Not What I Planned, But Quilts!
I was talking to May about our link-up last week after I announced my decision to reduce the number of posts I publish for The William Morris Project over the summer and possible the fall. She offered to keep the link up going on her blog, but I told her that wasn’t necessary. I can easily set up the link-ups to go live on Thursdays for those who have projects they want to share. I wasn’t going to post anything that wasn’t simple living related on that day anyway, because anything else–like, I don’t know, a round up of my favorite art supplies from Europe and Japan–after the last 18 months would be a little disingenuous.
So, the link-up option will still be here every Thursday. I know a few of you enjoyed reading everyone’s posts and keeping up with efforts to create a more intentional space, and I hope those of you who were participating will continue to do so.
I know I will, because guess who doesn’t have the boys’ room done after a kabillion years and dozens of empty promises?
This girl!
This week was the third 1-week block of traveling for the Mister and I think I got a little cocky. I really thought I had it in the bag. I don’t know what happened, but it’s like on Monday my life turned into a partially inflated, untied balloon right as it slips out of a clown’s mouth. I felt like some rubbery thing making loud noises and moving chaotically.
I just typed out a long paragraph detailing the many little things that drove me nuts this week and prevented me from working on the room the way I wanted to, but: whiny. Short version: many annoying things on top of the boys behaving terribly. Just terribly. I think they have summer vacation on the brain and when I open my mouth all they hear is the ocean or a soundtrack of people having fun at an amusement park. Whatever it is they are hearing, it surely isn’t go to bed, clean your room, get dressed, let’s go we are going to be late, I said no.
Motivation to finish their room: TO THE LEFT OF ZERO.
I did finish their quilts, so I still somewhat love them.
[Aside: do you see the bandaid Nico has on his left elbow? I didn't notice it until I was taking his picture and when I asked him he explained that during Water Fun Day he tripped over the fire-hose the firemen brought and landed on the nozzle. I stared at him for a minute and said, "Nico, buddy..." and Mikey just closed his eyes and shook his head.]
These are the quilts that my friend, Larissa, and Anne of Green Gables (I and II but not the WWI special sequel), Pretty in Pink, Footloose, North & South, Like Crazy, and Daniel Deronda built. I didn’t realize it until just now, but if you add the running time of every movie/mini-series we’ll know how long it took me to tie both quilts.
I tied them every 4 inches because my batting called for every 4-6″ (did you know the batting package will tell you the minimum spacing you should use for best results? I didn’t) and I chose 4″ because Nicholas is a thrower-upper. These quilts–particularly Nico’s–will see plenty of wash time. I erred on the side of caution and it’s a good thing. He threw up Tuesday night.
Okay, it was worth it. Nico was excited. Mikey was, too, but in his more subdued Mikey-way.
Both of them were tired from Water Fun Day. Who knows, Nico was probably recovering from the effects of a concussion he “forgot” to tell me about. They both wanted to snuggle under Nico’s quilt since it was the newest.
Of course, once I told them they could settle in and take a little nap they were wide awake and ready to goof off. Here they are trying to recreate this picture of them at just under 3 years old (Mikey) and 4 months (Nico).
I think I want to do another quilt. Or maybe try some cross-stitch or needlepoint. I find the whole thing very relaxing, and it’s a good hobby for me. I can read forever, which tends to eat up my sleep. I can’t tie a quilt forever. Any experts out there?
One more picture, just because.
Now it’s your turn! Feel free to share how you have lived according to the William Morris quote, “Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful.” Made a plan? Cleaned a drawer? Bought a sofa? Tell us about it with a link or comment. A few guidelines:
- Please link to a specific post, not a general blog address.
- Your post must relate to your efforts to create an intentional home. I have a delete button, and I’m not afraid to use it.
- No links to giveaways, please.
- Let’s use this weekly link up as an opportunity to gather inspiration and motivation. Click links. Discover new people. Say hi and good job and all that stuff.
Horizons
Next week will be my last William Morris Project post for a while, possibly the summer. I may extend my hiatus into Fall or longer. If I do something over the summer I will post it, but there is no set schedule. There are a few reasons for this. First, the summer is a time for fun and relaxation. I want to spend it with the boys as much as I can. Second, after almost 2 years, I’m reaching the point where projects need to be redone. Reorganizing a drawer I organized last year is a legitimate project, but it’s not an interesting project. I don’t want to bore you or myself. Third, the untouched projects I do have left are labor intensive and expensive. It’s not in my budget to gut remodel three bathrooms, and I won’t do a cheap or poorly executed remodel for the sake of blog content. Fourth, the boys’ school asked me to volunteer 2-3 days per week in the library next year. This is where the “extend into Fall or longer” comes in.
