Stephanie’s mindful hobby
Stephanie wears many hats – fibre artist, author, you name it. She shares how her personal history and the realisation of her need for self-care has shaped her creative journey and her latest project, The Mindful Hobby.
Hello, who are you?
Hello! I am Stephanie Jean Andrews, a hobby enthusiast, fibre artist, health and wellness advocate, sales manager and author. I was born in the 1980s in Cincinnati, Ohio. For 12 years, I have been married to a wonderful man who loves travel and adventure. Together we have lived in Ohio, Oregon, Mexico and now reside in beautiful, sunny, San Diego, California with our two cats (who, consequently, have also lived in all those places with us!).
In addition to what I do and where I live, I am a multiethnic woman. More specifically, I am African-American, Afro-Seminole, Finnish and Germanic. Since age 13, I have stood at 5 feet 10 inches. From a young age, growing up in Ohio, I was acutely aware of my differences, no matter how pronounced or subtle. Always the “tan,” “tall girl,” I also have a thick, unruly mane of curly hair making it nearly impossible for me to blend in or find pants and sleeves long enough for my limbs!
In 2019, I was successfully united for the first time with my biological father, half-brother, and half-sister. It has truly been a dream come true. While I inherited my height and hair colour from my mother’s Germanic family, I inherited my face and bone structure from my father’s Finnish and African family. For someone like me, who has always been tuned into the subtle nuances and details, the first time ever seeing a strong resemblance of my facial features with my father’s family was quite healing after a lifetime of separation. One of the strangest coincidences, which I think of as a grace-filled blessing, is my dad is originally from Cleveland, Ohio, but has resided in Southern California since the late 1980s. Which means he lives only 20 minutes away from me and my husband, which is allowing us to naturally get to know one another. It is still very new and surreal for me to tell that piece of my story.
2019 was an eventful year for me for another reason. This was the year I became a patient advocate and volunteer for rare and autoimmune diseases, following two of my own separate, drawn-out diagnoses. The diagnosis of something called “Sjögren's” autoimmune disease was a wake-up call for me that I was in dire need of self-care habits and energy management. In 2020, it clicked for me that I could use hobbies as the vehicle for self-care and personal energy management.
Tell us about your creative journey. When did you start punch needling?
It has taken me a long time to give myself the permission to create for no reason other than pure joy. Creative pursuits were discouraged and not held in high esteem in my mother’s family. At various points in my life, I dabbled in a variety of crafts. I was always in awe of ceramics, drawing, painting and other fine arts, but I had little to no experience working in those mediums. Crochet and embroidery were introduced to me during college. While I never consistently practiced either one, I found they were relatively easy to pick up when I did have time and interest in creating something.
In the spring of 2020, I discovered punch needle. My husband’s grandmother had been a master quilter and passed away in 2020. Only weeks before the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns began, we flew to Tennessee for her funeral. In her home, just outside of Nashville, she had a dedicated workroom to quilting and other fibre arts. While attending a family wake in her former home, inside of her workroom, I saw embroidery-like supplies and equipment I’d never seen before. What I saw looked like a double-decker embroidery hoop, but with standard-sized yarn. After googling the double-decker hoop, I realised what I had seen in her workroom was an unfinished rug hooking project.
Due to the amount of research I was doing on rug hooking, I saw a video advertisement for punch needle. The entire look of the punch needle process, which looks almost like colouring with yarn or embroidery floss, was compelling enough for me to buy my first embroidery punch needle. I bought that first punch needle in March last year, watched a few YouTube tutorials and all of a sudden had a consistent hobby I really enjoyed!
Up until 2020, I was not a person who had consistent hobbies, but I was a person who was familiar with medical issues. In 2000 and 2008, I had major back surgeries. My surgeries were for scoliosis, called “spinal fusion” surgery. The surgeries were extremely painful, but recommended to prevent medical complications later in life. This also means I have a giant scar down the length of my back. I don’t think I fully processed the grief of those surgeries until I began playing around with fibre arts hobbies in 2020.
