Finally: A Sewing Recap & Why

So here I am finally sitting down to do a 525,600 Stitches update.  It has taken me forever for a few reasons.  Life happens, right!?  I guess I lost a bit of my vigor with the holidays and the four of us passing around colds and such....  And really who is interested in what I'm sewing or not buying!!  (I think part of my "break" was me needing to figure out why I was sewing and blogging in the first place.  Again!!  That's the over-thinker in me!)

I'm ready to just sew and blog for me.  I'm ready to just be myself and if someone wants to come along for the ride, then wonderful...and if not, that's ok with me, too.  I want this space to be my creative outlet and the place where I chronicle our lives.  I have always felt a release in expressing myself through writing and pictures.  And as a wife and mother, I find having my own creative space on my blog to be cathartic; whether it means writing about my family so that we can look back some day down the road and see a moment captured, linking up an outfit post, or sharing my newest sewing project.  I'm just going to hang out here and be me.  And I'm excited about that!!

I encourage you to just BE YOURSELF, too!  And even if you're hoping to "grow" your blog...I really think the only way to be successful is to stay true to you.  I would love to have a blog that had a creative draw and possibly helped my family out financially, but I'm not going to push it and force something that's not part of His plan for us.  If nothing else comes from this little space but snippets of our life then I have accomplished something huge...I love that we will be able to look back here and smile about captured memories.  That is definitely something!!  And if He can touch someone's life through me then....

Honestly, my thought & feelings on blogging and the blogging community fluctuate.  Sometimes it reminds me of high school, and not in a pleasant way!  But, I find myself unwilling to say goodbye because the good amazing things I have experienced far out weigh the drama.  (And the thing about being a "big girl" is that we can choose what we put our time/energy into!)  There are moments here in blogland that have changed.my.life.  Women whose courage and heart I would have never known if it weren't for them sharing it openly on their blogs.  Times when I felt like no one else understood where I was at as a wife and mother...and yet, I found peace in relating to someone who wasn't afraid to share her heart.  Is it true that we can survive without this online community?  Yes, of course.  And I know women have done without it for many, many years....  But, while I oftentimes feel like I would have been better placed in another time (say, the 1800's ;), this is where I am and my choice is to embrace it.  I'm not willing to let go of all aspects of "simple living", but I'm pretty sure Jane Austen would have an AMAZING blog if she were alive today!

This blog is kind of like a dear friend that is always there to listen...a good friend that lets me talk even when it's really hard to follow (like all that up there!!).  I like that....

P.S.  As far as my little sewing challenge goes, I did allow myself to 'bend the rules' and get a few winter basics.  When I decided in June to sew all my own clothes for a year, I didn't think about the fact that I had gotten rid of basically all my winter clothes the previous spring...!  I still don't have much and only bought some basic layering type tees and a couple sweater/sweatshirt type tops.  So really I didn't buy much, but I still felt the need to disclose it here ;)  And now that I've cleared the air (for myself!) I feel like I can move forward!!  My sewing machine is calling my name!