And just like that, October has come to a close and I can look back at it all with a tremendous sigh of relief.
This has been a tough month physically and mentally, but it’s also been an incredibly satisfying one. I worked really hard, but I made a lot of people happy and brought a lot of people smiles. And my tour work is actually performing, which so few of my colleagues are able to do right now. So in a very real sense, I ground through a month long show run and came out the other side – and I feel privileged to have done so. A little exhausted perhaps but…privileged .
Now that my life has returned to a relative sense of normal (well, as normal as anything ever is this year), I suppose some updates are in order.
In truth, there isn’t a great deal more to report than there ever is these days. Right now…I think Amras and I were “supposed” to have been in Germany? England? Or was this month supposed to be Scotland? I honestly try not to think about it too much, it’s a little bit heartbreaking; especially when our company just announced yet another extension to it’s already months long pause in operations, and my bank account? Well, let’s just say that’s another thing I’m trying quite hard not to think about.
The other biggest updates is the long-delayed creation of Stitched By Heart Crafts. The idea of creating a small business based on my ability to create art with thread is something I have harboured daydreams about for a few years now; but I have never had the time or the focus to do so. Now? Well, with the need for extra income and the sudden anchor to a true home base, the time seemed perfect. While I still definitely do projects for myself (I took all of October “off” from commissions and worked on a Halloween project for my own wall simply because I was doing so many other things that I needed to do something to chill out in the little bit of time I had), I am focusing heavily on creating things for other people. To my great surprise there has actually been a modest demand for such things! I had no idea there would be any interest, let alone the amount of interest I have been getting.
It gives me a small quiet sense of pride to realize that people think that my work is worth something, that this hobby I’ve had for so many years can bring other people – in a few cases people that I don’t even know – some small spark of joy in all of this chaos.
At the moment I only take on small commissions, no bigger than 8×10, but maybe one day I’ll be able to work up to something bigger. I suppose it depends on how fast I can stitch.
But aside from all that, there is…a beautiful peace in the level of normalcy in my life right now. One of the things I have been most terrified of is that I will be no good at being a partner, or well…anything that goes with that. I am slowly discovering skills I didn’t know I had! And in all honestly, it’s nice to have some semblance of time. Time to think about baking cookies, time to read a book…time…to do the small things that I normally don’t have the ability to do. I’m discovering that – despite the hardships – I quite like normal. There is…magic…in the normal.
You just have no know which page of the book to turn to, and how to keep turning those pages even when the story gets tense.
Bright blessings everyone