Sewing Through 2018

Many years ago in my MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) days, it was brought up that the reason they do a craft at one of the meetings each month is because Moms need the feeling of completion.  So much of our life as Moms is never finished, whether that be laundry, cooking, cleaning or for some, even our careers.  Always something to be done, or in the case of food and laundry, done again... and again. We crave little victories of completed projects.  So as our family has grown, the school work in our homeschool has expanded, and I've added work from home jobs to my plate, it may seem crazy that I've added more projects to my plate, but it has been so rewarding.

I dusted off my sewing machine for the first time in years in January of 2018 to make the big kids quilts.  Aside from a Halloween costume here or there, I just hadn't used it.  The end result was rekindling a love of creativity and I set a goal for the year to sew at least one thing each month.  These are the results of that goal.

JANUARY: Quilts for the big kids

FEBRUARY: Outfit for Evelyn

MARCH: 2 dresses for Evelyn

APRIL:  2 dresses for Evelyn

MAY:  3 tops, finished an old heirloom 

quilt (50+ years old), and 1 dress

June: ALL the hair bows! (A great scrap buster project.)

July: Deer stuffy and skirted overalls

August: A top for Evelyn

September: 2 more tops, and a Christmas dress

October: Modified top for Evelyn, 2 dresses 

and 2 sets of corn hole bags (not pictured)

November:  Flannel dress, and another Christmas dress

December: Quilt for Joel

What a year!  I've built quite a collection of patterns for one thing.... but I've improved, grown and learned so much about sewing.  Though I will add that still not one project has turned out perfectly.  Each item is and looks homemade with love.  I look forward to churning out many more creations for my kids, family, home and me.  To create is a beautiful process for the heart, mind and soul.  Sewing as an art has become my self care and my "me time" in the afternoon.

2018 Reads

My yearly post of books read.  I was disappointed at the end of last year in noticing that I didn't quite read as much as the year before.... however with other goals this year like my sewing through 2018, along with 4 kids and a new job, I wasn't sure that I would do any better this year.  Alas, here we are though, in no certain order, the books completed in 2018.

My Reads:

"More Than Just Making It" by Erin Odom

 "Far From the Tree" by Robin Benway

 "Red Scarf Girl" by Ji-li Jiang

 "Sisters First" by Jenna Bush Hager and Barbara Pierce Bush

 "Fit to Burst" by Rachel Jankovic

 "A Wrinkle in Time" by Madeleine L'Engle

 "Rethinking School" by Susan Wise Bauer

"Just Open the Door" by Jen Schmidt

"Crispin: The Cross of Lead" by Avi

"A Wind in the Door" by Madeleine L'Engle

"The Best Christmas Pageant Ever" by Barbara Robinson

"The Great Alone" by Kristin Hannah
"The Masterpiece" by Francine Rivers
"Educated" by Tara Westover
"Bear Town" by Fredrick Backman
"The Dyslexic Advantage" by Brock L. Eide

I decided to add in this year, a list of read aloud books that I read with the kids this year too.  Of course there were several short stories along the way too, but these were the larger volumes that we delve into through the year.

Read aloud with the kids:

"The Hardy Boys" Volumes 1-12

"The Prince Warriors" Trilogy by Priscilla Shirer (Read all 3)
"The Winter War" by Priscilla Shirer

"My Life As a Smashed Burrito with Extra Hot Sauce" by Bill Myers  (There are more to this set that we might jump into next year.)

And an Audiobook list too.... because in my humble opinion, audiobooks ARE reading too.  I fully anticipated more audiobooks through the year, but the kids are pretty hooked on listening to "Adventures in Odyssey." (Though we only have 3 volumes of AIO left.  Oh my!)

Audiobooks (with the kids) :

"The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe" by CS Lewis

.... time to start my 2019 list.