Busy wee bee

I'm finding this 'Working Mum' business to be a hard slog. It's certainly taking a long time for me to get my head around being back in the office (albeit for three days a week), organising the wee man, attempting to organise the house (fail!) and finding free time for me (major fail!). Hence I've not done one little bit of crafty-goodness for ages now and I'm dying to attack that fabric pile of mine.

Good news however is I've managed to persuade my charming family to donate to the 'sewing machine birthday fund' so I'll be getting my shiny new plaything next month. Bring it on! I just need to figure out which packing box it can live on until we get all the decorating done. Oh to have a wonderful work space like I see on a lot of other clever blogs. One day huh.

Today's dream is to be able to make something this cute:

Cuteness!

Although if I can learn how to make a baby version I can definitely learn how to make a grown up version. Why should the wee man be the only one with funky jammies to sleep in!

A new year beckons

After a pretty crappy Christmas (poor wee man had a fever and was miserable bless him) I'm all ready for new adventures in the world of sewing! This year I am going to become a real sewer... and to show my commitment to the crafting world, I've even picked the sewing machine I'll be buying soon.

Singer 4220 - soon to be mine!

So exciting. And even more exciting is I received two new sewing books for Christmas plus my lovely hubby went out and bought me lots of snippets of fabric. I just need to figure out what to do with them. I guess that's where the books come in handy. 

My first projects will be to finish the patchwork cushion I hand sewed together. The delay in finishing has been I haven't a scooby how to put a zip in, and I've also been waiting for my new sewing machine. The other project will be to make a cushion out of the gorgeous scarf I found at a charity shop. All simple projects, but I know not to get ahead of myself thesedays. With the wee man under foot there isn't much time to do anything advanced... not that I'm at that stage yet. 

Tomorrow I move into the category of 'Working Mum' - maternity leave is officially over (boo) and I head back to the office for three days a week. Logan's first full day of nursery is tomorrow so no doubt there will be tears from me. Speaking of the wee man... a waft of his nappy just hit me so I'll sign off.

Happy New Year. 

x

I have blisters

Ouch.

Working on this new pillow hurts. By not having a sewing machine (yet) I've been doing it all by hand which is great practice for me. However, I have a blister on my thumb and index finger from pushing the needle through a million times and it was throbbing last night. But look at how pretty the pillow is becoming!

Beauty is pain

I've learned some lessons from stitching this together so far.
1) I forgot that the squares of the charm pack aren't equal in length - hence my squares don't all line up
2) It definitely pays to iron as you go.
3) Wear plasters!

I'm tempted to wait till I get my hands on my M-in-law's sewing machine before finishing this. I don't think my fingers have room for more blisters! Plus, I need to learn how to insert a zip which make take a few lessons.

Oh the joys of learning a new hobby!

Baby Cube Number Two - done!

I'm well chuffed with this baby cube. It's so satisfying to have something sweet to look at after hand sewing it all. Shame I have to post it to a friend overseas who has just had a wee boy.

F for Fred

Stitching not perfect but I'm getting there!

I'm wishing now I inserted a wee bell or something that makes a rattling sound. Still, next attempt huh! (I need more friends to have babies).

As well as attempting more Christmas felt decorations for our tree I'm going to have a play with some ideas from this book I borrowed from the library yesterday. It's nice to get ideas from other sources... so many clever ladies out there with wonderful creations.

Let's hope I do them justice.

TCx

Don't just sit there... DO something woman!

I've made up too many excuses in my lifetime - always finding something else to do (mmm, folding washing) rather than sit down and get my hands mucky with crafty goodies. After having my first baby in March I find myself wanting to become more creative and clever like my Mum was when I was wee. She would make all our clothes and (even though she has a quilt she's been 'working on' for over 30 years) she's an inspiration to me.

So I've decided to take a bold plunge into the crafting world.  After snooping on other blog sites I've become obsessed with fabric, buttons and all sorts of craft-geeky goodies I can get my hands on. I love  the ideas and lessons on these sites and it's totally inspired me. I have a background in photography and my career involves building websites and other multimedia hoo-har, but I've been wanting to use my hands in a more touchy-feely way as opposed to just making my computer do all the work.

However, we move house in a months time and I still don't own a sewing machine (any tips much appreciated) so I'll be starting off slowly on hand-sewing/knitting shenanighans. The move to our new house is another good reason to start getting creative. I want to add my own little touch on redecorating the place with things like my own cushions and what-not. I get excited thinking that by having extra space in the house I'll be able to set up a creative corner to escape to (when the baby lets me!)

When I was pregnant last year I tried my hand at knitting. Lessons? No no no... who needs lessons these days when you can make it up yourself! Check out those fabulous holes and the genius way I added extra length to each row I finished. Clever.

First attempt. Poor. 

Thankfully when Mum came to visit last summer (we're from New Zealand but I live in Scotland and my folks live in Hong Kong) she put me on the right knitting rails and set me up with a better project than just getting pink wool and knitting with no direction. We ended up making a blanket for the baby, knitting lots of separate squares which we'd sew together at the end. A jolly good project for a beginner.

Hooray - a blanket for the wee man

It turns out I picked the right colours too as we had a wee boy! Logan is modelling the blanket below and loves it so much I've had to knit a small version for him to use as a cuddly.

Logan loves his Mum's efforts

So, I'm on the lookout for my next project.  I have just ordered a gorgeous reindeer kit from paper-and-string to get my mitts on. Hopefully it's easy enough to follow for a beginner! I'll update my progress once it's arrived. 

Until then... nappies to change, washing to fold, dinner to cook. 

TCx