Why Write Goals?

After packing and moving for the second time in twelve months, I find myself asking "Why do I keep writing goals just so I can change course four times in three months?"

At least it feels like I am changing my goals all the time. Frankly, I needed some direction on why I need to write another set of goals. I think this is the fourth set in 6 months? So I am reading what some goal setting gurus say. I found this on Michael Hyatt's blog. He writes like a real person with real life happening. He has five reasons why you write goals but I love this statement here.

"Of course, most people don’t bother to write down their goals. Instead, they drift through life aimlessly, wondering why their life lacks purpose and significance. I am not saying that committing your goals to writing is the end-game. It’s not. But it is the beginning." Michael Hyatt

Ok, so according to Michael I need to write my goals down to keep me from drifting aimlessly through life. Rather like driving in a new town without a map. You WILL get lost even if you do get directions and finally do end up at the right place. So I will lose time trying to get back on track.

Then there is this comment from the Goal Setting Guide.

"When you put pen to paper you turn your thoughts into something tangible."

Then the actual act of writing goals down causes me to believe that the goal I have written is actually going to happen.

This is the third gem I found while searching for answers procrastinating.

" To remind yourself of what to focus on. Often we get caught up in our everyday business and lose track of what is most important."

This is a great point and I think that people in creative jobs need more goals than most. It helps us to stick to the point and keep moving forward. I did notice that many of the articles I read all stated not to be afraid to rework your goals and to prioritize them.

Here are all of the links to the articles that I read for this blog on goal setting.

http://michaelhyatt.com/5-reasons-why-you-should-commit-your-goals-to-writing.html

http://www.goal-setting-guide.com/step-5-write-your-goal-down

http://www.positivityblog.com/index.php/2010/09/30/write-things-down/

Talk to you later,

Karen

PS. I am heading off to re-examine my goals while I unpack a couple of boxes in the kitchen, so I can cook again in an organized space. How is that for a tangible, immediate goal? What is one of your goals for this week?

 

Stuck in the Middle

I wish I could just pouf myself to the beginning of September, but if I did I would miss many good times and blessings. So I don't wish too hard for that. We just have so much work between now and then. You see, we are in the middle of the packing part of a move. It is so much work and things are so boxed up. It is a bit discouraging to look at all that is left to do. In my heart I know that we are about 75% complete. It is that the last 25% requires more thought as it is the kitchen, and odd shaped items.

So, I am not going to do that. I will instead tell you all the little things that are being finished. I have not packed all the hand crafting items that I take with me when I am waiting at the dentist, lessons or whatever is happening. At this point I have finished

1. a candlewicking pillow cover for the den


2. an embroidered pillow front for my daughter's room or the Etsy shop


3. 25 + felt Christmas ornaments


4. I am working an an afghan and have another in the thought processes


5. 30 + crocheted Christmas stars

That is quite a bit for this really unproductive time spent packing. I need take some photos but the camera is packed or in Tulsa. I am not sure which. I am feeling some pressure which is a natural part of packing and moving. I know that it will all work out for the best and that this new chapter in our lives will be laughable in September. Our house will be down to two children instead of four and I am not sure how I will handle it. I have some home school concerns about curriculum and classes for the Junior in our house. I hope that everything works out well on that front. I am switching back and forth between state requirements, again. I have a driver that needs driving instruction and time behind the wheel. I have a girl to pack up for college. So, I will do what I always do; which is forge ahead to the path chosen and pray all the while. Here are some pictures of candle wicking so that you know what it is.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="480"] http://www.etsy.com/listing/97581326/vintage-1983-unicorn-candlewick-lace[/caption]

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="570"] http://www.etsy.com/listing/103997773/country-cat-pillow-candlewicking[/caption]

It is a tone on tone embroidery with pretty hefty thread. It works up really quickly. The pattern I chose was a more contemporary design of roses and leaves worked on a dark linen background. It is beautiful and will work well with our furniture. All the parts were in the kit so nothing is needed except a pillow form.

see you later,

Karen

The Flower Sampler

I love this embroidery that my Aunt completed. It hung in my Mom's house for years and it is a lovely sampler piece of many different types of embroidery. I am in the process of re-framing it. My Aunt wanted to see some photos of it and sharing it with you seemed the best way.







 



This is just a gorgeous piece of needlework. It is so bright, happy and cheerful.

Thanks for stopping by. I hope all is well at your house.

Karen

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Monday: Goal Check 1!

Here we are another Monday. I am running a goal check. This helps keep me on track and remind me that I AM reaching those goals and actually doing something!

