Joining, sharing, swapping.

Suddenly, I have an overwhelming urge to join in every single project I see people starting on their blogs. I don't know why this is exactly, I'm just being a bit of a joiner right now. Well, I do know a couple of reasons this could stem from. The first is a (somewhat reasonable) fear that once baby #2 arrives I will never be able to make or do anything I want to ever again. Well, that's not really reasonable, but I'm sure creative endeavors will be few and far between for a while. The second is that I have a lonely mom thing going on here lately. I don't think it's any secret that this is a reason for a lot of us being joiners in an online creative community. I'm at home with kids during the day, and then my husband takes our one car to work at night so I'm usually home some more. So what do I have to do after bedtime but sew and then talk to people about it on the internet? (Lord knows I'm not watching The Bachelor.) I'm thankful for that, but I know the pre-kids me would have thought this kind of sad. Maybe it is in a way still, but I don't care. I like you guys and your blogs and I like my blog. So there.



Anyway, at the risk of my blog becoming completely over-saturated with sugary-syrup little girl dresses, I'm really excited about Vanessa's project going on this very week:





She's heading up an effort to send a ton of pillowcase dresses to an organization that gives them to girls around the world who don't have 28 dresses neatly hanging in their closets. This is a good thing. You have til next Wednesday to finish a dress or five, and pillowcase dresses are pretty quick, so join in!





The other project I heard about from Angelina's blog and of course decided to join, in my join-iness. It's called 30 Days of Lists.  Not much to explain there, but I thought it would be fun to get back into regular bite-size writing. I'm not a journal-er, but I love making lists, though I go through phases with it. They give you a different topic each day, and they've been pretty good so far.

I stole a little moleskine from my husband to designate to the task. I won't share all my lists here, because you don't care, but they will mostly be on my flickr. Did you know I had a flickr? Let's be friends there too.

The list topics have been fun so far, but today's is "What's in Your Bag?" This is the first one I think I will need to change. No offense to everyone who blogs about what is in their bag, but those kind of posts generate zero interest in me. We all have basically the same things in there, and besides, I don't even carry a purse any more, just a lovely utilitarian unit they call a diaper bag. It's got diapers and wipes in it- not an exhilarating show and tell. Maybe I'll change today's list to "What's been on your living room floor for 3 days straight?" or maybe, "What simple things are becoming impossible due to your ginormous belly?" Those seem more applicable to me right now.




Since this has seemed to become kind of a rambling post, let me tell you what else I have become addicted too. Swapping. That random old photograph up there came from Janee in a package she sent me full of random things in exchange for a load of wine corks. She asked about my corks, I said let's swap. Ever since Tara's scrap swap, this is my first thought about any of my supplies. Yesterday, someone commented that they liked my yellow nursing cover fabric and I offered to swap them for what I had left of it. There might be something wrong with me... I'm trying to think of a way to turn swapping into a more regular event around here.


Anyway, Tara's mug rugs that she made with my scraps inspired my grandmother in Florida to make some of her own. (I love it that you read my blog Nanny!) She emailed me these pics yesterday. It just goes to show that not only do people's creative blogs inspire other bloggers in our own little pat-each-other-on-the-back online world, but also people who are observing from afar and we have no idea about. I love it.

So I hope you don't mind you are famous on the internet now Nanny :)