So I started a goal this February to put up two blog posts a month. Which might not seem like a very big goal but for me it is. You see as a mother, and wife I wear many hats. I’m sure a lot of you can relate. Well life has seemed to have gotten in the way of my goal this past month as far as posting my 2 tutorials/month I’ve promised, but don’t worry I have been working on many many projects lately. But this blog post I want to give you a better idea of all the hats I wear and see if you can relate to me. I am a wife, mother to 3 children and caregiver to another. I run my own Etsy business which dabbles in fabrics and photography. I teach piano lessons, I am also the music leader for the children at our church. I am my husbands personal secretary/accountant for our household. I am a home school teacher to my children and participate in a co op, and I also am the Chef that creates most of the family meals. And in the middle of all these roles I am in the process of remolding the house we are living in. So when life happens I have to put my much loved hobbies to the side and focus on my most important role of all, of mother and wife. Sometimes it’s hard feeling like I never accomplish what I set out to for the day because my 3 year old is having a bad day and making it worse for everyone around her. Or when I am playing taxi service to my older kids getting them to and from all the various activities and sporting events. Or when my Husband calls and needs me to do X, Y, and Z for him since he is at work and can’t take care of it. It can be disheartening, and I sometimes I struggle with feeling like I’ve failed in some way when I throw a package of mac and cheese on the stove for dinner. But back to the reason I am writing about all of this, though it might seem like I am complaining, I’m not. Because among all this chaos and the challenges I sometimes face in accomplishing my dreams and goals that I have for this blog and website, I’ve realized something, one day I will have all the time in the world to do projects, to blog about them, and have a clean house and be able to talk on the phone uninterrupted by children, but that will be the day my children have grown up and started their own lives. So all my goals, while worthy to always keep working toward, don’t seem so important. One of my favorite quotes is,
“ Goals are stars to steer by, not sticks to beat yourself with.” –Barbara B. Smith.
So bear with me while I try to share my many projects and inspiration, and realize that you are not a lone in feeling overwhelmed, that sometimes it’s worth it to set your many projects aside, and focus on the most important ones like reading to your little ones before they go to bed, and leaving the dishes for another hour to play catch with your kid. I find that I have started to accomplish more when I make time for the little things that aren’t planned in a day. They are really what make life worth living, it’s not my to do list I get up every morning for, it’s for my family,for those moments. “Moments are the molecules that make up eternity.” – Neal A. Maxwell. When ever I need reminded of this I watch this video, it still gets to me.
“ Goals are stars to steer by, not sticks to beat yourself with.” –Barbara B. Smith.
So bear with me while I try to share my many projects and inspiration, and realize that you are not a lone in feeling overwhelmed, that sometimes it’s worth it to set your many projects aside, and focus on the most important ones like reading to your little ones before they go to bed, and leaving the dishes for another hour to play catch with your kid. I find that I have started to accomplish more when I make time for the little things that aren’t planned in a day. They are really what make life worth living, it’s not my to do list I get up every morning for, it’s for my family,for those moments. “Moments are the molecules that make up eternity.” – Neal A. Maxwell. When ever I need reminded of this I watch this video, it still gets to me.
OK off my soap box, here is a fun little project I have finally accomplished, it’s been sitting around since Christmas. It only took me 40 minutes from start to finish. For Christmas I made all my family fleece pj pants, super easy, check out this tutorial if you want to make the pants. You don’t even need a pattern all you need is existing pj pants and these pants take like maybe 30 minutes to put together once you've cut them out. I make my kids pj pants a few sizes bigger than the existing ones so they can wear them all year, till I make some more. I make them every Christmas. But this Christmas it ended up that I had some left over fleece from the girls pants not sure what to make with it at the time I set it aside. Till now, I decided to make them some snuggly blankets to match their Pj pants, and they turned out awesome!
p.s. Sorry there aren't any step by step photos but I threw these together so quickly I forgot to take photos along the way, that easy. But I plan on making more for my other loved ones to snuggle and read more books so I will update with photos soon.
