I've sat here for quite a while with a blank page, not knowing what to write or where to start. My blog is a place for sharing sewing and crafting and having fun, making friends and not what I am about to use it for. But I just need to say something. If you are adverse to negative posts, then feel free to skip on me, I won't take it personally. I like a good moan now and again but this is a bit deeper than that.
The short of it is, I have depression, typing that is SO hard. I like a good dose of denial with my depression too. I have had far too many years practice of pretending in real life that I am happy, on top of everything, more than just coping 'I'm doing great'! Everyone seems too believe me, except my husband, he can always tell. It has dawned on me that I am great at putting across this front online too. Believe me I am a happy, bubbly, jokey sort of person, its just that I have this dark desperate side to me too that I battle with and don't really like to share, after all who wants a wet blanket around? I don't want this part of me, it is a nuisance and gets in the way of life...but I am learning that it IS part of me and I just have to live with it and find coping mechanisms.
I am really not sure why I am sharing this, perhaps because I am sat alone typing, it feels like I am telling no-one. I never do this in real life. I have alienated friends because they don't know what I am going through, I guess they think that when I shut myself away because I cant communicate that I am actually just being rude. All I can say is writing this sort of helps. I WANT to blog, I know I am always sewing (I swear I would be in a straight jacket if it were not for the sewing!) but I never get time to share it all with you. Life is busy, life is hard, not just for me I know. A lot of you have your own struggles to deal with. But I have made real friends here too, and I don't want to alienate them. I read your blog's everyday, some days I just can't comment as I don't have any words. Its torture for someone who talks so much and loves being busy to feel so bleak I cant talk or bothered to do anything.
I guess what I want to say is thanks for being there for me, all of you. even if you don't realise it you make a difference to me. I'm off to quietly sob into the soda bread I am supposed to be making. I've had some lovely post over the last couple of days and I'm hoping to come back and share it with you in a much lighter fashion soon!
Tuesday, 30 October 2012
Wednesday, 24 October 2012
Monday, 22 October 2012
Something Wicked This Way Comes!
All right, enough of the jolly Christmas makery, it is time to make things a little spookier around here!
Having my very own little witch (Juliette was born on Halloween and often lives upto it!) we have become quite excited about Halloween decorating over the last couple of years. We still don't have many decorations (why is everything in the uk made of plastic for Halloween?!) Seeing all the amazing home décor on the American blog's I decided I had time (pah!) to knock up a couple of table runners for the lounge.
For the first I made a little runner like this one made by Vanessa, you can see a picture (old) of my little witches in the back!
Then a bigger scrappy quilt as you go runner.
I love this one, it may just stay out all year! Which is funny really because I decided to cut a few corners, after all this was only going to be out for a couple of weeks a year right?! I didn't put a backing on and I used some scraps of an old wool blanket instead of batting as it was all I had. Oh well, I am sure visitors won't come round and turn it over!
Do you like my reading?!! Speaking of which, I must dash, I have a date with some vampires ;-)
Having my very own little witch (Juliette was born on Halloween and often lives upto it!) we have become quite excited about Halloween decorating over the last couple of years. We still don't have many decorations (why is everything in the uk made of plastic for Halloween?!) Seeing all the amazing home décor on the American blog's I decided I had time (pah!) to knock up a couple of table runners for the lounge.
For the first I made a little runner like this one made by Vanessa, you can see a picture (old) of my little witches in the back!
Then a bigger scrappy quilt as you go runner.
I love this one, it may just stay out all year! Which is funny really because I decided to cut a few corners, after all this was only going to be out for a couple of weeks a year right?! I didn't put a backing on and I used some scraps of an old wool blanket instead of batting as it was all I had. Oh well, I am sure visitors won't come round and turn it over!
Do you like my reading?!! Speaking of which, I must dash, I have a date with some vampires ;-)
Saturday, 20 October 2012
Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!
Firstly apologies to Hadley, Katy and anyone else offended by the untimely arrival of this festive laden post!
But today I hosted/taught my first workshop at home in my small studio. 3 lovely ladies joined me to make a quilted advent calender. We laughed, sewed, ate home made cake, drank tea and talked and talked and talked!
I am quite exhausted but very contented after a blissful afternoon. It has confirmed what I already suspected, I love sewing and sharing my knowledge. Apparently it was quite obvious I have a passion for sewing, my ladies told me as much! I was so caught up in demonstrating, helping and explaining that I clean forgot to take any photos!
So you will have to make do with snaps of a couple of Christmas mini quilts I made this week to decorate the workshop and get it looking all festive to inspire the ladies.