In 2020 when I first discovered punch needle, within a few weeks of playing around with the medium, an idea came to me to make myself a container and piece of artwork to display in my office. The Japanese pottery art of Kintsugi is something I resonate with because of my multiple surgical scars. Kintsugi is a Japanese pottery art form in which pottery is broken and the cracks and repairs are treated as part of the object's unique history. Those cracks and the consequential repairs are filled in with gold. Resulting in beautiful, one of a kind pieces. What results is a piece of pottery that is more beautiful because it was broken and repaired – not left untouched and undisturbed. Because of my scars, I deeply resonate with this sentiment and was moved to make a punch needle container out of yarn inspired by Kintsugi. Using gold coloured yarn to represent the “golden joinery” used in Kintsugi ceramics. I have made a variety of punch needle projects, but the Kintsugi-inspired work continues to be my most prized creations.
In addition to punch needle, I have also picked up weaving. I like the variety and the ability to be able to switch back and forth between punch needling and weaving.
What inspires your creative style?
My creative style is inspired by anthropology, history, architecture, nature and the fibre arts community on Instagram. Being a multiethnic woman, who loves studying history and now DNA-tracing, I particularly appreciate the beauty of human journeys throughout time. I think it is especially beautiful knowing that I am in a long line of people throughout time who have made the choice to continually take creative risks. Instagram adds a fresh new perspective for me as I’ve connected with fibre artists from around the world who quite literally have different world views and creative styles.
My creative style is intertwined with my story of healing and self-care. I’d like to imagine that throughout history, other makers have reached the conclusion that at the end of the day, their making is not only creative self-expression, but a large part of their self-care and healing journey.
What does a normal day look like for you?
Since November, I have been working full-time on my book (which is also part fundraiser) and a major home renovation. Prior to November, I was a full-time sales manager. Now that my book is wrapped up, I am beginning to look for another sales manager position. In the past few months, no day is the same, but I enjoy thinking of this time in my life as a season of rebuilding. The daily consistencies are usually: feed the cats, tidy a bit, eat two eggs and oatmeal for breakfast, do a YouTube exercise video and end the day with a nice warm cup of tea with my husband before bed.
Tell us about your creative space. Where does all the making happen?
The epicentre of my creative space is my home office, which morphs and changes on a regular basis to become more efficient and functional. It is where I keep all my fibre arts supplies. Space is limited in our modest 1950s Southern California home. So I enjoy the challenge of organising in a way where the organisation looks pleasing to the eye but is also highly space-efficient. Most of my making happens in our open, light-filled kitchen and living room space where I can watch a show or listen to music. When I am not actively at work on a project, it returns to my home office until I am ready to get back to work again.
You recently released a book, ‘The Mindful Hobby: A 30-day journey into the power of hobby as self-care’. This must’ve been an exciting project to work on. Why did you decide to embark on this journey?
My book was indeed a very exciting project to work on. Never writing or publishing a book before, everything was a new learning experience. Filled with lots of joy but also plenty of slow, frustrating moments. Thankfully, joy won out!
In moving to San Diego in 2017, I met Laura Peterson (Copy That Pops). She had just written and published her first book and chronicled her process. Laura was the first person who made me believe I was fully capable of writing and publishing a book. Since I first met Laura, she has morphed her business into helping entrepreneurs write and publish their own books. Her resources were invaluable during my journey.
However, back in 2017, I didn’t have any particular topic to write a book about. I tried various topics, but quickly found no joy in forcing myself to come up with something to say. Then in 2020, after being diagnosed with Sjögren’s autoimmune disease and regularly immersing myself in my fibre art hobby, I realised I had a topic that could actually be helpful to people: self-care through hobbies. In the book I tell my story of struggle, examine the view of hobbies vs. work in our western culture and end the book with a 30-day workbook to help people find their own hobbies to use as self-care.
While I was excited to embark on the journey to write and publish a book, I knew I would be extra-motivated to complete the project if I could somehow make myself accountable to someone or something else. Very early on in the process, I decided I would donate all the profits from the launch of my book to The Sjögren’s Foundation. From February to the end of April 2021 (April is Sjögren’s Awareness Month) 100% of the profits from my book will be donated to the Foundation.
San Diego, California
