Tuesday Tidy no. 3

Toys! We've done a pretty good job of keeping the toy collection down. I don't think we've paid for any of the toys as they've been mostly gifts or hand-me-downs. My son is great taking things out and while we're playing I'm all about the mess. So many fun things to do! Seriously, 8 months is fun with the crawling, furniture cruising, looking at books and examining how things make noise.

Then he goes to bed and I realize I can't see the floor. So my quite method for reclaiming the floor is simple: six small bins.

I got these bins at Target for a different purpose, initially. The two short ones fit under our coffee table and also under the fireplace hearth. With wood floors this means I can toss all the toys inside (either bin, no rules here) and then slide them underneath to get them out of the way.

The three more sturdy bins I turned on their side and placed in front of the baseboard heater as a barricade and they serve as his bookcase. It's great because he can get book out and also uses the bins to stand, since they are sturdy enough. These are in his bedroom since that is where most reading takes place.

The tall one is also in his bedroom and basically holds anything that isn't a book (although books are welcome). His small room means I can toss things into the bucket from anywhere in the room. Seriously, 30 seconds and it's all put away.

It is so fulfilling and always makes me wonder if I could have something similar for my own things. Part of the struggle with moving is needing to live in a space long enough to figure out what types of systems makes sense in the space. So far, this one is a huge hit!

Tidy Tuesday no. 2

Clothes Edition

I have a lot of work to do in this area but we are started with a giant sort/purge. Since we moved a lot of my clothes have been stuck in bins in various closets in the house. I've collected them all in the bedroom and have been diving through, one at a time. I've got the following piles going (see photo below) and it's feeling awesome! I have a laundry basket for the donation/sell items and when it's full I do a load of laundry. This keeps it easy so I know that they do not go back in the drawers or on a hanger.

My biggest tidy tip for clothes is Project 333 - a fall uniform that makes getting dressed easier each morning and also washing and managing clothes easier. It means that things I'm not wearing are AWAY and out of the flow of things. this worked so well for me when I returned to work after having a baby. I thought I'd only last a few weeks with my capsule wardrobe but ended up doing the full 3 months and then a little more. It's been fun to weed through the boxes and it feels very easy to part with certain clothes because i really haven't worn them in a year and a half or longer.

Here are some other clothing tips to keep things tidy. Have you tried any? Got any additional tips?

• apartment therapy has some good links
• i love how shutterbean.com uses labels!
• this gal has great ideas like only buy one type of sock and then you never have to match socks again!

Happy sorting!

Tuesday Tidy

I have really missed blogging and when I take such long breaks it can be hard to know where to start. So I decided on a simple new series: Tuesday Tidy.

I'm slowly unburying myself from my email inboxes. Between multiple email accounts I had over 300 "unread" emails. I put that in quotes because some of them I marked as unread so I'd remember to deal with them later. But the truth is, I just don't have the bandwidth to deal with these emails...

So this morning I set a 10 minute timer. I figure I can commit 10 minutes and then move along if needed. So for 10 minutes I moved emails to the correct inbox folders, deleted those I didn't need, and unsubscribed from unnecessary emails (I always end up back on these lists!). When the timer went off I'd dealt with 27 emails!

After a 5 minute break I was motivated to try again. With the first inbox at zero, I decided to tackle the monster account with 257 unread emails (insert embarrassed face...). After another 10 minute session and I'm down to 181!

Here are my quick tips so I don't dwell on tricky emails and get lost in the process:

• Sort by subscriptions or companies first so you can deal with them at once. Start with an easy one that you know you can delete without much emotional attachment.
• When in doubt, unsubscribe. Clearly I haven't been using the coupons and when I need a coupon, I will know where to look
• Make a list: recipe emails are so inspiring but they clog up my inbox, so I open the link to the recipe and save it in a document called "Recipes to Make," that way I can search later and delete the email now.
• Create folders for certain categories. I have purchased many knitting patterns over the years and they often come in emails so I have a folder where I move these emails so they are filed away. Makes it easy to access later and doesn't clog up the "IN" box.

Looking forward to more tidying and less emails this week! Have other tips and tricks for organizing email? I'd love to know!

Bullet Journal 2017

Last week I set up my new bullet journal. Though my journaling fizzled out toward the end of 2016, I really enjoyed the process and method for keeping track of things so I decided to start fresh.

I'm using the same size Moleskin as last year and found some small cut out calendars to use at the front or my year overview. Other than that I'm hoping to use a bunch of supplies up that I have on hand. I keep a pouch with adhesive, pens, washi tape and precut cards near my journal and just grab what seems right in the moment.

Here are a few shots of the basic set up I did. I'll post some more later on when I have added more pages. Happy documenting!

