I really need a hand...

I’m struggling.  My health has been worse than usual this past year and although I don’t talk about it much it has been very hard.  The depression is coming back after having been at bay for a long time and I’m spiralling downward into malaise.  I want desperately to get Healing Arts (formerly The Sick Chick Crafts for Causes) up, running and fully legal (and thus tax-deductible!) but it’s a lot more work than I had initially imagined.  It will be very worth it, but…like the people I want to help, I’m in a bad place right now and could really use a little lift.

Can you give me a hand?

I mean that literally! I’m asking you and anyone, everyone, young and old to send me a cutout of a hand, decorated any way you please and made from whatever materials suit your fancy.  I’ll use these hands to cheer myself on by affixing them to the bare walls in my room and also sending hands to anyone else who seems to need one. Please write your name or nick on the back so I/we will know who is lending their hand to this project (And if you send other contact details I will write you a thank-you note eventually!)

Here's one I made earlier...

Please send hand images to:

I will be ever so grateful and hopefully this will be what I need to get myself out of a funk and get cracking on helping others!  Many thanks in advance!

Tags: hand, healing arts, help
Filed under: Announcements, Healing Arts Charity Program

I know that it is something of a cardinal sin amongst bloggers and podcasters to apologize for being absent, but nonetheless I do wish to say that I am sorry for not posting.  I’ve been dealing with some difficult health challenges this autumn plus we’re *still* dealing with moving from the UK, so much to do and so very little energy to do it.

But I miss the camaraderie of the blogosphere and I would very much like to post more often.  So please, if you are so inclined, send prayers/energy/candles/etc my way that I will have the stamina to blog in this new year. And now, on with the show!

Filed under: Announcements

National Invisible Awareness Week has ended but it’s still National Pain Awareness Month and right now I’m well aware of my pain so I thought I’d blog instead  In honour of my Crafting for Causes charity program (which has NO donations yet *sniff sniff* — whatcha waiting on people??) I thought I would list just a small sampling of items that could brighten an ill person’s day and/or make their lives easier. Of course some of this depends on what kind of illness they have but you’d be using your judgement, of course!

Papercrafting

• Handmade cards and postcards (can involve sewing/quilting/fabric/etc too!)
• Signs of good wishes to hang up near their bed/lair
• Mini-books filled with inspirational quotes
• Personalized stationery to make it easy to write notes to friends — with postage included
• Blank journals to record their health, feelings, dreams or wishes, etc.

Quilting

• Lap quilts for wheelchair users (I like 30 inches square finished size)
• Small throws for lounging on the sofa
• Bed quilts, especially for the hospitalized to bring to colour to the room
• Padded cases for eyeglasses
• Thick quilted “pot” holders to be used for hot OR cold items (my hands can’t handle taking things out of the freezer, for instance)

Sewing

• All kinds of warmers made with grains/rice inside of fabric that can be microwaved; these can be shaped for certain body parts or square for a generic heating pad
• Nice pillows to put said warmers into, or just in general
• Fleece hats
• Extra-warm Mittens
• Bed jackets and shrugs
• Bags and totes for carrying things to appointments
• Bags, “backpacks” and other items to add storage space to a rollator or wheelchair
• “Slanket”/”Snuggie” type throws
• Cute animals to cuddle up with — yes even adults like to sleep with a friend sometimes! — ideally very soft as well

Knit/Crochet

• Lap blankets for wheelchair users (see above)
• Throws for lounging
• Shrugs and cardigans for those who get cold easily
• Gloves, mittens or fingerless versions thereof
• Wrist, arm, legwarmers
• Hats, especially soft ones that are washable but don’t have bulky brims (for those of us who have to sleep in hats a bump at the brim can be uncomfortable)
• Handmade socks
• Prayer square where appropriate
• Cute, soft animals (see above)

Toiletries — check with the person first for allergies/sensitivities!!

• Lotions for those with skin problems
• Unscented items for people allergic to perfumes
• Exfoliating items for people who can’t bathe/shower every single day (dead skin can build up quickly)
• Aromatherapy blends for relaxation, stress reduction, mental clarity, etc.
• Bath blends without harsh chemicals; salts are usually good for this
• Massage oils safe for use on the temples and forehead or warming or cooling ones for the body

Beading

• Bookmarks
• Stretchy jewelry for people who have trouble with hooks and clasps
• Pretty, sparkly things for women who may be feeling unfeminine b/c of illness or side effects of treatment
• Prayer beads where appropriate
• Tiaras to make them the Queen of their Domain
• Medic alert IDs — make the medic sign very visible
• Awareness jewelry relating to their specific disease(s)

This is really a small sample of things that can be made, and things I plan to make for others.  Watch this space for more ideas in the weeks to come, and of course feel free to ask any questions about the items listed or to make suggestions of your own!

