Where did April go?

You know what? I know exactly where April went because I blogged every single day.  On 1st of April here, I decided I would blog daily for the month of April in order to find out where my time went. Since it's the last day of April, then today is the last day of my daily blogging.

Oh, don't be sad. I'll still be around. I think posting 4 to 5 times a week is what I'll do from May. That's still plenty. Sure I could post daily if I wanted to. It doesn't take that much effort. But I don't want to run out of stuff to write about. I don't lead a very interesting life and I don't make that many interesting items to show you. So that's pretty much why. Also, I think for at least 2 days a week, I should keep some thoughts private. You know, just for me. :)

What I want to know is - Did you guys enjoy my 30 days of blogging? I know at least 4 of you did! And really, thanks so much to those of you who commented, facebooked, shared, tweeted or emailed me. I know you wanted to encourage me. It's great to have such wonderful readers. Those of you who were quietly reading away, I know you were quietly cheering me on. Am I right?

So what did I achieve in April?

My diet

I have to say cutting cheese and milk out of my diet was my greatest achievement. I only cheated on 2 occasions - one subway melt and an ice-cream (a few people put the word ice-cream in my head!). I had 2 little headaches after eating these and that put me back on track. The rest of the month, I totally had no cheese and milk. And the result - I was headache and migraine free.

Since early this year, I had been getting very severe headaches and migraines. I was starting to live on panadol daily. It really scared me.

After this experiment, I know I have to be very strict with my diet if I want to be pain-free. I know there are a few other triggers for headaches and migraines but I feel the big hurdle is over.

My fitness

I'm also really proud of myself for getting off my butt and exercising 5 times a week. For 3 days, I jog 6 rounds round the park. For 2 days, I use the exercise machines to rotate my joints and tone my muscles. On weekends, I absolutely refuse to exercise!

I went from zero to 5 times a week!

My ePattern

I published 1 ePattern and started work on 2 others. This is one area I need to have more discipline on. I think I need to set aside specific time of the day to work on ePatterns only. That way I won't be distracted. Right now I only work on it when I'm tired of sewing. That's not a very good plan.

Producing ePatterns is very tedious and honestly quite boring work. It all boils down to being diligent.

Sewing for craft market

Another area I have totally zero discipline in. I really just sew when I feel like it. It's crazy. This is not a good way to work. Of course sewing items to sell is sometimes not all fun and games. When something sells and you have to pay the rent, obviously you need to make more of the same. But it gets boring. Oh you know, I want to have fun and I want to be creative. Seriously, sometimes you have to just do it regardless of what feelings you have.

And I have to keep telling myself that!

Time wasters

I think I'm managing my time better in this area. Since I've become anti-Pinterest, it's been a big help. I have cut out 2 shows from my must-see list - Fringe (the different timeline thing just sickened me), and House (too tedious). Hopefully I'll cut out more shows and that'll give me more time for work.

♥ ♥ ♥

I have a craft market this weekend and of course I'm starting to sew like mad again. I wanted to have at least 4 lunchtime pouches ready and I managed to make 3 more so that makes 5.

I don't know how many of these I've made in total but it's getting harder and harder to get myself interested. Right now I'm just motivating myself with using remnants and getting the colours matched.

Today my sewing machine threw a hissy fit and I had no choice but to unscrew it and give it a cleaning. Do you guys clean your sewing machine? I really hate unscrewing my sewing machine because I'm so scared I'll never put it back nicely again.

These are the 3 lunchtime pouches I made today.

This is what I call a hit and miss fabric. Sometimes it sells very well. Sometimes you couldn't give it away. Today the sky was very dark. I had to use a very high ISO in order take my photos. I'm still not understanding the concept of ISO. But I do know I need to keep increasing the number!

Same fabric combo as another drawstring pouch I made. I'm running out of drawstrings.

I unearthed a small amount of this grey polka dotted fabric. Oh it was buried by my stash. This is a you either love it or nothing fabric.

This was the last unsold drawstring pouch from my last craft market. I wonder why. It's cute! (The bottom is red)

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See you in a while.