Mindful crafting

Things have lost their regular rhythm in the last few months in this blog. I've been very caught up in raising awareness about the threatened closure of one of the colleges where I spent part of my life, Sweet Briar College, and my blog did suffer.
However, while not blogging I had time to reflect about a number of different things. The first of them is that blogging only about jewelry making is starting to feel like a limitation, although a self-imposed one. This choice seemed obvious in the beginning since my blog is hosted on my site, a jewelry site, but it conflicts with my interest in several different crafts that I have practiced for many years. 
As a result of that, my life is much less tidy than this blog would lead anyone to believe. I don't only have jewelry making supplies that need organizing, but also yarn, fabric, and other materials for bookbinding and the occasional felting session.

This is probably the reason why, as much as I like jewelry making, my other interests have started to demand more and more of my time, first by tempting me to take up a knitting project or to make something for the home, and then by inspiring me with ideas for blog posts and tutorials.
While the materials filling up my home are in use in very different activities and involve very diverse techniques, there are nevertheless a few basic principles that I find myself applying each time I make something. I've come to think of it as mindful crafting, a combination of eco-friendly ideas and practices as well as a frame of mind that helps me connect with what I am doing just as much as with the reasons why I am doing it. 
In my next blogs I am going to talk some more about mindful crafting and to show some of the projects I have been working on. There might be a few tutorials as well... after all, why not share the fun?