The Creative Art of Quilting

Quilts by Marijke Vroomen Durning

This art form is good for your health, helps you stay connected and provides purpose


By Marijke Vroomen Durning

If you’re among the 7 to 10 million quilters in the United States, you likely already know how quilting can have a positive impact on your life. Studies have shown crafting can have a healing effect on the mind, but did you know the art of quilting may help restore or maintain your health?

Quilting Offers a Sense of Belonging 

With families and friends spread out across the country, it’s easy to feel disconnected. Unlike many other crafts, quilting can provide the sense of community that has been lost. A few generations ago, women held quilting bees to gather and work on quilts. Today’s equivalent is the quilting guild, where quilters gather to learn about quilting, share creations, work on community projects and reach out to other quilters who need support.

Bonnie Wright, a retired occupational therapy assistant, found this support when quilting helped her adapt to her new home. After moving to Mount Cobb, Pa., following her husband’s death, Wright sought out and joined a guild, so she could meet people. There she met a woman who held smaller meetings in her home. “It’s what I needed,” Wright said. “With this group, I feel like I made the friendships I needed so badly.”

Dana Howell, program director of the occupational therapy department at Eastern Kentucky University, had a similar experience after moving to Seattle and then going through a bad break-up. “I was in a really rough spot, so I started taking a quilting class through a local community college in 1996. To this day, that was one of the most supportive groups of women I have ever been involved with,” she said.

Howell went on to write a paper about the restorative qualities of quilting, which was published in the Journal of Occupational Science in 2000.

Restoring Health

Ricky Tims, a world-renowned quilter, quilt teacher, and designer who lives in La Veta, Colo., underwent quadruple bypass surgery 18 years ago. While he doesn’t credit quilting for his overall recovery, it did play a role. A week after Tims returned home, he was bored, but his activities were limited.



Credit: Compliments of Marijke Vroomen Durning

“I couldn’t lift anything heavier than a 5-pound sack of sugar,” he explained. “I wanted to do what I loved, and that was quilting.” Tims began making a quilt to commemorate his surgery. “I just wanted to get back into the game. It allowed me to stay active and motivated, and that is good mental medicine,” he noted.

Quilting can help patients regain mobility, particularly if they have had a neurological deficit from a stroke or brain injury, said Howell. “There are multiple studies to show that actually performing a task is much better than simulating it,” she added. You can have a patient picking fabric and reaching for it with her or his dominant arm, she explained. “Even if they don’t have the motor control to actually quilt at that moment, we can do lots of things to engage them in the quilting process.”

Tims adds that quilting can help people get through difficult or trying times. For example, when his father was ill, his quilt work helped him get through those days. “Sometimes quilting is a way to manage a crisis situation that may not be one’s own health, but someone close, and this includes the loss of a loved one,” said Tims.

Wright experienced this as well when her husband was undergoing treatment for cancer. “The only way I got through that was with quilting. I would sit with him in the hospital, or when he was having chemotherapy, and I would always have some quilting with me. It would give me something to focus on so I wouldn’t see he was miserable,” she said.

Howell’s paper explains why quilting can have this effect. The personal meaning behind a quilt’s creation, the rituals, the repetitive actions involved in the sewing and the attention the quilt assembly requires all result in a meditative quality, and this can make time pass quickly.

“Each aspect of quilting is unique and novel, and requires efficient attention and other cognitive abilities,” Howell wrote. “This challenge of performing each unique aspect of the project is characterized by focus, intention, and precision, and is praised as restorative by some quilters.”

Improving Mental Health and Decreasing Isolation



Credit: Compliments of Marijke Vroomen

Twelve years ago, Michelle Napoli, an art therapist and mental health counselor in Massachusetts, founded the Survivor Quilt Project. Napoli is a trauma specialist who uses quilting to help incest survivors. Trauma overwhelms the normal processing system, she explained, so survivors may be unable to talk about what happened. However, art therapy can help them identify things when words can’t. “You symbolize how you understand something before you can find the words,” she said.

