Finished: 6 Feed the Animals Purses

Im seriously scared to count up the amount of hours it took to make these 6 little purses!  Too many.  But I do love them, so that's OK then dont you think.

They are going to be put away for now and then filled with little goodies and given out at the Kid's birthday tea party.

Now Im off to annoy my buddy Chloe at Deadlycraft to see where her purses are!

Life in Progress

Im taking a slight detour away from my to do list for May and have decided to make a couple of these monkeys.  I have just realised that I have a couple of first birthdays for two separate little boys and I think this monkey will be perfect.  I have only made it for little girls in the past....but it'll work for boys dont you think?

I am within a cats whisker of finishing these purses - I love them but boy I have put in a LOT of hours to get them done.  Anyway the last little job will be done in front of the telly tonight and hopefully I will have a finished object to show tomorrow.

In other news.... the Kid has brought home her first ever reader and so the long road of homework begins.  I have been a quite relaxed in the past about the Kid watching a bit of iPad each night but am now thinking week nights might have to be NO iPAD/TV zones.  I explained this to Ellie and she was not happy.  Maybe we will have to come to some kind of compromise, my only problem is, once she is on the damn iPad it takes a major battle of tears, stomping and shouting to get her off!!  So better off not  to let her have it all.

Do your kids watch TV on a school night?  What is normal?

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A portrait of my child, once a week, every week in 2013

Hosted by Che & Fidel

The Kid:  off to another birthday party - this Kid has a better social life than me.

Things To Do: May 2013

I was really happy with my decision to pick only 4 projects last month.  In April (below) I came close to achieving all 4 which is pretty good seeing as though we went away for a week and not much crafting was done during that time...obviously.

So in May Im sticking with just 4 projects but they are all relatively big ones so whilst its definitely achievable it is certainly not a fait accompli.

Now lets get May started.

Life in progress

So I have actually managed to do five hours towards these purses in the first 3 days of our special KCW.  So Im well ahead....in theory.  Seriously I look at this and wonder how come this is all there is to show for 5 hours work - I did make a few errors and had to re do 3 of the faces and I am nursing a cold, but still, surely I should be further along!

And in other news....the Kid headed back to school today and I was annoyed with myself for not taking my phone to capture her joyful skipping down the road.  She was so darn happy that I wasnt really expecting the flood of tears and the vice like grip on my hand when it came time to say goodbye at the classroom door.  Lets put it down to Term 2 first day nerves!  (She didnt cry once in Term 1 - bizarro).

KCW Starts Today

What do you mean it was last week?

I simply love KCW and couldnt believe it fell slap bang at the same time as my little holiday away with the Kid last week.  We had a beautiful time at the beach, the weather was spectactular for the time of year and good fun was had by all, so much so that we didnt want to come home.

However, I was a tad disappointed that KCW clashed with my holiday and that I would miss out on some solid sewing time.

Then Chloe over at Deadlycraft had the inspired idea of doing a second KCW this week, just for me. I was thrilled with the idea and I only hope Chloe can keep up the pace as she now enters her second week, whereas I have fresh legs and am raring to go.

And as it is not strictly KCW, we are not quite sticking to the plan - whilst we both hope to do an hour each day, we are going to make these purses instead of clothes.  We both have impending birthday extravaganzas to organise for our little girls and thought they would make a great party giveaway.

Whilst I was away I did check in with all the wonderful things that people were making during KCW and here are my absolute favourites, all so inspiring - this one, and this, and this!

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A portrait of my child, once a week, every week in 2013

Hosted by Che & Fidel

The Kid:  collecting shells on our holiday

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A portrait of my child, once a week, every week in 2013

Hosted by Che & Fidel

The Kid:  and the Summer Hill DIY Rainbow

More about DIY Rainbows here

Life in progress

Now I have started to really limit my work in progress and concentrate on one creative project at a time it means there going to be a lot less to update you on each week.  So I had the idea that I should change my weekly update to Life in progress instead.  

So my creative work in progress this week is a whopping pile of bibs to cut out and sew - I want to have a stash of them in my "gift box" so I can be ready when I need a baby gift in a hurry.

In other news, the Kid had her first ever trip to the dentist today.....I was feeling a really guilty as I have put off this first visit for so long, crap!  But it all went well - teeth are looking good and the Kid dealt with it fantastically, with only a very brief moment of panic when she had them cleaned.  

In fact, she said she wants to go back again tomorrow - could that be because of the lucky dip box that she was allowed to have a go of once she had finished!!!  Hey if it works, Im all for it.

Personal Kanban

I pride myself on being extremely organised at work.  I have to be - its an essential component of what I do.  There I use a combination of Outlook Tasks, checklists and my daily to do list.  And it works....really well.

But trying to get organised at home seems to be beyond me.  I have tried to implement a similar system to what I use in the workplace but however I tried (and I have tried a lot) it just doesnt work.

In the office I have a solid 8 hours a day I can spend at my desk and the work FLOWs through my system.  But at home it is so different - I cant spend solid chunks of time completing projects because......I have a LIFE, oh and a CHILD.  Projects and my "to do list" stagnates and changes direction regularly.  I am constantly re writing lists from one day to the next without actually ticking anything off.  Its painful.

I recently stumbled across Kanbans and was intrigued but on first investigation thought it was all very office related, workplace related, technical.  Then I read this book.  And I was inspired.

I rushed out and bought myself a cheap whiteboard and some fun post it notes (And who needs an excuse to buy new stationery?  Not me?).  And set up my board.

I love the visual nature of the board.  My "to dos" are there in front of me.   My "dones" build up and I can literally see myself achieving things.

The main 2 philosophies of the book/system are to "visualise your work" and "limit your work in progress".  It just makes sense to me.  For so long I have had a long list of projects on the go at the same time and been demoralised as nothing gets finished.  By focusing on 3 WIPs at any one time I am definitely getting more done - concentrating the mind instead of spreading it thin.

And I get such a thrill moving a note from the work in progress column to the done column.  I do!

It may all be a bit nerdy - but if it works......and this may just be what I needed, what works for me.