Sunday, October 31, 2010

Putting Creativity on My List

Remember this piece of fabric?

I bought it  just after our 16 year old daughter
cooked our amazing Thanksgiving feast last year,
in preparation for this year's celebration.

I had to start early.
My MIL is coming.
She could make Martha Stewart cringe in shame.

I blogged about my preparations when
 I had 216 days until Thanksgiving.

The countdown's getting lower every day.

I've been making a lot of mess.

My dream was to create those type of holiday decorations
that you just use over and over and over.
I started out by cutting
 a 40x40 inch square cloth to drape diagonally
over my  new green tablecloth from Target.


I used a decorative stitch and a 3/4 inch seam allowance.
Keep your needle down into the fabric wthile turning a corner.
Not every corner will look the same,
but it turns out fine.


This is easy, 'cuz you just sew all the way around,
then unravel.

Start with a full bobbin,
the decorative stitches take a lot of thread.

A rolled hem looks great,
but takes more ironing and precision.


This was a heavy material with large threads,
it worked perfectly for this time of edging.

Throw the threads on the floor.
It's more fun that way.


Watch out for the cat.

Not all the threads pulled straight to the end,
because I cut or sewed crooked,
so when it doesn't pull anymore,
I just trimmed it.

I loved how the scalloped pattern
complimented the curved pattern of the pine cones.

It will be layered over a tablecloth the same color
as the cloth napkin.

I also bought enough cloth napkins for the the table and for decorating.
They make great seasonal splashes of color around the house!

I had enough to make a cloth for a little table in the living room.


There was still enough to make one for the coffee table.





I made a long cloth for the fireplace mantle.
The "Science Shelf" is a fall school project Beka and I worked on.




This little scrap I have left?

I'm thinkin' this little table in the corner
of my dining room needs a table runner.

I'm thinkin' it needs dusting, too.

Now that I am almost done with creating my Thanksgiving ambiance,
maybe it's time to clean.
I said,
maybe.

This project brought back some creative joy into my life,
and I decided I always needed to have a craft
or sewing project underway,
something to look forward to,
in my rare spare minutes.

I loved having something
I wanted to do,
instead of always just having lists of
things I had to do.
let's face it,
when you have kids,
(I'm too nice to mention husbands)
your toilet will
always
need cleaning.

I think it is healthy to have a creative outlet,
something to work on
a few minutes a day or
a few hours each week.

Life is too short to always haven't a perfectly clean bathroom,
isn't it?

What are you working on,
instead of cleaning?

Share your creative joys!

Wanna see what I did next?
**********

Linkin' up!

MomsTheWord




7 comments:

  1. Oh how I wish I could sew!! It is just not my creative outlet though! Fantastic job on these, they look great and bring such a warm, cozy look to your home.

    Thank you for the encouragement to be creative and to plan for it! Have a blessed week.

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  2. May I just say, "AMEN" to the clean bathroom comment..and I only have 4 kids!

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  3. How fun! I'm working on a birthday nightgown for my almost 2-year old. I gotta get moving!

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  4. Oh, it's beautiful! What a smart idea to buy at the end of season. I'll have to pick up some stuff after Thanksgiving this year for next year too.

    Is that leftover fabric pretty long? Maybe you could buy a long picture frame and put it in the frame (along with a matching matt).

    Then you could take vinyl or fabric letters or something and glue it over the fabric. You could write "family" or "harvest" or "fall" or something.

    As you can tell, I'm not very creative, lol! So just use it as the background of a family picture or something!

    I like a clean bathroom and try to keep it clean. I like to swish and swipe each day, and clean any messes I see.

    However, if I get busy doing something then it is easy for me to ignore it, lol!

    Thanks for linking up to Making Your Home Sing Monday!

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  5. Oh how fun! I love what you did with it. That is a great idea...I may have to try something like it myself.

    I also believe in buying fabric at the end of the season...it is SO worth it! Great goodies that don't break my budget!

    Don't forget to relax and enjoy spending time with your family...your guests will love it. :D

    Blessings!

    Mary Joy

    visiting from Moms the Word

    ReplyDelete
  6. Your cloths turned out beautifully! I think you get the Martha award yourself :) Lately I've been working on a cross stitch project, a very small Christmas banner that says "Joy" and has an angel playing one of those long trumpets. I agree, it's so nice to have a few things in your day that you want to do, not just have to do. Happy crafting.

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  7. What a fun and beautiful project. But I have to admit my favorite part was the grumpy cat with the thread hanging across its face!!!! LOL

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