My Best 5 of 2017

It’s been a little quiet on the blog front. That’s ok though. At this point, I don’t have ambitions to write a blog post on any type of schedule. But lately on IG (where I do enjoy my online sewing friend socialization) I’ve seen the hashtag #sewingtop5 and I went searching for what that was about. Turns out that Gillian of Crafting Rainbow is hosting this fun look back on the year that was. And she has done this for a few years now.

So, while I have a million other things to do, I think I’m going to try and squeeze in a short little recap of my favourite 5 moments from this first year in the sewing public eye and end off with 5 goals/hopes/dreams for 2018.

#1

If you know me even a little, you’ll know that I’m a fan of Project Run and Play and that joining in on the sew along for Season 13 was how I started into this online journey. Each week I put my whole heart into just sewing along with the contestants. My excitement was completely genuine as I flew up the stairs at a friend’s house where we staying after a trip to Cuba to tell them I won the Signature Week sew along! THAT was a rush!!

#2

This one really started a journey of it’s own. My very first pattern test which just happened to end up as the cover shot. At the risk of making any other company feel I don’t love you too ( I do, I promise!) Simple Life is where I feel “home” when I browse through the FB groups. I was invited in to test after only having been on IG for a few months, if that, and I don’t think those girls will ever quite realize what that meant to me. I took on this Waterfall Tank as my first run. I felt SO inadequate. Didn’t know the rules, the protocol, etc. But I have come to love my chances to test for this company and friends that ask me for ideas to start sewing will always be directed to these patterns.

This might need it’s own point, but I’ll tag along with this the fact that Trish and I, along with our whole families (willing or not) were able to stop by and have supper and a visit with Katie and Eleri this summer. We were missing a very important Becca, but I keep bugging them about a meet-up. Maybe that should go on my hopes and dreams list???

#3

Who has a sewing friend just 4 houses away? Who on our street laughs at us when you see us walking from one house to the other with cutting mats and laundry baskets full of supplies either in a sled, on our kids heads or just awkwardly carried down the street? I hear this kind of friend is not common so I feel I should be very aware of how blessed I am. We can even spend a whole summer camping with our families together! We really contemplated taking our sewing machines with us, but enough looks from the husbands told us that wasn’t a good idea.

Though I’m sure there are moments when she would gladly hoof me out a driving vehicle ( Oh, I KNOW there are moments!!) we can still spend days dreaming up ideas, working out details, being eyes for each other when we can’t see our own back adjustments and make ourselves “matching” Christmas dresses.

(If we were to review our Belladone dresses by Deer and Doe, you would find that we… like .. them. We don’t love them. We will definitely still wear them and possibly even try again with a few changes.)

Oh, we have a few camping stories over on Twinnebago Travels too.

#4

This is my one and only picture that has hit 100 likes on IG. I’m no photographer and it becomes SO clear to me every time I go to take pictures and I realize just how much I do not know! But I keep trying. I shoot in Manual to force myself to learn more and sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. What I do love about this year is that I can tell I’ve gained at least some ground. Someday I hope to take an actual course if I can find one. NO, I do not like learning on YouTube! I need a person in front of me to whom I can ask questions. Someday.

 

#5

It would be EXTREMELY weird if I weren’t to add to the end of this list the fact that I started the year with a sew along and ended the year with the huge honour of actually being a contestant for Season 14 of Project Run and Play!!! And, yes, it helped that I was voted in as the winner as well, I won’t lie! 🙂

I definitely felt the pressure of competition and I take it very seriously. Just watch me play those Minute to Win It party games! I’ve commented that I took the whole season as a challenge to myself. I wanted to see just how original I could possibly be. My proudest moment was the Buffalo Plaid jacket and the moto pants. That jacket especially was a completely original thought process and proved to me that, perhaps, I do have some designing abilities. Something I’ve scoffed at in the past. Well, maybe not scoff, but I definitely doubted.

I’d say those are a fairly good collection of my #sewingtop5 . So what would my 5 goals for the new year be? Let’s see (I’m making some of this up as I go along. I do have a couple legit goals that I’ve really thought about though.)

#1 – Have a real sewing get together with my on-line sewing friends. Also acceptable would be a spa day/fabric shopping day.

#2 – Rework my blog. I want this to be a bit more user friendly and did you see my new logo by Liz at Just Artin’ Around at the top? She made me a couple gorgeous pieces that I can’t wait to use to their full potential. That was my first step. Now that I have those I want to look into a better overall blog set up. Just need some time!! Anybody have some time to spare? Never mind. I already know the answer to that.

#3 – That Buffalo Plaid coat I mentioned above??? I’m in the middle of seeing if I can make that into a real pattern. After what feels like a VERY long time (think years) of waiting and praying to see what I should do with my sewing/hobby life, I THINK I might have a plan.

#4 – Make my own clothes more. For my last birthday in Sept I got a very expensive outfit. I love it, but I felt so guilty afterwards that I made a pledge to myself not to buy any more clothes for myself till my next birthday. I have been completely successful so far. Now, my pledge did NOT include that I couldn’t buy fabric…. So I can still get new clothes if I make them. And I have JEANS on my list!! What the!?!!?

#5 – (I’m really searching here. I need a five.) ………………………….. Nope, I got nothing. Maybe my last goal should be to finally paint over that hole in the wall I puttied last year. Or shampoo the basement carpet. Now THAT doesn’t sound fun at all, but of all these things, it’s probably the most important because it involved the reality of life and not my sewing life which is really a type of dream world.

I’ll leave you with that! This was a fun little exercise. Thanks for reading! Christmas is less than a week away so I wish you all a super Merry Christmas. It’s my absolute favourite holiday so I’m getting pretty giddy!

There’s a couple affiliate links in here. No biggie. Just a dollar or two that could go into my coffers if you choose to purchase a pattern from those links.