Motivation Behind Sewing

This is a journaling-type post more than a craft post. I am not sure if anyone is really reading this, but I wanted to put it down on "paper" to think about it some more. Maybe it's more to get it out of my head and into some concrete-type form...

Lately my life has changed quite a bit and I find myself not having much "leisure" time at all to sew or craft. In the past I had a lot of time to pursue any idea that popped into my head that  begged to be made. This was great fun while I had the time. To give some background, I taught myself to sew in the summer of 2006 when my hubby bought me a sewing machine for our 1 year anniversary. As soon as I got the hang of it I began an Etsy shop in early 2007 (typical me going gung-ho, putting the cart before the horse, and so on--didn't really give myself a chance to ease into the craft). So I have been sewing for my shop from the get-go, and never had the experience of sewing primarily for my own use or for gifts for others. I wish I had the traditional "high school Home-Ec class experience" and then onward from there to sewing clothing, quilts, etc, but I didn't. It is strange. I kind of did things backwards (typical me, again).

Now I have an 8 month old baby who is learning to crawl, pull up, and soon walk, and I find myself chasing after him in every spare moment that I used to have, the extra time he gave me when he was less mobile, to sew. [that was probably really poor sentence construction, sorry.]

Besides not having enough time, I find myself wanting to sew more for my family rather than for my shop where things may or may not be purchased and sent on its merry way to the buyer. It is great to sew and list something that someone else likes and actually buys with their hard-earned money. It is flattering! But it can be really hard to take when you put a lot of time into projects, list them, and then watch them expire from their listings after a few months.

I am a SAHM and self-proclaimed Homemaker, and I keep finding things that I could and should be sewing for my home and family to make our lives/home easier and more beautiful. But I put those projects on the back-burner to make things for my shop--it is hard for me to think outside of the box when I sit down at my Singer. I feel I have to be making something for someone else out there in Etsy-land. The priorities are a little screwy here. Now that I am hard-up for free time, I am REALLY putting those important home projects on the back burner. I find myself with stacks of girly, fun fabrics perfect for sewing accessories, but am not sure I want to pursue the ideas I bought those fabrics for right now. And I am in lack of home-y type fabrics to make things out of that we need in our apartment! Ugh!

So, I guess I am saying that I am thinking about not sewing any new items for Sweet Sparrow, and instead I will focus on what my home needs from me when I can find the spare moments to sew. Just thinking...we'll see what I really end up doing.