Things to do, Things to do

Actually I have been bored off my rocker lately since I have no energy and Michael has asked that I not go downstairs to sew when he is not home. Those of you who know me know that even if I were one to watch TV (which I am not) that is also in the basement.

But I do have things I need to do….so I shall do them

Monday: I need to figure out how to use the Ipod so I can have music while I am in labor. If my poor daughter can’t be born in the south the least I can do is make sure we have Johnny Cash playing when she does decide to make her appearance. Which I seriously hope is any day now.

Tuesday: Due to the continued flooding in my basement I have decided to move the sewing room back upstairs. The flooding has thus far only terrorized one area but since we can not figure out why or how to stop it I have decided to not take any chances. Plus I am thinking it will be better in the long run for me to be able to sew while Lentil naps and such as opposed to us always going down stairs. The full move will not take place until after my mother in law leaves since we will need that room as a guest room while she is here. But I can get started on a small area so I can at least work on little projects to pass the time.

Wed: Perhaps Lentil will be born?

My Mission Statement

This week at 7 habits training we were tasked with writing a mission statement for out lives. Kind of a road map and a set of values we hope to follow. I found this exercise to be both enlightening and helpful in providing me focus and direction. I am going to share it here.

I Choose to live compassionate;y and creatively.

I choose:

To put God first, others second and myself last.

To make my life a celebration of the talents and blessings I have been given.

To make my relationships edifying, beneficial and cherished. To make my marriage a priority.

To treat everything from people to the earth with compassion and respect.

To pursue my love of art, literature and music and to constantly seek knowledge.

To remove negative influences from trashy media to gossip and malignant people.

To put a more concentrated effort into helping others in need and spreading the gospel of Christ.

To have a simple and Christ centered home where people feel welcomed and loved.

To seek balance in all aspects of my life and to laugh a lot!

 

Do you have a life mission statement? Would you mind sharing it? If you haven’t made one I highly recommend it.

7 Habits of Highly Effective People

I am very excited this week because I get to go to the 7 Habits training which is provided by the company I work for. I am finding it so beneficial. Especially since I have so much going on in my life both private and public and I want to make sure that I am as effective as possible.

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective people are:

Be Proactive

Begin with the end in mind.

Put first things first

Seek win-win

Listen first to understand then to be understood

Synergize

Sharpen the saw.

 

The habit I will be working on first is to seek first to understand and then to be understood. As a talkative person I fear that when communicating with other people I might dominate the conversation. This is not what I wish to do as I don’t want people I interact with to think I don’t respect them.

Opinions please…

So we will be having extended company in May so one of my bigger priorities is to make our guest room look fabulous. My goal for this room is modern, elegant and relaxing. I also have to be careful not to make it too “girly” since not all of our guests are female. That was Michael’s 2 cents on the matter.

Michael has agreed to pain the room a lovely milk chocolate brown. I am thinking of using these fabric to decorate with:

 

 

 

And I was thinking of using one of these patterns to make the quilt

 

or

 

 

Which one? Please vote

 

I am actually thinking of making 2 quilts for the room. One for the bed and one on an old quilt rack at the foot of the bed. My reasoning for this is because a lot of  our guests are from down south and we know what this Wisconsin winter can do to a tender southern soul. But I would want one of the quilts to be a more traditional quilt.

I picked these fabric because I love then but also because they currently reside in my stash so it will not require me breaking my fabric fast. Also I am trying to make this as low budget as possible since we are saving for our trip and for a farm. I am kind of making a little game out of it “How cheap can you be” just kidding. But you get the point.

I am also going to make new window treatments and wall art. And hopefully I can find a fun old light fixture at a thrift shop or antiques store.

My goal is to have the room completely finished by March 1st so cross your fingers.

The Simple Art of Domesticity

Or the pleasant joys of homemaking. Whatever works for you. No, I am not referring to housework with fondness. I do not enjoy scrubbing floors, toilets or dishes. Vacuuming, sweeping and mopping are for the birds…well actually at McKissick Manor we have to do those things more often because of the birds but I digress. I am talking about homemaking. The effort and love we pour into making our house a pleasant, relaxing and beautiful home. A refuge from the chaos of the world a retreat where you can center yourself and connect with your family. A space that bring you joy and truly reflects who you are.

 

I have been contemplating these things recently and I find that as I grow older it has gained importance in my life. Things such as baking,cooking, hostessing, creating art, decorating and keeping the health department from condemning it. I am striving to have a more home centered life. So I am going to post my goals and desires for each room sort of as a to do list and to track my accomplishments.

 

What are you doing to make your house a home?

 

Leave a comment and I will randomly pick a winner and send them a prize to help make their home cozy.

What I did on my Stay-cation Chapter 2

I needed different decor and art for my living room and I removed any item we could possible pile stuff on hoping to deter the clutter. It was making me insane. So we re arranged the furniture, moved things to other rooms and starting creating new art work. I have several things in the “finishing up process” (No smart a$$ remarks please Christin) But here is a project I finished.

We resuced this old bench some time ago and I decided it needed a new lease on life. I am a magnet for things destined for the dump.

and I turned it into this

Michael wanted to paint the wood but I think it gives it character and pays homage to it’s roots as early attic/pre garage sale rubbish. That and I don’t really like things to look all shiny and new. I prefer things with quirks.

 

I also decided to make some new drapes for the picture window but no pics yet as I am not quite finished. Actually I was trying to finish them up in a hurry after mid-night one nigh which has resulted in me needed to seem rip a ton of serged seams. Which stinks. I will pick the seam while we watch our netflix this weekend and hopefully install them and post pictures early next week.

