Monday, May 08, 2006

Confessions of a manic project-a-holic

Shhh. I'll tell you a secret, a big fat one. I am insane. No really, I must be nuts. Nobody in their right mind would start as many projects as I have without having the skills and knowledge to finish them.

To my credit, I did finally finish the bassinet cover (although only after begging and pleading and nagging my mother to help me..) But sadly that only scratches the surface.

Projects my insane self has started:

Cover for Moses Basket (the cover it came with is VERY girly)

Birth Announcements (Much messier than I had anticipated)

Baby Book (I couldn't find a pre-made/formatted one that I liked... so I'm making my own)

European Pillow Shams - they are hard to find!

About 6 front-snap closure rompers, because I'm forever being told that it's a nightmare to get onesies over a newborns head.

Oh, and another embroidery project to be framed and gifted.... but I generally work on that during my lunch breaks.



Now, all of these projects are started already. Material is cut out, paper and supplies are purchased and sorted..... but none of them are really near completion... at all.

And I think I big part of why they are not finished is because I'm afraid to forge ahead and finish them. I am not really a crafty girl. I have a great imagination for envisioning finished products and I'm halfway decent at following instructions, but I lack real-life experience in completing such projects (with the notable exception of the embroidery... I may only know 3 stitches... but I have got a good track record of finishing what I start.) I think I'm afraid that if I go ahead and try to finish one of my other projects (sewing especially) that the finished product will fall so far short of my hopes and expectations that I'll get supremely frustrated. A big chunk of me wants to wait for someone (my mom) to have time to help me... but ha ha ha very funny. My mother is so perpetually overwhelmed now that she's gone back to work that catching a calm 10 minute conversation with her is momentous. So we will not be asking the mother for help.

Still, the list of projects needs to be tackled, and with the exception of the pillow shams they all need to be done soon. I guess the first step is to not add any more projects to the list, eh? The second step is to recruit my little sister to help with the parts she's capable of helping with, because I know I can keep her interested for at least 20 minute stretches. The third step is to recruit Mr. Renn to help, which first involves getting him remotely interested. Hmm... maybe skip the third step, it could require more energy from me than I would ultimately get back from him. Fourth step.... how about picking a project and working on it until it is finished?

Yup, I'm definitely a raving lunatic.

3 comments:

--jeff * said...

perhaps you are a lunatic [we're all mad here, aren't we?], but in the world of lunatics, whether 'stark raving' or simple 'on the grass', i think the 'ambitious pregnant lady' is really a pretty good road to choose.

and from the valentine's day card you made, i would heartilly disagree with you in regards to your finished expectations falling short of your dreams. [unless you planned for it to come with lights and a singing hamster, but i like it the way it is anyway!]

Tracy M said...

Oh but being a raving lunatic is SO MUCH fun! Honey, I have at least that many projects going at one too, and heaven only knows how many unfinished ones are in the closet!

When I was pregnant with Jeffrey (#1) I made him no fewer than four quilts. I handmade his baby book too, because I coulnd't find one I liked, I made a new cover for the old bassinet we borrowed (WAY harder than it looked!) and I painted a mural on his bedroom wall. I also looked high and low for a moses basket, but never found one, or I would have been there too. There is an embroidery I started for my dad about 4 years ago in my sewing closet, too. I doubt that one will ever get done!

Right now, post baby #3, I have about nine quilts in various stages of completion- yes, seriously, nine. Maybe ten. Baby #2 got a store bought baby book, because at least there is something recorded then, and #3? Ha! Scraps of paper in a tupperware container, if she's lucky! Abby did get new bumpers and curtains, mostly because rockets and exploding stars didn't seem very girly... but maybe I'm just being sexist!

Your day yesterday sounded possitively dreamy... What a kind and thoughtful husband you have! And I just keep reading Mitten Strings over and over.... such a good book- I'm really glad you are both enjoying it.

As far as your projects, I say the more the merrier... you have fun and enjoy your time- after baby comes, you will have a much harder time carving out space to make things, so go for it now.

Shelley said...

Hey, seriously, what's "normal"? I hear ya with the "too many projects" bit. But your projects sound cool!

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