Business goals:

• Finish three two afghans (I have two left to finish this goal. Currently I have three afghans started....

 

The zig zag chevron stripe is finished. The one on top is started....and I have a granny striped started in my new yarns, and a sampler granny square afghan started.

• Start three more afghans


• Sew 50+ cup cozies in new styles ( I prepare for the holiday buying season in advance, because I also home school.)


• Sew the 30+ new items I need him to photograph


• Make the new Christmas items....


• Blog more consistently (I have been writing ahead and found my blog planning pages...)


• Write a business plan

Family goals:

• Take two summery day trips every week


• Make some meals for the freezer for THOSE days when I just really need them (one lasagna down...)


• Help K get her things ready for College.... (two major things marked off our list.)


• Take T for driving practice


• Exercise (walked and/or exercised three times last week.  YAY!)


• Make the kitchen a better place to be, using things I already have. (It seems small and I really have to work at loving being in there.)


• Make the curtains in the living room fit the windows better and the hems the same length (I put these curtains up super quick when I realized that the bamboo shades are see through at night with the lights on.) 

Rather lofty goals aren't they. I also have some personal ones that I have not added to this list.

Personal goals:

• Work through my Bible study that I stopped this Spring.


• Have us sit at the table for dinners 5 nights a week. (Totally missed out on this one this past week, but we have another week ahead of us!)


• Keep my kitchen and laundry caught up and ready for action. ( Frankly, got clothes washed but not folded or put away. Laundry is my most hated chore. It is never finished)


• Have some friends over for dinner...or coffee or dessert or something.


• Read some books about homeschooling


• Attend the home school curriculum sale this weekend.  (Totally missed out on this. Now, I need to find inspiration in another place...)


• Help with the Youth at church at least 2 times a month.

Well, those are my rather lofty goals. I hope that things get better and I get more organized at meeting my goals.

Things I/we accomplished that weren't on my list of things to do!

I started cleaning and organizing my studio areas.We also moved the furniture around in this area and I need to finish organizing, pitching or donating items.  I have a lot of boxes left to go through but we are happy with the new arrangement of the room and how it is starting to come together.  I re-opened my Amazon.com shop by listing more books for sale. We did a quick check up on our budget and re-affirmed our money goals. I sat down with our calendar and checked dates and times of appointments as we missed some important things last week.

Talk to you later,

Karen

 

 

Goals...

I received a wonderful package in the mail last week when my Mom was visiting. I restrained myself and only opened the packages to make sure that the order was right. I set goals for myself to help me finish my projects. I received my yarn that I had mail ordered and I was right it is softer and brighter than what is available locally. I bravely pushed it back into the bag and set it aside. I have two other fish to fry before I can start on the new yarn. It is calling to me. =0) I have two afghans started the zig zag, chevrony  ripple and another diagonal afghan. I am making myself finish both before starting on the new yarn. Mom was visiting so I just spent about 7 days not really creating anything and I think I am refreshed and ready to begin again.



This post was supposed to be about setting goals. So these are my goals for June. I always use bullet points as it helps me realize that these goals aren't in any certain order. I have a bunch of sewing to do as our oldest son is coming in July and he takes the majority of my www.ChocolateDogStudio.com photographs. I bribed him to come (not that he didn't want to come anyway.) but I mentioned that I had some work for him and would pay his gas for the trip. It helps if there is a bunch for him to do.

Business goals:

• Finish three afghans


• Start three more


• Sew 50+ cup cozies in new styles


• Sew the 30+ new items I need him to photograph


• Make the new Christmas items....


• Blog more consistently


• Write a business plan

Family goals:

• Take two summery day trips every week


• Make some meals for the freezer for THOSE days when I just really need them


• Help K get her things ready for College....


• Take T for driving practice


• Exercise


• Make the kitchen a better place to be, using things I already have. (It seems small and I really have to work at loving being in there.)


• Make the curtains in the living fit the windows better and the hems the same length (I threw these curtains up when I realized that the bamboo shades are see through at night with the lights on.) 

Rather lofty goals aren't they. I also have some personal ones that I have not added to this list.

Personal goals:

• Work through my Bible study that I stopped this Spring.


• Have us sit at the table for dinners 5 nights a week.


• Keep my kitchen and laundry caught up and ready for action.


• Have some friends over for dinner...or coffee or dessert or something.


• Read some books about homeschooling


• Attend the home school curriculum sale this weekend.


• Help with the Youth at church at least 2 times a month.

Wow, I had better stop before I organize the world....lol.

Do you have goals for your summer or do you just let it happen? Can you share two of your goals for June? I would love to know that I am not alone. Summer seems busier than the school year.