Look what Crys Cre8ted

New throw pillows for our family room we are redoing in the basement.

 

Mr. Basting spray is there for size reference. These bad boys are big!

 

 

Michael picked some of the fabric. I decided to do a room that also reflects him (I guess its only fair since he also lives here) and since his favorite color is blue that’s what we went with. I made scrappy log cabin blocks and then made them into pillows. I love the log cabin block.  It ‘s so versatile. Our goal is to have this room nearly finished by the end of January so hopefully I will have lots of fun new things to show this month.

Bonne Année

Happiest New Years Wishes to you and your family!

 

I love to make New Years Resolutions. I like to have goals and things to work towards. It give me the sense of living life to the fullest. I am actually fairly good at keeping my resolutions (except the diet one…but no one is good at that).

As I progress further into my twenties I am struck with this fear of wasting valuable time and not living up to my potential. I suspect this is the same reason that people make une bonne résolution de nouvel an. (New Years Resolutions).

I have the unfortunate luck of having my birthday very close to New Years so this feeling of slacking off can get really strong. So I am excited to announce this years résolutions.

My goal is to eat more of these

 

 

 

and fewer of these

 

 

I would like to also like to get more disciplined about exploring different forms of art and artists. I would like to have more structured times for creating. So I will schedule 12-15 hours each week for sewing, knitting, painting, photography and collage.

My other goal is to work on my french. I have take a great deal of french courses during my school days and remember surprisingly little. My goal is to be fluent before we leave for Europe in December. Then next year I can master another language.

 

I have more goals buts since I blog whilst at work and today is so freakin’ busy I will save them for another time. But I would love your hear about your goals, dreams and résolutions!

I want a farm

and on my farm I want some

and

and

and a couple of these

and

and a few of this guy

and

and

and

and some

and

 

and I want to have a huge Garden, I want to have a dye garden also. So I will dye my own wool and spin it too…and my life will be beautiful, simple and fulfilled.

and I will take him too…since he is also precious

 

If you can’t tell I am sick of going to my corporate job. I am tired of always being on the run. And I am sick of being disconnected from the earth. I want peace and self-sustainability….

Evolution of a Sewing Studio

In my efforts to clean, organize and declutter so that I have a more peaceful simpler life I concentrated my efforts on m sewing space. It really needed some attention especially since the Lusty Ladies come over on Tuesdays to sew. This room was a wreck!

When I first started reallying getting into sewing I carved a little space out in Michael’s home office. He didn’t really want to share the space but since he has his real office NEXT DOOR I didn’t really care, he can share. I have an art studio downstairs but I wanted a separate space for sewing upstairs. I am spoiled I know. This what my first humble little space looked like…

And my “stash” in the beginning…..

Then I decided I needed more space since I acquired more stuff like to sew with friends. So one weekend we moved Michael’s junk home office down stairs and my sewing room into the guest room. We turned the small room that had housed my sewing stuff and Michael’s junkhome office into the guest room. It made more sense that way. We don’t have people sleep over all that much so the smallest room would be fine for guests and I sew all the time (and have a lot of stuff) so the other room would work better since it has way more space. This is what happened….. (yes, I am properly embarrassed to be showing my pig sty over the internet, I hope my aunt never sees this)

Junk piled everywhere! The space was barely usable…. so I spent this weekend doing this…

Made a rack for my favorite fabrics…. My Heather Ross, Sandi Henderson, Heather Bailey, Amy Butler and Joel Dewberry are now stacked according to designer.

My Ottobres (Eurpoean pattern magaizes for my non sewing friends) and other Eurpoean patterns are in the leather box on top. The other container has finished crocheted fruit.

The bookshelf houses my knit fabrics and fat quarter sets in the boxes. I LOVE that fushia vase. I drove from Detroit to WI with it in my front seat wrapped in bubble wrap and comforters. Thread is stored on top of the white shelf (obviously) and inside that white pantry thing is batting, denim, twill, fleece and other misc fabric. I once foolishly said I wouldn’t ever have more fabric then could fit in the white pantry…..I was such a novice.

Bernie is on her table (that I found at a thrift store. I thought it would be perfect for Michael’s Hamm radio stuff but he wasn’t using it so I stole it back)

I got that oak cabinet from Brenda who wasn’t going to use it in her new apartment (Thanks Sugar!) It has lots of room and fit that corner well.

I even organized inside it! Sewing notions, Embroidery modual, Camera equipement and patterns….in that order. On the antique vanity bench is my yarn stash…. I am still looking for a better option (prettier) option to store this. Especially since I will be bring back the vanity that goes with that bench from Tennessee after Thanksgiving. It was in Michael’s grandma’s bedroom when she was a girl. Michael’s mother also used it when she was a teenager. I love the history and can’t wait to pass it down to my daughter.

I have always felt so guilty piling so much junk on top of this cabinet. Most people do not realize that there is a treasure inside. One I should be using.

Suzette my Singer 201. I literally came home and found her on my porch one day. She is gorgeous, is in great working condition and has all her parts! My manual is from 1934.

And my Ikea shelf that holds the rest of my fabric. My cutting mat lives on the top although I do my cutting in the kitchen on the counter since it is much better on my back.

Now that it is clean and organized Michael said he would consider painting. But I might recruite the Lusty ladies to paint. I am thinking an olive color but that could change. I am waiting on fabric to arrive to make matching curtains and have a couple paintings in process to make the space look awesome….. But for now I am happy it is at least useable and tidy!