Mommy Time: 5 Tips to Find Time To Embroider Even With Your Children Around
Welcome back! This is Embroidery For Kids And Me, Getting Stitchy with it blog and podcast, helping you and your children love embroidery step by step. Stick around for free tools, and patterns, inspired by fairy tales and the like. From time to time I will be interviewing amazing embroidery artists as well so be sure to stick around for all the fun!
This week I am sharing with you my 5 ways I make time for embroidering. In my season of life it is hard to find time to embroider by myself. So I mostly sew with my children around!
Many of us have heard our tanks being filled before. You need a full tank to run through your day well. When the yelling comes I know that I need to refill my tank!
Sharpen Your Saw
There’s another way to visualize this need we all have. Following is a story to help you see it in your mind.
A gown up son was sawing. His father joined him. After a while, the son was getting frustrated and tired. His father could see something was wrong and ask him about it.
” I’m trying to cut through this wood, but it’s taking a long time. This is my last piece and I just want to be done with it!” the son replied with frustration.
The father nodded his head knowingly, ” Son, you need to stop and sharpening your saw.”
“But I don’t have time dad! I need to finish sawing this one piece of wood! I am so close to being done!” The son continued this way until he ran out of breath.
The father waited patiently. “Son, trust me.”
The son looked at his dad. He didn’t want to listen but he knew he should. With grumbling in his mind, he took the time to sharpen his saw. When he went back to his piece of wood, the saw easily finished going though the last of the wood.
“I know it doesn’t feel like it son, but taking the time to sharpen your saw actually saves you time and frustration.”
My Season of Life
You can fill your tank or sharpen your saw even with your children around. Of course it is important to get time to yourself., but in some seasons of life this is very difficult! If we take the time to sharpen our saw, we have more energy to go about our daily tasks of dishes, child caring, and much more. We will have patience when our children start fighting for the 100th time in the past 5 minutes. But only if we have taken the time to do something we enjoy.
Drinking a cup of tea or coffee in the morning. Going for a walk. Reading. Gardening. Sewing. All these things can sharpen our saw so that we can go about our day with energy and enjoyment.
Since this is a sewing podcast I will be sharing with you my 5 ways I create time for embroidering. Even in a season of little ones all around! This is one of my favorite ways to sharpen my saw!
I will start by sharing with you the season of life that I am in, so you can get a picture of what my days are like.
I have 6 children. Ages 13-13 months. We are getting garden spaces ready outside, while inside I am trying to declutter and make our home look lovely. I live in a small home so I am trying to fix what I can to help me feel better with what I don’t like about my home.
I cook most every day. I am learning how to make sourdough breads as well as make my own kefir and the like. We have chickens. My kids need a lot of guidance with helping to take care of the house and garden.
I have a tight neck and back that will lead to migraines, even when I am careful about not doing to much that is physical. Making this better is taken a lot of time.
During the day I have my 3 and 13 month boys with me. The 4 oldest are at school.
My attention is wanted pretty much every second! I love having a big family but finding times to sew can be tricky.
Out of necessity I have figured out ways to get sewing time even with my children around. Following I will share my 5 ways to find time to sew!
Number 1 – Sew While They Play!
This works well with all ages of my children! We go out in the back yard, I bring my sewing basket, (to know what’s in it click here), and I watch my children play. We can talk, they can show me their treasures, and of course I watch amazing feats of acrobatics! Like climbing up slides and jumping of things! With embroidery I can stop sewing any time I need to kiss boo boo, or stop my baby from eating a sand!
Number 2 – Sew Together!
If you have children who would want to sew with you than this is perfect! If not then your child could be drawing, knitting, or reading aloud to you. My baby loves to play with our basket of fabric and yarn.
I do have children who will sew with me and it is so much fun! We laugh, we joke, we chat, and admire each others work. A warm fuzzy feeling fills the room. The warm fuzzes are bringing us closer together and I am reminded again how much I love my children.
My son Joshua particularly enjoys reading a loud to me so that is when I can sit next to him with my sewing while we enjoy a good book together. He does sew with me from time to time as well.
Number 3 – On Play Dates
I am blessed to have friends that I meet up with. Our children play, mostly, happily with each other while we mamma’s chat.
Along comes my handy dandy sewing basket. Some times we all work on something or just one of us but it is a great way to get the soothing rhythm of sewing that sharpens my saw. Time with friends is another great way to sharpen your saw so this tip is twice as useful! Aren’t I so good? hehe
Number 4 – While the Older Children Play with the Younger Ones
This one is sorta cheating but not completely because Interruptions still happen but they are less often. Plus my big kids get to have some fun time with the baby and 3 year old, and the baby and 3 year old have fun with the older ones.
I don’t usually initiate this. It happens naturally most often and is always a welcome sight and a welcome break. Even if it’s a short time!
Number 5 – In the Car!
When my husband goes any where with me and the kids he drives and I sew! I do need to stop regularly to keep the motion sickness at bay, but it’s still a great way to get some sewing in.
Review: because if you are like me you have forgotten most of the steps at this point!
- Sew while they play.
- Sew together or while they are drawing, building etc.
- Sew on play dates.
- Sew while the older ones are playing with the younger ones.
- Sew while your husband, mom, friend etc drive.
In Closing
Though I look forward to the day when I have more time for me each day, I refuse to be in a hurry for it. I do what I can now, while I watch my baby crawl into my lap, and my sewing needs to moves to the side. I see my 13 year old and know my baby won’t be tiny for much longer.
When I am in a hurry for my kids to grow up I know I have neglected sharpening my saw for to long. While it is necessary to have time with NO children around, we go through seasons of life where this is very limited. These steps help keep my saw be sharp in this season of little ones and I hope it will help you too!
As the saying goes,
” The days go by slowly but the years fly by”
It’s so true. Sewing helps my days be happier so that I can enjoy my children’s childhood more. I’m sure embroidery can help you also!
I have a free Rumpelstiltskin pattern if you would like to sew something for your children’s room! It can be found at right here.
If you would like to listen to the story of Rumpelstiltskin, be sure to check out my sister podcast hosted by my husband Eric called, Tales from Long Ago found here or wherever you listen to podcasts! It is full of fairy tales, fables, and legends to listen to on the go, learn timeless wisdom, or to keep your children quite for a few minutes!
See you next week! Good bye for now.
Click below to hear the audio version of this post.
You may also like:
- My interview with the amazing Taetia! She tells of her magical childhood, how she became inspired for her embroidery work, and how you can get started, even without confidence, in embroidery.
- Mother’s day gift it’s accompanying fairy tale.
- What tools I use to embroider. Perfect for a beginner to know what supplies to purchase.