I used the little scraps of Cherry Christmas sent to me by Kelly to make some little 1" hexies. I love this line so much and I know I need a charm pack just as soon as I can afford one. So pleased too to finally have some use for the cute little hanger I brought last year at my lqs. A bargain £1.50 I have been dying to use it ever since! I tried out a new stof linen that I brought a fq of this week, it is only £6.99 a meter at my lqs, another bargain!
They are both at home in the studio, this is AFTER I de-cluttered ready for the workshop!
But today I hosted/taught my first workshop at home in my small studio. 3 lovely ladies joined me to make a quilted advent calender. We laughed, sewed, ate home made cake, drank tea and talked and talked and talked!
I am quite exhausted but very contented after a blissful afternoon. It has confirmed what I already suspected, I love sewing and sharing my knowledge. Apparently it was quite obvious I have a passion for sewing, my ladies told me as much! I was so caught up in demonstrating, helping and explaining that I clean forgot to take any photos!
So you will have to make do with snaps of a couple of Christmas mini quilts I made this week to decorate the workshop and get it looking all festive to inspire the ladies.
 |
| Mini quilt inspired by this one here |
I used the little scraps of Cherry Christmas sent to me by Kelly to make some little 1" hexies. I love this line so much and I know I need a charm pack just as soon as I can afford one. So pleased too to finally have some use for the cute little hanger I brought last year at my lqs. A bargain £1.50 I have been dying to use it ever since! I tried out a new stof linen that I brought a fq of this week, it is only £6.99 a meter at my lqs, another bargain!
 |
| As soon as I saw this mini quilt on pinterest I just had to make my own little one, it is adorable! |
They are both at home in the studio, this is AFTER I de-cluttered ready for the workshop!
The girls are much better following their tummy bug and all should be back to normal next week, fingers crossed! My week was made a lot cheerier by the news that I had won a cute bundle of Christmas Fabric, from Jesse at Messy Jesse. Very timely too with all the projects I have been working on!
They are lovely, thanks Jesse! Expect more Christmas makes soon (Just waning ya!)
Jesse has just launched a fab new online shop, Sew and Quilt.
She is selling lots of wonderful vintage fabrics, along with a lovely range of 1930's reproduction prints which can be hard to come by, along with favourites such as Sew Mama Sew, Liberty Bloomsbury Garden prints and lovely Scandinavian themed Christmas prints. I know that I will be adding to my Christmas bundle soon!
I'll be back in a day or two with a new project (as long as I get it finished tonight and I'm not too distracted by the gogglebox) and I promise it wont be a Christmas one!
Wednesday, 17 October 2012
Get your pink on!
Firstly, thank you all so much for the lovely messages of congratulations on my teaching news, I am so excited, the only way it could be better if you were all there with me!
The wonderful run of productivity I had on Monday came to a rapid cease when both the girls came down with a sickness bug within hours of each other, yuck!
They are much better today but will have to stay of school so we are all stuck at home. I took the opportunity that sleepy pyjama'd girls wanting to just watch telly presented and cracked on with putting the first borders on the fractured oakshott quilt
The wonderful run of productivity I had on Monday came to a rapid cease when both the girls came down with a sickness bug within hours of each other, yuck!
They are much better today but will have to stay of school so we are all stuck at home. I took the opportunity that sleepy pyjama'd girls wanting to just watch telly presented and cracked on with putting the first borders on the fractured oakshott quilt
I am so excited now the pink is on, love it even more! Next week the final row of borders and the plum, it is going to be awesome!
I'm off to rustle up some epp to occupy myself as the sickly twosome want some snuggle time on the sofa with me! Hope your week has more sewing and less sick buckets than mine so far!
Monday, 15 October 2012
Being a good girl!
I am dutifully working my way through my FAL list, ticking things off, all with the sole intention of giving myself some guilt free sewing fun time!
This morning I finally put the binding on the Dresden mini, thank you for all your fab suggestions, all of which I completely disregarded! In the end I had to go with what I had to hand and used up the apple print on white from the Little Apples line. I had to join like 10 tiny strips to make a piece long enough but it is for me, so I don't mind all the seam joins on the binding. ONE day I WILL learn how to make these joins properly on an angles, until then I am happy to carry on doing it my way!
It is great to have it finished and up on the wall above the sofa with it's other mini buddies. This wall is unintentionally becoming a little mini art wall, they seem to be multiplying! And yes, that is another typewriter mini like I made Hadley in the BQS3. I made them both at the same time, it seemed to hardly take any longer to cut and make 2 together than just the one, I am so glad I did too!!