I have never committed to another hobby the way I have committed to blogging. My blog began as a gift from a friend, and I never thought I would stick with it–hence the stupid name.
[Quick tip: if you ever consider blogging but can't come up with a name, then for the love of everything holy, use your name until you think of something better. Or not. Just don't pull a name out of thin air because years later you'll hate everything about it. This probably sounds obvious, but 6 years ago it wasn't. Clearly.]
Almost six years later, here I am! I still love it, but this year was weird. I started getting frustrated and feeling intolerant towards the industry. I disagreed with and was disillusioned by some common business practices. I had no desire to keep up; I still don’t. I’m getting annoyed and when I get annoyed my go-to response is to sharpen my tongue on the flank of those whom I find annoying. That’s no good. I want to make sure that what I put out there serves a positive purpose to someone, even if it’s just myself. No one likes a know-it-all jerk.
The volunteer position at the library is a huge time commitment. I won’t be paid for my time, at least not initially. I haven’t decided what to do, although I’m leaning towards taking the job. It will be good for me to be around the students and books, and so long as the parents and school value enthusiasm and passion for reading over actual library experience, I think it will be good for the students, too.
I debated whether I should stop blogging come Fall, but several people–including the Mister–said it was a terrible idea. A reduced or reworked blogging schedule is one thing, but stopping altogether is unrealistic and most likely impossible. I’ve thought about it, and they’re right. I enjoy the community we have here too much to stop.
Over the summer I will figure out what the next year will bring in terms of what I write here. Of course, my 365 project will keep going strong. The William Morris Project will continue, perhaps at a slower pace. I guess everything will remain the same with the exception of the more personal stuff. The boys are getting older. There are so many wonderful stories I want to share, but I don’t. What I find cute today, the boys may find humiliating in high school. I err on the side of caution because I don’t want to be that mom, the one who posts pictures of her kids on the toilet or naked because they look so cute. (#flank)
I’ve reread what I’ve written here several times, and it doesn’t look like I’ve done a good job being honest without sounding whiny. You’ll have to take me at my word: I’m not a despondent mess rocking gently in the corner bemoaning that no one understands me. I didn’t write this in hopes of getting pinned/tweeted/commented/stroked and I’m not starting a movement with a hashtag. (#flank) I started this post thinking I would leave it to one sentence, but my brain had too many words and they had to come out. I’ll end with the sentence I planned to use as my beginning:
Hey, I’m going to William Morris my blog.
A Little of This, A Little of That
I thought I would do something different this week and toss the words out the window. Behold, in mediocre pictures, what we did this week. Followed by bullet points!
- We finally replaced the doors on our sink cabinet with the ones KraftMaid sent to us, hmmmm, 18 months ago.
- Our dryer died and we aren’t ready to buy a new set just yet. So, the Mister turned to his old lover, YouTube, and figured out how to replace the motor and belt–but not before he had me pepper Shaina with questions on Facebook.
- I spent most of my time, by far, working on Mikey’s quilt. Just Mikey’s! (I’ve given up hope that their room will ever be done before college.) Larissa came over and over the course of 2 hours we pinned the heck out of it. Then we moved to the couch and started hand tying while watching Anne of Green Gables on DVD. Sitting there stitching while watching Anne smash her slate chalkboard over Gilbert’s head had to be some of the most relaxing moments I have had in a long time. I even turned to Larissa and said, “I am having such a good time!” And I said it just like that, the same way I imagine Pope Urban VIII must have said when he got to Heaven, “Turns out the earth is round!” Larissa was equally surprised and said, “I know! I could almost cry I’m so relaxed.” We both had lousy weeks, so this was a much need mental break. But not a physical break, oddly enough. I spent several more hours after Larissa went home hand tying and when I finally called it a night I was exhausted. More tired than I have ever been after a 4 mile walk! Who knew crafters knew how to bring the heat? NOT I.
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Now it’s your turn! Feel free to share how you have lived according to the William Morris quote, “Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful.” Made a plan? Cleaned a drawer? Bought a sofa? Tell us about it with a link or comment. A few guidelines:
- Please link to a specific post, not a general blog address.
- Your post must relate to your efforts to create an intentional home. I have a delete button, and I’m not afraid to use it.
- No links to giveaways, please.
- Let’s use this weekly link up as an opportunity to gather inspiration and motivation. Click links. Discover new people. Say hi and good job and all that stuff.
What Hasn’t Worked
Not too many of my projects have been complete failures, thank goodness. I can’t recall if I’ve had to scrap any of them, but with many of them almost 18 months old they need to be revisited. Possessions need to be reevaluated, items need to be culled and reorganized, and everything needs a general spring cleaning. It’s one of the universal truths of The William Morris Project: Only the dead are done.
