Making Time

It has been a while since you have heard from me.  It is because I haven't been making the time and setting this as a priority.  Hard to say that and I know it will be difficult to change this bad habit but I am working on it.

Since my last post the baby is here and it is wonderful being a Grandma.



Isn't he just about the cutest thing you've ever seen?  He is so very happy and a delight.  My son and his wife are such wonderful, loving and relaxed parents.  It is amazing watching your children become parents.

Since my last post I took a position at Santiago Canyon College teaching quilting and textile art.  It keeps me unbelievably busy and I get to work with some delightful students.  At the present we are following the string quilting craze and using up our stash.  I have found so many great settings for string quilts that it will be hard for me to decide which setting to do.  I'm sure my students would agree.  Here is part of my growing pile so far.
 

Here are a couple ideas I've been working on lately to get back on track.  Maybe they will be helpful to you as well.

Cleaning my sewing work space (which includes some organization).

List my projects and supplies I'll need and putting everything together so I can get right to work. I am including the "have to's" for my teaching as well as the things I want to make for fun.  Balance I am finding keeps the sewing fun.

Scheduling time for the other things I enjoy like gardening and reading and creating art.

May your days be filled with meaningful work and enjoyable relaxing time.

Blessings,
Dee

Retreats and Baby, Oh My!

The Summer Retreat is over and what a great group of women and fabulous projects that were started and completed.

Right after the retreat I threw a baby shower for my daughter-in-law.  It was a beautiful day and she looked gorgeous.  The bear she is holding in the above picture was my son's favorite stuffed animal and went everywhere with it.  She had the exact same bear as a child.  What are the odds of that?

In two weeks I will be starting a new adventure with teaching quilting classes at the local community college.  I am getting excited to be a part of the academia world again.

May all your days be blessed.

One Thing

In the last few months I have had many different things to get accomplished.  It has been overwhelming for me and frustrating.  I tend to get that way when I don't organize myself and prioritize.  Do you ever feel that way?  Today as I was once again flitting about from "thing" to "thing" and not really getting much done on any one of them. I finally called a halt to the insanity.

The second crippling thing in my life is the "self beating up process".  I start thinking about all the things I'm not doing and the worries of living and making a living and...and...to the point that it keeps me from the day to day stuff that is ordinary and daily routine.  So I pulled up my "boot straps" (I guess here it would be my sandal straps) and reminded myself I don't need to do everything at once.

I can only do one thing at a time.  So today my one thing is going to be to finish putting the beads on my moon for the retreat wall hanging and if I get to another item on the list I can rejoice and do my personal happy dance.  Making this decision has made my heart happy.

I'm happy too because this is the second thing on my list, so you know what that means - I finished the beading.🎊🎉🎈

The other "thing" I am going to start including in my daily routine is to write my "to do" list the night before so I can jump right in to my day with devotional and inspiration time.  My husband has been trying to get me to write my lists the night before for years.  I guess you can always start new habits at any point in life.

My current devotion book is "Your Life, God's Home by Nancie Carmichael
Inspiration is going to be "The Daily Book of Art: 365 readings that teach, inspire and entertain"