Supplies
1 yard or more of 60” wide Anit-pill fleece (depending on how big your want your blanket)
1 yard or more of 60” minky
Matching thread
Tools
Scissors
Sewing Machine
*walking foot
*I use a walking foot when sewing with stretchy or bulky fabrics (both in this case) because it makes life sooooo much easier. It’s not a must but trust me when I say this project isn’t as much fun with out it.
*** I bought two yards of fleece, and was able to get 1 pair of Pj pants and a 40”x 60” cut of fleece for the snuggle blanket top. ***
This tutorial is pretty straight forward, I love the super simple projects because it leaves you feeling like you accomplished a lot, but didn’t spend forever on!
1. Lay out your fleece right side up, then place your minky on top of the fleece with the minky right side down. Now right sides are touching.
2. Pin all the way around, don’t skimp on the pins, cause fleece and minky like to stretch
3. Sew all the way around leaving a 6” opening on one side so you can turn the blanket right side out. I used just over ½” seam allowance
4. Trim excess fabric and clip corner points off
5. Reach through the 6”and grab the farthest corner and pull it through bringing the right sides out, and poke the corners out.
6. Now top stitch all around the blanket, I used a wavy stitch,, tucking in the 6” opening as you top stitch over it
7. Bam! Blanket done!
It seems almost to silly to blog about this, I mean who wouldn't think to do this right? But sometimes it’s the simple projects turn out super awesome and I end up loving the most because I get to immediately enjoy it , as do my girls in this case. And it took such little time and effort that I could easily get up and walk away from it and then sit right back down to work on it. My son and Nephew saw these and are begging me to make them their own snuggle blanket of fleece on minky. I love it so much I almost love it more than minky on minky blankets I’ve made. Even my husband was asking me to make him one. I think I might have to get some sports fleece and make some football snuggle blankets. These blankets would be super cute if you had more time and ambition to personalize with embroidery or appliqué . But for now these work, and if you will excuse me I need to go snuggle under a blanket and read a book with my munchkins.
p.s. Sorry there aren't any step by step photos but I threw these together so quickly I forgot to take photos along the way, that easy. But I plan on making more for my other loved ones to snuggle and read more books so I will update with photos soon.
Supplies
1 yard or more of 60” wide Anit-pill fleece (depending on how big your want your blanket)
1 yard or more of 60” minky
Matching thread
Tools
Scissors
Sewing Machine
*walking foot
*I use a walking foot when sewing with stretchy or bulky fabrics (both in this case) because it makes life sooooo much easier. It’s not a must but trust me when I say this project isn’t as much fun with out it.
*** I bought two yards of fleece, and was able to get 1 pair of Pj pants and a 40”x 60” cut of fleece for the snuggle blanket top. ***
This tutorial is pretty straight forward, I love the super simple projects because it leaves you feeling like you accomplished a lot, but didn’t spend forever on!
1. Lay out your fleece right side up, then place your minky on top of the fleece with the minky right side down. Now right sides are touching.
2. Pin all the way around, don’t skimp on the pins, cause fleece and minky like to stretch
3. Sew all the way around leaving a 6” opening on one side so you can turn the blanket right side out. I used just over ½” seam allowance
4. Trim excess fabric and clip corner points off
5. Reach through the 6”and grab the farthest corner and pull it through bringing the right sides out, and poke the corners out.
6. Now top stitch all around the blanket, I used a wavy stitch,, tucking in the 6” opening as you top stitch over it
7. Bam! Blanket done!
It seems almost to silly to blog about this, I mean who wouldn't think to do this right? But sometimes it’s the simple projects turn out super awesome and I end up loving the most because I get to immediately enjoy it , as do my girls in this case. And it took such little time and effort that I could easily get up and walk away from it and then sit right back down to work on it. My son and Nephew saw these and are begging me to make them their own snuggle blanket of fleece on minky. I love it so much I almost love it more than minky on minky blankets I’ve made. Even my husband was asking me to make him one. I think I might have to get some sports fleece and make some football snuggle blankets. These blankets would be super cute if you had more time and ambition to personalize with embroidery or appliqué . But for now these work, and if you will excuse me I need to go snuggle under a blanket and read a book with my munchkins.
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