In projects such as Napoli’s, community quilting projects allow quilters to interact with others while they create. “It’s with the support of other people and when you make the quilt, the conversations can decrease the isolation and confusion you may feel,” she explained.

Wright experienced this in her work, too. “There was one psychiatric facility where the patients and I made several quilts and hung them in the gym,” she said. “It was very satisfying for them to see their work there.” In another program, the women in Wright’s group were tired of the traditional arts and crafts programs, but many wanted to learn how to sew. It was a good problem-solving activity for them as they learned how to pick fabric, decide on the colors, use a sewing machine and work as a group, she said.

“A lot of them had low self-esteem and no hobbies,” Wright said. “Why teach them something in the hospital if they can’t carry it over when they go home?”

Quilting as We Age

Quilting is a physical activity, and as our bodies change, so do our abilities. But crafters are often motivated to stay as healthy as possible so they can continue their art for as long as possible.

“A lot of us have had cataracts removed so we can see and quilt more,” Wright said. “I told my eye doctor, ‘I can’t see the thread and needle, you have to fix this.’ So he said that it was because I had cataracts and I needed new lenses.”

Getting older doesn’t mean quilters can’t learn new tricks. Arthritic fingers can make it hard to hand quilt, but then it’s time to learn how to machine quilt or even to use a long-arm machine, like Wright did.

Learning new skills is a fun way to keep the mind and body sharp. You can take up more complex patterns or different skills as you want or as your body dictates.

“Quilting gives you the opportunity to learn something at your own pace,” Wright said. “It’s not something you have to learn all at once.”


© Next Avenue - 2018. All rights reserved.

 

4 Ways to Beat the Winter Blues

Use these 'light' tips to brighten your days.
By Patricia Corrigan for Next Avenue

When the sun wakes up late and slips away before the workday ends, when many a day is dark and gray, when it’s Groundhog Day and even an early spring seems far away, many large, hairy mammals — Punxsutawney Phil, included — choose to hibernate. But not us!

We slog through, knowing that the passage of time will bring brighter days ahead. But we can do more than wait it out. Here are four easy ways to beat the winter blues and create a little sunshine of your own:


1. Bring light to others’ lives

“I’m 87 years old and I can still finish The New York Times Sunday crossword puzzle,” a friend wrote in a holiday note to me. She added, “And I love hearing from you!”

My aunt, who is 86 and lives in rural Illinois, also likes hearing from me. The joy is evident in her voice when I call to report any new funny stories about my grandson or even when I call just to say hello.

I care about both these women, and about other distant friends as well. Talking with them brightens my day and theirs, too.

No matter how behind in life you are, consider making time right now to pick up the phone and bring some sunshine into the lives of your older relatives and friends.

After the call(s), keep that smile on your face. Research shows that when you smile, your mood elevates and you feel less stressed.

In an article for Forbes, Roger Dooley writes that if you smile in public, those around you will be lifted as well. “UCLA scientist Marco Iacoboni notes that our brains are wired for sociability,” Dooley reports. “In particular, if one person observes another person smile, mirror neurons in that person’s brain will light up as if he were smiling himself.” (Or herself, I’m certain.)


2. Open a box of light

 In mid-December, my friend Carol Porter posted this on Facebook: “I’m enjoying an early Christmas present to myself — my new light box! I sit next to it for 30 minutes daily, relaxing with coffee, calendar, notepad, tablet, organizing my day and thinking beautiful thoughts as the bright light bathes my retinas.”

When Carol complained of Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) — also known as the winter blues — her doctor gave her a brochure about a company that makes several varieties of high-powered therapy lights and lamps.

 “A light box mimics outdoor light. Researchers believe this type of light causes a chemical change in the brain that lifts your mood and eases other symptoms of SAD,” says the Mayo Clinic. A light box may be an effective treatment on its own or, the Mayo Clinic adds, “in combination with an antidepressant medication or psychotherapy.”

