The Sewing Mom

Over the last several weeks I’ve posted several Tackle It Tuesday projects and wanted to finally give some updates on how I’ve been progressing. To begin with, I have posted a couple of times about tackling this particular sewing project and, I finally finished my Countdown to Christmas project. There are a total of 13 individual blocks, each one with its own applique, each is also machine quilted. The Santa block also had some additional detail work including painting the blush on the cheeks, hand embroidering the eyes and sewing on all the decorative buttons. I am very proud of this project and am thrilled with how it turned out! It is now on display in my family room.

While this project did not take as much time, it still seemed like it would never end, the holiday decorating. The bins sat out for way longer than I would’ve liked, but finally, it’s done. My mantle needs some adjusting because I’ve moved things around, but it will be completed soon. Our stocking holders that we’ve always used on our mantel wouldn’t fit in this house because of the mantel design, so I had to find a different way to hang them. Thankfully I found this great little rack at Kirkland’s which looks so pretty when the fire is burning behind it.

Here are a few photos of my family room, including the tree. On the shelves you’ll see my Countdown to Christmas and the table show my holiday card holder and nativity set given to me by my sister many years ago.

If I could make a holiday wish list for my blog, Dragon Naturally Speaking would certainly be at the top of the list. The next item on the list would be an elf to handle the code and technical side of blogging because I hate that part of it! Third, I would like another elf to keep up with all the technology involved. I would also like a theme redesign on both of my blogs and, while I’m at it, I’d love to have my sidebars fixed so that the widgets are utilized and not have it set up the way it currently is. The rest of my top 10 wish list would be simply, time, time and more time.

Well, I don’t know about the elves, but I can certainly save time and be more productive by getting Dragon Naturally Speaking.

Dragon Naturally speaking is a software program that allows you to speak into a microphone, as naturally as if you’re having a conversation, and the software does all the typing for you. The videos posted in the above list show many different ways and many different settings when Dragon can be used. My favorite is the “Stop Typing, Start Doing” video which showcases the wide variety of tasks a person can accomplish while dictating into a microphone, including juggling!I think the greatest feature Dragon has to offer is that it is so simple to tell the system to switch between programs. In other words, you can go from typing a Word document to doing a Google search or sending an IM, all simply by telling the software where you want to go. The software also allows for all types of punctuation, and grammar and is available in other languages as well as for Mac. The software comes with its own headset and, right now use Coupon Code- DNSMSBG -Dragon Naturally Speaking to receive the following discounts:

• $50 Coupon Code- DNSMSBG -Dragon NaturallySpeaking 10 Preferred
• $25 Coupon Code- DNSMSBG -Dragon Naturally Speaking 10 Standard
• $25 Coupon Code- DNSMSBG -MacSpeech Dictate

If you know anyone that does a lot of typing, Dragon Naturally Speaking makes a a great holiday gift!