evolving style

After not sewing for a few days, I went back to it today. I was digging through more of the fabric piles and I found two projects that were half finished. They were vests for me. A few years back, I thought I would make a vest for each month of the year to fit in that month's decorating theme/season. I had one for June in a sunflower pattern and one for July in a 4th of July pattern.

I took out the two vests and looked at them for a minute, and decided not to finish them. Wearing vests isn't really my style and I wasn't sure they would fit anyway.

For the first time EVER, I decided not to finish a project, and I didn't feel bad about it. I hadn't sewn the lining to the fabric yet, so I cut out as many squares for fabric blocks as I could and then threw away what I couldn't use.

Slowly but surely, I'm going through my fabric stash and making decisions what to do with it. Many of the projects I will still finish. There are more for me to start. They may not go to the person they were originally intended to, and maybe I will use some of the fabric for something other than what I originally bought it for. I've also added the option to simply not finish the project and to cut up the fabric into squares for blocks or other projects.

Deciding not to finish a project doesn't mean I've failed at something. Tastes change over time and maybe that project doesn't fit who I am anymore.

A few months ago, I went through a folder that had pictures I had cut out of magazines. These were pictures of decor or craft projects I thought I would like to do. I threw out almost all of them because they just didn't fit my style anymore. A few were of paint projects that I just wasn't interested in doing anymore. I'm not a painter. I can't paint a doll to look like it has a real face. I can't blend colors to look shaded or make things look real. When we were getting ready for one of our moves, I gathered up all my paint supplies and gave them to the Relief Society. I decided there was no reason to keep the paint when I wasn't using it.

Lately I've been thinking I want to revamp the decorating in my house, especially my kitchen. I'm not talking about giving everything to the DI and starting over from scratch (although that would be fun). Rather, I'm trying to look at everything with fresh eyes and try to imagine using things in places other than where they've been. Just because something's always been in my kitchen doesn't mean it needs to stay there or stay in the same place. I'm not quite sure what I want to do yet, so I'll be taking some time to think about how I want things to look.

goals report for January

Well, I got lots of sewing done, and quite a bit of scrapbooking done, and not much in the way of organizing the files.

I finished a nightgown for C, a pair of pajamas for J, a set of table runners in a snowflake pattern and the crib skirt. I cut out and sewed together the tops for a set of table runners in spring colors--just need to sew on the backing for that. I also cut out lots of blocks of leftover fabric to make fabric blocks for my baby. My final fabric-related project was clearing out odds and ends pieces of fabric that were too small to do anything with. Not too shabby.

I worked on the Alaska scrapbook and I think I'm about halfway done. I'm not worrying too much about making it super cute but I do want it to look good. I do need to get more page protectors to add to the ones in the book already so that's held me up a bit but I plan to work on it lots this week and hopefully I'll have it done by Saturday, Feb. 6.

I haven't been able to get motivated to tackle the files. I'm kind of dreading that because there are several years worth of files that I need to clean out. I look at the files and I wonder, do I REALLY need to keep all this stuff? The past few weeks have been so warm that the snow in the backyard has melted. Last Friday I cleaned out the garage--moved stuff that is normally stored in the shed but had been put in the garage for awhile. I put some old tax envelopes in the "dead file box" and as I looked at the envelopes going back to the beginning of our marriage (we've been married 12.5 years now!) I wondered why I was keeping all this stuff.

I've started a new system for keeping track of electronic payments. Before, I'd print out the confirmation page and then file it in the company folder. Then I got the idea to just keep track of confirmation numbers so that in case of a company telling me I hadn't paid, I would have the confirmation number available. So I set up a Microsoft Excell worksheet with the payment date, the company name, the bill amount, what the bill was for, the confirmation number and the bank account used to pay the bill. I started that with the January bills and so far it's working well. I've never had a company tell me I haven't paid a bill so I'm glad I won't be using any more paper and ink to print out confirmations that I don't even need.

Another problem with printing out the confirmation pages was that I use my bank's Bill Pay feature, so I'd have several different companies on one page. Where do I file it? That was what finally motivated me to set up the tracking form in Excell.