Fiber Friday

So happy to be blogging again!

I haven't done much with fiber lately but I have some yarn projects queued up for 2017.

The Lex Shawl from a Quince & Co

I purchased a booklet of shawls last year and it included this lovely pattern. I received some beautiful blue yarn for Christmas that I hope will become this shawl!

Blanche from YOTH yarns

I started this sweater in Brooklyn Tweed yarn, colorway fern. I think it will be a nice addition to my post pregnancy wardrobe and it is fairly straightforward. I haven't done much seaming so it will be a good challenge.

Lucy Hats from Quince & Co

I have the exact yarn shown in this photo so I think I will make this hat. I love having a slouchy hat to cover up bed head in the winter. Plus, it should go faster than the other projects, right?

Project Peace Cowl

So I didn't finish this in December, but I'm enjoying the project so I hope to finally nish it up this year. I am using some YOTH yarn from a previously frogged project and would love to actually wear this yarn, since I purchased it 4 years ago.

I have a few other WIPs:

1. Onward Shawl
2. Ribbed Blanket
3. Featherweight Cardigan (which I may have to frog)

Here's to hoping 2017 has a few more finished projects so I can enjoy the wearing of these beautiful yarns!

Currently

The view from here...

Enjoying snuggles with our tiny person.
Reading this book.
Listening to this series during middle of the night feedings.
Watching this documentary and James Bond movies in small chunks as the little one sleeps.
Admiring the sunny weather from inside a warm house.
Cooking fried quinoa.
Making granola bars,
Eating anything that only requires one hand. These are particularly delicious.
Drinking water and #allthecoffee
Soaking up every moment before going back to work at the end of the month.
Inspired by this post to delete and organize phone photos.

One Little Word 2017

I am excited to start the new year with a new word! There have been years where my word is very present here on the blog, especially in 2015 when I chose the word "be" and did weekly updates. Last year my word was a little more close to the heart: make. I tried to do a lot of things handmade and homemade but I also wanted to make time and space and focus on some self case. When we welcomed our first little baby at the beginning of December it felt life such an appropriate word.

Originally I had thought the word would help me finish some projects, but carpal tunnel kept me from knitting and sewing projects. Upon reflection, the year brought many opportunities to make in a different way: space for recovery, time for relaxing, routines for resting, date with my husband, etc.. Fall became a season of discovering and setting boundaries for myself and in the end, it wasn't as hard as I'd imagined. My family and friends worked extra hard to support me as I figured out what "resting" looked during various phases of the year. A broken rib, 13 bonus days of pregnancy and an extended hospital stay added to the equation and were certainly not part of my own plan, but reflection, I know that I did make the most of my year. 

This year I've chose the word: present.

One of the things that sticks with me from the last few weeks for pregnancy and beginning of motherhood is how much I lived each moment. During the waiting I worked hard to enjoy each moment, and think of each day as a bonus, and as we waded through the first week or so of parenthood my sense of time shifted from hours and days to moments and milestones. I try not to plan or look too far ahead, but rather enjoy the now and be present for my son and family, knowing that routine and rhythms will ebb and flow.

This is an attitude I want to bring into the new year. I can't say it's a change I want to make because it's already something I've been feeling shift inside my heart. But that's why I like this word. I don't need to change, but rather embrace what is already happening in and around me. 

I am currently reading Present Over Perfect by Shauna Niequist and found this quote particularly applicable:

What I'm learning essentially, is to stand where I am, plain and sometimes tired. Unflashy, profoundly unspectacular. But present and connected and grounded deeply in the love of God, which is changing everything. (19)

I'm am excited to find out what God is planning for 2017 and looking forward to blogging about my One Little Word throughout the year. I'm not setting a bunch of goals and making a plans for this space, but will instead see where the year takes us. Happy New Year!

Scripture Sunday

 

 

lists

I love a good list. Do you?

Ever since starting my bullet journal in January I've found myself making lists, lists and more lists. Sometimes the lists are things to do, sometimes it's things i'm grateful, but there is something about list making that always feels refreshing at the end.

I think of it like a "brain dump." It's a chance for me to get all those thoughts out of my head and somewhere safer. With baby coming and a summer with lots of free time, I've made all sorts of lists. In looking over all my lists, it might be a bit much, but it's a way for me to creatively deal with the swirling thoughts in my head. How do you keep it all straight?

Here are a few of my lists from the last few weeks.

Project Steps

Scripture Doodle Lists

Workout Lists

Gratitude Lists

To-Do Lists (paper and digital)

Grocery Lists/Meal Planning

Thematic Lists 

Fiber Friday

I finally made something for me! I was going through my clothing and noticed a few tank tops and tee shirts with those very tiny holes near the front hem. You know the ones that are almost unnoticeable but technically holes so the shirt is a bust? I was pretty bummed until I remembered seeing a cool tutorial online for sewing a dress from an existing shirt by just adding a skirt.

