my UFO epiphany

Thanks everyone for sharing your experiences with the sleeping patterns of your babies, it makes me feel better that it's not just Anna that seems to be possessed by the devil as soon as it comes to nap time. I truly don't understand it: newborns sleep lots, teenagers probably too much, adults want to sleep more so why do small children hate to sleep so much? Anyway after a week on her new routine she's having three long (1.5 hours) naps a day which is an absolute joy because I can finally eat, shower and even take photos for my blog now! She is still waking up several times at night though, and her new party trick is that only I can settle her, and if her dad goes in to calm her down she becomes hysterical. He claims to be upset about that, but secretly I think he's happy to get out of night time duty..... But I think if I can get her daytime napping under control in a week, eventually night time sleeping should be sorted out too eventually (maybe another 18 years???).

Well I've still been cleaning out my sewing studio, hence no photos to share yet. During the cleaning frenzy I decided to procrastinate in a useful way by photographing all my UFOs (unfinished objects for you lucky ones not to have any) and put them all in one box so I could go to them easily to finish them off in a timely manner (yeah right!). However when I needed a second large box to fit them all in I realised that I have way too many, which represents way too much time and money wasted. I read the very funny joke about finishing things off over at Jean's blog, and then saw this very wise buddhist quote over at lsaspacey's blog (she's looking for the source of the quote too, so head over there if you can help her):

"A Buddhist friend told me that if you're feeling stressed, get rid of the stuff you don't need and finish the things you've started."

So what is my UFO ephiphany? I finally realised that not every project is worth finishing and that I should clear those out so I can focus on what is worth doing, you know stop sweating the small stuff and just get on with life. So out went a whole bag of UFOs (some to the rag bag in the garage, others to my scrap fabric bag) of clothes that I know I will never wear or wear so little even if I finished them nicely that I don't need them.

That said though, I still have many to finish off so I did what any good anal retentive type does: make a list! I photographed each UFO, listed what pattern was used and what is left to do, printed it out and stuck it above my sewing machines so it's there taunting me. And I'm very happy to say that I have already finished one of the UFOs, one that I cut out the fabric and lining at least five years ago but never sewed up at all.

The story behind this top is that it is part of a three piece suit, made from a black wool. The pants I made and wore a few times but they didn't fit too well and I have no idea where they are now; the jacket I stuffed up and it needs unpicking and is also a resident in the UFO pile. So without the rest of the set I never bothered making the top. But it's a very simple sleeveless shell top, with princess seams that does up at the back, which would wear well with anything so I finally decided to finish it even without it's matching garmets. In warmer months or under a jacket I would wear this on its own, but it's pretty chilly around these parts at the moment so I've worn it vest style instead with my new stay at home mum uniform of jeans and flat shoes:

Remember when I was pregnant and obsessing about what shoes I would wear since I was addicted to my heels? Well now I pretty much always wear flats because I have no occasion to wear heels anymore, I mean I would look pretty silly rocking up to my mothers group in high heels!

I used a now OOP Michael Kors for Vogue 1826 pattern. I've made this top before in a lovely white waffle weave cotton that I wear frequently under suits, so I knew this would fit well and look good. It's simply two layers sewn together and turned inside out, with a zipper down the centre back although I put in buttons instead. It seems I have monkey arms because I have no problems doing them up at all! Please ignore the tag of my t-shirt sticking up there at the back of my neck.

Because it is plain black, I decided to jazz it up by adding some embellishment to the front, especially since I don't often wear jewellry. I have seen this done elsewhere on RTW clothing, so I can't take the credit for it. All I did was sew on some little rectangles of black and white striped fabric in a tiered arrangement on the front. Of course it looked better in my imagination than in reality, but hey for my current sleep challenged state it turned out good enough to leave it as it is, and actually wear in public. Because I just sewed the little 'flaps' straight on to the right side of the fabric, I sewed a strip of ribbon over the top to neaten it up a little:

So the good news is that one UFO is crossed off the list, the bad news is that I have another one of this top cut out and not sewed as well! So I may do that one next since this took only a few hours to finish off....

Happy sewing everyone, may you finish all of your projects and not be plagued by UFOs!