My Own Boss

One of the benefits of being a career homemaker is the privilege of being your own boss. Not entirely, of course. There are always things that must be done and when my house was full of children there wasn't enough time in a day to get all the necessities done. And there was always a fresh list of must-do the next day, beginning with packing seven lunches every morning and on through the day.

Yet, I always found time to do the things I wanted to do like reading and writing. Sometimes it was only a half day per week. As the children grew older, I could spend more time writing and pursuing other interests. It really is true that we find the time to do what we want to do. Saying "I don't have time" for something is merely another way of saying I'm not interested in that activity. If we really want to do something we'll find the time.

My schedule follows a predictable weekly and seasonal pattern. Laundry is done on Monday, grocery shopping on Friday, and cleaning on Saturday, with adjustments of course depending on other events that creep into the calendar. Housecleaning is divided into spring and fall, gardening in the summer, etc. Winter is the best time to crochet, write, and scrapbook.

I had two writing projects going last year and finished both of them before Christmas. The crochet project was also finished before Christmas. That left me basically the scrapbooking for January. A few other things got tossed into the mix but I finished scrapbooking earlier than usual and still had a couple weeks of February left to do as I please. I turned to sewing to finish out the winter.

After my mother died, we cut some of her dresses into patches. I used some to make pillow tops for everyone in the family. My sister-in-law did the piecing and I finished them. Here are a few of them.

 

 

That was in 2009. There was a stack of 4-inch squares leftover. They lay in a bag in my scrap bag waiting to be made into something "someday." With my winter jobs finished early this year, I decided "someday" and come. I decided to make small 36x36" comfort tops from the patches. If I kept them small, more people in the family could have one.

Piecing quilts is not on my list of God-given talents but I can sew straight lines. I did not try to make any artistic patterns with the squares but mixed them up randomly to include squares of as many of the dresses as possible. The result was nine tops like this. It certainly is not anything beautiful but it has sentimental value and gives me a warm feeling. My husband said he can see Mom wearing those dresses when he looks at it. Exactly!

 

 

I still had a pile of small squares left from the pillow tops. I hated to throw them away so I summoned my courage and made one more from them. By the time this one was put together I had enough of piecing to last me a long time. It isn't perfect but is good enough for me. (Photo color is sort of poor.)

 

 

With that project finished, I still have another week of February left to do something else. Next project is making a set of Raggedy Ann & Andy dolls for a benefit auction. I haven't done this much sewing for a long time. I'm enjoying the change of pace and the freedom of being my own boss, able to choose what I want to do with my time.

Ahem! Today is Saturday and your cleaning isn't finished. Back to work lady!