Here are a few of my inspirations:

Basic Tee into a Summer Dress

Black Striped Two-Tone Dress

Lace Two Toned Maternity Dress

I knew I had enough gray linen and plenty of shirts to choose from so i go started. I used french seams so it would be nicely finished. But when I got the waist section I was skeptical about getting it over my head. I wanted the waitlist to be high, almost empire waisted so that it would drape over "the bump". I had squeezed into a summery dress the day before and it was so comfy and forgiving I hoped this would give me lots of wear. But I had merely gathered the waistline and was going to attach it to a jersey knit top. So instead I went simple and found some elastic. I made it into a skirt instead and in the end, I have about 6 or more dressed in one!

Since the linen is a nice dark gray color, it goes with pretty much any top I owned pre pregnancy, including the ones that definitely are too short to wear. But with this skirt, I can put it over the top and it looks like a color blocked dress!

I know it's a bit wrinkled and simple, but imagine it with a black and white striped, coral, or mint green tee shirt or a tank top peaking out the top and a cardigan. I'm so in love. I also made the hem just below my knee so that it is long enough to go without leggings and long enough that as the baby grows, the skirt will still be long enough in the front.

Such a simple skirt and I hope that it will last me after baby comes. I could also alter it a bit after baby and make the intended dress, but right now, I'm loving the versatility. The only enhance would be pockets but since I was making the pattern up, I decided to to try anything too wild!
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Belated Fiber Friday

I have been doing a bit of fiber crafting lately but not a ton. It's been very practical and strategically planned around guests coming and going. I'm so glad I made time at the beginning of summer to sort, organize and purge my supplies because pulling things out for a day of stitching is much easier now. And of course, knowing things have a home makes it easier to clean up :)

Over the last two weeks I've been prepping two projects. One week i measured and bought materials for making cloth wipes and a baby snuggler. I've been making a few cloth wipes here and there all summer with spares bel I've uncovered (mostly left from other projects). I consulted a friend who cloth diapers and asked how many she felt was enough for a solid stash without going overboard. This helped a lot! So I bought 2 yards of flannel to make 20 more 8x8" squares (about 7.25x7.25 finished).

Last week I washed and dried everything then cut and pinned everything. I also marked darts on the snuggler and made a quick list of the steps since so much time passed between starting and ending this project. The out fabric is cotton and steel left over from a dress I made. It's so soft and felt "gender neutral". I took a scrap to the store and found a cute fuzzy flannel to serve as the lining - mint colored with sewing scissors.

Finally, yesterday I set up my machine and ironing board and got to work. It took about an hour and a half but it was so much fun because all the pieces were ready to go! I like this sort of assembly line style of sewing because I get into a rhythm and can listen to a podcast or an audio book while I work. It is also so satisfying to see everything stacked up neatly at the end of the project.

Here is "Baby Bear" modeling the snuggler. It's from Lotta Jansdotter and has Velcro closures.

I'm still plugging away on a few knitting projects and hoping this weekend will bring me close to finishing the onward shawl. As school approaches I am unsure of how much sewing I'll be able to do so I'm hoping to squeeze in one or two more sessions before then.

Journaling Update

I mentioned earlier this month that I was trying to join the one book July challenge. It has been mostly successful, save the week where I didn't even touch my journal. I've loved having lists and tasks and notes all together. 

But I also love to doodle and journal on a bigger page. My sermon journal is almost full and I have been eyeing some fun and inspiring pieces from illustratedfaith.com so I started looking around at ideas. Many people have a larger leather journal catch-all than I do, and while that would be a beautiful place to store devotional pieces and such, I am not really interested in buying something when I clearly have more than I need. So today I found my original bullet journal sitting on the shelf. It's full and currently not in rotation but I love the cover and a few of the layouts I did in particular. I pulled it out and compared it to my illustrated faith devo and realized that it would be the perfect size! But what to do with all the pages inside?

Well, they are mostly todo lists and task and things from the first half of the year that are no longer relevant, so I grabbed a pair of scissors, and with nothing to lose, I started cutting out the pages. I left my blog ideas, gratitude, books to read, water log, and exercise log pages because they seem inspiring to look back over. Most importantly though, I was left with a cute cover and space for new things!

I trimmed the top and bottom of the spine to be angled a bit and then added 3 rubber bands. From the inside of the book I can access the rubber bands and put insets and new little devotionals inside. 

