BECOMING A GOALIE

With the calendar turning to 2019, it's a good time for each of us to take a quick look at where we are and where we want to go in the new year. I never make resolutions, but this year I'm setting goals...that makes me a "goalie."

DTFM'S 2019 GOALS

1. Be more positive and less judgmental; focus on the good.

2. Look for ways to serve others.

3. Focus on taking better care of myself (improve eating, sleeping, working out, stress management).

4. Do something creative and fun every day.

5. Ease up on work hours, moving toward semi-retirement (not a full departure)

POSITIVE OUTLOOK

While I'm still dealing with some burnout issues, it's easy to feel cranky and negative. The first step toward a positive outlook is to increase my awareness of the negative triggers; for example, there's a LOT of trash talk aimed at other drivers when I'm on the road (glad they can't hear me!). I'm now trying to follow up any negative outbursts with a positive comment ("Well, at least you didn't run over anyone!"), and eventually hope to just ignore their automotive transgressions without comment. At this point I'm still working on the awareness step, but that's a good start.

SERVING OTHERS

At work, at home, anywhere I am: how can I make a difference for someone each day? This will take a little thought at first, but I'd like to come to the point where I naturally put the needs of others first. Wondering "What do you need?" and "How can I help?" should get me started on that path. To begin, I'm trying to be more aware of what those around me are doing so I can recognize opportunities.

SELF-CARE

With the burnout easing a bit as things at work calm down, I can focus on opportunities to take better care of myself. The post-holiday eating plan has returned to normal, with more fruits and vegetables and less sugar. Getting enough quality sleep is always an issue, and I find that it helps to put down the electronics well before bedtime, as does eating right and getting enough exercise. It will be good to get back to some strength training and stretching during workout time instead of just using the treadmill. Working out is also a great mood lifter and should help fight burnout.

CREATIVE & FUN

I get caught up in tasks or issues and forget to have fun or be creative, even though I work in a creative business (at a company with "Creative" in its name!). There are many creative and fun options all around me and I fully intend to take advantage of them every day in 2019. So far I'm doing fairly well with this one, but am finding that I have to focus and make it happen, and on more stressful days it has to be a priority.

SEMI-RETIREMENT

It would be great to have the additional free time that working only four days a week might provide, reducing work hours while still keeping my hand in the business I love so much and continuing to add value for my employer. Accomplishing this reduction sometime before mid-2019 would be exciting and I would plan to continue reducing my work hours gradually as time passes over the next few years until I reach full geezerhood.

CATCHING UP

Meanwhile, as I have been dealing with burnout (which is improving), these blog posts have been less frequent. I continued to work on several creative projects over the past few months, and I promised I would share them. In addition to the liturgical stoles and Quilt of Valor quilts that I have previously posted, I have sewn a few shirts, some of which have used fairly old stash fabric.

IT'S REALLY A TIE. OR IS IT?

This bow-tie applique shirt was a suggestion from Michael Quinn at Springs Creative, inspired by another shirt I had made with a different tie applique. The shirt fabric is a pale blue 100% cotton pinpoint oxford with a luxurious hand-feel you wouldn't believe. I just cut the ready-made bow tie (from a Dillard's clearance outlet) in the center of the band, positioned and pinned it to the shirt fronts, then edge-stitched it on before sewing up the shirt.

CORDUROY

Lurking in the stash was this piece of periwinkle blue paisley-printed corduroy; the fabric source and timing have faded from memory, but it's been on the pile for a LONG time. The bad news? I had pre-washed this several years ago, fully intending to sew it up, but never got around to it. (Pre-washing removes the preservatives.) The good news? The fabric was still in perfect condition and sewed up well, even though it looks wrinkled in the photo. Great casual shirt!

FLANNEL

This beautiful yarn-dyed flannel stripe fabric came from my Showcase of Fine Fabrics store at Miami's Dadeland Mall, 1984. It has jaspe yarns and mimics the hot Norma Kamali designer looks so popular at the time. (Jaspe is a woven fabric with a series of faint stripes formed by twisting together 2 yarns of different colors.) This fabric is incredibly soft.

Sewing this shirt was an adventure in seam ripping. Because it's a yarn dye (woven with dyed yarn), the front and back of the fabric look the same. I had placed pins in each shirt front to indicate the right side of the fabric, but I also used pins to mark the shirt front pocket placement on the back side of the fabric. That's when things got a little confusing.

I stitched the front band on the right front without incident. When I stitched the front band on the left front (correctly, as I realized later), I noticed the pocket placement pin on on the back side of the fabric and mistakenly thought I'd sewn the band on the back side of the fabric. After ripping out the stitching and sewing the band on the opposite side, I (too late) realized that it had been sewn correctly in the first place. After ripping out what I had just re-sewn, I restored the band to the original position and completed the shirt. Just another of the occasional potholes in the long road of sewing projects!

PROJECTS IN PROGRESS

Several projects are queued up for finishing. There are two Quilts of Valor quilts which are now quilted and need to be trimmed and bound for a February presentation at Oakland Baptist Church here in Rock Hill, South Carolina.

I also have started prep for a "Jelly Roll Race" quilt made with 2.5" strips of fabric. A Jelly Roll is a cotton fabric precut product (pictured above), usually with 40 strips. I want to make a larger quilt, so I'm cutting my own 2.5" strips using fabrics from the stash. I'm intrigued by the process, the promise of a quilt top completed in a single day, and am excited to check it out...stay tuned!

There is another Lenten liturgical stole to be made as I work with my Senior Minister to create a custom version incorporating design inspiration from multiple Pinterest posts.

Until next time, keep those sewing machines humming, and shoot me a quick email about your goals for 2019. We're all in this thing together!

danthefabricman@yahoo.com

@danthefabricman