So, while I may not have accomplished everything I wanted to in January, I did make good progress, so I'm happy with that!

projects

My big goal for this month is to finish projects. For the last 3 days I have been really focusing on sewing. I have finished a crib skirt; made a nightgown for my daughter; made pajamas for my older son; made two placemats of a cute snowflake pattern on dark blue fabric, and have started cutting out squares to make fabric blocks. I have lots more sewing projects to do such as making a few skirts for my daughter; making a crib bumper and quilt to match the crib skirt; making quilts out of old jeans; and finishing projects that were started and not finished. I don't know if I'll get them ALL done this month but I'm going to do as many as possible.

I'm also working on the Alaska scrapbook. That is my one scrapbook goal for January.

I have an organizing project to do too..which is to get all the papers filed and the filing cabinet cleaned out. This will help with getting things ready for doing taxes.

my word for 2010: PEACE

At the end of 2008, I heard from my friend Nancy about choosing a word that would represent what her focus for 2009 would be. I thought that sounded like a really cool idea and so I chose the word ENJOY for 2009. I think for the most part I did pretty good at remembering to enjoy the moments as they happened, especially with my baby Alex.

So here we are at the beginning of another year and I have decided my word for 2010 will be PEACE. Peace in my home through establishing and maintaining routines that will help get the work done that needs to be done so we can enjoy a calm, peaceful environment. Peace in my family by working on reining in my temper and watching how I talk and the words I choose. Peace in my work by planning ahead and staying current so that I'm not stressing out trying to do payroll at the last minute. Peace in my church callings by preparing ahead of time and thinking things through.

Of course, I would love to have Peace on Earth by having people love one another (think of all the problems that would be solved if we'd love others and think of their welfare). I don't know if that's possible but I do know it can happen in my home so that will be my focus for 2010.

Happy New Year and may you have a Peaceful 2010!

will see you soon

I haven't abandoned my blog. It's just been really busy with Christmas and all. I'll be back soon with updates and pictures.

planning christmas

Well, even though I'm in the middle of trying to catch up on my words for NaNo (I won't tell you how far behind I am--it's too embarrassing), I took some time out to put together my Christmas planner. I first heard about this idea from Flylady and OrganizedHome.com/OrganizedChristmas.com. Basically you put together a planner (or a section in your household notebook, again, ideas from these two websites) that is information central for all things related to Christmas.

These are the sections I have in my Christmas Planner:

**Getting the house ready (cleaning), broken down by room/area.
**December calendar with all known commitments already written in. I will write in other commitments as they come up.
**Gift ideas list for all the people we are giving to.
**Gift tracking form (with spaces for how much each gift cost, and if it is wrapped)
**A list of the special meals I plan to make throughout December, along with the specific dishes for each meal.
**A list of the cookie recipes I plan to make, as well as other goodies.
**I will have a manila envelope in there too to keep all the receipts so if something needs to be returned, I have the receipt handy.

I have also seen ideas for forms for if you're going to travel and if you need to ship a package. Google "Christmas Planner" and you'll find all sorts of ideas to help you have an organized, Merry Christmas, in a clean house and without breaking the bank!

I have already got my budget set and I am on the hunt for sales--food, toys, clothes, etc.

Now it's time to get started on all the handmade stuff.

nano

Well, we're a little over a week into NaNoWriMo and it's turning out to be a lot harder than I thought it would be. I have to make time each day to write, but that's hard to do when I have a daily list of to-dos that's got 25 things on it and I'm always thinking of 25 more things to do. It doesn't help that Christmas is in six and a half weeks. [whoa, is it really only 6.5 weeks to Christmas?!?!]

The bigger problem I'm finding myself with is the temptation to edit. I spent a lot of my writing time today reading up some historical stuff on the internet. I'm trying to make everything historically accurate as far as the time line goes, as well as actual people, events, places, etc. That's not the point of NaNo. The point is to get the story out. Editing can come in December.

I think it's OK to go back and add something new that I thought of, but it's not OK to go back and change things to try to make it accurate. So that's my challenge.

Now that I've identified my problem, back to writing I go....