I made a simple 4.25" x 8" blank book to use for my Overflow Encouragement devotional and got to decorating. I also spruced up the cover a bit. I had so much fun and am so eager to dive in! I'm going to keep this one by my bed so I can jot down gratitudes, encouragements, and use it for morning bible study.

Best of all, I used my stash, spent no money, and even got rid of some excess stuff!

If you haven't done so, check out illustratedfaith.com to get some inspiration :)

Fiber Friday

This week I finished my Terra Shawl and I love it so much!

I had bought this yarn for a different shawl and got about 1/3 of the way through when I realized that that yarn was too dark to showcase the texture. So I ripped it out and found the Terra Shawl. I only worked on it during movie night for the most part, but once I hit the lace section, I couldn't put it down.

I'm currently working on fixing up my Featherweight Cardigan. I started this around Christmas and plowed through but when I got to the sleeves, I must've grabbed a different brand of needle and there is a noticeable line where I switched needles. The sleeves were really bugging me so I decided to rip back. I was able to just rip back the sleeve section and get the stitches back onto the correct needles. Phew! I was fully prepared to tear the whole thing out and start new, but I'm very grateful it didn't come to that!

I also decided to take stock of my WIPs and drew up a chart in my bullet journal. It was so satisfying to finished the Terra shawl and mark it off as complete! I also cast on the Onward shawl which was the original plan for the Tosh yarn above. This time i used some Berocco Ultra Alpac I received from someone. The color is REALLY hard to capture on the camera, but it is a dusty green color and since it is a light color and fairly solid, the pattern seems to be showing up wonderfully! I've been whizzing through this pattern since it's a new cast on and the repeats are easy enough to memorize.

The color here is fairly similar to actual color.

Do you keep track of WIPs? One year I did a stellar job of logging via ravelry.com but find that it's easier to grab my journal than log onto my computer. Happy Fiber Friday!

Bullet Journal - tracking

Last week I wanted to track my water intake. I set a goal but was really more interested in seeing how I did each day. I wanted to look for patterns and habits that might already exist and then see how I could build on those.

Interestingly it went really well! A few days I fell short by one serving, however I was still getting at least the minimum daily requirement. I also noticed that days where I was out and about were tricky. This is in part due to the difficulty of keeping track while on the go, but also because I was either engaged in activity (therefore not focusing on my water intake) or I was hesitant about guzzling so much water when bathrooms were few and far between :)

I did feel confident that overall I have developed a good habit that is worth working at and improving on. I also added a little note in the corner of each box to indicate about what time of day I finished that serving of water. That was really interesting because it showed days where I was doing great in the morning and then almost nothing all afternoon until dinner. In reflecting back, these were days where I was engaged in a project (at home or otherwise) where I was focused on a task. My mornings and evenings seems to be broken into small tasks all around the house so I'm frequently getting up and moving around, therefore carting my water bottle with me or refilling my glass with regularity.

Will I do this every week? Certainly not. But will I try something similar again: for sure! On Sunday when I was working on this post and looking over my chart I only ended up meeting 1/2 my goal for the day. I found it interesting that the moment I stopped tracking, I also stopped meeting my goal. So I'm trying a simpler version of my tracking. No time stamps, smaller grid and hopefully I can keep building on this mindfulness.

#onebookjuly2016

Don't worry, I am not talking about books you read, but rather books you write in! Journals, notepads, spirals, etc.

I was nearing the end of my main bullet journal from earlier in the year and trying to figure out what to do next. I've done some mini books, had a separate journal for work, and tried a variety of sizes but wanted something fresh for summer. This post inspired me to simplify by choosing one book and one pen for the month of July.

Now the one pen rule seemed a little crazy to me, but as I watched the video, I realized the main goal was to be purposeful. To create a simple routine for a daily habit of journaling. I chose one main pen to use, but in some of my checkbox spreads, I will probably use a yellow pen or highlighter to show progress.

I scoured the bookstore and almost left with the same style i'd used previously. But as I approached the check out line, I saw a little hardbound book. The pages had dots (something I've been wanting to try!) and it was just a bit smaller than the moleskins in my hand. I decided to give it a try.

I immediately put some wash tape on the cover and started my index. I transferred my book list from my old journal and added a few titles then made a July starting page as well as some lists I need to keep track of this month.

The paper is a bit thicker than the moleskin, which i'm liking. I chose to use a Martha Stewart Crafts pen I bought ages ago at Michaels. It is "charcoal" which I think helps the ink not bleed through in the usual way. It is very similar to this style.

I still have a separate journal for book studies I'm doing, or for scripture art and sermon notes, but on a daily basis, I plan to use this little journal the most. It can go in my bag nicely or sit out on my desk and add a pop of color.

Hoping to find a good rhythm this month of documenting things and keeping track of all the lists and ideas that are flying through my head!

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