Evolution of a Hanky

A dear friend of mine just lost her father suddenly and she has been thrown into an ocean of deep grief. As a way to hold her in my heart and to feel close to her, I started working on embroidering my first handkerchief. A gift for her. A labor of love.

One beautiful sunny day my husband took the kids sledding in the mountains, and I had the house to myself for almost an entire day. It was glorious!

I am fairly new to this art form and find myself falling more and more in love with the process with each piece I create.

From deciding on a design and choosing the colors...

to transferring the design to the chosen fabric...

 

 

and starting to place the stitches...

 

I love it all! 



And this day, I got to spread everything out on the kitchen table.
With Pandora playing on my iPhone, a mug of delicious tea, and no interruptions...it was incredible!

 

 

 

 

 

Then, as the days passed and I was able to steal a moment here and a moment there, I finished it.

 

 

 

It went off in a care package last Friday.

With love from Bellingham to Seattle.

 

 

Gratitude & Abundance

• When I close my eyes, I see images that inspire me to create. I am in a flow of creativity in my life right now that feels incredible! There are more ideas than I could ever have time to produce.

• My back is on the mend. I have accessed a gift inside all of this pain. And I hope it will last beyond when the pain is gone. (Be gentle with yourself Kerry.)

• Turns out communicating clearly pays off. Even with a 5 year old! I underestimate her sometimes. The capacity of my daughter's heart astounds me.

• A friend is buying some of my work. 3 embroidered prayer pockets. I had a huge multi-day process over creating a price for them. She didn't blink an eye when I finally landed on something.

• I vacuumed the living room rug today. I won't even say how long it's been. Then me and my son lied down on our bellies and read "Little Blue Truck Leads the Way".

Priorities

I am confined to my bed. It has been a weekend of self-imposed bed rest. After a week of horrendous back pain it became clear that I needed to stop trying to push through.

I am taking time to listen...to trust...to breathe deep. And receive the lessons and the gifts in this.

It is all too easy to put my needs last in a house full of the *loud* needs of others. Well, forget it! I matter and my well-being is a priority. Certainly not at the expense of anybody elses. But a priority nonetheless. This is the tricky part that I have yet to figure out. How to make everyone's needs a priority, including my own.

It is now Sunday evening, and all in all the weekend went fine. My husband stepped up and took over running the house and entertaining the children. I got time to rest and I hope my back will be up the tasks of the week ahead.

In the meantime, I got to work on some embroidery.