5 Ways to Get Your Mojo Back

So, I have been gone for a while.  First, it was Teacher Appreciation Week (our school did it March 24th-28th and I was in charge of the whole shebang).  Then I got pneumonia - again.  But now I'm back with a vengeance!  I'll do a quick recap of Teacher Appreciation Week tomorrow and talk about quilting on Friday -- unless I get sick again!

My last post, I'm so sorry to say, talked about how I was avoiding doing any sewing -- and it stayed up for more than a month.  How embarrassing!  I found my mojo within a week of writing that post, and I'm sad I haven't been able to share until now.  Here's how:

 

1. I gave myself a break.

After writing that post, I realized I really needed to stop feeling guilty about not wanting to sew.  I had so much going on, I really felt stressed – and I am NOT a huge fan of organizing parties, so Teacher Appreciation Week was really stressing me out!  I told myself that I didn’t have to do anything until after that week of craziness was over – and I didn’t!  It was amazing how much more motivated I felt after that week was over, too.  I wanted to sew again!  But before the week was over, I participated in a Rainbow Flashmob on Instagram. I was accidentally assigned two different colors - blue and orange - so I did both. It was so fun!

2. I organized some areas in my sewing room. 

I know it might not look any different to anyone else, but I completely organized my little bins, wrote down every single project I'm working on, and found some room for my kids' projects.  I don't know if I'm slightly OCD or what (and really, who isn't?), but I really can't focus on any project until I have a clean space to work.  I’ve discussed it with my sisters, and we all have the same problem.  We’ve decided that maybe it’s because we get overwhelmed by too much work, so we just don’t start.  I think it’s a perfectionist thing – if you can’t do it perfectly, why even try?  So, cleaning up the things that didn’t need to be there really helped me to focus on what I needed to do.

 

3. I started eating right & exercising.

I know this doesn’t necessarily correlate with quilting, but I really noticed a difference in my motivation when I started eating really healthy and exercising.  My sister’s sister-in-law had a health challenge, and it REALLY was a challenge!  We got a point or two for everything we did perfectly each day, and the points were for things like eating no sugary treats, no fried foods, and 5 fruits & veggies each day.  To get a perfect score you had to exercise FOUR HOURS a week!  It was so hard for me – but I was killing it until I got pneumonia!  Now I’m back to my sedentary ways (I’m still in recovery and don’t want to do too much too soon), but tomorrow I’m going running with a friend and have high hopes of being healthy again.

4. I made a design wall.

I used ideas from a couple of different tutorials (from Oh, Fransson! and Ellison Lane, mostly), but basically I got some foam insulation and taped batting around it.  I just used tape because I don’t have a staple gun – we are very basic on the tools around here – and I thought it would work out okay.  It looks so good, I think!  There was a cute little photobomber in this picture – I asked him to look tough with his “sword” and this is what I got!

5. I have a deadline.

There’s nothing like a deadline to really make you go go GO!  I am going to International Quilt Market in May, and my goal of four new patterns just can’t happen – since I lost a week and a half to pneumonia, I really can’t do one more thing.  But I do think I can get three new patterns done.  I really need to focus and work hard, but now that things are tidy and I’ve got my mojo back, I really think I can do it!  I'll have an update on Friday -- we'll see how I do!

Sewing Room

I am so blessed to be able to have my own sewing room! It's just to the right of our entryway. I love that it's in the main part of our home, so I get to sew while the kids are playing by themselves. Don't get me wrong -- I love to play with my kids, too! But when they're busy doing something -- whether it's saving the world or playing video games or their recent favorite, camping out -- I like to have a little project ready to sneak away to. 

My very favorite part of the room is probably this cute little hutch we got from a neighbor. She posted a picture of it on Facebook, and said it was on the side of the road. I just happened to see it only a few minutes after she posted the picture, and I just happened to be going to a sewing day with some friends -- so I had plenty of time to drive by and stop and claim* it! Joel and I got it home with the help of a nice neighbor who happened to be passing by, and with just a tiny bit of cleaning up (it had been in a garage for a while), it's as good as new! I keep all my favorite fancy fabric stacked neatly on the shelves, and stuff I need to hide (and my more bulky pieces that aren't destined for projects any time soon) in the bottom, behind closed doors. It's totally shabby -- there are parts where the wood is splitting a little because of exposure -- but I think it has a TON of character, and it was free! My favorite part: the cute little bees behind the shelves -- they're so friendly and cute! 

