52 Weeks-March 4, 2011

Today is my older sister’s 55th birthday.  Eek!  I am right behind her in another 2.5 years.  At this point, both of us are stay-at-home wives and enjoying it.  Talking about the work I have been doing in my sewing room has inspired her to also convert a bedroom in their home to her craft room (she mostly knits).  I sewed all week as I had two quilts I needed to get done.  Here is one:

As usual I took a pattern and modified it.  This is my first quilt using Amy Butler fabric.  It is a little wild for me, but the soon-to-be first time mom loved it!  I am in the middle of sewing the binding on the second quilt and will post that picture later.  Since I spent so much time sewing I did not complete a new task, but worked in a couple of areas that needed it. 

Here is a before picture of my office/sewing room:

This is the view directly in front of the doorway…to the right you see a blank wall.  Here is what it looks like now:

 The boxes and magazine holders are from Ikea.  I retrieved them from YD’s bedroom after she left home.  They have been in my sewing room, but in different spots.  The baskets and polka dot jars came from the Dollar Store.  I am so pleased with how this turned out.  DH put the initial hardware and first two shelves up.  I bought the shelves at Michael’s from their scrapbooking line of organizing products.  After getting them in, we realized there was room for more, so I went back to Michael’s and they were still on sale for $9.99.  I went to Ace Hardware that is literally 1/2 a mile from my home and brought home the wrong brace things for the shelves.  The second time I pulled one out and took it down to match!  I then put them in and put up the shelves myself. 

You are probably thinking….so… how hard is that…but it is the first time I did something like that myself.  My sweete husband is a former home builder who basically won’t let me do anything that involves any kind of male type project.  But I am so inspired by so many blogs of women doing things, I decided what the heck, I will do it myself!  I am going to try to paint my kitchen cabinets at some point this year too!

This week’s questions to ponder:
1.  Do you know what your “good enough” is?  No since I have been living in chaosville for the last 30 years!
2.  What did you organize this week?  A cupboard in my garage/pantry area, worked on my laundry/shame area, and sewed a lot!
3.  Are there areas you are struggling with in this challenge?  I mainly struggle due to my physical limitations, which means I cannot start a job and work until it is finished.  So I have lots of small areas I work on, but am confident I will complete them all in the remaining weeks of the year, even with travel and other issues that will sidetrack me.

Yesterday I received this from my well loved UPS man:

Earlier in the week I received this:

I will be combining with more from the same line, Bliss from Moda, to make my YD a quilt, hopefully done in time for her 5th wedding anniversary, July 4th.  I have a few others to complete in the meantime…..

My kitchen and dining room are still clean, though my husband found a box of old patterns that are sitting on the dining room table.  I need to find a spot in my sewing room for that. 

So I continue to work on several areas of the house, but overall I am very happy with the progress I am making.  Thanks to Laura and everyone here who help keep me motivated.