non quilting post. PTSD and anxiety

As someone with complex/multi event PTSD and an anxiety disorder I get my side of it but it's hard to share how to help, especially in the middle of a flashback or attack.
I saw this article has some good points and appropriate caveats, aka touch is good except when it isn't. So here you go.

PS I sewed! I made skirt! Post coming soon!

Reasons I shouldn't sew blocks at different times

As you can see I had sewn one group of blocks together with the colour placement messed up. I'm trying to decide whether to leave it, break apart & use the 2 orphan blocks I found to create a finished block in each colour way (the middle ones would look right basically & L-R would mirror) or to make some more blocks (assuming I can find the yellows which I can't currently)/

Always lot's of choices!

Don't forget tomorrow night, Tues 9pmET, is #talknt  and #talknt2 is Wed from 3-4pmET, 8pmGMT.
Chat quilting, meet some new people and maybe win a prize!

I've sewn!

So I've actually done some sewing in the last few weeks. Before this the only work I'd done in a long while has been handwork, none of which is finished.

 But I have sewn for the sake of sewing! I'm thrilled with this because it really did let me relax in a way I haven't for a long time. Creating for the sake of creating with pretty fabrics that make me happy and warm feeling.























I don't know what I'm going to do with these but it will be for no reason but to make me feel like I'm creating beauty and positive energy.
I will post more about how I made them using the Sizzix Big Shot and what fusible I've finally found that I can't mess up most of the time! You can see from the light blue it is still possible to destroy but you have to really overheat, which of course I did.

I've also started work on a quilt that was supposed to be made a year ago for my inlaws. I hate that I haven't had it done for them before now but I do like having something to work on that will be appreciated. My inlaws, especially my father-in-law Sam, really appreciate and love quilting, (and think everything I do is awesome!) as it was part of both their lives growing up in a poor town in Appalachia. You can see one of the many reasons I adore them.

This is a version of my Twilight pattern using Indigo Crossing by Minnik & Simpson for Moda. Twilight was available as a PDF at Fat Quarter Shop but it seems to be missing now, but you can still get it over on PatternSpot.

And I'm posting

  I've written hundreds of post since I last posted, at least in my head, but none have made me feel ok coming back.

 A lot has happened in the last 2 years, and for the very large majority it has been not great to plain terrible and painful.

I'm not ready to share all that much as I'm simply not mentally up to rehashing it thoroughly enough that I feel I would have to do to fully explain and give context. I don't know if I will.
But I do know I want to move away from a way of dealing that is essentially a paralyzing anxiety reaction, constantly like a deer caught in headlights.

I've also had a massive amount of health upheavals, including the most recent, I've had 4 Dr/hospital diagnosed since I was 18, TIA (aka mini stroke), or something else that healed enough to hide on scans, since it took me 2 weeks of thinking I one of the worst migraines ever from the flight home from Houston in October.
 Again I don't really want to share too many details because honestly it makes me feel like I'm whining or complaining and I've spent too much of my life being shamed for my craptacular health that I cannot help but wanting to hold things closer.

 It is very hard to write a quilt blog when things have coincided to keep me either unable financially, physically, emotionally or time-wise to sew. My short term memory and any sense of time is gone.

 I've got back into the sewing room in the last few weeks and I hope it keeps up.

One of the big things I'm doing is only working on things I like/want to. I need to get back to where quilting is my therapy, not my stress.

 I have been doing Talkin Tuesdays, my quilting chat, over on twitter still and I've even added a second chat, #talknt2, on Wednesdays at 3pm ET (8pmGMT) for those who can't make the original Tuesday chat (#talknt) at 9pmET.
I love these chats and the connection to other quilters. We chat fabric, technique, really anything related to sewing/quilting, and have a lot of fun. Many people have met good friends through the chat and I really couldn't be prouder of that fact.
Join in if you haven't yet one time. It really is a great connection.

Talkin Tuesday giveaway FQ bundle of Honeysweet from Fat Quarter Shop!

So what do you post when it some how manages to be six months since you abandoned your blog?

Well I haven't figured that out yet, it's coming, but slowly.

I did want to let you know that until 11pmET tonight you have a chance at a FQ bundle of Fig Tree Quilt's Honeysweet from Fat Quarter Shop over on Talkin Tuesdays!

Visit Your Local Quilt Shop Day!

    Jan 24th is Visit Your Local Quilt Shop Day! It's an idea put together by FabShopHop people to celebrate our local quilt shops!
Several bloggers have been asked to profile their local shops, why they love them, why our LQS are important to the quilt/sewing community, and all the other fun things that they mean to them. You can find the list of blog hoppers here.




 My local shop is Hyggeligt (think Google it with and h) Fabrics, which is located in downtown London.

 For those that are local it's at 515 Richmond, in the plaza, you have to go through the walk way in the middle to find it. She's just moved down a unit into a much bigger space so there will be lots and lots of new fabulousness to come!
There is even a great space for a classroom!

 Hyggeligt is owned by Chantal, who is a really fun person, and she turned her love and collection of Kaffe Fassest fabrics, along with lots of other great fabrics like Liberty of London, Free Spirit etc, into an uber modern shop.
I know it may sound odd that my favorite shop is uber modern in focus, because I'm not really a modern quilter. I love bright fabrics, I like some large prints, but I do lean more traditional in the sense my quilts tend to have designs, or symmetry or whatever else you want to throw in there for your personal definition of modern vs
traditional.



 Along with cottons Chantal has a growing selection of voile (so incredibly soft!), velveteen, Dupioni silks, and organic fabrics.


 



There is also a huge collection of the gorgeous Oakshott Cottons from England. They have such a shimmer, depth and elegance, but are still easy to work with. 

  I love the amount of colour in her shop, I love that she carries Aurifil thread (which is actually how I found her shop), I love the patterns & books she carries (both clothes and quilts), I love that she will pretend to care what I say as I talk her ear off for an hour or two, I love that she's put the effort into founding a Modern Quilt Guild in the city for all of us who don't fit the traditional guilds,and in general I just love going in an soaking up the creative, bright and friendly atmosphere that is Hyggeligt Fabrics.

What is your favorite shop? What makes it special?