Earthing

With all this perfect southern Cali weather, I have been out in my gardens doing more there than in my studio working on quilts. Weeding is pretty endless right now, and in a short while the main thrust of that work will give way under the hot Summer sun. I come inside, strip and shower and try to re-coup my energy. Being outdoors always makes me feel more alive. And the mornings are coolest and I am energetically fresher to do the hard labor.

The new thing they call being outdoors is "Earthing". I've been doing that all my life and think I named it play or gardening.

Once inside, I took time, yet again, to sort fabrics in my bins. Seems that I just toss pieces out of their smaller containers when I 'shop' through them for my various projects. And then I made a hard copy list to make sure I get all the smaller projects done that need to get shipped out this week. 

I worked on some of the smaller practice pieces that will become the most simple of mug rugs, They give me an opportunity to try new decorative stitches on my new machine and to practice those tricksy mitered binding corners. Sometimes all I have is a 1/3 of a yard of fabric and its possible to get four rectangular pieces out of it to make into the mug rugs. What I've done is to pull many of them into one small bin so when I need a quick practice project or even a quick gift, I know what is in my stash.

Last month, on my paper crafting day, I pulled pages out of some periodicals that were stiff enough to make into simple tri-fold envelopes. They work for mailing out a lot of small things and are considered a form of 'happy mail'. I was able to fill them with a variety of swap items, just sealing them with 1" wide tape. 

I spent more time thinking about the Pay It Forward and Random Acts of Kindness principles. It surprises me how sometimes I can be generous and other times my heart isn't as open. I'm not sure what that means yet because I am still pondering my own soul and have not reached any conclusions about my personal behaviors.