Talk to you later,

Karen

 

 

 

 

Mom's baby quilt

My Mom had the honor of being the first baby in the family. As a mom myself, I know that first children get some special treatment that the others don't get. Simply because Mom has some free time. Handmade lovely items abound when you are the first child. My grandmother embroidered these cute squares for Mom before mom was born. This is a penguin wearing a top hat. They were to make a baby quilt.

 













Gran ran out of time so the quilt was never finished until Mom put the squares together and quilted it.

Talk to you later,

Karen

Mug Cozy Pattern...

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="427" caption="https://www.etsy.com/listing/101074456/coffee-cup-cozy-pattern-fabric-java"][/caption]

Friends are great. I have a long time friend, Dawn. We have known each other since high school. She has encouraged, and listened and put up with me for a long, long time. She also teaches sewing, quilting and worked for some big names in the sewing and fabric industries. Not too long ago she encouraged me to sell patterns of my mug and coffee cozies.  She even offered to help me edit the instructions. She did and I finished up with some photos on the instructions. Chocolate Dog Studio now has its first pattern for sale. I am so excited to be able to offer this pattern to you. You can now make your own mug cozies!

Dawn, Thank you for all of your help and encouragement.

Karen

 

24 years and Counting!

Today is our anniversary. I wish I could say that it has been rainbows and happiness the whole time. It hasn't and we live an normal average life.We have had all of the average problems, health issues, money issues, parenting issues, car issues, dog issues. Some of those are better now that the dogs are older and the cars are younger. So instead of bragging about how forgiving we are...how we don't carry grudges, how we never fight, how miraculous it is being married to such a perfect person.  (Please don't spit the coffee out on the laptop, computers don't handle moisture well.)

I am writing a thank you to all those that have invested in our marriage and helped us through the hard spots, because frankly we are real people just like you.

If you ever watched our kids (wild as they were) when they were young and we were too, thank you so much! You allowed us to touch base again and remember how much we do enjoy spending time together.

If you ever taught us at church or a Bible study, thank you, because you enabled us to see that God has the ultimate hand in our lives and also in our marriage. You probably taught about money, forgiveness, how much we fail, how much we need to forgive others, the list is endless.

If you ever went out for coffee as friends to either one of us, you have helped to keep us sane and helped us laugh hysterically or listened to us as we spilled our hearts.

If you ever spent time just hanging out, you have helped us feel not so isolated.

If you ever talked about your life, kids, marriage, life issues or money, thank you because you helped us to remember that life at times is hard for everyone.

If you ever brought a meal when one of us was recovering from surgery, thank you; you helped us make it through another day with less frustration.

If you ever allowed us to help you, thank you because you have and are teaching us to reach out and not be so focused on ourselves.

I guess what I am saying is that it takes a lot of people helping to help a couple make it that long. Thank you for sharing your lives and friendship. When you reach out to someone you are making a difference in their lives and marriage.

Karen

P.S. Thank you for sticking through the thick and thin times! I still love to hold your hand.

 

 

Something New out of Something Old

A couple of months back an internet friend sent me some lovely doilies and vintage napkins. They had seen some wear and weren't quite suitable to sell as doilies. So my friend Renee from http://www.wakeuptheangel.etsy.com sent them to me. As I washed and pressed them, I thought of all of the lovely things I could make. They ended up sitting on my work table for several weeks while I decided the best use for them. Here they are waiting on me to think up some lovely cozy use for them.



Here are a few of the finished cozies, ready to go into the shop this week.







The fabric for these two beauties is up-cycled and fussy cut to make the most of the stripes. There is a lot of work that goes into each of these cozies to make sure that I make the most of the vintage linens and doilies. The doilies had some holes and were not fit for their usual purpose. I can't wait to show you some of the other new cozies. I have some more modern looking quilted cozies and then some more up-cycled cozies.

I know it has been awhile since I last posted, but we had a senior graduating from High School and it was taking my full concentration. Then there was a mini-vacation to see family. We are now back home and just dealing with life which will be full of acclimating a dog back into our house, a wisdom tooth extraction, grocery shopping and the beginning of Summer! The kids on our street were playing outside last night as we drove home and it was a huge reminder of how quickly they grow and how little time I have left with the two still in school.

