Happy Mother's Day!

Here we are!  Mother's Day is tomorrow.   I have mixed feelings about the actual day, as I have had to work the last 10 out of 11 of them.   I work at a hotel & we do a Mother's Day Brunch.  I have mixed feeling about that too.  I mean, what mom with little kids wants to get everyone out of the house dressed to impressed for a buffet lunch at a 5 star hotel?   Not me!!  Some of the dads are great.  The moms sit & get to enjoy their food while the dads serve a food runner for the kids.  These dads have spa appointments waiting for their wives when the brunch is over.  (I'm assuming these dads also had the nannies get the kids ready in the morning ...)

I always struggle with what to get my mom.  This year, I decided I would make her gift.  There is something unsatisfying about buying something for someone when they could easily buy it for themselves.

My mom was and is my inspiration for things handmade.  I remember the all nighters she would spend on the finishing touches of our matching holiday dresses.  There was one year she made matching nightgowns for my cousins too ... all 7 or 8 of them.  She was also frequently crafting for holiday boutiques everything from cats made of yarn to hand blown painted eggs.   She cooked, canned & baked from scratch too.  All while raising three over committed children.   She found time to serve her church, be school room mom & at times part time employee (my favorite was when she worked at an ice cream & candy store!!)  Now as grandma, my girls have knitted blankets, sweaters and booties.  Handmade clothes and thanks to her my 3 year old can make french toast almost unassisted.

I found the idea for this patchwork tablecloth in a Martha Stewart magazine.  The have an outdoor picnic table that gets used all spring, summer & early fall for family dinners, a Sunday night tradition.  Now, this was very intimidating for me as my mom is also an amazing quilter.  She knows the ins & outs of color coordination & placement.  Her lines are straight & seems are just so.  I think I did a pretty good job.  I won't admit that I made a few mistakes because being a patchwork quilt, you can add a patch & it works ;)

People often comment about the time it takes to do things like this & "finding" time.  Here is my answer, think small blocks of time!  No matter what your project is, it will take a certain number of minutes to complete.  This goes for housework, reading, and crafting projects ... well goes for everything we do in life really.  But for those things if you just work on them for a little bit - even 5 minutes, it brings you closer to the completed project!!  It may take you years to finish, but when you are done it feels really great!  So my thought for you, today is if you have a creative side - FEED IT!!  There is a real satisfaction in creating something.  If it takes you 10 hours to complete, by working on it just 1 hour a week in 10 few weeks, you'll have a completed project.  Time flies ... have fun.  Be creative.