Needles and Pens

I way overdid it today in the tackling department, but I guess that makes up for yesterday, which I spent wandering from one room to the next, trying to decide where to start and never actually starting anything. I really needed the Tackle it Tuesday motivation and, apparently, the exercise. Man, are my legs stiff tonight! Several random ideas kind of culminated into one big tackle today. We had our first frost last night, so we pulled in the "summer outdoor" plants last evening before clearing a place for them inside. So Tackle One was to do some rearranging and find a home for the plants. And, ta-dahh! I even got motivated enough to clear off the "bottomless" clutter pile on the kitchen counter. Note the treadmill missing from the corner above? That would be Tackle Number Two. My all-or-nothing weight loss goals of earlier this year did indeed come to... nothing. In fact, I've gained back the fifteen pounds I lost, plus a few more. Ack! The diet has been p...

Taking a little break from the basement this week to finish up a quilting project. Yesterday I did the last of the quilting on my black and white " Quilts with Love " quilt, and today I hope to get the binding sewn on. That might be a stretch, however, because I'm going with my daughter this morning for her ultrasound appointment! Hopefully by lunchtime, we'll know if we're having a boy or a girl. I'm very excited, and not at all sure I'll be able to concentrate on sewing. On the other hand, if we do find out, I'm going to be itching to work on a quilt for the little one, so I'll have a little extra motivation to get this one finished up: I guess we'll just see how it goes... Well, I was right. I was much too excited to feel like sewing this afternoon -- but -- I did it anyway. Gotta love Tackle it Tuesday! Since I definitely wasn't up for hours of handstitching, I decided to attach the binding to the back of the quilt and then experiment...

I'm back from my " Tackle it Tuesday " hiatus, in need of a little extra motivation on this basement project that seems to be taking me forever . I've been trying to rid out unnecessary clutter and organize stored items into one storage room. The ultimate goal is to make the main area more like living space, less like a junk yard. So my tackle for today was just to make a dent in this corner. Check it out! Before: After: It's the magic of Tackle it Tuesday! Eventually this will be a sitting area, so there are still lots of things to shift into place. In fact, I still have a long way to go on the decluttering -- behind me is a huge mess that includes a pool table heaped to the ceiling with stuff to sort -- but this was some major progress for one day. I have a sense of accomplishment now that'll hopefully propel me on to the next corner. LoL Thanks for the motivation, Carolyn! Just two more tackles to go today -- dinner and a soccer game. ;o)

Seems like there's always something else needing paint around here, and this time, it's my oldest daughter's room. She's had bright green walls for several years now and has been ready for a change for some time. She wanted something a little more... soothing, so she chose a warm beige color called Brazilian Tan. I've had the paint for two weeks now, but didn't have the energy to start painting until now. Yesterday I got the closet done, and my tackle for today was to finish the room. There's still lots of organizing and putting-away to be done, but the painting is finished! Before: And after: Quite the change! I think when she gets all of her pictures back on the walls and miscellaneous stuff put away, it'll be a much more relaxing atmosphere for her. And one more job marked off my list. ;o) So what did you tackle today? Be sure to stop by Five Minutes for Mom for more Tackle it Tuesday inspiration!

It's " Tackle it Tuesday " at Five Minutes for Mom, and since I've been so busy with my office project, I've let a lot of other things slide. My tackle for today is in two parts; first, a major cleanup of my living and dining rooms, second, I think it's time I pulled out the Easter decorations. I can't believe it's only four days away! I don't have a "before" picture taken yet, but I wanted to get this down in writing before I changed my mind. So, I'll be back later with an update AND pictures. Update - 5:30 p.m. Okay, this is embarrassing... but then, it could be worse. I do remember the "wall-to-wall toys" days. Anyway, here's the promised "before" picture of my living/dining room. My daughter was home sick today, so I had to sort of work around her on the couch: Phase one, the clean sweep, clearing out the clutter, removing a thick layer of dust from every surface and vacuuming probably a pound of dirt and c...

