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25 Simple ways to regain time2008 – This is the year to hit the floor running, filled with direction, resolve and momentum. We are always giving you hints to maximize your sewing time but if you want more time for YOU and more time for SEWING simply smarten up your act in other areas. House Keeping1. Paper trail – commit to keeping receipts and paperwork under control. Buy a divided folder and keep it in the kitchen. Then you can file everything systematically as things arrive. 2. Handle every paper only once – Bring in the mail and resolve not to open an envelope until you can sit down, process and file away. You’ll never forget to pay a bill on time again. 3. If you don’t already know, learn how to use Bpay and Internet banking and streamline bill paying. 4. Direct debit as many things as possible to streamline even further. 5. Buy a write-on calendar and hang it where you will see it every day. Transfer everything of importance from last years calendar. Birthdays, anniversaries, public and school holidays, sewing guild meetings, Stitches & Craft Shows. 6. Resolve to run a virus check on your computer on the same day every week. Delete old files and update your anti-Spam system. 7. Clean up your computer and hand held address books. Be ready to be in touch. 8. Keep a small diary or electronic organizer in your handbag at all times. Use it systematically and you’ll soon find that being organized is a breeze. House Cleaning9. When you can’t do a lot – just do a little. Time yourself and see how much you can do in just ten minutes. You can clean out the Tupperware drawer, de-clutter and wipe out the fridge, water the pot plants, sort out the undies drawer! You will be surprised at how easy it is to slot in a job that you have been putting off, for just the right time. Do one ten minute slot morning and night. 10. Each month have a major spring clean of one room. Handle all the maintenance issues at the same time, everything from changing a light bulb to booking a tradesman. 11. Re organize your sewing space. De-clutter, re-group and store well. Go through the ‘stash’ and pre-shrink and tag fabrics. Group in like order e.g. woolens, knits, lingerie etc. Clean your equipment and have your machines serviced. 12. Suggest a ‘Buy, Swap or Sell’ meeting with your sewing group and transfer any unloved fabrics or remnants. You may not still love them but someone else will. Cooking Smart13. Every time you cook a dish, cook double. Freeze meal size portions to help you out on those busy sewing days ahead. 14. Cook and freeze your favorite cake so you won’t be tempted but you will be ready when your sewing friends come to visit. 15. If you have the space buy your meat and poultry bulk. A good butcher will then package, label and date it for you and the price per kilo should be considerably cheaper. For YOU16. Make a list of things you would like to do this year, people you would like to meet or catch up with and places you would like to go. Pin it up, next to the calendar and work your way through it as the weeks run past. Don’t leave a stone unturned. 17. Have you changed your make-up or hairstyle in the past five years? Maybe it’s time to play with the experts in the cosmetic department of your major store. Don’t just do it once, but try several ranges and get several opinions. You may find out that you are happy with who you are, or you may come home and ditch the lot! 18. If you travel a bit or a lot, buy two of every cosmetic and bathroom essential. Leave one lot in the bathroom drawer and always have your wet-pac full and ready to go. 19. Have a closet clean out. If you haven’t worn it in the past 12 months you probably won’t this year. Some things will have run their time and should go off to the charity bin and other once loved favorites should be cleaned and stored for the next time fashion cycles that way. 20. Make shoe maintenance a high priority. Clean, repair, dye or toss. 21. Go to a good corsetry fitter and really buy the right size underwear. Remember that you can’t have a great fit and finished look if you don’t start from the inside out. Relax a Little22. Subscribe to your favorite magazine (I hope it’s ours!) and treat yourself to a few hours in a comfy chair each month. Not only will you save on the Newsagent price but also it will be delivered FREE to your door. Life doesn’t get any easier than that! 23. Commit to at least a 30-minute walk EVERY day. Soon you’ll find that you are doing an hour and loving it. 24. Plan to sew, embroider, knit or quilt regularly. Not only is the finished project satisfying but also the process itself is relaxing and enjoyable. 25. Really astound yourself and maximize the January sales. Buy next year's Chrissy presents and accessorize this year’s sewing projects. Have a fabulous year and remember to stop and smell the roses! 75 Years Young – Three Great InstitutionsBERNINA SEWING MACHINESThe birth of the Bernina sewing machine, in 1932, in the small town of Steckborn, Switzerland, Fritz Gegauf set out to create a home sewing machine that was superior in every way. The result was the very first Bernina sewing machine, introduced in1932 and named for the soaring heights of a nearby Swiss mountain. By 1937, more than twenty thousand Bernina sewing machines had left the factory in 1945, he invented the world's first portable zigzag machine. One big Bernina family. The age of the sewing computer. He accomplished both when he introduced the first Bernina Each of the generations has branded the company with their unique personality and original ideas. Today, you'll find that the inventiveness, family sprit and advanced technology live on in every Bernina product that's built. To view The Australian Bernina Story click here SYDNEY HARBOUR BRIDGEShe may be celebrating 75 years on the harbour this year, but the Sydney Harbour Bridge still manages to serve up some surprises. To celebrate the Bridge’s 75th anniversary, the team from Bridge Climb has launched The Discovery Climb – a new, “hands on” way to experience Sydney’s most famous icon. The Discovery Climb route takes you through the underbelly of the bridge, weaving a path through raw steel and rivets, winding around structural elements and climbing steep staircases on a steedy ascent to the summit that joins the two arches. You discover the history of the remarkable engineering feat as well as uncovering some mysteries. Book yourself on a discovery Climb to uncover the answers and everything else you wanted to know about the world’s most famous “coathanger”. More info at www.bridgeclimb.com DOG ON THE TUCKERBOXThe Dog on the Tuckerbox is an Australian historical monument and tourist attraction, located at Snake Gully, five miles (8 km) from Gundagai, New South Wales. It was sculpted by local stonemason Frank Rusconi and was unveiled by the then Prime Minister of Australia Joseph Lyons on 28 November 1932 as a tribute to pioneers. The statue was inspired by a bullock driver's poem, ‘Bullocky Bill’, which celebrates the life of a mythical driver's dog that loyally guarded the man's tuckerbox (lunch box) until death. Like much of Australia's early folklore, the origins of the Dog on the Tuckerbox are clouded in mystery, uncertainty and controversy. Yet, as with 'Waltzing Matilda', its origins lie firmly in the Australian bush and the early pioneers - who in this case forged west and south from the colonial headquarters in Sydney, following the explorers searching for the source of the Murrumbidgee River. Numbers of them took up holdings in the Gundagai district in the period 1830-50. They were hard and hazardous times with supplies and stores having to be transported along makeshift tracks over rough terrain by bullock teams. To pass the time while often being bogged, or for the river level to fall at crossings such as Muttama Creek near Gundagai, 'bullockies' would recite doggerel and rhymes picked up on their travels - and, sometimes, even write a few lines. Often on such occasions the bullocky's dog would sit guarding its master's tuckerbox and possessions while he was away seeking help. Bowyang Yorke's Poem 'Nine Miles from Gundagai' by Jack Moses
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