Real, living, breathing people make messes and collect clutter and keep pens that don’t write well. They put things in drawers when they don’t have the time or energy to think about where it belongs. They are human; they are not perfect. Sometimes, but not always, they make decisions in hopes of pleasing others and not themselves.
Case in point!
Let me tell you about organizing instruction manuals. I saw this idea on pinterest and thought it was brilliant. I’ve always had this idea of a shelf of home binders where everything home related would be there at the ready. Contracts, warranties, important documents, emergency plans, whatever. It’s what most organizational-type people recommend you do, and I thought I would start with our manuals. Great. No problem. Perfect, in theory.
I went to Staples and grabbed a gigantic black binder because that’s my personality. A gigantic black binder is a solid choice. The largest size would grow with me. Black doesn’t get and dingy over the years and is a color that would always be available. I wouldn’t have to worry about matching colors later down the road when I bought more binders. But nooooooo. Did I listen to my usual pragmatic self? I walked back to the end of the store because I needed something, maybe a label–can’t remember–and I stumbled upon the Martha Stewart section of the store.
At the time I was reading a few other home organization blogs and fell into the trap of comparing projects. Everything they did was really pretty. Their bins were all from The Container Store and labeled with modge-podged scrapbook paper in happy colors they cut out with their Cricut. I’m normally great about admiring without second guessing myself but for some reason I felt vulnerable that week. I didn’t want to be pragmatic and practical. I wanted to be pretty and twee! I put back the black binder and bought the (much smaller and more expensive) Martha Stewart binder in aqua, a color I don’t even like. Since then, I’ve bought a few more items that came with instruction manuals but I haven’t put them in the binder for two reasons. One: there isn’t room in that very pretty and twee aqua binder for another piece of paper, let alone a manual. Two: every time I look at it I get ticked off thinking about my moment of vanity.
This is another universal truth of The William Morris Project: Projects built on vanity crumble.
I couldn’t return the album (I plan to give it to my sister-in-law for my niece, Gabby), but I did stop reading the home organization blogs. There is nothing wrong with pretty and twee. There is nothing wrong with taking the time to make colorful labels or shopping at The Container Store. But, since I don’t do those things, there is little value in me following blogs that focus on home organization products. Honestly, I’m not into home organization. I’m into that William Morris quote and, by consequence, raising happy, productive boys in a peaceful environment without a lot of extraneous nonsense.
Unrelated, but something to think about: even hoarders can be neat-freaks. People just don’t see them as hoarders because everything is so well organized.
The second project that didn’t work as intended is actually a series of projects I affectionately call anything Nico and the Mister might possibly touch.
If Nico touches it, assume it will be in tatters by the time he’s done. He knows where I keep my stamps and some craft supplies, so all hope is lost there. I’ve lost track how many times I’ve organized their closet. His side of the dresser looks like an explosion went off. You can’t even close the drawers because when he looks for a shirt he half pulls out every single shirt in the drawer. If he’s missing a shoe, he takes out shoes from the shoe drawer until he finds the shoe he wants and then leaves, usually in a hurry because he is always in a hurry.
Sometimes he pulls everything out of the bathroom cabinet just to see how high he can stack it. Math, puzzles, building–he excels at anything that requires spatial acuity or reasoning. I can only hope he uses the gifts God gave him to invent a machine that will put his dirty socks in the hamper.
The Mister, on the other hand, is fairly tidy but only when it comes to projects he feels are important. His closet is not important. The way I organized the dog medication is not important. The coat closet is not as important as the hook right next to it. The way I organized the master bathroom is important. The medicine boxes are important.
You can see where this is going. When you do projects for someone else, you have to expect that they won’t always appreciate your efforts, especially since you really are trying to foist your methodology on them. The only way something or someone will truly stay organized is if they do it themselves, but in the case of children, that’s not always likely. So, for Nicholas I know he needs ample space to make a mess. If I want his dresser to remain tidy I can’t keep it stuffed with clothes. I have to be on top of purging so he has room to paw through his shirts like a dog digging for a bone. Same with the toys in his closet. I have to take those to Goodwill or it will forever be a giant game of Jenga in there.
Treating Nico and the Mister like me and Mikey hasn’t worked.
Last but not least, the homework drawers. This project I loved and continue to love. Every parent needs a homework drawer or two. But! I should have put it into my calendar (hahahahaha! I DON’T HAVE A CALENDAR!) to have them clean it out every month, just like they clean out their desks at school. They are a mess now, and once again it’s a battle to find a single pencil. The school year is almost over, but next year we will put into place a clean out day for the drawers. [See universal truth #1]
//////////////////////////////////Now it’s your turn! Feel free to share how you have lived according to the William Morris quote, “Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful.” Made a plan? Cleaned a drawer? Bought a sofa? Tell us about it with a link or comment. A few guidelines:
- Please link to a specific post, not a general blog address.