Tags: beading, charity, chronic illness, chronic pain, chronically ill, crafting, crafting for causes, crafty, crocheting, invisible illness, knitting, loom knitting, national invisible illness awareness week, national pain awareness week, papercrafting, quilting, toiletries
Filed under: Healing Arts Charity Program

I’ve been trying to make a list of everyone who has publicly acknowledged that they have a chronic illness and who also are crafters.  Maybe they make their living crafting or just use it to cope with the everyday stresses of living with illness.  However, this is obviously an impossible task — there are millions of people who fit this category!  So I’m just going to do what I can and start the ball rolling!

Since this is Invisible Illness Awareness Week, I can’t think of a better time to start ah, taking names

If you are, or know of, a person who is out about living with chronic illness (please don’t divulge secrets not your own!) who is into crafting, please please comment!  Leave the blog, website, Twitter, Facebook, Etsy or other URL where we can find them so we can spread the encouragement!

Invisible Illness Awareness Week 2009

And please don’t forget that I am crafting for the chronically ill & their support teams, donations of craft supplies & postage greatly needed!!

Tags: charity, chronic illness, crafting, IIWeek09, invisible illness, invisible illness awareness week
Filed under: Announcements, Healing Arts Charity Program

Filed under: Announcements

In case you haven’t seen yet, I have pledged to craft little gifts for chronically ill people, their carers and medical professionals that deserve our thanks. I am in need of craft supplies, but anything else anyone might want to send to be distributed to these lovely people would be greatly appreciated!!! Chronically ill adults benefit the LEAST from programs designed to give cheer to the sick. Most of the money and effort go to children or adults with terminal illness or cancer, while funds for chronic illnesses go to research. Research is a good thing, but when you’re feeling isolated and lonely it’s not much to go on.

Since I know most of my readers ARE chronically ill people, what I would really like from you is just to spread the word that I am looking for supplies. Please tell everyone with excessive stashes or any craft supply companies or book publishers who might be able to donate. Thanks so much for your efforts!!!

For more info please see: http://thesickchick.com/causes

Tags: charity, crafting for causes, crafting for charity
Filed under: Healing Arts Charity Program

I finished the FiberTudes challenge with two days of swatch crocheting (I’m using these pieces as mini-facecloths since I prefer small pads for scrubbing my face.) and one yarnstravaganza at JoAnn’s Labor Day Sale. Then for September, it’s time for:

The point of this challenge is to *make and finish* one small crafted item per day. No time requirements so it can be very ickle things. So far I have been making bracelets and more mini-facecloths (but I didn’t double-count any for the Fibertudes challenge, yes I did two things a day for three days!) but I plan to branch out into stitch markers very soon.  And keep making my facecloths because I love using them

I will do my best to actually take pictures this weekend, how scary!  I haven’t shown an FO on this blog in what, over a year….so hold on to your (hand-crafted) hats, people!

Tags: challenge, FiberTudes, One Craft a Day Challenge
Filed under: Challenges

Today is the last day of August and thus the official end of the FiberTudes 31 Day Fiber Challenge.  The point was to do something fiber-related (and of course that is yarn/thread/paper not edible fiber!) for 20 minutes a day every day in August.  I had to plead The Sick Chick Exemption* a few days so I’ve got three days left to do, but for the record, what I did was:

(*The Sick Chick Exemption: For any day of a challenge where you are too ill to sit upright for more than three hours, you can skip that day — as if it didn’t exist, since for you it didn’t! — and add the day to the end of the designated time. Please feel free to borrow this concept as needed and quote me as giving you permission )

