Friday, March 30, 2012

Setting Priorities

I have not been a part of Blogland for very long, a year and a half or so.  In the beginning my daughter and then business partner was doing most of the posts.  This freed me up to do most of the sewing.  But my daughter is now concentrating on Sophia and #2 who will come in September.  That leaves me to do the posting and the sewing.

Sarah and Sophia at the Fryeburg Fair last fall
When I look around at all the blogs I have begun to follow I am amazed that most are written by young stay at home moms.  To be honest I don't know how they do it.  I am old enough to be their Mother,  I have no kids at home, (I do babysit, three mornings a week), I am NOT scrapbooking any more, so maybe I don't have the energy...but no,  I don't think it is energy.  I am competing in two maybe three Triathlons this summer (TriGrandmatry) ...I have energy.  I have decided it comes down to priorities (MINE).  Please don't read that I think their priorities are wrong!!!!!!  MINE are...

So I have been asking myself some questions...

What are my priorities??  What am I trying to accomplish?  What really matters to me?

These are my priorities, this is my list.

1.  My relationship with Jesus, worshiping Him!
      The more I spend time reading my Bible, the more I find my worth in HIM not in what I do.  I am      trying to accomplish peace and joy in my life, which brings security.
     
2.  My relationship with my husband of 32 years!
     It really matters to me that I get to spend time with this wonderful man!!!  A good marriage takes TIME, we no longer have kids at home and I am excited about cultivating friendship with my husband, so evenings are for the most part together.  Sometimes he reads in my sewing room so I can sew :-)).

3.  My relationships with my children and their families
     My children are all married, I have two granddaughters and two on the way!!  And they live close, so I have the privilege of seeing them often!!!

4.  Taking care of the home we have and feeding my husband and whoever stops by for a meal...

5.  Being a part of a church family, fellowship with friends!

6. Taking care of me...training for the Triathlons, and really life...I plan to live a long one God willing!!

7.  My small business, Bumblebee and Sophie

8.  Blogs, both of them

I will continue to blog, showing what I am making, what is going into my shop and life in general.  I will not be linking anymore, while it has brought traffic to my blog, not many comments come and really no traffic or sales in my shop.

I hope you will still follow along and visit and comment!

Here are a few pictures of a messenger bag I made.  I used the Basic Messenger Bag from MMMCrafts.  This is a great pattern, with excellent directions!  A little bit of fun on the flap!!
It is available in my Etsy Shop.








Have a wonderful weekend!!

Cindy



Where I am linking this one last time!  I have enjoyed meeting some of you please come back and visit!






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Monday, March 19, 2012

Dresses for the Grand Girls!

We were away this weekend, visiting my husband's father in Pennsylvania, it is spring down there!  So I am a bit behind on blogging and linking...such is life!

I think this is some kind of magnolia

My husband and his Dad (who turns 89 this June)

One of the things I wanted to do when I quit work was to make things for my girls.  I made them all Valentines gifts, see those here.  This  past few weeks have been spent making dresses for my Granddaughters.

I originally was going to make dresses from the same pattern, but, Cora is so petite that was not going to work.  I chose the Oliver and S, Ice Cream Social Dress for Sophia and a Simplicity pattern (2668) for Cora.





The original fabric I purchased a while ago did nothing for me so I used some that I more recently purchased!

Here is the lovely Sophia modeling her new dress.  "Put on" was her response when she saw it and then she did not want to take it off!

She is saying Cheese!! 

She likes pockets
The fabrics for Sophia's dress are from the Calypso collection from Maude Asbury by blend.

Here is Cora's, I have some finishing to do so no pictures of her in the dress.




button and elastic is coming

The pattern called for a zipper...I really don't like zippers, especially on children's clothing.  So I made a small placket and will sew a button and some elastic (using a hair elastic) for a loop.

The fabric is from Pillow and Maxfield, the Oh La La collection!

Working on other things too, but already this week seems overwhelming, hit the ground running after 3 days away...yikes.
Have a great week.

Cindy


Where I am linking to this week:


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Monday, March 12, 2012

Sewing Room Purge: Done


If you are following you know that I am trying to Organize and Simplify our home.  We will downsize someday and right now our house is filled with stuff that we don't use or need anymore.  I have been inspired by Tsh Oxenreider's book Organized Simplicity and Jules over at Pancakes and Frenchfries her William Morris Project.  Check them out!







