What Have I Been Doing? (Part Three)

Last Wednesday I began writing about what I have been up to this last month.  I like to call this series, "Things I have been doing instead of blogging." Today I will share numbers 4 and 3 in the countdown.

4. Sewing a never-ending stage skirt

Ugh.  I hate to even write about this one, because it is one of those things with which I just want to be done.  In January (New Year's Eve, actually), I decided that I should make a skirt to go around the bottom of the pitiful stage at our church.  I went out and bought some fabric, thinking that it would be no big deal.  Well, it is a big deal.  A big, big deal.  I've made plenty of simple curtains or bed skirts that follow the same concept, so I didn't think it would be such a huge undertaking.  What I didn't bother to figure was that I would be working with fifty-four feet of fabric, in width alone.  It took hours to cut, hours to iron, and hours to sew, and I'm still not finished.  I have most of the gathers done and just need to complete final stitching and add some velcro, but I keep running into snags and issues, and it makes me afraid to turn the sewing machine on again.  My goal now is to have this done for Easter.  I'll post pics when I'm finally there...

3. Doing some "spring sprucing" around the house

I have a list the length of my arm of projects I want to do around the house.  It seems like I am constantly interrupted from completing even the most small or mundane tasks.  Or, I get sidetracked and overwhelmed by life and lose motivation...  Recently I decided to tackle a few of the small projects and feel a sense of accomplishment.  

Take, for example, these shelves.  They were a disgusting mess.  For the longest time, stuff was piled, jammed on there, and they looked horrible.  I was embarrassed if anyone came over for dinner, because the shelves are next to the kitchen table.  What I really want is to paint the table and chairs and the shelf, but I know that isn't going to happen any time soon, so I finally decided to organize them.  I don't have a before shot, but here is what they look like after a little sorting, cleaning, and with the addition of some new baskets that were on sale at Michael's:

I also decided to make some curtains for our half bath off the kitchen.  That bathroom is completely barren and has no personality, and since I can't paint the white walls, I need to infuse personality some other way.  I have a few ideas, and we'll see where they fall on my to-do list.  Hopefully someday I'll be able to show before and after pictures of the whole room!