While I still have plenty of sessions to blog about, I thought I would share a personal project that I started a couple of weeks ago. This past Christmas, I received a new sewing machine. My intention was to start quilting and whipping up things for the house and for the kitchen. Needless to say, time passed by and there it sat on my grandmother’s sewing table. I started buying fabric for Lillian’s quilt and throwing in a few favorite prints each time. The stash grew and grew. Then the summer hit, and I became busy……busy beyond my wildest dreams! Never in a million years did I think that I’d already be booking into October. Owning your own business is such a rewarding process. I love the excitement my clients have waiting to see their images for the first time. It makes a part of me know that I’m doing what I was always meant to do and that all of the stuff that came before it was just a part of the journey. It’s tough though too and it comes with a lot of sacrafices. Just like one of my favorite shows “The Fabulous Beekman Boys” on Planet Green, I like to consider this summer my “summer of sacrafices.” I’ll be the first to admit, I’m tired. I only schedule three sessions a week and leave Thursday and Friday’s open in case I need to re-schedule due to the weather, etc and I like to keep Friday open since I shoot weddings on weekends and like to leave that day open to relax. My days are spent in front of the computer, selecting my favorites, editing, putting photos in proofing galleries and on Facebook. Some days don’t require as much work and some days require that I’m on the computer until I need to get ready to go to my next session. It’s a never-ending cycle. Now I don’t want to seem like I’m complaining……because I’m not. I love what I do and I feel blessed to be able to do it. But like I said, it comes with sacrifices. I don’t get to eat dinner with my family the nights that I have sessions. Family dinners are very important to me and now that my kitchen remodel is drawing to a close, I actually like cooking and baking again! I wasn’t able to go to the library as much as I would have liked with Lillian and hope to change that this fall. We weren’t able to play on her new playset as much as I would have liked, though part of the summer was way too hot to go outside anyways so I’ll cut myself a little break on that, but not too much of a break. I guess part of owning your own business is a juggling act and learning when enough is enough. I could book 5 sessions a week, but at what cost?
So part of this whole juggling act is finding time for you. Whether it be a nap (I’ve taken more than my share of those this summer!), watching a movie, or finally finding the time to use that sewing machine that’s been sitting next to your computer for the past 8 months just staring at you wondering when it’s going to be used. After seeing some fun vintage sheets that had been cut up on etsy.com, I decided to purchase a bunch and use to make a quick thrown together quilt. Mind you I’ve never quilted before. What started out as a simple quilt for Lillian to use around the house, turned into a quilt that she would bring to school each day and use for nap time. A piece of me for her to let her know that even though mommy was busy all summer, she didn’t forget about her. It was important to me to finish and while I just need to finish up the binding, I’m happy with what I created. I think that part of putting this quilt together was a healing process for me. I needed to forgive myself for the overwhelming feeling of guilt I had that I was a bad mommy this summer……that I wasn’t able to live up to the expectations I had for a stay at home mom. What I needed to realize is that I also happen to be a work at home mom and that soon enough, the snow will begin falling and everything will change. So while this quilt isn’t done yet, I’m happy that she’ll have a little piece of me with her each day…..
It isn’t completely perfect, but I think that’s what I love about it the most! I hand embroidered the front with her name and I’ll probably add a little “love mommy” tag on the back at a later time. I’m trying to decide what fabric to use for the binding, but I’m really happy with it so far and I thought I would take pics before it gets destroyed……seeing as how she already stained the back of it with some Flav-or-ice Pops…..
I’m happy that I took this time for me…….I need to do it more often!
