The stitch circle community is an online space to connect, share, inspire, create and converse with hand stitching enthusiasts and textiles lovers from all around the world. Here’s some of their creative makings - pouches and a book pouch

I sat with this feeling of not knowing, and being wrong for only a short amount of time. I pulled my weaving back in front of me. With my selection of colours and yarns I told myself that the very first humans to ever weave and make cloth or fibre of any sort didn't have a teacher except their mother or father, and didn't have a book or a fancy workshop. They had their materials and their human innate understanding of maybe how something could work. They didn't know if it would work or not, but they kept on trying until it did. And they kept on listening to their own thoughts and intelligence. 

Doing what I do - being an artist, an indie business owner & a mama to 3 noisy kids - is big, hard, mentally exhausting work. I know I talk about slow living a lot, and I do live it in my everyday life. But the reality is you need some tricks to get through being in the noise of mamahood and finding your way to being the artist. Don't you think?

This might be the most raw & vulnerable thing I might have ever told you: it’s about anxiety, learning things about ourselves, sitting with the challenges of life & parenting. And also about how craft, creative work, helps me. It might help you too. Here’s the story :

How to fit creativity into the everyday busy of life can be a big challenge for all of us. It doesn't matter if you're a parent of 6, or 1, or have no kids at all. Life can be full, hectic, non-stop. Just regular living - cooking, cleaning, buying food, paying bills, going to work, sitting in traffic.... all those things seem to fill our days before we even get to think about spending time with family and friends, before we can even consider adding in our own creative making time.

Feeling raw in this life can be the hardest thing there is. But it's the only thing, for me. I don't want to - I will not live a watered down life, for anyone. I know now that I do not want to have to self-edit what I think / feel / or say, just to make someone else feel comfortable. Why oh why do I keep walking around trying to make people feel ok or comfortable, when my journey is about moving beyond the boundaries of comfort and ease.

I am slowly slowly getting my garden becoming more of a thing. The dahlias, cosmos and zinnias from Summer’s garden are still blooming quite abundantly, but it’s all looking a little overgrown and end-of-season-ish. A couple of weeks ago, we made a new garden bed, and I planted out the indigo and woad. As well as some other things that needed to from pots to the ground.