I'm one of those people who absolutely refuses to put up any Christmas decorations before December! I raise my eyebrows when the shops start draping tinsel in October, and screw up my face when I am told there are only 90 days to Christmas!
However, I'm a realist and know that if we don't start sewing for Christmas soon, we're not going to finish in time for the celebrations!
This year I had planned to design a few new Christmas patterns - but they have not eventuated, so I hope you don't mind seeing some old ones. The Christmas Dove is such a fun and quick design and so symbolic of the peace and love that is God's Christmas gift to us. Then it is always nice to have a new oven mitt and trivet for Christmas cooking. The Ding Dong Merrily Table Runner has always been one of my most popular patterns. I have never understood the reason why, but I am thankful that people like it and want to make it!
The reason why there are no new Christmas patterns to show you is because I have found it really difficult to get the motivation to do anything much at all lately. Once again, I haven't been able to visit hubby for the past eleven days, and don't know when the lockdown is going to end. This time it is a gastro enteritis virus that has caused it. In reality, it means I have many more hours in my week to do all sorts of things, but in practice I don't have much to show for all the extra time!
It has been helpful in recent days to realise that this is all part of my grieving process and it's OK to sit and stare out the window and to transfer all the "to do" list to the next day, or next week! Even finding that my grief has a title - Ambiguous Grief - is helpful, because I know there are other people who understand and have been through it too.
Thankfully, I still find great comfort in curling up in my recliner in the evening with embroidery in hand, and if I am in danger of having nothing ready to stitch, then the motivation kicks in enough to at least prepare the next piece of applique or stitching!
I have even done some of the pattern writing for my 2022 Block of the Month Design, so all is not lost! Everything is just happening slower than usual and it's all good, because "All the days ordained for me were written in God's book before one of them came to be." Psalm 139:16 NIV.
Blessings on you,
Val
