January 2009 - I found myself sitting on the floor in our family room fumbling with the packaging tape on my very first sewing machine. As I opened the box and began to unpack its contents, I was filled with all the excitement of a kid at Christmas. As a pastor, wife and mom of two, I had become so consumed with these wonderful roles that I had lost a bit of myself. In an attempt to find something of myself outside of all of these wonderful roles, I decided on a whim to buy a sewing machine and teach myself to sew. (Of course, I also decided to get my nose pierced and learn to play the drum set. Some might say this was a mild mid-life crisis. I say it was a much needed year of self-expression.) I had hopes of making every one of my girls' Christmas gifts for 2009. Those were high, and completely unrealistic, hopes. My sewing machine has turned out about two dozen taggies, four children's aprons and ten bean bags over the course of the past year. Nothing to sing about, but not bad for not having a clue how to even thread a sewing machine until reading the manual about a dozen times.
January 2010 - As I explore the many amazing crafting blogs, I am in awe of the gifts of so many people who can whip up a table top playhouse in an afternoon or fashion a whimsical dollhouse out of an old CD tower with little clothes pin dolls to match. As a completely novice crafter, I am inspired and challenged to once again attempt to make Christmas gifts for my girls. To do this I will choose one craft a month and post my successes and my failures on this blog - Twelve Crafts Till Christmas. I am taking my self-imposed challenge to the web so that my dear family and friends can hold me accountable. So here we go . . . I'm asking you . . . begging you . . . giving you permission to ask me, "So how's your craft of the month going?" next time you run into me. Craft on.
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5 comments:
I thought I had posted a comment already? Anyways, I am excited for you to start this journey of crafting! And I am going to follow right along with you. With the adoption, I don't know if I can do all 12 but I am going to try! I have plenty of unfinished crafts in my craft room so I know I need to get to them. One is a table tent for Jonah - it is going to be a firehouse. It was supposed to be Andrew's! Ooops!
Kristin - I actually have to you some credit for my budding interest in crafting! :) Remember - many moons ago - when you tried to teach me how to do bead work? I actually atill have three of the bracelets I made back then. I think that was eight years ago so that's pretty good. Even though I didn't stick with the bead thing, a seed for craftiness was planted. :)
Glad to be an inspiration! :) Of course I remember the bracelet making. I am not making much jewelry myself - I prefer to sew now! I made a bib clip tonight - the simplest things I have ever made since I had the ribbon and clips on hand.
So, I've just recently found your blog and became a follower. Will you be repeating your challenge again this year? My husband and I have decided to make Christmas 2011a Christmas of ONLY handmade gifts. I've always made a few but not ALL... I believe your blog will help inspire me along the way. Happy New Year! :-)
Love your blog, this is very cool. I can totally relate to what you wrote in your first blog post. Thankfully, I went through almost this same thing long before the general population was on the internet, ha! I "found" you searching for pillow pets and will be using your tutorial to make one for my son. Thanks for posting it, and happy sewing/crafting!! Keep on keepin' on. :))
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