Sewing Soothes My Soul

When I am stressed...as I have been since Mom has been ill...I like to sew. During tough times, while the physical exercise of working out with my personal trainer, Ben, helps strengthen my body, sewing seems to soothe my soul.
 

My mother taught me how to sew on her old Singer when I was a young girl so maybe sewing makes me feel closer to her right now, when she can no longer sew.

 

I found this fabric...it was a sample size donated by a decorating shop...at Goodwill for $1.99. With batting I had on hand, I turned it into a chair cushion to brighten up a dark corner of our living room.

The chair has an interesting story too. We brought it back from the overgrown rural two-room farm house in Virginia where DH's father lived as a boy. The old chair is handmade and utilitarian, with a rope seat...but it is full of family memories, real and imagined.

 

This pillow comes from another fabric sample from Goodwill. I just folded the sample in  half, stuffed it, sewed the edges, and voila!

 

This folding screen was once Mom's. I brought it home and sewed new panels for it. It's perfect next to my desk in our "library" area.

 

 

I love the fabric...it is reproduced text from vintage newspapers.

 

 

The "articles" in the fabric newspaper, seem to fit my current mood..."Memories", "Forgiveness"...

 

and "Curiosity".

 

 

  

 I found the fabric at JoAnn's. It is designed by Tim Holtz, whose repro vintage embellishments are so popular right now with scrapbookers, jewelry creators and altered-art aficionados.. They can be found at Michael's and A.C. Moore.
 

 

 

Or, you can visit the Tim Holtz website here.

Tim Holtz has a whole line of "Eclectic Elements" fabrics at JoAnn's. They are a bit expensive at $14.99/yard for 44/45' cotton fabric so I used one of my 40% off coupons.

 

 

 

I must be really be in stress mode because I even dug out an old sewing project and finished it. I had found this partially finished piece of embroidery at a flea market a few years ago and always intended to do something with it. It just seemed sad sitting all by itself, unfinished and forgotten by some long-ago girl scout.

 

So...if the Girl Scouts have a pillow-making badge, I think I finally earned it.

The way things have been going around here lately, "Be Prepared" seems like a pretty god motto to keep in mind.

 

Or how about this Girl Scout pillow from Etsy? The badges come with it!

 

 

Then I sewed throw pillows for the guest room...

 

 

Lots of them!

 

 

I didn't sew the white "ruffled" pillow...found that one on Clearance at Marshall's for $10.00 and love the texture it adds to the grouping.

I liked it so much, I went back for an aqua one for the master bedroom.

 

I have to keep reminding myself that texture is as important as color in pulling a room together. Sometimes I get so "into" finding the perfect color that I forget to consider varying shapes and textures.
 

I made this simple pillow for our little "TV couch" in the Master Bedroom....the fabric was in the remnant bin at our local Curtainshop.

 

And, on an especially stressful day, I came home from visiting Mom and reupholstered the ottoman in front of my reading chair.

 

 

There's still a good-sized basket full of fabric left so I'm "Prepared" to sew my way through any stressful days ahead...

 

 

 

And where will I put all the pillows I make and can't even use?

Why in this gigantic new basket from Home Goods,  of course!

 

 

 

Did I mention that home shopping also does a pretty good job of relieving stress?

 

How do you cope with stress?

 

This post is linked to:

Sew Darn Crafty Linky Party at Sew Many Ways