I designed this Origami Angel in response to the grief I felt at the illness and then death of my beloved sister in law last year. Even though the origami angels aren’t really on topic for hankeringforyarn, it felt appropriate to post this tutorial as a response to Anna being in need of some healing energy. As I have been posting the tutorials for the Origami Angel of Peace and Healing, it struck me again how important it is to remind ourselves of the presence of angels in our lives. Making angel dolls, especially simple ones like this one, is a good way of doing that. Angels are everywhere, everywhen. We tend to associate them with Christmas, but every day is angel day….. May they bless your lives and your hearts! And, may Anna soon... [Read more]

  I am sending healing thoughts and energy, to all that need it, whether in body, mind or spirit… may Angels of Peace and Healing surround you- now and always. All ways…. And, here is the final installment of the Origami Angel of Peace and Healing: Part 3 [Read more]

  Since Anna is sick and can’t blog right now, her blogging buddies from b5 are writing guest posts. They are really poignant and powerful….. I’ve been really moved by them. My contribution is to post instructions for making Origami Angels of Peace and Healing. As you fold these angels, please fold in as much healing and peace creating thoughts as possible….. In Part 1 of this tutorial, the preliminary folds were made. And here is Part 2. You’ll need scissors for this part. [Read more]

Anna’s fellow travelers here in the Lifestyle channel of the b5 blogging network are sending her lots of healing thoughts. We’re also ‘keeping her blog warm’, by posting for her while she recuperates. She writes beautifully about a difficult topic: Grief and grieving. I have a great deal of empathy for Anna. My family and I have had an unseemly amount of grief in the last few years, coping with life threatening illnesses, and with the deaths of family members, friends, relations, and animal companions. It’s been a difficult passage for us, and it has taught us a lot about compassion and love and gratitude. I have found great healing in the fiber arts and in soulful dollmaking. Dollmaking can be profoundly healing.... [Read more]

In February of 2005, I received one of those phone calls no-one every wants to get. My baby brother, 35 years old, had died. Even worse, he had taken his life. Up until this past spring, I worked with dying people. After working as an RN in many different areas over the years, I was working part-time in a palliative care residence. I helped people in their final days and I helped people who loved those who were dying. Death wasn’t foreign to me; I’d lost beloved pets, I’d lost grandparents, I’d lost more patients and people who I’d come to know and admire, than I can recall. So, I had no idea I would react as I did. I collapsed. I often wonder about that day. It was just two days after my daughter turned 16 and... [Read more]