Sunday, July 20, 2014

To blog or not to blog

No, I'm not thinking about letting my blog go. I've made some really great friends in the year I've been blogging :) Can you believe it's been a year already?? !! I can't.

No, what I'm alluding to is more along the lines of how often? I don't sew, stitch or design for a living. I do all that I do for the sheer joy of keeping busy, making things for my home and gifts for friends and family.

Some people are curious about what you up to and about and check in regularly. My life is so chaotic that I don't always give myself time to check in with the bloggers I follow, however, I do check in daily with the ones that have become friends, or at least friendly. Not everyone leaves a comment, so I don't always know who's following my antics. And that's fine, I don't always leave comments either.

So, bottom line is, I guess I'll just blog when I have something to share. That means it won't be every day. But I try to keep up on my projects and I've overwhelmed myself with goals this year, so it should be fairly regularly.

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The weekend was fairly productive. It rained all day Saturday, so between loads of laundry I worked on Wendy's Gnome for Christmas.


I am finally finished with all the applique work on the top :) All I have left to do is put beads in place for the eyes on the gnome and the reindeer.


I've chosen this fun large dot for the backing fabric. I haven't laid it out yet, but I'm hoping I purchased enough to do the binding as well :)

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Sunday, I think all the prep for VBS hit me all at once. I managed to get nothing done !! Well, I did get a nap in :)

Monday . . . oh, for school to begin again !!! I so miss having my days to myself to do what needs to be done without teenage angst !! I absolutely hated being 13 and now I know how much my parents hated it too. He's always bored, but doesn't want to do anything. Everything, and I mean E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G, is an argument . . . keeping his room clean, what to eat, taking the dogs out, etc. These days, it seems we can't even have a civil conversation. Can't wait to outgrow this stage. It won't be soon enough.

He did manage to get some lawn mowed and the trash out to the road and his daily chores done, but not with multiple reminders. I managed some maintnance weeding in the flower beds while he mowed. Doggie trips got quite a bit of weeding done in the vegetable garden. When we weren't outside, I was planning my menu and grocery list for the next couple of weeks. I'm trying to develop a new system for myself. I have a three ring binder, 12 dividers (that I originally purchased for calendering), plastic page protectors. So I can plan 12 days, put the recipes in the page protectors and make a grocery list from there. The only thing I did with the grocery list was divide the produce into two weeks because fresh produce just doesn't last that long. My goal is to have a plan and have supplies on hand for those days. Essentially, cutting down expenses on food and saving time by not having to run to the store daily to get what I don't have on hand.


I've been collecting recipes since I was a teenager and continue the practice. I find them in magazine, cookbooks and Pinterest. Pinterest is great because I can save them in numerous categories and can even use it to set up a category to help with planning. You can get a quick over-view all on one page.


We all have to find and make tools to make our lives easier, more organized and productive. I'm hoping this system works for me. I try to plan menus but then I forget which book the recipe is in or I don't have all the ingredients, etc. I'll keep you posted :)

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I also managed on Monday to do some prep work on The Lord's Prayer.


Jenny has designed a gorgeous 26-week stitch-a-long as a free design. All the patterns are downloadable and free of charge. She's up to week 7 and publishes them every Monday. I prepared the blocks for drawing and will attempt to get those done in the next few weeks. I purchased additioinal fabric over the weekend to use in this project and that coordinate with a fat quarter bundle I purchased in the spring during a shop hop with my sister. Originally, I was going to use the same fabrics Jenny had chosen and found a fat quarter bundle. When I read over the instructions, I decided all those prints weren't going to work for me (Jenny used yardage of a select few). So I went through my stash and found something I like better and suited my personality. I'm excited to get started, but have a few others to finish first :)

Drat that to-do list !!!

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Thanks for stopping by,

Wishing you a creative day.






2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm like you. I blog when I have something to say. Sometimes that's three times in a day and sometimes it's once in a week. Just depends on how the week is going! School starts when? It's August 11 here. I wasn't commenting a lot on blogs when my computer was away.

e said...

I think that's a good rule of thumb. I also try to limit my computer time otherwise I wouldn't get anything done :)
School starts August 21 this year (seems to change every year) and will end at the end of June next year - new school :)