Think you may suffer from SAD? The Mayo Clinic lists these symptoms:
• Irritability
• Tiredness or low energy
• Problems getting along with other people
• Hypersensitivity to rejection
• Heavy, “leaden” feeling in the arms or legs
• Oversleeping
• Appetite changes, especially a craving for foods high in carbohydrates
• Weight gain


Carol likes her lamp a lot. Sitting by it, she exhorts, “SAD, be gone!”


3. Light up the night

 Me, I like the dark. (Cue “Over at the Frankenstein Place,” from The Rocky Horror Picture Show, which starts out with this evocative line: “In the velvet darkness of the blackest night…” What, you’re not a fan?)

Night is when I write, read, listen to music and relax. I also like vanilla-scented candles, and one recent rainy evening I gathered up five of them, put them on a placemat in the middle of my dining room table and lit them all.

I turned off the lamps and then, with a clear sight line from the living room couch, I sat with a glass of wine, enjoying my impromptu candle party and the subtle scent of vanilla.


4. Treat your “defects” lightly

 “The truth is that the older I get, the more I like my defects. Old age is the best moment to be and do whatever you enjoy.” That’s Alma speaking. She’s the 81-year-old main character in Isabelle Allende’s book, The Japanese Lover: A Novel, about a woman who carries on a secret affair well into her later years. What’s especially intriguing about Alma’s quote is the encouragement to embrace our flaws and emphasize our eccentricities.

 Another important self-improvement tip comes from a recent book by Allen Klein, who insists it’s time to stop blaming other people for anything.You Can’t Ruin My Day: 52 Wake-Up Calls to Turn Any Situation Around is Klein’s 25th book on harnessing the power of humor to make a better life.

 “You are the only person who can ruin your day,” Klein writes. He says our reactions to any thought or action determines how we perceive that thought or action, and we have ultimate control over our reactions.

 To bolster his case, Klein, 77, quotes rabbis, Japanese proverbs, Desmond Tutu, Chinese philosophers, Pema Chodron (an American Buddhist nun) and even Alexander Pope, the 18th century poet.

 The gist of Klein’s message? Lighten up.


© Twin Cities Public Television - 2016. All rights reserved.



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7 Ways to Keep Your New Year’s Resolutions

Are you sabotaging yourself? Here's how you can fulfill your commitments.

By Linda Melone, CSCS for Next Avenue

Credit: Getty Images

It’s that time of year again. A new beginning, a clean slate. But how often do you actually make good on your New Year’s resolutions? If the answer is “not very,” you’ll want to read the seven ideas below that can help you follow through in 2017.

The start of a new year naturally creates incentive for making changes. Days that seem like transition points motivate people to take advantage of the “fresh-start effect,” research shows. Birthdays, the beginning of a semester, and the start of a new week all fall under this new transition time. Researchers at the Wharton School came to this conclusion after they discovered that visits to the university fitness center spiked during these turning points. Another study published in Psychological Science further backs this up. Participants found motivation from imagining a fresh start in the form of moving in to a new apartment. They were asked to imagine their new digs and also ranked their level of motivation to pursue their goals. Those who imagined that the move was their first one in nine years (versus an annual event) were more motivated to make progress on their goals.

This feeling of a new beginning appears to empower and make it easier to leave our past self and failures behind and embrace our new potential for success moving forward, researchers surmised. A new year represents a new chance to start over and try again.

However, “most people don’t keep their resolutions because they are more committed to making the resolution than following through,” says Gina Gomez, a certified life and business coach in Lake Forest, California. “In fact, only 8 percent of people who make resolutions actually achieve their goal. You must make the commitment and take action.”

Gomez and other experts offer the following tips for making this year the year you finally reach yours.

1. Get clear

You can’t get to your destination if you don’t know where you’re going, says Gomez. “If you want to lose weight, take that dream vacation, fall in love or watch more episodes of The Good Wife, get clear about what specifically you want and why you want it and identify at least three steps on how you’re going to get there.”

