a bit of crochet

A small bit of crochet has been going on here.  A very small bit.

But I'm gonna post it anyway b/c the patterns are so worth sharing.

I'm into mandalas.  They're appearing in my art journal, as doodles in notebooks, and now in my crochet.  They relax me: their repetitive, yet changing patterns, their circular shape.  This one is from the lovely Barbara from Made in K-Town {pattern h e r e}

I stitched it onto a fabric filled embroidery hoop for hanging.

And then there's this little guy.  Absolutely adorable, right?!?  You can find the pattern at Ravelry.  

I'll be hooking up a rainbow of these little guys for various loves in my life.

Finally, there's this project that has not been getting much love lately:

Heidi Bears African Flower Hexagon 
Join-as-You-Go technique

Shall we do a little compare and contrast?

Photo of this project taken 199 days ago (thank you, Instagram)

I'll save you the math.  That's 10 vs 16.  That's a difference of 6 little hexagons . . . in 199 days.  We can just round up to 200 (since I won't be adding any between today and tomorrow).  I'm averaging one hex every 33 days.  One hex a month.  Hmm, maybe I'll rethink the plan to make this a blanket and try this instead.

I have loads of other crochet projects, patterns and inspiration pinned on my 

i♥ C R O C H E T 

pinboard

Happy Creating!

Art Journaling--it's therapeutic

My heart and mind have been so heavy with thoughts of my brother.  I decided to set them free and put some of them to paper in my art journal.  Here are the results from one day of free therapy:

Thank you Michelle, for helping me see this as a "middle moment" in my life.

I had a clear vision for this page with red surrounded by darkness to tell the story of my brother's injury.

And after I got those two pages out of me, I was ready to move onto the light and colorful: 

a couple of mandalas with pen and watercolor:

Created the top one while the boys were at school, and the bottom one with them drawing at the table with me.  It reminded me that we need to take more time to create together, inspiring each other.

Then on Friday, I quickly did up this page in response to Ali Edwards' Creative Lifts prompt 

Did it completely spur of the moment, without censoring or over-thinking.  Art journals are perfect for that.

Then I have this page sitting in my journal waiting to be finished:

Broke out the light board and graph paper for this b/c sometimes I like to measure and get all analytical and engineer-y (get that from my dad).  

Thanks for letting me share my art journal with you!

Hugs!

hello, again, blog

so it's been nearly a month and a half since my last post.

i'm getting my bearings.

i've taken some time for reflection.

i've done a bit of creating {which i'll be sharing in the coming days' posts}

the boys have gone back to school

we welcomed a new sweet cousin into our family

my amazingly cool niece paid us a visit from Florida

and shared her fire spinning talents with us

i have gotten lost in hours of house projects

cleaning out closets

creating a gallery of the boys' artwork

making new systems to simplify life

my brother continues to heal and we continue to pray

and i continue to live in this new reality, 

where life is precious and can change in the blink of an eye, 

where things are uncertain 

and all you can sometimes be sure of is the here and now.  

it feels good to be back here writing, creating, sharing. 

i'm hoping for good things...