Have a Happy New Year! My 2014 Resolutions

I hope everyone had a lovely holiday so far. We did! Relatives visited us from out of town for about a week and everyone had a lovely time it seemed. I usually get stressed out about people staying with us because I would be trying to make sure the food is perfect, the rooms immaculate, with abundant entertainment, etc. This year I decided to just relax and to keep everything simple. No one wants to visit a stressed out hostess!! So I had very simple food/drinks (even the Christmas dinner was simple), did a minimum amount of cleaning, let the kids themselves be the entertainment, and not planned particular outings. It turned out that there was an ice storm here for a few days so we couldn't have gone out anyway. If I had scheduled some outings during those days I would be all stressed out and disappointed!

My sewing/crafting new year resolutions for the last couple of years had been the same:

1) No buying brand new stuff unless absolutely necessary. Go to the Thrift stores first if I need something.
2) No buying new fabrics/notions/patterns unless absolutely necessary. This past year I had only bought some Thrift store sewing patterns and some brand new interfacings.
3) Be creative with the fabric/notions/pattern/refashion stash I have. I had been making kid's clothes, accessories and home decor stuff with my stash so far.
4) Create gifts with current fabric/notions/patterns/craft materials. I made a purse for my daughter and 2 Thomas applique shirts for my son this X'mas. I had made fashion jewelry for my mother-in-law as X'mas gifts. 

So far my fabric/notions/refashioning stash has been gradually shrinking which strangely makes me very happy. I thought I should add a couple of new sewing/crafting resolutions for 2014:

1) Create my own fabric with notions and dyes and paints. I have seen so many lovely garments made by other bloggers who paint/stamp/dye their own fabrics. I would like to do that too!
2) Craft some toys for my kids with the current stash. I made stuffed animals and quilted mats for my kids when they were babies. I need to figure out what else I can make them now that they are older.
3) Attempt to make something with the scrap wood in the basement. I have always been very interested in woodworking so I need to go to the library and get some basic woodworking books.

That's it! Not too ambitious I hope. I have a whole year to try these new things. Hopefully I will have accomplished them by the end of 2014.

Have a safe and Happy New Year!!