Thursday, July 21, 2011

Butterflies, Pawprint and Stitching Therapy!

It's been 1 month now that Kayla has been gone and I thought I'd post about some of the things that have given me comfort while my heart heals from her absence. First...it's butterflies...specifically yellow Swallowtail butterflies. Right after leaving the vet for the last time without my pup, the first thing I did was go on a long walk by myself on the bike-path where I walked Kayla everyday. Shortly after I began my walk, a Swallowtail butterfly fluttered right up to me almost running into my face. I've seen butterflies many times in my life but there was something special about that one that made me feel comfort....a sign you might say that Kayla's energy was still with me. I've continued to see at least one but usually many more yellow Swallowtails fly across my backyard and on the bikepath every single day since then and I think of Kayla every time :)

Later that same day, G and I met up after my walk and spent the afternoon drinking coffee, shopping and reminiscing with both smiles and tears about our sweet pup. While looking for some votive candle holders, G spotted these and asked me what I thought of them (not knowing of my butterfly encounter earlier on). Well of course I loved them! A sign, I tell ya! We bought two of them and whenever we light up our battery operated votive flames, I think fondly of my two pup angels, Kayla and Candy(The pup that inspired the creation of this blog in 2007) !



While shopping for cross-stitching patterns one evening, I came across this one and just had to buy it! I hope to work on it sometime soon or maybe save it for a mid-winter project when there are no real butterflies to enjoy.

Next, there's the subject of Kayla's pawprint from our vet. They asked me if I wanted a memorial pawprint of Kayla and of course I said yes. When I went to pick it up, I was pleasantly surprised because I thought it was going to be an ink pawprint on paper, hehehe...this is much better. I thought it was nice but I knew I could make it so much better. So with a little paint, decoupage, silk flowers, beads and of course some butterflies, I turned it into this...

On the back, I wrote this...

And finally, I've been crocheting again! During Kayla's last week while I was spending a lot of time sitting by her side, I had this desire to crochet an afghan. I've been crocheting as far back in time as I can remember but I haven't made a blanket for a loooooong time. So, even though Kayla is not with us anymore, I find it very therapuetic to crochet this blanket that I started when she was still by my side. She always loved my afghans (and quilts) and she even had a few of her own.

At some point in the near future, not sure when yet...I will start her scrapbook. I've already started it in a sense by going through my photo archives and tagging her photos but WOW, I took a lot of photos of that girl in 13.5 years!!!!

6 comments:

Carolyn said...

Yep, those sure are signs! I call them God winks. Love that the winks are butterflies!

I had something similar a few months after my Dad died. He died in March of 2010. In the spring a single petunia started growing in my epoxy stone patio. Under the epoxy stone is an old concrete patio. My girls had given me a potted petunia plant on Mother's Day of 2009. My Dad loved gardening so when I saw this flower I immediately said "that's from Dad." Last fall we put a new layer of epoxy on the patio. Imagine my surprise this spring when another petunia of another color showed up. Yes, another sign from Dad that all is well. I am finally healing from the deepest of my grief so I'm wondering if next spring there will be another flower. Dad knows I'm better so maybe there won't be but you just never know. Guess I'll have to wait for my God wink!

P.S. Is that an RV that you are sitting in?

Calico said...

Carolyn,
Thank you for sharing your sweet story of the petunias! How cool! I'm so sorry for the loss of your father :( and hoping you will get to see another flower next spring!
Oh, and yes, that pic of me crocheting was taken in our RV!

Carolyn said...

I forgot to tell you how neat that footprint is. I love how you fixed it up!

I think our RV has the same pattern on the sofa as yours. We haven't been anywhere this summer due to the excessive heat...bummer!

Calico said...

Carolyn, I hear ya on the heat. We took our trailer out twice early this summer, then it got too hot, followed by heavy rain every afternoon and now back to very hot! I think camping is best in late summer, early fall :)
Here's a link to more pics of our trailer if you're interested
http://flic.kr/s/aHsjvAumEd

Carolyn said...

I just love looking at pictures of RV's! Aren't they fun? Now I know why it looked familiar. We have a Keystone Montana Mountaineer 5th wheel. We were looking at Cougars but decided to go with the 5th wheel. And we do have the same fabric on the sofa.

We usually don't RV in the summer due to the heat and crowds. We're retired so we can go whenever. For sure it is nicer to go in the spring, fall and winter. It looks like we won't be going anywhere until this heat lets up!

*Christie* said...

I LOVE the butterflies and that is such a sweet reminder. What you did with the pawprint is FANTASTIC. I also LOOOOVE seeing your crochet photos!!!!!! I am going to get you putting them on Ravelry one of these days :) THank you so much for sharing. It is pure joy for me to read this blog post and see what you've been up to!