Last week I attacked my sewing room, a bit scary because this is my favorite stuff!  I love fabric and all things sewing!!  Would I really get rid of things, especially fabric that I would never use.  I used these questions to help me especially with the fabric.
        1.  Do I still like this fabric?
                 No- get rid of it
                 Yes - answer next questions
     
        2.  Would I use it in a project?
                No- get rid of it
                Yes- answer next question

        3.  Do I have time to make said project?
                  No - get rid of it
                  Yes - answer next question

        4.   Does the project fit with my current priorities?
                  No - get rid of it
                  Yes - Keep it and make sure it is not hanging around next time I purge!!

I did end up getting rid of a couple of bags of fabric that I would not use, I took them to my quilt group and they took some, the rest went to Goodwill.

Here are the pictures: I tried to figure out how to put them side-by-side, but no luck...so lots of pictures

Before:


After:




Before:



  After:


Before:






Before



After


Here are some details



buttons by color in jars

Thread I don't use in my machine great for hand sewing

Picture of the hubs, and me coming in the finish at my first Triathlon last summer, the subway art from cheese filled box we got as a Christmas present





my half marathon and triathlon finishers medals

Are you trying to get organized and simplify your life and home?  Comment and let me know what you are up to.

Sewing this week I have been making dresses for my two Granddaughters, one is done, but, more on that later this week.  Have a happy Monday!!

Cindy


Where I am linking to this week:



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Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Look what I found!!

I am in the process of purging and cleaning and organizing my sewing room you can check that out here.  I acutally finished today!! YEAH!!  But before I share the room, I will share a couple of quilts I un-earthed, two are yet to be finished!! And one I would love to give away to someone who wants to give it a home.  So here is what I found.

This quilt was a combined effort from my quilt group, Winding Ways, we each chose the fabric for our own quilt and passed out to the others.  The theme was stars and each of us chose a star pattern that we made in each others fabric.  My friend Sue at The Promise of  Hannah Long Arm Quilting, she did a fabulous job!!

The center is my favorite

Isn't the quilting great

I like the way the sun makes the quilting have dimension 
Not the fabrics I would choose now, but I still like it.  

This quilt I made from a bunch of scraps, I was trying to be artistic, still needs finishing.  What do you think??

random scraps



The main part is random machine quilting, I still need to quilt the borders, not sure why I didn't quilt them when I did the center???
This next one has hung in my living room for many years, but had to make room for a painting by my father-in-law.  I would love to give it to the first person who comments that they would like it and provides me with an email.  GONE...congrats Evie!!  You should know that some of the hearts are coming off, they were attached with heat and bond, many moons ago...

I had originally made two this one was Country House, the other, which I am not sure where it is... was bright colors and called City House.




Later in the week I will show you the finished sewing room!

Have a great day
Cindy
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Sunday, March 4, 2012

Purging the Sewing Room

I think this will be the hardest Organize and Simplify yet.   It is easy to go through the kitchen and get rid of dishes or that warming tray that I have not used in 5 years...  But we are talking about my sewing room...that means fabric, and books and the magazines I have spent years collecting these things, but if we are going to downsize, I need to be ruthless.  I think that is hard and scary!!
 
Here are some BEFORE pictures.






As you can see the clutter is a bit overwhelming.    I do have a lot of stuff... The first things that went are all the scrapbooking supplies.  I have decided that I really am not going to do much scrapbooking anymore, so it is all going.  I have put a post up on the blog you can go here and see all the things that I am offering for sale.  Email me if you are interested.

Have you noticed your taste in decor or fabric changes over the years.  Mine has.  I know some of you are just getting started, but after 30 years, my tastes have gone from country, dark, to a cross between Pottery Barn and Ikea.  I like color and I like bold, hence there are no white walls in my house.  I have a lot of dark fabric, although I have gotten rid of some, I still have a fair amount.  Even though I don't favor these fabrics I still think of projects I could make with it, makes it hard to purge....

Over this week I will be continuing in the sewing room and will have a few posts, there is a lot of stuff...

Even with the purging I have gotten a few sewing projects done, here are a few pictures .

I participated in a fat quarter exchange and project at Ninth Street Notions ,  I made a gift set for a baby girl shower gift.  It consists of a little bag, two burp cloths, a paci-clip, and a bib clip.  It will be going in my Etsy shop this week. I had 5 fat quarters to work with, I did add one more for the lining of the bag.





This is the latest Sewing Machine cover, it has a Mug rug and pincushion that goes with it.  It is already listed in the Etsy Shop.







I love the contrast of black and pink.  

I will be busy this week purging and getting rid of things.  Hope you have a good week.

Cindy



Where I am linking to this week:

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