Valerean

I go through a lot of notepads and desk planners, probably three or four times what other people use. This is because 1) my job requires me to be on the computer for hours and 2) despite my arthritis I'm still more comfortable writing down notes versus creating an electronic version. As it happened my arthritis was also giving me a lot of grief one day last month, rendering one of my only two working fingers unusable, so instead of quilting that day I decided to make a planner from the preprinted sheets in my Flow book. I just added some writing papers between each month sheet, punched holes in all of them them, trimmed some pretty card stock for covers, and bound everything with velvet ribbon. It's not terribly sophisticated but it's pretty, and I like it, which is what really matters. Like this I am learning to embrace my ever-increasing limitations and create in the moment. Sometimes what I'm able to do doesn't seem like much, but it means the worl...

One of the things I put together last month that was super fun was a journal made from a practice piece of embroidered and beaded linen, a tea towel and some pretty papers I had on hand. I had to look through the archives for a bit before I discovered that I made the practice piece three years ago to test using vintage linens as journal covers, which made me laugh. I really do have a one-track mind (and I save everything!) I've not made any journals in quite a few years as hand writing is becoming difficult for me. I decided to make this one a pocket journal that I could tuck things in. I can still write by computer, too, and print out my thoughts to include them.