Aaahhhh ... it's good to be home.

Sometimes, your mom really does know best.  My mom challenged me one night this summer to dust off my sewing machine and sew for 1 hour.  Just 1.  When the hour was over, I had to take a picture of what I had made and text it to her.  I managed to sew together seven honeybun strips.  Seven.

It took me that long because first I had to reacquaint myself with my sewing area.  I hadn't sewn anything in almost two years ... YEARS people!  I was in a funk something fierce.  Anyway, I pulled out fabrics, admiring what I had in my stash, remembering where I had bought most of it, but when I finally sat down and started sewing, the fire in me was lit again.  I have been sewing almost everyday since that fateful phone call from my mom.

Here are some pics (bad pics) of projects I'm working on.  What are y'all doing?

I think I'm snapping out of it ...

I took a long hiatus, but I think I'm snapping out of it and I just might get back into this sewing thing after all ... Today I spent a large part of the day cleaning off an unused desk, dusting off my sewing machine, and hanging / organizing my thread ... that's a start.

I'm in need of some new cutting tools, so that's a trip to the craft store that I'm looking forward to.  For now, I'm planning ... and that's a good thing.  I'm trying to think of a nifty way to sort / organize my fabric.  A lot of it is still in boxes from when I moved - TWO YEARS AGO!    I'm thinking maybe an Ikea Expedit unit with cute vintage locker baskets?  What are you guys doing with your fabric?

Remember me?

Yep, it's been a hell of a long time ... too long in fact.  My life has taken some wicked turns in the last little while, but I'm finally coming out of that "dark place" and venturing back into life ... slowly but surely.

Today is my birthday, and my gift to myself was to get back into the hobbies that I love so dearly.  I managed to start going through my bins of fabric ... just feeling the cool cotton in my fingers and seeing all those beautiful patterns and prints that I fell in love with, just made me feel right back at home again. 

I found some blocks that I had started, and I found the old bee blocks that I owed (at least 2 of them).  Guess I better get on that this week.  I also found 8 of the blocks that I was going to turn into a king size quilt.  That's dead in the water ... something that I'll tackle when I have plenty of time on my hands again (too busy now).  I pulled them out though, and the thought of just packing them away again was too much to comprehend, so I sewed them together to make a table runner for my dining room table.  I'm going in a different direction as far as my bedroom goes anyway, so it doesn't hurt me so much that they won't be made into a bed quilt.

How do you guys do it?  How do you find time between working, raising kids, making dinner, doing laundry, taking care of the animals ... I feel like I'm drowning sometimes!  What are your secrets to pulling off domestic bliss??

Anyway, to those of you that are still following ... thank you!  I hope you don't mind seeing me again here and there ...

I'm going to crank it up tonight!!

I am so embarrassed about how far behind I am in my quilting bees ... like 6 months behind.

Ouch!

So tonight, I'm popping a movie in for the kids and cranking up my machine!  My goal is to get at least TWO blocks finished!  I'll post again soon with my progress.

Thank God for crock pots and RedBox.  Just sayin'.

Oh, and I felt like this blog was getting taken over with non-sewing related stuff, so I created a new blog to keep everyone in the loop about the house and the updating that's going on along with it ... you can find it here.  Become a follower over there too - I'd love to see you!

Totally MIA

I wish that I could say that MIA was the name of a friend and we've been hanging out having a grand old time, but really, MIA means just that.

Missing

In

Action

Or, lack of action.  In fact, I've pretty much gotten the house unpacked, but organized is a completely different story.  I've been going through so much stuff - figuring out what's staying, what's getting sold on Craigslist, what's going in what room - and my hours at work leave little time to get any amount of organizing accomplished. 

I am proud to say that the kids are now in their bedroom (shared), although Big T is without a bed at the moment (will be remedied on Wednesday).  The main bathroom is completely organized, although in a few weeks it will be completely gutted and redone.  And the dining room / living room is finished.  Although, I believe that my beautiful cream couches are now going to be a permanent shade of dirty cream.  I guess that's what slipcovers are for, right??