Just to the left of the hutch, I have my tiny scraps.  They're sorted by color -- red/pink/purple, blue, green, orange/yellow, black/white/gray, and brown/multi.  I have kept tiny scraps for about the last 8 months, so I can make cute little cards out of them.  Check my "Other Projects" page for more info about that!

A close second is my brand-new chair! I love, LOVE my chair -- I just got it last Thursday from IKEA. I'll definitely be recovering the seat cushion, as it's made from that papery fabric (or whatever it is) they use for the insides of couches and things. (Please tell me you know what I'm talking about!) Before Thursday, I was using a folding chair and a phone book -- because the folding chair wasn't tall enough!  Let me tell you, even with the phone book, this chair is taller!  The desk is a hand-me-down from Joel, who got a GINORMOUS desk from his brother and wanted a little more room to spread out. The desk is the perfect size for big and small projects, and I love to take pictures against the dark surface. I angled the desk in the middle of the room because there's a HUGE window I face, and it's so great to watch the pumpkin field across the road change every season.  Plus, then I can wave at friends when they are passing by!

 

My sewing machine has been such a great (little) investment! I needed a new sewing machine, and before I had any aspirations to pattern design, I didn't have much moolah for a new machine. My mom is a sewing machine snob (*cough cough* in the nicest way!! but she definitely has ideas about sewing machines), so she didn't really love my choice, but it was the BEST decision for me. My first project was a set of towels for my little guys with their initials on them. Remember how I didn't have much money? Well, I just used towels we already had... because Joel and I got about 12 sets of towels when we got married! My little machine has served me so, so well! I've learned how to Free Motion Quilt on it, and how to machine applique, and even designed my first quilt patterns on it. :) I know a better machine would be much nicer -- the stitch quality isn't the best, and I'd love to have a blanket stitch on my next machine -- but it was exactly what we could afford at the time. For my next machine, I'm totally saving my shekels for a Bernina, and I'm content to say that it will happen one day.

My most recent addition (besides the sewing chair) is this chair. I have visions of rolled-up quilts in the little basket to the left of it, and I've definitely sat there looking at quilting books! It's a pretty comfy chair, and when we rearranged some furniture in our living room recently it didn't have anywhere else to go -- so the sewing room got it. I love the character it gives to the area! 

On the opposite wall from the hutch (and in front of the sewing machine) is this cute little cubby shelf Joel got me for my birthday earlier this year. He got it for me just for the sewing room -- it was so sweet! It holds all my little projects, like the block-of-the-month stuff for my sewing group, little travel pillows for the kids, etc. It looks a little lonely to me, but for now it provides all the storage I need.

To the right of my sewing machine, I have my cutting table and a desk-turned-cabinet. The cutting table is my old sewing table, which is actually a replacement I got from our local Craigslist but it's exactly the same. My old table was well-loved to death! This one is so perfect for my cutting mat, and I don't think it would be very easy to go back to having just one sewing table. The cabinet used to be a desk my brother made in Wood Shop in High School -- and I'm sure he did a great job, but it definitely wasn't professional-looking. I tried it as a desk for a while, and it was just a little too small so when I got the cutting-table-desk I decided to give it to DI (our local Goodwill). I really, really liked the drawers, though, so I never made it to DI, and I'm not sorry! One day I had the inspiration to cut off the desk part and keep the drawers. The desk we made into fire wood, and the drawers are the perfect place to keep some of my less-used and bulky notions and projects. My plan is to repaint the drawers in better colors, but I think it's late enough in the fall that I'll have to do that project next spring/summer when it warms up a little.

Some other plans we have -- someday -- are to paint the walls, add another shelf or two, and put in some hardwood floors (engineered or otherwise, we haven't decided yet). But for today, right now -- I think it's just about perfect!

* Claiming things on the side of the road is family lore. Joel's family was on a vacation once when he was little, and saw a roll of insulation fly off the back of a truck. Since it was blocking part of the road, they pulled to the side so they could move it. A second pickup pulled up behind them, and the guy who'd been driving sprinted for the insulation, shouting, "I SEEN IT FIRST!" While my in-laws looked on with mouths wide open, he grabbed the insulation, threw it in the back of his truck, and sped away. I guess it might have been highway robbery? We still laugh about it all the time, and "I seen it first" is what we say whenever we claim something -- usually chocolate!