Scheduled Sewing Day

I am so happy to know I have set aside at least two days each week for sewing. I say 'at least two days' because I have scheduled two days a week to sew with a friend. If you are having trouble finding time to sew, why not schedule the time? It could be time scheduled with a friend like I am doing. Or it could be time you schedule with yourself. Write it on your calendar or planner if need be. Make a commitment to yourself or with a friend today. We schedule our lives around so many different things. It makes perfect sense to schedule our hobbies, our time for ourselves. We all need a bit of time to refresh and relax, to engage in our own form of renewal. Relaxation and personal time for sewing are intermingled. For me, sewing is my type of relaxation that allows me to recharge my batteries. I get in the zone, lose all sense of time, and before I know it I feel recharged, refreshed and ready to tackle other issues. Is sewing that way for you? Then by all means, schedule more time for it!

Okay . . . so today I did other things besides sewing. One of them was to press this pile of fabric I pre-washed yesterday. Yes! Ironing! Maybe that is not the most fun part of sewing, but with my friend here for a sewing day with me the ironing time passed quickly while we chatted. I say if you want to double your sewing fun invite a friend over and go to it. I got all caught up on this ironing business and enjoyed the day! Whenever my friend and I end our day of sewing and we go our separate ways . . . Aaaah! A big sigh of delight! What a great day . . . I cannot wait till next time!

Now, off to those calendars and planners to set up your sewing schedules. Fifteen to twenty minutes? One to two hours? A whole day or afternoon? Whatever you can fit in will work. Let me know how it goes!

Making Time to Sew

I have been thinking about how to make more time to sew lately. It's an activity I enjoy doing. I like sewing so much I seem to lose myself in the act of sewing where I lose all track of time when I sit down to sew. So I don't know why I sometimes put off sewing and get side-tracked doing other activities that aren't as enjoyable. I know there are the everyday household activities that need to be done. Things like getting groceries and shopping, cleaning up the house, laundry, cooking, etc. Then there is the time I spend sitting around watching tv or working or playing around on the computer. These are things that usually keep me occupied. Some of these things I really enjoy doing. Things like time spent on the computer and cooking are enjoyable. And I seem to lose all track of time when I'm on the computer. I think being in virtual world (on the computer) and sewing world are my two most favorite things. They sometimes compete with each other, but they don't need to. If I were to plan my days a bit better I'm sure I could work in the time to do more of the stuff I enjoy.

That's one of my objectives that I want to work on more. I want to be more organized and schedule more time for the fun things in life and work more quickly to get through the things that are neccesary but less fun. So scheduling my time better is one way to make more time to sew.

Another thing I have been thinking about is fine-tuning the layout of my home and studio to make working, sewing, cooking, cleaning and family time flow better. I got a huge amount of work accomplished the last time I spent a concerted effort on re-organizing my studio. The new organization that resulted from that de-cluttering process made the sewing and art supplies and tools more readily accessible, easier to find and use when I needed them. Lately I have been noticing there are still some things that could be fine-tuned a bit more to enhance those benefits even better. So, de-cluttering, re-organizing and fine-tuning my environment periodically is another way to make more time to sew.

During that last re-organization there were a few areas of the house that were left alone. I have been thinking about those rooms lately. I want to do some further de-cluttering then re-organize and re-decorate those rooms in my house.

This time I will be drawing out a floor-plan of the house and re-thinking what each room is used for. The floor-plan will help me to see at a glance if an idea will be feasable before I commit to moving things around. We have several rooms in our house that are under-utilized. This isn't the best use of our space. My goal is to re-vamp the rest of the house to make better use of all of our space here. After all, why have a home with rooms you barely ever enter? Why not re-think the use of those rooms to allow you to use them for the things you enjoy . . . the things that bring more enrichment to your everyday life?

Re-thinking and re-decorating to enhance your space makes the time there more useful and enjoyable. I think we should have beautiful, uplifting and enjoyable spaces surrounding us. After all these are the places we spend our days living and working within. We can chose to make them pleasant and refreshing. Even small changes made over time will be of great benefit if you are not able to make big changes all at once. Sometimes I think we become too comfortable in an existing setting just because it's familiar. Sometimes it slowly becomes a rut to the point we cannot or do not know where to begin to make a change.

I am one of those people who likes to make small changes fairly often. I am feeling a need for some change now. Recognizing and identifying a rut and taking action to make changes is another way to make more time to sew. It may take some time to do this, but in the long run you will be able to accomplish so much more. Plus you will have the added benefit that comes from beautiful and inviting surroundings that lift your spirits. There will be more peace of mind.

Making Time to Sew

A week or so ago I got to thinking about how I could work in more time to sew. Do I need lists? Should I set myself a schedule and plan out my days better? I spend a lot of time on the computer with my blogs, reading other people's blogs and crawling around the web to sites of interest. Sometimes the TV is turned to the news channel while I'm on-line. Lots of time I don't really pay attention to the TV, it's just background noise, but once in a while something comes on to catch my attention. When he's home, my dh is usually in control of the TV box changing channels often as he sits in his favorite chair nearby.

My time spent watching TV is almost always spent doing something else at the same time. If it is not about being on the computer it is about doing some sort of hand-work. A friend of mine, that I used to work with, prefers to machine sew. She always refers to 'hand-sewn' as two four-letter words - a big no-no in her book! LOL! I just love her sense of humor.

Here you see the important components needed for a relaxing evening in front of the computer or television watching a show: (1) a nice big iced tea drink, (2) a 45mm yo-yo maker, (3) pre-cut fabric circles, (4) needle, (5) thread, (6) TV or computer set to a good channel. Put your husband in charge of the remote control and you will not only be multi-tasking by watching TV and sewing, you'll be 'multi-multi-tasking' as you watch 2-3 channels simultaneously while you sew! LOL! Nearly everybody I know says their husbands are big channel surfers.

I don't mind doing some hand sewing at times. Usually those times are while watching TV. The background music tracks always give you a heads up on when to look up and take a peak anyway - when the mystery or the action is about to start. And I admit I'm one of those who asks, "What just happened?" if I missed something important to the story. My dh is usually a good sport and pretty good at filling me in when it's necessary for the story line. Often the plots are pretty predictable and there's not a lot to miss. By the way, if you're being assisted to 'multi-multi-task' while you sew it really is legit to ask what just happened when the story doesn't make sense or you missed the action sequence!

Anyway, I've been using my Clover brand yo-yo maker to hand sew these yo-yos for a future project. I've got a table runner in mind for these yo-yos based on one I saw at a quilt shop in Fargo once. It was an oval shaped table runner that had a pieced background and appliques with yo-yos sewn all around the perimeter. I've searched on-line for the pattern, but have not found it yet. If anyone knows the name of the pattern and its designer, please leave a comment so I can give credit. I will likely incorporate some machine embroidery on my table runner instead of the applique. Perhaps I'll choose an embroidered applique.

Here's the yo-yos dumped from their zippy bag and scattered at random for the photo shoot. Wait, I can't just leave them that way . . .

Okay, since I'm a somewhat-halfway type "A" personality here they are ordered in rows. Nope, they're not going together this way, but being all tossed at random really isn't my thing. I might not be an exact and precise "A" type personality. Maybe I'm more an 'orderly messy' personality. How would you describe that? Things aren't necessarily perfectly clean and pristine, more relaxed - casually messy, but neat, and lived-in around here.

Okay, enough for now . . . I'm off to sew!