1. design for sekrit embroidered & felted laptop case
2. Setting up studio & yarn stash
3. crochet starting dishcloth
4. design costume for the 29th (never made it, alas, maybe for Halloween!)
5. yarn shopping & general Hobby Lobby raiding
6. design conventioneers neck pouch thingy (sewing design)
7. quilt/fabric shopping esp for SCA dresses
8. research corn yarn, patterns, etc
9. pick out fabrics & style for bulletin board
10. organizing bead stash
11. sketched bracelet designs for shrink plastic awareness styles
12. design bracelet, watch crochet videos & more crocheting on dishcloth
13. loom knit on afghan
14. more crocheting on dishcloth, boy I am slow (hindered by kitten, as usual!)
15. The Sick Chick Exemption
16. The Sick Chick Exemption
17. Finish washcloth, yaaay! May add trim to it later though
18. play with beads, sketch more bracelet designs
19. loom knit on afghan
20. art supply shopping & watch band design
21. start crochet ATC
22. finish crochet ATC
23. prep (gesso) pages for art journal
24. practice single crochet, fail miserably, make Zentangle ATC instead
25. more knitting on afghan (I am sick of this one now!!)
26. The Sick Chick Exemption
27. Start loom knitting hat
28. Finish knitting hat and headband (6+ hrs)
29. Loom knit armwarmers, spool knit collar and earrings (6+ hrs)
30. watch quilting videos, drool muchly, learn muchly
31. read up on how thread is made (research for upcoming project)

So as you can see, I still have three days to go to complete that challenge, but I do have some FO’s to show off and some nearly completed items to finish, so there may be *gasp* PICTURES on this blog in the near future.  (Unless you wanna see pictures of my now 10 month old kitten, in which case I can oblige almost immediately ) Quite frankly, I am amazed at how much I got done this month, as it was fairly challenging, health-wise.

I’ll give you the final tallies after I finish my last three days!

But to the ladies of FiberTudes, I salute you and thank you for this challenge and can’t wait for the lace-along to start sometime in September!

Filed under: Challenges

You’ve probably heard of Startitis — the term for the state in which a person is constantly starting new projects, regardless of the number of unfinished objects awaiting their attention.  A new idea comes to mind and wham! they start again, leaving the last great thing in the dust.

While this term is generally applied to crafting, I’ve discovered to my dismay that I have startitis when it comes to blogging.  I have almost a dozen half-finished posts sitting around in draft form, all crying out for my attention.  I’ve been quite ill this last month, admittedly, but the silence on this blog has been caused far more by the dreaded startitis.  As if I needed another disease

I’m going to do my best to *finish* posts now, so if all goes well there may be many in quick succession.  If not, well, I think we know what to blame….

Filed under: Announcements

It’s been a wild year since I stopped regularly posting.  My father got worse and then better, but is still on the long road to recovery. My health has been on a roller coaster, my husband has been laid off and we’re currently living with our respective parents in the US & Australia — not because anything is wrong with our marriage but to spend time with our ill fathers. (& also because it is taking soooo freaking long to get a green card for him to join me in the US!! Grr!) Hopefully we’ll be reunited — with a green card in hand — by the end of the year.

Life changed, and this blog is going to change with it.  I’ve been very inspired by Diane Gilleland’s ebook about making crafty blogs. I’m not sure that I can follow her mantra (“It’s [your blog] not about you. It’s about them.”) all of the time since I love to babble, but I shall try to keep that limited to Twitter as much as I can.

My new direction with this blog is to be more open and giving rather than self-referential.  More tutorials rather than just pictures.  More interviews with others than rambling about myself.  And most definitely, more about the intersection of craft and illness, especially how crafts can help heal both the crafter and the recipient. Basically, I want to make this blog more about crafting than the crafter.  That’s the plan, anyway. Please give me a nudge if I seem to be straying away from this.

I’ll probably not be able to write deep, insightful posts all that frequently. My health is poor at the moment and I don’t know what specifically is wrong so I don’t know how to fix it.  So please bear with me if I’m not a regular once a week like clockwork kind of writer. I hope that what does come out will be worth the wait.  In between I’ll probably post a lot of snippets of things I have seen, podcasts I have heard, projects I have planned and stuff I covet.

I want to hear from you, my dear readers, as to what YOU want me to write about.  Is there something you want to know about my crafty life?  About being a sick chick who crafts? Just ask and I will do my best to answer.

So from now, I declare this blog to be re-opened.  There’s still a bit of technical dust as I redo widgets and whatnot and add pages and links and the like, but the important thing is that my mind is ready to write again and now I have a place for it.

Old friends, welcome back!  New friends, welcome aboard! Let the journey begin!

Filed under: Announcements