Swaps and crafting therapy...

It has been a hard week and boy am I glad for my hobby! Crafting is good therapy sometimes - keeps you engaged and entertained enough to be distracting but is enjoyable and not stressful (if you aren't rushing to hit any deadlines). You can make squishy snuggly things to hug and cuddle when you are feeling blue too.

I've needed all of that this week and more. My grandpa passed away last Friday and even tho we knew it was coming soon, it was still a shock at how quickly it happened. He has been battling cancer for the past few years and it recently came back too strong to fight anymore. He was only in his middle 70s, not ready to go at all and we were certainly not ready to say goodbye to him. Unfortunately he and my grandma live out in Kansas so I don't get to see them much and I was not able to go to the funeral either. Let me tell you - I needed to be distracted to keep from obsessing about it all week and definitely needed the snuggles an overstuffed pillow can give. Anyway, enough of that, just a thought I wanted to share as I know several of you will agree with me about the theraputic powers our hobbies can have... my family is not the first nor the last to suffer sorrow and I hope you are able to find comfort and even distraction as needed when your time comes.

A lovely blessing in disguise as a swap package showed up on my doorstep Friday after work - from Kansas no less!

My partner, bubbabean22, sent this big lovely box to me and what was inside you may wonder?

Not one, but TWO beautiful pillow covers already stuffed with big squishy pillow forms - and a bit of foxy fabric to go along! Such a fantastic surprise!! On the left is the "For the Love of Solids" swap pillow she made me - so in love with this pillow!! Love the shades of grey and the bright colors and the quilting is fantastic- it highlights the alternative star pattern that the greys make in between the bright stars:

The other pillow is my "small" item included in this swap - we were supposed to send one big and one small - she definitely spoiled me! It is so pretty and springy and wow - so squishy, love snuggling that giant pillow :) Can't say enough what a great surprise it was and how much I ended up needing that snuggly goodness after the news on Friday night about my Grandpa.  

My couch is a bit overwhelmed with swap pillows now tho - every pillow that came with our couch and loveseat now has a bright and pretty pillow cover on it and these 2 new ones are living there as well:

I've been so spoiled by great swap partners - love all these beautiful pillow covers I've received this year and last in the Pillow Talk and For the Love of Solids swaps. There are 2 swaps I never want to miss out on.
Now if only I could convince my hubby we need a grey couch to match them all... hmmmm ;-)

I wasn't really feeling up to doing a whole lot this weekend and didn't really want to be around people so I just kind of vegged and enjoyed browsing Flikr for ideas and reading everyone's blogs. A bit of creativity and pretty pictures is a good heart lifting distraction. I also got a little bit of sewing in and made a mug rug for my friend and co-worker who had a birthday on Monday. Forgot to take a picture of it - maybe if I remember to bring my camera to work one of these days I can show you.

I also was able to get a lot of work done on my stripey quilt and added 2 more rows and 1 more column to make it a whopping 72 x 88 inches - big enough for our queen sized bed even if it isn't a standard comforter size. I ordered backing fabric - bright pink of course! - for it this week so hopefully I will have everything put together and squared up in time to drop this one off at Michelle's when I pick up my other quilt.

So glad my hubby is going to let this beautiful quilt live on our bed when it is all done - it is so bright and cheerful and perfect for Spring and Summer - definitely will make me happy to see and snuggle every day :)

And speaking of Michelle and quilts - that girl is so fast, she was done longarm-quilting mine in a week! Awesome, I know! She has had family in town and we've been busy anyway so I haven't picked it up yet but hoping to soon. I will get that binding sewn on lightening fast and will have pictures of the finished quilt and especially Michelle's awesome quilting for you soon thereafter.

I think that is about enough rambling for one day. I hope everyone is having a wonderful week!