According to the urban dictionary, a bucket list is: A list of things to do before you die. It comes from the term "kicked the bucket". My bucket list is one of my most important documents. It focuses my actions towards my hopes and dreams and guides my decisions. It’s great fun to think of the amazing things I might do and see. I’m motivated by the challenges I set for myself and am encouraged by my progress. Everyone should have a bucket list. Sean, over at Location Rebel has some good suggestions for getting started.

In my teens and early twenties, before I’d heard the term I kept a makeshift bucket list in my head. My goals at the time were to graduate from university and get a job. I didn’t make much space for my bigger, less conventional dreams. Life at that time was more about checking off the things I ought to be doing – acing that exam, getting to work on time, heading to the gym. I had a sense that I wanted to travel and go skydiving, but I didn’t set many specific goals and I didn’t write them down.

About ten years ago, my future husband and I sat down in a cafe and wrote out our individual bucket lists. We laughed as we compared our lists as they had so much in common: Two kids (one pink, one blue), buy a house, climb Mount Kilimanjaro, etc. At the time all those things seemed nice, but vague depictions of the future us. I came across this list a few months ago and was awestruck. All but one of my items was crossed off the list! Time for an update.

My updated bucket list is the subject of another blog post. In this one, I describe how I completed item #17: Sew clothing from curtains for my family, just like the Von Trapps. Who didn’t love The Sound of Music as a child? I used to dance around my imagined gazebo-like bedroom and dream about singing to our dinner guests as I made my way up  the stairs to sleep.

Dressing in curtains looks like a lot of fun and I like recycling. So just like Maria, I used castoff curtain samples to make hats for my children.

I used a pattern from Oliver + S with a modification for a strap from Andrea’s notebook. The pattern from Oliver + S didn’t print out to scale, so I needed to fiddle with the copier and eventually arrived at the correct size when copied at 125%. I left out the interfacing as the curtain material was quite thick and stiff. The Oliver + S pattern is scaled for extra small, small, medium, and large, but Dan has an extra large head so I increased the size of each pattern piece proportional to the difference in the other sizes. Each hat was personalised, diamonds for Dan and a flower for Sadie.

Even with the straps, they’re reversible.

Let’s hope the hat wearers take inspiration from these bucket hats and dream big. Or at least they can wear them as they dance around their gazebos.

What do you want to do before you kick the bucket?

Update:  The pink/cream hat was lost, so Sadie (4) and I worked together to build a new one.  She designed and cut the diamond pattern and I did the sewing.