Sewing and Using our Time Wisely

I’ve not been able to sew much lately and my sewing list keeps getting longer and longer.  I have many things I want to sew, but only so much time in which to sew.  In fact because of my disability I am even more limited in the time I feel up to sewing.  Due to these two restraints I have come up with a way to make the most use of the time I have.  The first thing I do is make a list of all the projects that I want to sew, then I divide them up into groups of urgent needs, necessary, helpful, just for fun, and those I could  do without making.  This may sound like it is just extra work. If you have a lot of projects and they are constantly being added to by new needs and new ideas you’ve come across, then doing this may very well stop all of the confusion running through your mind.  Writing them out on paper, may help you make the best use of your valuable time.

Now that I have an organized list, I need to figure out how to tackle it.  I like to include my daughter in learning how to do things that are appropriate for her age, but when I have urgent needs this may take up more time than I can spend to get a particular sewing project done.  An urgent need would be something like sewing a gown for my daughter, because she out grew all the ones she had for last fall and it is getting too chilly at night for her to continue wearing her summer gowns.  When I have urgent needed projects to do I explain to her that it has to get done as soon as possible and why this is; she will need to know this as a future homemaker too.  When my husband has rested from work I will sit down and explain to him that I have some urgent needed sewing to do and need to make time for it.  This way he may be able to help me weed out other things I am spending my time on that I could put aside or drop altogether.  He can also help me by spending some time with our daughter when I am working on these sewing urgencies.

After I’ve finished all my urgent sewing I can set aside a particular amount of time once a week or more to work on things that would be helpful in our home.  One of the things on this list for me is another dress for church, since I don’t have very many.  I could’ve put this on my urgent list, but I do already have some I can wear, sure I go through the same dresses every few weeks, but I am not there to please others, but to please God.  My young daughter can help me to accomplish this by doing things she is capable of doing with my supervision and that she won’t get hurt doing.  I start by explaining to her what we are doing and why, then ask her to help me.  Here again she is learning future homemaking skills.

On my list of just for fun are usually lots of little things I can make with my daughter and/or my whole family.  One of the things on there at this time of year is a handmade ornament for our Christmas tree.  Usually I will get out enough supplies for everyone, read over the directions then get started.  Many of the ideas for ornaments come from online sites.  We like to make our own, because they are more memorable to us; not only because we made them, but also the time we spent as a family.  It is nice doing things as a family; it helps us to grow closer to one another.

And last of all is the list for things I could do without making.  When one is surfing the blog you may jump from one website to the next adding more and more ideas to things you’d like to make.  That’s fine, but when you make out your sewing list you need to go through them and be realistic as to what you need and what you could do without.  I keep this list to refer to when the same ideas pop back up again.  For us sewers it is like being in a candy store when we see beautiful handmade things that we can make also.  Be realistic, God has blessed us with the money and/or supplies to create things for our family, but we need to be good stewards of these blessings and our time.  Our family will appreciate the time this frees up for them to spend with us.

If you have other ideas for how to accomplish your sewing projects please leave a comment with your ideas and I will add them to a future blog and give credit to you, or leave a blog address for me to post.  Your ideas may help others in our situation.  Thank you if you contribute and thank you all for reading.

Homemaking Link-Up!

If you have a blog and have a post about homemaking, please go join the Homemaking Link-Up! over at Raising Homemakers.

I Want to Make Life Easier on Myself and my Family

When I was younger I wanted to have everything in my house match and liked having knick knacks, baskets, and fauex flowers sitting around.  As I've gotten older and busier (growing more in the Lord, raising my children, spending as much time with my family as possible, and homeschooling) I have decided that "less is more".  When we declutter our home, keeping only what we truly need, and keeping watch on what we bring into our home, buying what is needed now and what fits into this stage of our family's life, it gives us more time to spend with those we love and meet our goals.  I have a disability which has caused us to seek a minmalist approach to decorating.  When there are less decorations it is easier to keep our home clean.

Right now we are in the process of deciding what goes in to each area of the house.  If a particular item always tends to end up in a certain area of the house then that is where we need to find space for it to go.  This has not happened over night for us.  We have come to this way of declutering and trying to keep it that way over the last several years.  It has taken some baby steps here and big leaps there.  It really helps if the whole family is on board with this new way of living.

With my disability I often have to take rest.  When I am resting I still try to be useful.  Lately I've been going through papers in file boxes and any others I come across.  This is part of the clutter that often lies hidden in our homes.  It takes time to look for a particular paper when we have unnecessary ones mixed in with what we truly need.  Take time and go through them carefully and throw away or shed what is no longer needed.

Another thing I have been decluttering while resting is my bookmarks.  Many times I will think a blog is something I need and put it in my favorites, but when I go to find it again it can be near to impossible due to the fact that I have other bookmarks that are no longer needed and I hadn't organized them well to begin with.  I have been working to put my favorites into folders with names that fit the main content of the site; a name that will identify for me personally why I bookmarked the sites to begin with.

We Tend to be Hardest on Ourselves

I was going through my bookmarks today and sorting them into better folders when I came upon this one at Cup of Grace and knew I needed to share it with my readers.  She did such a good job writing this.

Moby Wrap Give Away Still Going on?

The winner hasn't been announced yet for the wonderful Moby Wrap and people are still entering to win.  If you don't know what the Moby Wrap is go take a look at Moby Wrap.  Do you like what you see?  Go to Raising Olives and enter the contest to get one for free in her give away.  Good luck everyone.

In remembrance of those who lost Love Ones on This Day

America suffered a great loss nine years ago, but in the face of this tragedy many people came forth to help.  I offer a prayer to all of you who lost love ones and those of you who stepped forward to help out on this tragic day.  I also offer a prayer to all my readers, this event affected us all.

Do We Pester?

I search the web for information to provide what I hope is the best for my family.  Sometimes when I find something and share it with my spouse he isn't inthusiastic about it and says he doesn't agree wtih it.  I'm sure many of you have been in this situation.  If this happens and we try to tell him more about this new idea a few times are we going against his authority of saying no it's not a good idea and pestering him hoping he will give in or are we just trying to fill him in on this new information?  Is it possible that we feel we are just trying to explain to him our point of view and he feels that we are pestering him to get him to let us have what we desire?  If he does feel this way then how to we get him to listen to us in situations like this without coming off as a pest?  We want to do the right thing and honor him and love him the way the Lord says we should.