My Messes {and how I'm cleaning them up}

 

 Sharing a sewing machine with my sisters consists of numerous spools and bobbins of thread exchanges.

As the story begins it happened to be my turn with the machine.

“Where’s the white thread?” I asked my sister.

“In the thread box.”

“Where’s the bobbin thread?”

“In the thread box.” She answered again.

Of course it was. I was hoping it wasn’t.

On the shelf was a tornado of fabric scraps big and small piled high on top of the thread box. The tornado of fabric I created. I wondered how my sister had gotten the thread inside.

 I leave a mess where ever I go… There's my project basket piled and stacked to the brim with yarn, papers, thank you notes, letters, odds and ends as much as can fit… Then there’s my shelf in the office. Papers galore. Little notes with scribbles and doodles, ingenious ideas and music lyrics, music sheets and blog post ideas. If I have a paper I just stack it with the rest… There’s my sewing box...Filled with pins and needles, fabric scraps and a spider web of thread.

So, I pulled out all the fabric; the sewing manual, lonely papers, piled them on a chair and got out the thread box. Well, now the mess was on a chair. I couldn’t just put that pile back on the shelf. That would be… irresponsible. So I brain stormed! I cleaned it all up and put everything back in it’s place! *Chirp, chirp*… I am so smart... Right? ;-)

I am disorganized and a pack rat. 

Many people out there are wonderful at keeping things organized. Neatness seems to run in their genes.

Either I didn’t inherit the gene or I’m just sloppy. Don’t misunderstand me though.

I shouldn’t feel sorry for myself and imagine that I am just not gifted with neatness.

No. The truth of the matter is I’m lazy. It began when I purposely didn’t put something away, then I gradually began not putting things away with out realizing it and now it has become habit. The first step for me to get organized is realizing and accepting the fact that I’m lazy. I have to become responsible for my messes.

The next step is diligence. I’ve been trying to get things cleaned out. It’s surprisingly satisfying. Getting the messy shelves, boxes, and baskets of mine cleaned out is actually somewhat easier than other steps. The hard part for me is keeping it clean.

That takes discipline. Which is the hardest thing I am struggling with. It’s one thing to admit that I am messy, but harder to start improving. I need to stop myself if I walk away from a mess. Pick up the pencil, put the scissors in the container, throw the spider web of thread away. Once I get a system down it’ll become easier. But diligence and discipline need to be put in place. It might be painful to have to put every thing away. But it will pay off the in long run. 

Whoever heeds discipline shows the way to life,
 but whoever ignores correction leads others astray. 

Proverbs 10:17

So, how clean are you? Do you have any tips for staying organized?

Praying...

I have been thinking about my circumstances more often of late.
I am so blessed to have a happy, comfortable home and people to love me.
My heart aches for the the people that were hit by the tornadoes recently.
Losing their homes, their friends, their families. It brings tears to my eyes hearing the countless stories of devastation. It gives me hope when I hear the miracles.
It makes me thankful for all that God gives me.
It could have been my home.
It could have been my friends.
If could have been my family.
It could have been my life.
I should never take for granted what God blesses me with.
I'm counting all of the miracles I have to be thankful for. I am praying for the strength of those who have lost so much.

I'm praising God for the lives that were saved.

( My miracle sister Essie is doing great! She is healthy and happy and very cute.)

2 Corinthians 1:5
For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ.

Prayer Request: Sick

Could you please pray for my family? We caught a stomach bug. John already got it, Sam and Joe had it at the same time and threw up at the same times every hour last night. My father is sick and my two sisters are sick.
Could you pray that neither my mom or me gets it? My mom is so tired from last night and it would make things a lot harder if either she or I got it. I know it's up to God. Please pray that my mom can gets some rest and my whole family recovers quickly. Thanks so much!
Hopefully this sickness will go away soon. :-)

Math

Did you cringe when you read that title?
.
.
.
I love most subjects in my school work, but math is one that I dread....

I've never been a math genius and I try to do a good job and study, but some times it's hard when what your learning just doesn't make much sense. The concepts seem too hard, the work is tedious, the numbers become difficult and you can't seem to make them do what you want... math is not fun.

Do you have any advice to make your worst subjects enjoyable to study and learn? :-)

Quilted Tote Bag

Well, I finally finished that purse I was making. I got the fabric that the pattern called for. Double faced pre-quilted fabric. But I realized that the pattern also says to line the bag on the inside! I thought that seemed like a waste of pretty fabric... (Above fabric is what I chose.) So I asked some advice from a lady at church and my grandma.

They both said that a french seam might work, if I didn't want to line. So, I looked up a french seam online to make sure I knew what to do and added about an inch of extra fabric to the fabric pieces. It was hard and easy at the same time... The first actual cuts and snips were a bit scary because I wasn't fully sure I had measured enough. So for a while ( Okay about month.) I didn't do anything with the pattern and fabric. It sat and sat...and sat in my craft basket.

But I took the first initiative on Sunday, worked from there, and now it's finished! Yeah! I was able to hide all the seams and now it looks like a reversible bag.
It had a lot of pockets on the pattern but I only made one. (I didn't want to complicate things.)
                           
Here is the first side of the bag...

                                              I added a flower for decoration.

        Here is the other side...  and the pocket. It could be an inside pocket of a outside pocket.

                                                      The flower in detail...


Well, I am glad that's done. :-D 


Have you been sewing? :-) Made anything exciting?

On my mind...

Alas, our dresses are not quite finished. Maggie has a little more to do to her dress. It has taken us a while to get these finished, as we are not expert seamstresses. This only the second garment I have ever made. Except for doll clothing. There are so many steps to making clothing!

I will try to have some photos of us both in our dresses tomorrow. :) Maybe we can coax Abby to a photo shoot.( Ha ha. ) She is not one that likes taking photos.

Tomorrow is our recital. I am a pin cushion of pins and needles. My stomach gets all twinged every time I think about it... I will not fret. My sisters' on the other hand are both very calm and are not even a little nervous. Maybe it will rub off on me. :) I am the last one playing my songs out of 17 other people. Gulp. ( They are organized by age. I am the oldest out of all the students.) I know I need to relax. ( As I keep repeating.)

Any way, I hope that we will have some lovely pictures taken by Abby or our mother tomorrow. ;)

I know it is not the most ideal thing, but could you please pray for my sisters, my friend and I as we have our recital tomorrow? Thank you. :)


~Blessings dear friends~


What have ya'll been up to? :)