Fifteen Minute Increments

The Dad, who works from home, finished up yesterday and came down to play with the kids.  I asked for 15 minutes to run up and sew a little bit.  "I could never get a project done the way you work." he told me.  "What?  I usually work in 15 minute increments."  "Exactly."

When I began really sewing (I think I just hit eieio's 2 year anniversary!), E was in nursery school and O was home with me.  It was rare to have more than 15 minutes at a time in my studio so I learned how to make it work.  Now, O is in nursery school and E is in Kindergarten and I have one full 'Studio Day' per week where they are in school until mid-afternoon and I have no other obligations.

Besides that, I still tend to work in these little spurts.  I use my evenings for fabric selection, ironing, and cutting - the parts of the process that seem to take the most amount of time. If the pieces are all prepped, I'll do some sewing, too.  I've learned, though, that I should turn off my machine at 9.  Otherwise, I get a little glassy-eyed and am more prone to make a mistake.

Last weekend, The Dad took the kids up to his parents' for overnight.  They were gone for more than 24 hours!  And I got to just sit in my studio and sew.  When they returned home Sunday at 5, I realized I hadn't even unlocked the front door and left the house since the night before!  Not necessarily very healthy, but oh so productive...

Moving Forward

To be honest, I've been feeling a little paralyzed around here lately.  I apologize for the choppy entries of late.  For me, feeling overwhelmed does very little to spur on productivity.  I just. kind of. stall. out.  And that's what's happened.

But, thing are starting to move.  For the first time in almost 7 years, I am getting up at 5:30 am and working out with my husband.  And actually really enjoying it.  The trade off is that I'm going to bed at 9:30 so I don't turn into mean, growly mama bear around 3pm.  After multiple (failed) tries to figure out how to fit a regular workout into my day (and consistently making my health and fitness one of my lowest priorities), I bit the bullet and went back to the beginning.

Before I had kids, The Dad and I had a very regular morning routine.  We woke up at 5:30, rolled out of bed and went to the Y, worked out, came home and showered, and headed to work.  Once E was born, that just wasn't an option and The Dad went without me.  Then when O came along, it got even harder to figure out where to fit exercise in.

I am happy to see it become part of my daily routine again.  We actually work out at home - on a great enclosed porch far enough away from the kids that we don't wake them up but close enough that we can hear them if they need us.

I didn't mean to ramble on about exercise and my new routine, but I do believe that the way out of a rut is to just do it - and in this case, it means just writing.  So, the next few posts might be random but they are my way of getting un-stuck.  So follow along if you'd like, and thanks for hanging in their with me.

By the way, the photo above (which has absolutely nothing to do with the post) is my new mannequin.  Frustrated with poor photos of my work, we've added her to the family to help out.  E dressed her this afternoon.  Earlier today she looked like this:

Cheers!

A Little Pink: Summer Song by Riley Blake

As I neared the end of my load of dresses for Art Star, I realized that I was missing some pink.  Lots of teal/blue and cream with graphics, but not a whole lot of that girly color some folks (like my almost 6 year old) are drawn too.  So, off to the fabric store I went.  Really, my life is tough...


A little Summer Song by the new(er) Riley Blake Designs.
Beautiful colors, great quality.  Just what I was looking for.

Now back to the ironing board.
Literally!

While I've Been Gone

Besides spending most of my free time gearing up for the Art Star Craft Bazaar, we've been doing some other fun things around here, too:

Building a makeshift Teepee

Celebrating Easter

And O's 4th Birthday

The prep for Art Star (and life) is starting to feel a little more under control now (60 dresses almost finished!), so I'm back.  Thanks for continuing to check in!