The drive of the crafter...

A few weeks ago I bought new beds for the girls. The girls share a room and the boys share a room and for years I've had visions of match-matchy bedroom linens and beautifully coordinating paint colors dancing in my head.

When Tater finally outgrew her little toddler bed I decided it was time so I hunted and hunted until I found a pair of white bed-frames that would fit that matchy-matchy picture in my head (and they were on sale). The old beds went out and the new beds came in and we rearranged things and reorganized things and made plans. There in lies the trouble.

See I could go to the nearest Sooper-Dooper-Buy-It-In-Bulk-Cheaper store and get a Bed-In-A-Bag or 2 and bring'em home and fling 'em on the new beds. If I picked up the coordinating drapes at the same time (cause you know they have 'em) I'd be a home-making matchy-matchy mom and still be done in time to watch Oprah or Judge Judy and make a homemade meatloaf for dinner.

But instead I'm digging out little fabric swatches and leafing through my quilt books (and everybody else's) trying to find the perfect lavender calico and just the right eyelet and a quilt block that will bring a slight antique flavor to a brand new room.

But it gets worse.

If I make new quilts for the girls I'll need to make new quilts for the boys! Something rich and strong with a classic flair.

And if I'm going to the fabric shop I may as well stock up on supplies for handmade holiday gifts cause ya know that's right around the corner and speaking of right around the corner it will soon be cold out and the kids will need flannel jammies (made by me). And if I'm gonna be sewing flannel jammies for the kids I should dig out that pattern I have for flannel jammies for Mac Daddy and for me, too.

Sheesh.

It would be so much easier to just take a Saturday trip to the Sooper-Dooper-Buy-It-In-Bulk-Cheaper store and buy those Bed-In-A-Bag sets and some Favorite-Character-Of-The-Week jammies and a few smelly candles and gift baskets for holiday gift giving. It would be fast. It would inevitably be cheaper and easier.

So what drives me to make myself broke and sleep deprived? By the time the cold weather actually sets in I'll have the hair-do of Einstein and the brain cells of an cucumber.

And then there's the knitting! Everybody needs a new knit hat and a new knit jacket (one with buttons, 2 with zippers, and one pullover) and maybe a scarf or 2 or 10.

And every time I pick up a new book or a current magazine issue there will be something I just have to make (damn you, Martha). The girls will find those Special Holiday edition magazines with simple projects that require google eyes and yards of felt and sticks of hot glue and I can't say no because then what kind of mother would I be?

So if you see me in town at the coffee shop and I look a little "off" and sound like I'm muttering something about puffy paint or 12 yards of eyelet... just look away.

Comments

[bezzie]

Hee hee, I remember my mom making us quilts when we got our big beds. We ended up getting them as HS graduations presents. It became a running joke that she never got them finished quick enough from when we were little!

[chris]

Four quilts! That is a lot of work. When I made the quilts for my two boys - I made rag quilts, because I thought they would be sooooo much faster and they were, but - I was soooooo sick of snipping all those seams!

[Debbie]

And yet, somehow, you'll get it all done! Yea, super Mom! Oh, don't you just hate when you start getting all of the awesome holiday books and magazines? You want to make everything. Have mercy!

[Saralyn]

Just remember the old saying, "If Mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy." I'm sure your children (and your other friends and family) would rather have storebought than you totally frazzled by Christmas. Last Christmas I got caught up in the "have-tos" and I wish I would have taken it a bit easier and had more fun. All this stuff we do is supposed to be fun and fulfilling, right?