The Making & Mending Rituals Podcast

This episode is my first interview with a guest in about eight months and I could not feel more excited & honoured to speak to Chaney Williams. There was so much in this conversation that was a balm to my soul - we talked about life-changing moments and accidents, listening to the whispers of your ancestors and our bodies, quiet spaces to create and dreaming new dreams. I hope you love it as much as I did!

Chaney Williams (she/they) is a full spectrum doula, ritualist, and writer. She lives in Kentucky and has been a southerner since birth. Chaney strongly believes that all people deserve access to trauma informed, intersectional, sex positive, reproductive care. For Chaney, writing specifically their poetry and creative non-fiction essays are confessional in nature because they create what they know and what haunts them because it is the way they make sense of the world they exist in. It is how she finds belonging in the universe and connects to her ancestors, future descendants, and the collective.

In this episode I'm sharing more about an oral history project I'll be running this year - I want to find out how people with disabilities, like myself, used needlework to explore a sense of place and heritage during lockdown. I'm excited to explore topics like resilience in isolation, material and making vs consumption, connection with family stories and more. 

Happy new year!

In this episode I'm talking about how I am centring mental health & wellbeing in my creative practice this year - removing barriers, creating space for accessible participation & dreams, finding the sweet spot of gentle accountability and indulging wildly in flow states! 

If you're like me, having gentle accountability to slow down & be creative makes it much more likely for you to do things that bring you joy. Maybe you too feel that you need it more than ever. 

After a bit of a break I am bringing my Patreon back, because I miss our creative time together and also because I am excited to share my research on radical needlework with you. In this episode I am sharing the new structure for my Patreon/Stitching Together in 2024 - a community space focussed on making, mending, writing & wellbeing.