Karen

My Grandma's Quilts

My Grandma or Granny (Bethel) as we grand kids called her created quilts out of necessity. She had a large family and needed blankets. She was a part of a quilting group in her small town. I believe most of her quilts date from the 1940's. Her quilts were made from the better parts of used clothing and some were quilts within a quilt in order to make use of all available materials. I believe that all of these quilts were sewn completely by hand. I know that they were quilted by hand. Having four kids myself, I am pretty sure that some of these were made in order to have something finished that she could look at everyday. Somehow that is important in the daily grind of dishes, meals, laundry and keeping a family running.

 



Should any of my family read this and want to add any information or if any information is wrong please send me an e-mail and I will fix it. She made many, many quilts and they were scattered among the 7 kids when she passed away so these are only the few that I was able to photograph.



Quilting was also a  chance for women to get out and see other women. These were often qulited as a group and offered a reason for the women to get out and socialize. It helped to build the community and fostered the friendships that women need. I am pretty sure that we need gatherings like this again. I am hearing about knitting groups and sewing groups and churches that have quilting groups. There are quilting guilds and sewing retreats and so women are reaching out again to build friendships.



Well, these are a just a few. I have others to share on another day.

Karen

 

 

 

Life: Somewhere between The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder and The Little Red Hen

I think that sometimes we are the strangest people on the face of the earth. No, really. Our family has a myriad of food allergies and then to top it off we are trying a gluten free diet for a variety of reasons. Now my wheat bread/pasta/cookie/pizza loving teens and husband are missing bread. After weeks of denial and struggling and paying a ton of $$ for gluten free mixes I got with the program today and did a little experimenting.

We have some very discriminating (picky) people in our house. We are also cooking huge quantities of food because there are three teens and two parents sitting down to  nearly every meal every night. We are also on a limited budget and I am not Julia Childs. After messing around with GF cup for cup equivalences at a cost of $6-$12 a 4 lb bag or GF mixes from Betty Crocker and King Arthur flour at the cost of $4.50 to around $7 a box, I decided that there had to be a better way. Pricing out our budget and then forecasting what our food budget would be if we continued GF eating I knew that we would never be able to continue.

I did a little research on the internet and found that I could grind my own flour in my coffee grinder. That is why I feel a little like Laura Ingalls Wilder in the Long Winter. They ground their flour in the coffee grinder as well. Mine is electric and ground the brown and white rice pretty quickly in small batches. Then I sifted it to get rid of any un-ground bits. Then I put together my own GF flour mix using white rice flour and brown rice flour and cornstarch and mixed it well in my stand mixer and put it in a canister. Whew that step was done.

Then I was ready to make King Arthur Flours awesome GF pumpkin muffins. http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/gluten-free-pumpkin-muffins-recipe

I have to admit that they do taste better if you do include the sugar and salt, which I left out of the first batch. They are light and fluffy and the closest muffin to gluten muffins that I have eaten since we have been on the GF diet. I added 1/2 tsp of Xanthan gum and just followed the recipe slightly. I think the secret of light and fluffy Gluten Free muffins is to whip air into them with a mixer. I did everything but grow the rice which made me feel like the Little Red Hen!

While I was on this round of cooking, I also mixed up some GF brownies in a jar and Cream Soup anytime  mix. Here is my variation of the the cream soup mix which I use in place of canned of soup.

 

4 cups of powdered milk (dry)

1 1/2 cups of cornstarch

4 tsp of dried onion flakes or onion powder

2 tsp dried thyme

2 tsp of basil

1 tsp of pepper.

Mix it all up and store it in a cool dry place.

I then add 1/2 cup of chicken broth to reconstitute it and cook it just a bit. After it boils it will thicken up and be just like the soup out of a can. Be sure to stir constantly because it will burn. Then you can use this as a soup base or white sauce/gravy base. Just add as much liquid as you want to get it to the right consistency. You can also add any vegetable you want to get cream of ____________- soup, or you can use as a base for chowder.

Our kids like to cook and mixes make it fast and easy for us to eat healthier without spending a bundle.

Talk to you later,

Karen

Recycling - upcycling: un-paper paper towels

Recently in our house we had a demise. Yes, something died. One of our most favorite sets of flannel sheets died. There were huge holes in the top sheet right under where your chin should be. I promptly bundled it up and put it out in the van....and then just as promptly brought it in in a bag for another upcycling/recycling project that I did. Which I will show at another time, maybe. Here is the sheet.



