Byezeeebye.....

When I return I shall fill you in on all that's been going on but for now, I'm off to relax, restore and.......read.

Blogging and Sewing

I hadn't (until a week ago) been doing much of either. Now I have a sewing room/study it was only time that was preventing me from getting down to writing a blog and sitting and sewing something. (Note it's a sewing room before it's a study! Well, to me it is).

This week I have:

Started to put my quilt together.

Made a strawberry cushion for a girl who loves strawberries.

Made a knitting bag using Cath Kidston's Strawberries fabric for a friend (forgot to take a picture before I gave it to her!)

Made a strawberry pin cushion to go with the bag...it looks nice and cosy with my other pin cushions so I think I'll be making another one for me!

Made a belated Mother's Day present for my lovely mum. (I finished at 1 O'c this morning...it was going so well I HAD to finish it).

Made some delicious bagels.

So I had to write a blog to complete my list of things to do in this room!

The next thing will be tidying the floor....pins, thread and scraps of fabric all over the place.....

HAPPY EASTER!

I've Started So I'll Finish

The last few weeks have been very exciting for me in that I have finally "got" knitting. I've tried for years to do it - after H was born, after C was born only to give up halfway through a garter-stitched bag! But it's always been in the back of my mind of something I want to learn (that, and Crochet but I'm taking one step at a time here). Perhaps I was trying too hard the last time(s) but it's clicked and I'm not giving up! Perhaps it's that I am now a member of a new knitting group or that I have a new set of bamboo needles but The List Writer's house was the place I started to really enjoy knitting! She even had nibbles and wine and I kicked myself for filling up on roast chicken before I left home.

I started off simply - I made a facecloth. I love it. I love the fact that when I use it and rinse it out I look at all the stitches and think I made this myself and I'm using it. Last week I dug out my knitting books (I have quite a few for an inexperienced knitter!) and bought some wool.

This little sock is my first go at proper making-something-that-someone-can-wear kind of knitting. My mum is a very good knitter and I had to call her 3 times when I couldn't work out what the pattern meant. I have a baby in mind (there seems to be a bit of a baby boom in my circle of friends at the moment) so I can enjoy making little things for new babies and finally doing something I have wanted to crack for decades. I'm finally doing it! Now I just need to make the other one....

I started this quilt at the end of last year, then promptly got so busy at work that it never came back out of the bag! After a few weeks off sick with Pleurisy, I didn't have the energy or inclination to do any sewing (or anything at all) so I took it along to Cornwall (where I seem to have the most creative energy) and started measuring, cutting and sewing.

I've just spent an hour half-watching BBC iPlayer (Tom Cruise on Jonathan Ross!) and started pinning it all together. I am really not sure whether I've made the right choice of fabric and I find all the pinning intensely boring. I was going to do a few small projects like The List Writer (I have some Moleskine cahiers which I planned to do before Christmas, and a few little bags for C's friends), but if I don't start putting this quilt together, the bedroom it's going in will be finished and it'll still be in bits!

I should've changed before I started because my lovely black trousers are now covered in thread!

New Year, New Me

I was in a cab this morning and the driver said "Have a good Christmas?" and it took me a while to think about it. Christmas is a mere memory now we are back at school, work etc etc. We did have a wonderful Christmas and New Year. I don't usually do Resolutions but the new year seems like a good time to turn over a new leaf, put stuff behind you and start afresh. So my NYR's are:

1. Drink more water
2. Say No more!
3. Do more exercise
4. Eat better
5. Keep a journal
6. Cut down on TV/Computer

I am doing quite well so far. I have lost 3lbs, sleeping better (although last few nights have been dodgy due to hubby being away on business) and today I bought a gorgeous leather journal from Paperchase in Tottenham Court Road. Thought I'd died and gone to Stationery heaven! Suffice to say that wasn't the only thing that went into my basket. Although I managed to leave without buying a heart shaped mixing bowl, measuring cups and baking tray because R would say "Haven't you got enough heart shaped stuff!"

I did quite a bit of walking today, more than I would have had I gone the right way in the first place. I walked to Oxford Street from Tottenham Court Road before realising that I should have turned left instead of right - d'oh! I was on my way to Heal's to have a look at a sideboard for our new dining room/family room. When I entered the shop I turned left again instead of right and ended up in Habitat. What a fool! I got there in the end, managing to avert my eyes at the rows upon rows of Molton Brown, Orla Kiely towels, bed linen and handbags. Have ordered the sideboard (it had 70% off) and am now awaiting it's arrival. I then walked back to Oxford Street thinking I'd pop into my favourite shop (John Lewis) but by that time I'd been accosted by various charities asking me for several donations/sponsoring a Granny so I headed down to the tube, jumping on whatever train came in and fell asleep. I did wake at Wanstead in a blind panic but thankfully it was a loop train so I got off and walked straight into JBF . After nosing around in there for 5 minutes, I headed home to listen to the radio and do a bit of knitting.

My Christmas Present from R....

and he asks me if I have enough heart shaped stuff! NO is the answer to that!