Projects

Bill and I had a funny conversation the other day. I tend to be able to do more of my interests than he does because they coincide better with things we need as a family than his do and we were talking about it. Though he has just gotten into hobby electronics and both of us can see lots of excellent uses for that in our life. :) I have found a lot of enjoyment out of family-enriching sorts of things in the last few years. Food storage, sewing, building furniture, crocheting, etc, I like all of them and it's not hard to justify buying things here and there to do that stuff.

I was just thinking this morning about working and what it's like to have a job and the whole rat race aspect of it. At the moment I have little to no interest in that. I am very happy with my stay-at-home mom role and I will be over the moon pleased when I can quit the job I do have. Hopefully that will coincide with a drastic increase in Bill's income and that will allow me to do more projects and things I enjoy. :) Being a stay-at-home mom is crazy hard some days, but it's so rewarding to me and I wouldn't trade it. It's pretty ridiculous how kids can take what parenting skills you think you have and throw them out the window. I can't count how many times lately I've run through all the skills I have and feel like I'm stretching for something, anything that will help me work with my kids and teach them what they need to know. So there's no lack of growth and development right now. I don't need a paycheck to make me feel like I'm doing something worthwhile. As I was thinking these thoughts this morning I was pleased because it's nice to be in a place where I'm content with my role. That hasn't always been the case. I have dreams and goals in various aspects of my life, but they're not about changing what I do as much as improving on what I have. It's a really nice place to be.

So anyway, enough of those musings and onto the projects I've done lately, which are what made me think these thoughts in the first place. I don't have nearly as much discretionary money as I want to put into various projects, but I've been able to do a few things lately, Aaron's afghan last month, and this tree skirt this weekend. Thinking of Christmas this year triggered the thought that we still didn't have a tree skirt and we needed to buy or make one. So I turned to my trusty Google and Pinterest search, showed Bill a few options, one of which was far beyond my sewing abilities at the moment, and decided on the one I made. And then this weekend I made it. I decided it was high time I dipped my toe into the quilting world and this should not be surprising, I love it! The tree skirt turned out amazing and it didn't take that long to do, which is a huge plus for any project I do with three kids around I pieced it and put the batting and back on while the kids were playing around me on Thursday or Friday, then did the quilting part during naps and evenings and finally Saturday while Bill was home. I just love how it turned out and now I'm all excited to figure out other things to quilt. Good times!

Someone told me they couldn't tell how big this is. It's about 54 inches across, so plenty big for any tree.

And now that I have the crafting bug, this is a sneak peak of my next project. I had previously made Aaron a stocking back when I made all the other ones a year or so ago, before he was even conceived. Good thing he is a boy because his stocking certainly wouldn't work for a girl. I'll show off the rest once I'm finished adding his name. This is just in sharpie on it and I will be embroidering it in white. Should be exciting.