Not a shocking announcement, but I am pretty sick of this pandemic. Being home with my kids has some great benefits (we’re healthy, primarily!), but being with them almost all the time has me mentally, physically, and sometimes even emotionally drained.
Which means I don’t have the energy I would like for some big sewing projects. (Not to mention that my husband now works in our basement, so I cannot even use my sewing space!) For the first several weeks of 2021, I was pretty mopey, just feeling like I had lost all my sew-jo.
Then came a perfectly timed anniversary gift from my husband: a subscription to Miniature Rhino’s Pattern Club. When I received my first lovely little kit in the mail with a uniquely-designed sashiko pattern from the uber-talented Jessica Marquez, I was so excited!. Plus, every other month she does meet-ups, which totally boosted my creative energies!
I have loved the look and texture of sashiko for a while – I’ve read books, and I have dabbled in some tiny projects. The sashiko projects that I have been working on lately are not “big” projects at all (the name literally means “tiny stabs” in Japanese). I have been drawing grids and using patterns and hand stitching in a way that is slow, meditative, and nonetheless: creative.
I’m seeing more and more people get vaccines, and COVID numbers are starting to drop in Maine. I have hope that we’ll have more freedom soon, and that I will have the mental space to get back to garment making and some of the home decor projects that have been piling up. But until then, these small stitches are serving a need for me: to be creative, to make, to express.