This project I will share with you today. When I was in the middle of the other ALL day and the next day project. I was posing questions to the kids in my house. What should I do with the flannel sheets? I had several answers; more pillow cases, fabric yarn then made into a crocheted rag rug, pajama bottoms for the kids. If the sheets had not been so worn this might have been a good idea, except then we would feel like singing "The Hills are Alive..." and dancing like the Von Traps in The Sound of Music.  What I decided to do came to me in a moment of need. We were out of paper towels. I don't know about your house but at our house we have several people (that shall remain nameless) that enjoy cooking. They use 5-6 paper towels when cooking, sometimes as many as ten because they wad them up and then throw them away. The purpose of paper towels in their mind iis to keep their hands from touching any yucky liquid. Which makes me unhappy because I am buying paper towels all the time. I have seen cute un-paper towels that snap together and you roll them onto a paper towel roll and can even put them back on the paper towel holder! That sounds wonderful but I know that I will never roll them back onto that roll or even keep the paper towel roll to roll them onto and I certainly won't be snapping them back together.  If I can just get them into a basket on a counter or in a drawer in the kitchen I will be happy, and as long as it keeps my family from using my nice bleached dishtowels on the floor, I will be a happy Mom.

So here is the tutorial on salvaging a flannel sheet into un-paper towels. Upcycling at its best, recycling with cleaning in mind. Here you go!

1. First cut or rip your fabric into slightly larger than paper towel sized squares.

2. Take two pieces the same size place them wrong sides together and sew around the edge. Round the corners so you don't have to poke out corners when you are done. It should look something like this:

Be sure to leave an opening for turning the un-paper towel inside out. To make it easy on me and a beginning sewing activity. I had a child do the sewing around the edges for me. It is a great beginning sewing project because it doesn't matter if the edges are a bit off or the towels are a different sizes. (I should say that it worked for me as I really do not care and this is utilitarian sewing.) It might matter to you. I rounded the corners and doubled the fabric so I wouldn't have to do tiny hems or tie knots.

3. Trim the corners so that it isn't bunchy when you turn it right side out. You can see the trimmed corner in the picture above.

4. Turn it right side out. Run your hand around the seam on the inside to poke out those rounded corners.

5. Tuck the opening edges to the inside and top stitch close to the edge all the way around, back stitch a little when you come back to the beginning and clip the threads short. There you go....you are finished! One un-paper towel.





Now if you want to speed up your sewing process.

1. Cut all the squares out at one time.

2. Lay them all out right sides together.

3. Sew around the edges of all of them one right after another.

4. Trim and turn them right side out all at the same time.

5. Top stitch them all at one sitting.

That should speed up the process. I mean, who wants to spend all afternoon cutting and sewing un-paper towels!

Talk to you later!

Karen

A few extra notes: flannel is naturally sticky (hence the flannel graph) so I didn't pin, If you use different fabrics you will want to pin them together. I purposely created this so I wouldn't have to deal with picky hems or serging. My serger and I are not friends at this point in time. You could serge both pieces of fabric together and be finished that much faster. However, I had someone that needed to practice sewing curves and this project was perfect as it wasn't a piece of clothing or a gift for someone.

All Soap IS Not created Equal!

We are zooming back in time to the point when shower gels started to come on the market. In fact they were so new that manufacturers were sending samples out to the shower gel poor. I received one of these wondrous samples. I had just had child number two and income was at an all time low. Free was wonderful and any showering I did was super quick and any new soap invention that added pampering to my day was magnificent. I felt re-created, a new being, a Mom able to leap tall buildings in a single bound.....or at least able to fix lunch for the three of us still at home. Flash forward to about seven years ago when I was given a wonderful shower gel set by a well known soap shop. It was a relaxing scented set and I loved it, I loved the lather, the scent, the whole shower experience.  I stepped out of the shower relaxed and ready to get four children into the van with everything they needed and off to school. I would teach art to classrooms of children and get up the next day and do it again. THEN I was introduced to handmade soaps....and...it revolutionized the whole shower thing all over again. It totally changed the whole shower thing all over again. I am seeing why bathrooms have easily become the largest room in the whole house, with such lovely bath products; HOW can you not spend hours in there every day. This past Christmas I treated two of the men in my house to these wonderful hand made soaps and I think that I have created a monster. :0)

This is their favorite. It is called Zinger and is scented with citrus, fresh peppermint, eucalyptus and jasmine petals.



It is a pleasant scented soap that my teenage boy and 20 something son loved.



This one would be the one I buy next for them.  It is scented with the cinnamon, clove, vanilla musk and mulberry and hints of cassia root, eucalyptus, amber, fir balsam, pine and cedar. These wonderful handmade soaps are from Delicate by Nature at Etsy. They create bath and body products that are dye free and made without artificial fragrances. The shop is run by two sisters and each product is made and tested by their friends and family. Check out their shop on Etsy at http://www.delicatebynature.etsy.com.

Talk to you later,
Karen