- Your post must relate to your efforts to create an intentional home. I have a delete button, and I’m not afraid to use it.
- No links to giveaways, please.
- Let’s use this weekly link up as an opportunity to gather inspiration and motivation. Click links. Discover new people. Say hi and good job and all that stuff.
What Has Worked
This week took me by surprise. It was stressful, sad, and worrisome. I wasn’t able to tackle any new projects because of this, but at least one bump in the week–Mikey getting hurt during recess bad enough for the school to call me–gave me an idea for a project free post for today.
I’ve been meaning to go over the projects I’ve worked on the last almost 2 years to review what has worked and what hasn’t. Today provided inspiration to do that following a call from the school.
When the front office called me, I assumed it was about Nicholas. Just the day before, his PE teacher told me as I pulled into school that he hurt himself again during class, but this time there wasn’t blood. The poor child really is a klutz, so when the caller ID on my phone lit up, I bypassed regular greetings and got right to it.
“Well, this can’t be good.”
“Actually, Mrs. Kendall, today it’s Mikey.”
She bypassed the regular greetings, too. We’ve established a comfortable rapport, what with me being there almost weekly.
Mikey fell during recess and scraped his arm and knee. My first thought was…and? I know it sounds callous, but Nico has effectively trained me react somewhat calmly when faced with unknown injuries.
She went on and said there was a lot of blood and that if I had the time, she would like for me to come and look at it and apply antibiotic ointment. They can only dispense band-aids, and she would feel better if he got some ointment on the scrapes. I told her I was on my way.
I slipped on my shoes, walked into the kitchen, and grabbed my First Aid box from the medicine cabinet, and drove to school. Once there, I irrigated Mikey’s scrapes, put on some ointment, and wrapped him up in some sterile gauze. (I’m telling you, Nico has me trained. I’m like a war nurse.)
As I was packing up, Mikey looked at me with admiration and said, “Mom, you’re, like, a clinic or something.”
A medicine cabinet organized the way we have it (kids, adults, first aid) has been a project that worked. When the kids are sick, I grab the entire box and leave it in their room while they’re sick. (There is a great comment in the comment section about the potential safety issues by doing this–proceed with caution!) When they’re better, it goes back to the cabinet. I don’t worry about accidentally giving them our medication because ours is in a separate box. I never have to dig around the back of the cabinet looking for little bottles. Everything is contained. I would love for the boxes to be made of metal, and I saw some great ones at IKEA, but size is an issue for me. My cabinets are narrow.
My Mama’s Toolbox. I no longer have to go into the garage (unattached) and hunt around for tools. I have everything I need in one box that I carry with me around the house. The only problem is that now everyone uses the Mama’s Toolbox and let me tell you, you haven’t seen angry until you’ve seen me go for a tool in my box only to discover that someone “borrowed” it last week and forgot to put it back.
The Quakehold didn’t withstand the moisture of a bathroom without proper ventilation–and I didn’t think it would–but my organized hair accessories is still another favorite project. I have plans to velcro the boxes to the door, but for now they sit on the bottom shelf. I couldn’t be happier to have my bobby-pins and hair ties organized and separated. It really has made a difference getting ready.
The fitness drawer? Brilliant. It makes getting ready easy and it makes putting away laundry easy. Plus, don’t ask me why this is, but having everything there down to the socks is key. Honestly, I think it’s the socks box that makes the difference.
We should have redone the laundry room years ago. The only problem I have with it is that the Mister likes to store all the paper products on the top shelf. I’m 5’4″ when I have my back up about something. The rest of the time…I’m not 5’4″. Getting items from that top shelf is a real pain. The clean room is worth it, so I can’t complain.
The family room was years in the making and discussed in countless posts as we slowly got things done. The wall of books is a favorite and is a good use of space. I love my white ektorp sectional from IKEA and could write a whole post about the pros and cons. Short answer: I would recommend it in in a heartbeat, with caveats.
There are many other projects that have worked out well, but the only other one that stands out right now is the binder method for storing pictures. It makes it easy to store new pictures as they come in.
Next week I’m going to discuss the projects that haven’t worked, or haven’t worked as well as I hoped. There have been plenty.
//////////////////////////////////Now it’s your turn! Feel free to share how you have lived according to the William Morris quote, “Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful.” Made a plan? Cleaned a drawer? Bought a sofa? Tell us about it with a link or comment. A few guidelines:
- Please link to a specific post, not a general blog address.
- Your post must relate to your efforts to create an intentional home. I have a delete button, and I’m not afraid to use it.
- No links to giveaways, please.
- Let’s use this weekly link up as an opportunity to gather inspiration and motivation. Click links. Discover new people. Say hi and good job and all that stuff.