I've earmarked the space under the typewriter on the left for my fractured oakshott mini :-)
I have also been working on saving the original epp mini I had started for the swap, I have unpicked and removed all the large whole pieces that didn't get doggified. Now I 'just' need to add more to replace the damaged pieces.
I also quilted a pile of my bee blocks that have been arriving in the post. I have decided to try quilt as you go technique for the first time and thought this was an ideal project as I want a quick finish, for no reason other than I love it so much I just want it done!
As for my big news, well, you may not be as wet your pants overwhelmingly excited as I by it, but.....drumroll......... agonisingly annoying pause a'la x-factor.........
Sharpen your pencils and listen carefully, I am going to be teaching!
My local quilt shop asked me some time ago if I would think about teaching for them, I was very flattered but as time went on my confidence (lack of) got the better of me and I didn't follow it up. After a proverbial shove up the backside from Susan last week I finally went in there. WHY did I wait? I practically floated out of the place!
In the new year when littlest one starts preschool part time I will be teaching several classes there. A series of 3 epp classes, a full day wallet/purse class and two morning classes covering zipped pouches and frame purses. I am so excited! Lots of samples to make up for the shop and 'homework' to do to get ready, this weekend I made a start on my epp sample, what else but a rose star block?!
Phew, thank goodness that basting marathon is over! Now I just have to assemble the block, I NEED a thimble asap, a soft one for my middle finger. Does anyone have a great one they can recommend? I have a very sore hole/tunnel in my middle fingertip where the needle keeps disappearing, ouch!
This morning I finally put the binding on the Dresden mini, thank you for all your fab suggestions, all of which I completely disregarded! In the end I had to go with what I had to hand and used up the apple print on white from the Little Apples line. I had to join like 10 tiny strips to make a piece long enough but it is for me, so I don't mind all the seam joins on the binding. ONE day I WILL learn how to make these joins properly on an angles, until then I am happy to carry on doing it my way!
It is great to have it finished and up on the wall above the sofa with it's other mini buddies. This wall is unintentionally becoming a little mini art wall, they seem to be multiplying! And yes, that is another typewriter mini like I made Hadley in the BQS3. I made them both at the same time, it seemed to hardly take any longer to cut and make 2 together than just the one, I am so glad I did too!!
I've earmarked the space under the typewriter on the left for my fractured oakshott mini :-)
I have also been working on saving the original epp mini I had started for the swap, I have unpicked and removed all the large whole pieces that didn't get doggified. Now I 'just' need to add more to replace the damaged pieces.
I also quilted a pile of my bee blocks that have been arriving in the post. I have decided to try quilt as you go technique for the first time and thought this was an ideal project as I want a quick finish, for no reason other than I love it so much I just want it done!
As for my big news, well, you may not be as wet your pants overwhelmingly excited as I by it, but.....drumroll......... agonisingly annoying pause a'la x-factor.........
Sharpen your pencils and listen carefully, I am going to be teaching!
My local quilt shop asked me some time ago if I would think about teaching for them, I was very flattered but as time went on my confidence (lack of) got the better of me and I didn't follow it up. After a proverbial shove up the backside from Susan last week I finally went in there. WHY did I wait? I practically floated out of the place!
In the new year when littlest one starts preschool part time I will be teaching several classes there. A series of 3 epp classes, a full day wallet/purse class and two morning classes covering zipped pouches and frame purses. I am so excited! Lots of samples to make up for the shop and 'homework' to do to get ready, this weekend I made a start on my epp sample, what else but a rose star block?!
Phew, thank goodness that basting marathon is over! Now I just have to assemble the block, I NEED a thimble asap, a soft one for my middle finger. Does anyone have a great one they can recommend? I have a very sore hole/tunnel in my middle fingertip where the needle keeps disappearing, ouch!
Saturday, 13 October 2012
Mouthy Squares Tote Bag Done!
Hmmm, this is going to be hard....I have fallen in love with the bag I've made my partner!
Mouthy Squares Tote Bag, a photo by Emily Levey on Flickr.
I am secretly hoping that she absolutely hates it, that way I can keep it and make her something else! But I guess I will manage to part with it should she love it too ;-)
My husband so doesn't get how I use my best fabrics and put so much into these....the sketch fabric was so wanted by me for months and I put it into the bag panel the day I finally had enough pennies to get some. My point of view is that if you don't put as much into your swap item you can't expect to get the same back, make sense?
Anyway, that's me all done, keyfob and all (which I am keeping a secret until it arrives) so the first item off my FAL list, hurrah!
I think I may reward myself with some selfish sewing as soon as I get the chance, I had some super exciting news yesterday that I am bursting to tell but it will have to wait, I have a date with Merlin and a rose star block!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)