY.
I've decided to lightly chronicle this journey here on my blog, since you readers have been so encouraging to me all along... You are invited to read along, view my pics and breathe in a little deeper with me as I do my best to come back to laughter and spend these days "Re-building Joy". I have no idea what to expect, but I do know that I'm being very intentional about this.
I hope you don't mind.

Mini quilts

Mini quilts, a photo by libby dibby on Flickr.

Some people call them "mug rugs" or "mini quilts", maybe they are potholders. Or trivets. Or doll quilts. Whatever they are, they were called "UFO"s (as in "UnFinished Objects") around here until last night.
I have about 15 different projects on my mental to-do list and have been feverishly working to finish that hand-quilting on the paper pieced quilt... But I've been doing it so long that I've missed my sewing machine. I literally haven't touched it in weeks. As I was giving a neighbor a sewing lesson on her new sewing machine yesterday, I began missing my own machine.
So last night, I put away the hand quilting for the night and tried to clear the ironing board of its stack of UFOs. First on the list were the rest of the Christmas ornaments (about 20 were half-started) - and then there were these.
By the end of the night, there was a little sense of accomplishment, some pretty (useful) things to look at and two less things in my way as I look into my creative plans for 2012.

2011 finished quilts

2011 finished quilts Liberty Worth, a photo by libby dibby on Flickr.

It's not all of the quilts I made in 2011, but it's most of them. Quite a productive year to look back on!
The things I really got into this year were hand quilting and also making my quilts big enough to fit beds.

Paper pieced WIP over New Years

Paper pieced WIP over New Years, a photo by libby dibby on Flickr.
 

It's almost done... I spent much of 2011 hand sewing this. A hard year that left me so stressed out that I needed something to work on with my hands during lots of waiting moments... I have sewed this entirely by hand, often in cars, I took it camping with me, brought it to meetings... It steadied me by giving me something to focus on in some scary moments.



And now the final product is so much prettier than I ever imagined... The red hand stitching makes me so happy.
It's going to be gifted to someone who has walked super closely with us through our year - our social worker... Someone who carried our pain as her own and was a valiant and strong champion for all we stood for and believed in. I feel as if no one but her could understand the depth and breadth of the year and I know she will know how much she is loved as she receives it.

What to do with Christmas card pics

We love getting Christmas cards with photos from friends (especially when they include pics of the parents, and not just the kids...) and every year, we joyfully post them all up in our home. But what to do with them afterwards? Some may make the fridge, but these days, that's valuable real estate for kid art...
I saw this idea on pinterest (totally not taking credit for it)... Collect each year's stack and punch holes in them, bind them with book rings and make yourself an easy coffee table book to bring out with the decorations next year. What's better than a book of your favorite people's smiling faces (and their kids, too)???
For ours, I've managed to dig up a few from years past and put our family card on the front for the year it represents. This makes me so happy because I just love holiday cards and how else can I keep and enjoy them???

Presents gone, room for my tree skirt!

Presents gone, room for my tree skirt!, a photo by libby dibby on Flickr.

My consolation prize for the presents all being opened is there is finally room for my tree skirt!