It's "Tackle it Tuesday" at Five Minutes for Mom . What are you tackling today? Finally, my sewing room/office project is nearing the end. Over the weekend, I moved my desk, file cabinet and computer into the new room. Is it ever crowded! Very den-like, and I don't mean the spacious, walls-lined-in-bookcases type den. More the small-cave-where-a-bear-might-go-to-hibernate type den. Cozy, it is. And by the end of the day, it'll be cozier yet -- but finished. Update - 10:30 p.m. I've decided to add my updates after each picture, with the text in red. Makes it easier to compare the "before" and "after" pics, I think. Hope it's not too confusing! With all of the crafting, sewing, scrapping and writing projects about to take place in this room, I'm in serious need of a work table. So I've hauled up from the basement an old drop-leaf table, once salvaged from a house that was about to be torn down. My big tackle for today is to give ...

It's Tackle it Tuesday over at Five Minutes for Mom , and as I wrote in my last post, I've been tackling a lot of unfinished sewing projects this week. The latest, a bunch of little girls' pajamas, cut out ages ago by my husband's grandma. The pajamas are too small for my girls now, but should be a perfect fit for my sister-in-law's two little girls. And they have birthdays coming up soon. Perfect! I got one set finished over the weekend: But now I have this left: Three more sets of pjs to sew, one purple, two blue. I may be overestimating what I can do in a day, but I hope to finish these up and reclaim my dining room table. I'll post an update this evening. Wish me luck! Update: 10:00 p.m. Well, I almost made it. I got the second purple set done, then started on the blue, only to find it was a different pattern than the purple. I had to figure out which pattern it was , because the actual pattern pieces weren't attached, and there were four different pat...

They're tackling all kinds of projects today over at Five Minutes for Mom. Click on the logo above to see what folks are tackling this week! As for me, I'm tackling this: Looks like fun, huh? This is all of the quilting fabric that I hauled from my basement yesterday, up to my new sewing room. It is complete chaos, and today I hope to change that. The plan is to sort everything by size and color, then decide where I'm going to store it all. My other fabrics are already in bins in the closet, but the quilting fabric is the most often used, so it needs to be easy to see and readily available for picking and choosing colors. I don't really have a solid plan yet, so this should be an interesting challenge. Update to come, later today. Stay tuned... Update: 7:00 p.m. Well, I didn't get it all done, but I did get the whole pile sorted by size and color. These are all the pieces one yard or more: Less than one yard: One bin of scraps, and another filled to the brim with ju...

Now that all the birthday and Valentine celebrations are over, I'm ready to get back to tackling my sewing room, one small bite at a time. Today, I'm sorting through the pile of notions and patterns in the corner and getting it organized into the white cupboard at the right. The drawer carts hold my quilting scraps, and I also need to decide where those are going to live: Once that's finished, I'm going to finally get this charity quilt top layered and pinned. Maybe even get started on the quilting, too. We'll see how that goes. Not only would it be a huge relief to get this quilt done, it would make just a little more space in my sewing room -- for more projects! So, I'd better get going and get it done, then I'll post an update later today. Update: 2:30 p.m. Where did all that stuff go??? Believe it or not, it's all in here: The top two shelves hold all of my sewing notions, with room to spare (no worries, it'll be filled when I bring up the rest ...

Off to a slow start today, as I just got home from my daughter's high school variety show this morning, an annual event for "Snow Week." She sang Taylor Swift's "Our Song," and it was just beautiful! Someday maybe I'll figure out a way to upload videos to this blog. Anyway... what I should be tackling today is my sewing room. I haven't made any progress since last week, though we did get our son moved into the room that I painted. I should be diving into that pile of sewing stuff today, but something else has come up. And it's more fun. And should is a bad word anyway. All it does is promote guilt. hehe SO... here's what I am tackling today. I belong to a local crafting group called Charitable Crafters , which donates hand-crafted items to our local hospitals and other organizations. I was reading their blog last night and saw that the animal shelter is in need of Cage Cozies . Coincidentally, I had just replaced my youngest son's ver...