Goals Wrap Up September, October Plans

Well I wouldn’t say that I hit it out of the field this month on my goals. Maybe a base hit? Ah well, I am not a baseball fan, so I should really lose the baseball references.
 

The goal for September was to select quilt pattern (check!), select fabric (check!) and get started on Skadi’s quilt. And yes, I did get started on it. I cut a few squares out. I would have probably gotten more than a “few” squares cut out if I didn’t have a little helper bee who wanted to cut the squares herself for her own quilt. And well, yes, I have to allow her / encourage her to be crafty and learn to sew as my mom did with me. So I let her cut some squares out. But man is it scary watching your child with a rotary cutter in her hand.
 

And this was where I stopped.
 

I just have this fear of even pulling the fabric out that she becomes a moth to the flame and has an insatiable need to cut out her own fabric.
 

I have been thinking about how to handle this… and first in my mind is to give her some fabric to cut and make a quilt out of alongside me. But I know my daughter. It isn’t the need to make a quilt that is causing this obsessive behavior. It’s the rotary cutter. And I can’t really blame her – they are the epitome of cool tools for the quilter. I find tremendous pleasure in my very neatly ordered stacks of fabric with the precision achieved only by the use of a rotary cutter. Nope, scissors won’t work.
 

So what I need in order to advance on this goal is a day at home without my daughter. I might be able to get the quilt cut out then. Then I could just battle her over the sewing machine…
 

So onto October! Hello one of my most favorite of months! The time when the weather cools and I get to wear my warm clothes again, cook yummy foods, enjoy the sounds of football in the background (because it is completely impossible for me to sit my butt in a seat and watch a game… if they were only 30 minutes, maybe.)

 

 

I suddenly have a number of things to hang on the wall. We have a print we bought near Mt. St. Helens. I want to relocate a metal art. And I have stacks of framed photos I want to shift around. And my foyer, office and dining room have no more prime wall space. I need to prep another wall!
 

So I am thinking I need to go small scale for October given my crazy October schedule – a trip to Reno, swimming lessons, Leif’s football, an itty bitty (but very important) surgery my husband is having (and he may disagree with me saying it is itty bitty…), me speaking at a local University to a women’s group – ah, the list goes on. Oh and not to mention that quilt is still on my to do list.
 

So my goal is to scootch the piano and sectional away from the walls they are residing on and paint said walls. Then scootch the piano and sectional back and hang some stuff on those two walls. It would be perfect for our Mt. St. Helens picture and might just also work for the metal art. Framed photos? Yeah, well maybe if I get these two walls done then I will have some clarity with the rest of the room. Or maybe it isn’t clarity I need… just motivation? (And money.)
 

August 2013 Goals Wrap Up and Sept 2013 Goals

I hit it out of the park for August!

Of course I did set the bar pretty low - organize the school stuff drawer, the desk in the kitchen, and get the kids' school stuff together. Then organize a calendar that is easy to use and that I don't have to spend time rewriting each month.

And the chair bags. Sew two chair bags for my kids school stuff. I wanted bags to hang on the back of their chairs, in fabric they would each like (and therefore use). No more "mom, where did my homework go?" Nope, because when the table needs to be cleared, the unfinished homework could go in the chair bag. And there are pencils and scissors and erasers and crayons there ready access!

Ok, so it wasn't hit OUT of the park. But I hit a homerun at least.

Got the stuff organized, kids got their school supplies with 18 hours to spare, and I built an Excel color coded calendar that is super easy to update. (I love Excel.)

I thought I wasn't going to make it, then Silas had pink eye and needed to stay home. And then the internet went down preventing me from working from home during the afternoon nap. And that fabric stood there staring at me.

So I whipped them out.

I may have whipped too hard. I should have gone slower and actually measured, made a pattern or found one online.

They are done and functional. But don't look too closely at them!

What I would change? I would use some contrasting fabric. And I would measure. I didn't like the way they ended up hanging from the top of the chair, so I flipped the ties around to the side, even though they weren't really made for that. I used corduroy for Skadi's bag. Nice and durable and stiff. For Leif's I used regular cotton stuff. It's a bit flimsy.

But hey! They are done and functional and I didn't really make them as a style piece more than a functional piece. And functional they are!

August done!

I think maybe I wanted to embark on the Master Bedroom for September? Anyways, I can't remember. But I don't have it in me to do the Master Bedroom for September, both from a monetary perspective (stupid car and trailer repairs) and time.

Instead Skadi has been begging for her quilt. And she is tired of her Dora comforter. So my September goal is to at least start on her quilt. I am so pleased with the horribly expensive professional quilt job on our bed quilt, that I am even thinking about forking out the dough for long arm service on her quilt.

There, September goal set!