Thursday, December 31, 2009

WIPS and Chains!

Excuse me?  What did she say?  You know - WIPs - Works in Progress... and chains - I'm working on my serging skills!  Fer real!

I absolutely love Christmas and spending time with my family.  It was fun and I loved every bit of it.  But, once again it has quickly passed and I need to take a deep breath from the busy week.  I've already put away all decorations and cleaned the house up a bit.  (I tried to wait until this weekend but I just couldn't!)  There is something about starting off the first day of the year fresh and clean.

As for works in progress, I have plenty to do. When I decide to sew something (translation - while killing time at JoAnn's, Hobby Lobby, or the local quilt shop and finding fabric that I just cannot live without), I go ahead and gather up all the goodies to go with it - notions, pattern, thread, trim, etc., and put them all together in a zip-loc storage bag. Because really - who knows when I'll actually get to sew it!  Then, when I am ready to sew, I have everything together. I include notes and sketches as reminders - "Now why did I buy 2/3 yard of this and 3 yards of that?"





As for serger skills, I decided to spend a little "me" time in my studio just sewing.  I got out the sewing machine and my serger and whipped up some little pants to go with the Natty jacket I made at the sewing retreat.  The pants were made from red velveteen and matching trim for the ruffles.  Oh, how I love to sew!!!  There is something strange about how much relaxation I get from a sewing challenge.  I mean, I know how to sew a pair of toddler's pants, but I'm still learning a lot in the sewing realm, especially using my serger.





And, this is that time of the year when we all start to think about goals and resolutions.  Here are a few of mine:

  • Get to know God a little better each day.

  • Spend more time with my family serving others.
  • Take better care of myself - rest and excercise (obviously not at the same time!), maybe a mani and pedi every once in a while!
  • Expand my mind - I'm going back to school with my photography.  I can't wait!  I love photography and I have so much to learn in the digital world.  Next up will be Photoshop!
  • Continue to teach my kids important life skills like how to set up a budget and how to sew on a button!
  • Sew, craft, and sew!!! 
Tonight was a good time to just relax and un-wind.  I watched "Snow White" with my 3 year old while we sewed together.  I was making more felt doughnuts (you can't have too many of those, right?) and my baby girl worked on her stitching skills.  I thought she did a dern good job!  That's mommy's girl!



My wish for each of you is that you will have a wonderful and healthy New Year filled with blessings, family, friends, time well-spent, rest, play, helping others, and enjoying what you love to do! 

Bonne Année!

Mona
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5 comments:

  1. New Year's blessings to you and your family.

    Mollie

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  2. Oh Monna I think you & I could become good friends! First of all we live CLOSE! And I used to sew a lot & stopped but, have taken it back up again recently. I don't have a serger but, would love to have one. One of my goals (along with hubby) is to take photography classes. Have you found a good place for that? I'm looking. And if you see my New Years Eve post... learning photoshop is one of my goals too! So glad you stopped by for a visit. I don't know how you found me but, I'm glad you did! Happy New Year! Charlene

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  3. Mona,
    Love your idea of packaging each idea up in a great clear bag. Excellent. I use the clear plastic square boxes from Joann's (I think they are meant for scrap booking), I label them for each thing I'm working on and it keeps stuff together. I am usually working on more than 1 thing at a time.
    Love the outfit. I have started to buy a serger about 20 times, but I'm so intimidated by it. You should do a serger class. I love what you can do with it, just don't know if I could get the darn thing threaded.
    Happy New Year! Lisa

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  4. Great ideas, and great resolutions. If you want to learn photoshop, then just send me an emai (on my blog)l, and I will be glad to give you some tips I got from a fellow photographer friend. She really led me in the right direction.
    BTW, I would love to go to Dallas. We were looking at a place in Mansfield, because we have friends in Ft. Worth. It would be so much fun.

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  5. What a great idea to store everything together. And why didn't I think of that, instead of looking at my craft room and wondering what was this for..and that..and that?? Well, you get the idea. My craft area is a mess...off to find some really large clear bags and see if I can get it manageable.

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