always a work in progress...

when you have a chronic illness like Crohn's, one with no scientific cure, you try and try to find your own answers... to find a reason and cause for the symptoms and disease... to find medical, spiritual, and professional wisdom to help make each day better than the last... you spin and spin your mind and body into a frenzy of action and pursuit...

but sometimes, the answer is just to do NOTHING... :)

to sit down and rest... put your body and mind at ease... let go of the questions and concerns and worries and give yourself a chance to truly heal from the inside out... :)

try to target areas of your life that are causing stress on your body and allow room for change in those areas... both good challenging stress and harmful worrisome stress affect me negatively, so i have had to put several aspects of my life on hold: my fiber arts business, volunteering in my son's classroom, even fun activities that were enjoyable but kept me busy busy busy!!

for the first three months after my latest flare with fistulas, i literally had to force myself to rest on the couch, take naps and go to bed early, and relax! but it was the BEST thing i could have done in those early times, giving my body a chance to focus, find rest, and begin to heal...

slowly i have gained enough physical and emotional strength to begin adding some enjoyable work back into my days... i just can't keep my hands still for too long! though i'm not quite ready to get my business back up and running, nor can i commit to any type of schedule... but projects where i can do a little bit at a time and see progress and loveliness as i work are a great start :)

i found the inspiration for this crochet fusion blanket here and grabbed some lovely reclaimed vintage sheets from this etsy shop :) i adore how it is working up and its the perfect stop and go project! :)

5" x 5" squares stitched, turned, and topstitched

blanket stitch with cotton yarn around all edges

single crochet then double crochet edging, 

with extra stitches for flat corners

i found the inspiration for this crochet fusion blanket here and followed her method :) as i crocheted the single crochet round, i made 1 single crochet in each blanket stitch and made 3 single crochets in each corner. for the double crochet round, i made 2 double crochets in each of the corner stitches, so 6 double crochets at each corner :)

i have a couple more projects in mind that i'll share with you in a bit :) and maybe some of my failed attempts, too! :) rest easy :) xoxo sara