Sewing? O where have you been?

We recently moved into our new 98 year old home in May of this year. It's been a while since I've sewn despite having a dedicated room to sew in, I don't really have the time or ambition to sew much right now. I like an organized sewing room not a messy one. I can't even move in it because boxes are still everywhere in there. I can't find a thing. I was thinking of unpacking it but why really? when I will just have to repack it to bring it up to the attic area in (hopefully fingers crossed) near future. So what did this crazy sewing nut do, I brought my sewing machine downstairs, LOL. I wanted to make this really cute valance that I saw on pinterest. I loved the colour of fabric I choose. They were really simple to make and a quick sew - just the perfect sewing project to get me in the mood again to sew.

But truth be told it will be a while before I can sew like I used to, again. So much stuff to do to this house. WIth having 3 boys all 4 and under makes diy time - fix up your house time (when they are sleeping). So instead of sewing I learned how to build things. Okay truth be told I would never thought in a  million years I would be able to build things but I like what I like and I really can't afford the stuff I like (sometime being a stay-at-home mom has some minor disadvantages - $ - mind you even if I had a full-time job I still wouldn't be able to afford the stuff I like lol ;) ) While looking up ways of refinishing furniture to make this house our home, I stumbled on Ana white's website, and learned of one of the best tools The kreg jig. I love it and now so does my house. I decided to build a bookcase for my kids' toy room. It turned out amazing and I truley love the colour. Only thing is that now I want to redo the curtains in more of a nautical theme. My dh gave me a hard time with this as it took a lot of time to do - when it comes to power tools, you can only use them during certain times of the day (not at nap time and not when the kids are sleeping cause the neighbours will get mad too) so it left my dh as solo daddy daycare for 2 whole evenings but really thats not that much in the grand scheme of things. It definitely made me more self-assured that I can do it too.

I also decided to build the boxes using 1x4's and up cycled plywood from the fugly built-in from the dining room. I image transferred a clipart image on to the boxes to denote the contents. Then I added twine for some handles and stained them with the stain I got from BM as-is section for a whooping $5.00 for nearly 3/4 of a gallon