The kitchen, my bedroom, and the sewing area in the family room are the last few rooms that have yet to be tackled.  It's my reason for being SO late in my bees (yes, I am MONTHS behind in sewing blocks - so if you're in one of my groups and you're reading this, and I owe you a block - PLEASE be patient).  My goal is to be 100% moved in and organized by Easter.  Hey, I'm all about being realistic.  If I said next week, I KNOW it wouldn't get done.  Just sayin'.

I'll post progress, along with what I've been working on sewing related, soon.

For the record - Craigslist rocks.  If I could bring it home and introduce it to my folks, I would totally marry it!  I've been saving so much money buying stuff for the house (and selling crap I don't need) for weeks on Craigslist now!  It's been a lifesaver (and a wallet saver!!)

Guess what I'm up to ...

 

Oh yeah ... this is "real life" for me right now.

Every night, after I get home from work, I try to unpack at least 2 boxes.  Sometimes, this actually happens.  Most times, not.  Not because I'm tired (I'm exhausted actually), but because I'm busy making dinner, chasing kids, paying bills, and all the other duties that are involved with setting up a new house. 

First order of business this week though is finishing the unpacking.  I can't stand seeing another cardboard box for at least the next decade!  Ugh!!  My goal is to have everyone over for Christmas Eve dinner at my new place.

Wish me luck ... I think I'm gonna need it!

I did manage to at least get the tree put up, with the help of my Little M.  This year, his ornament purchase was "Baby Sockey Monkey".  Every year, I let the little guys pick 1 new ornament for our tree.  Big T wasn't feeling it, but Little M was all over this monkey the minute he saw it at Cracker Barrel (of all places).


So, from our (new) house to yours - Merry Christmas!

Midnight snacks ...

Since I'm sleeping like ... well, I'm not sleeping really, so why bother pretending.  Rather, I've been up late at night, getting in some sewing. 

Like last night ... I went to bed at 1 a.m.  Why?  Because I was up making a sandwich.  Not just any kind of sandwich, but the good ol' quilty kind. 

I figured this was the perfect opportunity to finish one last project in my studio (not including the quilt blocks that I owe to my bee peeps).  I'm talking one last, honest to goodness, quilt for yours truly. 

This quilt was actually started this time LAST year.  So, I guess it's time to finish it anyway.  Right?  And who is really going to pay attention to the fact that the label was incorporated into the back piecing of the quilt (last year) and that it's dated 2009 ... no one's going to look at that, right!?

It's good to stay up late and get things accomplished.  Now if I could only feel that way about packing ...

I have no words ...

I have started, and stopped, this post about a million times in my head.  How do I say the words?  How do I explain what's going on?  I feel like I can't.

What I can tell you is that my husband isn't here. 

He hasn't been for about a month. 

Yes, I am still married, but I'll be doing the "single mom thing" for a while.  And I hate it.  I don't know how you single moms out there do it.  Granted, I was a single mom before I married my husband, but that seems like ages ago, and things have changed (gotten harder) due to the economy. 

I just have no words right now, but please understand that I'm still here, still sewing (when I have time), still working, and still holding the fort down.  I just may not be posting as often. 

Hope you all are doing better than I am!

We'll talk later ...

Winner!!

Sorry for the lateness in my announcement of the winner ...

So I went to random number generator, put my data in, and it picked lucky #13 as the winner!  Which happens to be:

Patty said...
Yes you truly are awesome. Thanks for the great giveaway.

September 4, 2010 3:50 PM

Patty, thanks for telling me how awesome I am (I don't feel like I am most days, but it's nice to hear, isn't it??) ... make sure you contact me with your mailing address so I can get these goodies out to you!  

:o)  Enjoy your weekend everybody!