 2. Take the first step

Once you have a clear vision of what you want to accomplish, begin turning that into reality. “If you’re stuck, take the first step to finding the resources to help you achieve that goal,” says Gomez. This may include hiring a coach, reading travel books or signing up on a dating site.

 3. Follow through

It’s not enough just to plan and take the first step. Once you have your game plan, follow it. Think of your New Year’s resolution the way you would a business plan, says Gomez. “It does no good to have one if you don’t use it.” Set manageable goals, include some rewards, find an accountability partner and keep track of your progress. “This enables you to stay motivated and get consistent results,” she adds.

4. Reign yourself in

Ultimately, the ability to follow through on a New Year’s resolution involves the ability to regulate our impulses, says Timothy J. Bono, assistant dean for assessment and analytics at Washington University in St. Louis. “Our impulse might be to eat a lot of junk food or waste time on social media instead of using it more productively. To override those impulses, we need willpower, or what psychologists call self-regulatory strength.”

Bono likens strengthening willpower to becoming stronger physically. “If we can get ourselves to exercise willpower in small, everyday behaviors — maybe we resist the temptation to get the candy bar when we’re in the checkout line at the grocery store — those are the opportunities that allow our self-regulatory strength to grow.” The more you practice, the easier it becomes.

5. Expand your reach

In midlife, it’s tempting to have all your New Year’s resolutions focused on dealing with home life and empty nest syndrome if your kids have left, says Kristen Carpenter, director of Women’s Behavior Health at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center. “A better approach is one that enhances multiple areas of your life. For example, resolving to live in the moment helps achieve both personal and career goals.”

6. Prioritize

A long list of resolutions makes it less likely you’ll be able to do all of them, so order them. “If you already feel as if you’re being spread too thin, you likely will not be able to keep multiple New Year’s resolutions,” says Carpenter. “To edit your list, first rank your resolutions in order of importance and then keep only the top few. This gives you a better chance of meeting your goals.”

7. Align yourself

Ask yourself if your resolutions align with your values, says Carpenter. “If you’re crafting resolutions that are not in line with your values [e.g., training for a triathlon that takes you away from your family for weeks at a time], reevaluate your list and replace the resolutions with ones that are more cohesive to your overall goals. Otherwise you’re setting yourself up to fail.”

Follow these expert tips to create your best year ever.

© Twin Cities Public Television - 2016. All rights reserved.



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Bringing The Olympics Home to Sunny View

By Alicia Estrada, wellness coordinator for Sunny View Retirement Community

As the wellness coordinator for Sunny View Retirement Community, part of my job is to encourage residents to be as physically independent as possible. This means taking a creative and innovative approach to life enrichment planning that encourages residents with different levels of independence and lifestyle preferences.

The Olympics couldn’t have come at a better time! This was the perfect moment to introduce a fun program that would challenge both residents and staff, without feeling too much like “exercise.” It was perfect! Why not bring the Olympics to Sunny View?

The day of the Games started off with opening ceremonies, including an inspiring speech from resident and 1996 Olympics torch bearer Gloria Burns. And then the games began! Residents and staff participated in a variety of competitions including golf, bowling, shooting hoops, croquet, bean bag toss and ping pong.

What many people do not realize is that you don’t need to be in the gym every day to stay strong and healthy. Often activities that we love and enjoy doing are the best types of exercise because they are the easiest things to incorporate into our routine. 

The games also challenged our balance: a complicated function that forces us to involve different body systems including sensory, vestibular, and proprioceptors. One of the things that we try to address in our wellness program at Sunny View is “fall prevention,” so sports that use balance and stretching are particularly helpful.

Hosting a Senior Olympics at Sunny View was a great way to make our community aware of how important it is to stay physically active. Many residents approached me after the event and asked about starting a regular exercise program and both residents and staff have not stopped talking about how much fun they had.

A big thank you to all our Sunny View team members and volunteers from Hands On Bay Area (HOBA) and Walmart who helped to make this event a success. We couldn’t have done it without you!

Looking forward to the 2017 Games already!