T is for Tuesdays

Tuesdays have a special meaning to me. As I've mentioned before, I used to gather my friends together each week on Tuesday evenings for a crafternoon session. Without fail, we would assemble to talk, sew, draw, cook, or sometimes just go on a rant. These moments were magical for us all, and I believe we took away more than just an unfinished craft project from our Tuesdays.

Moments I remember the most from Tuesdays on Calle Columbretes involve green Thai curry, heart-shaped fruit, sewing with not enough light, making up silly songs with the guitar, making Diego-and-Salva-shaped cookies, designing Halloween costumes, printing t-shirts for Emma Get Wild, making Elizabeth’s baby quilt, holiday gift exchanges...

When we all scattered ourselves between the US, the UK and Spain, a small but significant movement was started among our crafting coven: Save Tuesdays. You'll recognize the card from Susannah in the bottom right corner here that started it all. It began as more of a motto to keep our crafting spirit alive, but we even went as far as starting a blog in order to share these crafting moments with each other. Isabel wrote the tagline on the blog, which I love:

“Tuesdays were a good excuse to get together and ease the stresses of the week with talk, wine, music and all kinds of arts and crafts. Sometimes the talking and drinking would get in the way and the only thing we'd actually produce is a slight hangover. Those evenings are missed as we are now sprinkled about the planet. This blog is an attempt to recreate those Tuesday  nights, each with a glass of wine in hand, online possibly, while still ranting and crafting!”

Here’s a few photo collages from the archives, with a few moments from those Tuesdays. Thanks to you lovely ladies for your trust. Oh, how I miss you. *I'm sorry about the Led Zeppelin Halloween picture, it's not from a Tuesday, but I just had to do it. Good Times.

And why Tuesdays, you might ask?

In my opinion, it’s the perfect day for a creative gathering. Weekends are tricky to manage consistently with everyone’s booming lives. On Mondays people tend (gasp!) to do work, and later in the week you’re up against things like dates, yoga, or other social activities. Plus, in this case we were all teachers, so on Tuesdays we weren’t utterly exhausted from the week quite yet. Tuesdays are... ideal.

Wait. It gets better.

You know what’s funny? My sister just told me her Stitch n' Bitch group meets on Tuesdays. AND, what's even crazier is that the history of Tuesday nights goes all the way back to our childhood. My mom and her Ann Arbor quilting friends would gather on Tuesdays ALSO. Whoa.

We used to simply refer to it as “Quilting.” (Where’s Mom? Oh, she’s at Quilting...) Here’s my mom’s words:

“I was already quilting and it was a really fun and motivating group. We grew to about 20-25 quilters, meeting in homes every week and 34 years later are still meeting once a week. When I first joined it was a great way to get out the house once a week and spend time with adults! I think we all loved being moms but it was nice to have a support group, as we all had kids about the same age. I remember in the early days when someone was having a baby the group would make a baby quilt. I missed out on that because my babies were born before I joined :( Now they are making retirement quilts and so far I haven't qualified for that! It really turned into a friendship and support group. We still quilt, a lot of the group knits, so there will be knitting going on also. We tried to keep it simple to host and try to stick to wine and popcorn...“

After 34 years... still meeting every Tuesday.

Here are a few pictures of their group (thanks for sharing!):

I also asked my gaggle about Tuesdays, and about what it means to them to be a part of a creative clan:

“Well, when I think of Tuesday evenings I think of inspirational conversation and crafting companionship. I think of a time when ideas that were just a glimmer in one mind being nurtured and taking full flight. I think of feeling confident to take risks. I think of the warm, satisfying glow that comes from simply creating something. And I think of a group of very good friends.” Faiza

“I do attach significance to Tuesdays every week. During term times I do not always necessarily get down to crafting, but I always think of our meetings in that crafting hub in Spain. If I don't craft I usually cook on Tuesdays and think of you all and the happy and superbly creatively affirming time I spent in all your company...” Susannah 

“Siempre me ha gustado crear, desde pequeña. Si hay algo que me gusta, siempre pienso: "eso seguro que puedo hacerlo", y aunque muchas veces el resultado no es el esperado al menos lo intento, y lo paso bien, pensando, imaginando cómo hacerlo, que es una parte importante del proceso creativo. Y lo que más me gusta es la creatividad en equipo, con mi hermana. Nos contamos las ideas y entre las dos las imaginamos y las mejoramos.” Mar 

It's some powerful stuff, everybody. We are all still crafting, fueled by that Tuesday energy... Mar and her sister have started a crafty business and, among other things, make some of the cutest crocheted key chains I've ever seen. Check them out here: www.lamardecoses.com. I already talked about Susannah and Lorien, and don't even get me started on how creativity comes in to play when you're a rock star like Isabel. Big project or small creation, we all still thrive on what Faiza beautifully described as that simple, satisfying glow that comes with making things.

So yesterday, I “Tuesday-ed” it up. ALL DAY. If you follow my Instagram feed, I apologize for all of my #savetuesdays photos, but I feel it necessary to START A REVOLUTION. Here’s a few of the highlights from my Tuesday-athon:

What do YOU do to Save Tuesdays? Take a picture of what you make and use the #savetuesdays tag! Are you a part of a Tuesday-style creative group? If you are, I want to hear all about it! If you aren't (yet), do you want to start one?

What's stopping us? WHO IS WITH ME? Let’s do this.