Giveaway

I have just discovered Handmade Kids and get the feeling I could spend hours finding inspiration there. Even better, they are offering a giveaway of goodies from The Haby Goddess... where I could also spend lots of time (and money if I had it!)

Work In Progress Wednesday

I'm knitting my first pair of Pitter Patter socks at the moment. It's my first go at double pointed needles and I kind of like them! I do have to keep reminding myself to knit onto the spare needle though. At least it's easy to move the stitches back onto a needle when I forget...

The yarn is just something random chosen by my eldest son at our nearest yarn shop. I love the pattern - very easy to follow and lots of different sizes to choose from. And free! Thank you Magpie Patterns and thank you Jackie Z

Sewing Plan

Everyone needs a plan, right? I keep stumbling across projects and thinking how awesome they are and how much I'd love to give them a go. What I need is some kind of plan to start getting things done...

Here is a list of all the projects I've got lined up - some already started, some with materials lined up already, some just in my head:

• Homemade Bread
• New tablecloth using fabric from stash
• Patchwork cover for a noticeboard using some charm squares
• A bag to keep essential knitting supplies together
• Emmeline apron
• Wall decorations for the boys' bedrooms (I'm thinking either bunting or fabric on canvas?)
• Pyjamas for the boys
• Gladys turtle pincushion
• Dinosaur mittens

From now on, new projects join the queue and have to wait their turn!

Homemade Bread

A while back I bought some ultra cute felt food patterns from Bugga Bugs. I thought it would be a great way to encourage the boys' kitchen play. They love mixing and stirring and baking, pretend and for real.

It is also a great way to challenge my beginner sewing skills! Challenge 1: I have not done any machine sewing with felt before, and only a little bit of hand sewing. I wondered a lot about what needle size and thread would be ok. I looked in the sewing machine manual and googled, but I didn't find any answers. So I figured I'd just use the standard needle and whatever thread was the best colour match. Luckily that seemed to work ok!

Next challenge: how to sew curves? That one was pretty straight forward. It was very easy to find videos on the net. And it seemed to boil down to stop with the needle in the fabric, rotate the fabric and sew a bit more.

Final challenge: following a very well-written pattern without enough (any?) basic sewing knowledge. When it came time to turn the bread right-side out I just couldn't make sense of how to sew it up. I was majorly stuck. So I emailed Annika from Bugga Bugs asking for some advice. She was so lovely. Not only did she explain how to hand sew the rest of it, but she was so reassuring and encouraging too, and told me a useful sewing tip: "Things don't always have to be perfect to be wonderful". Isn't that sweet?

Now I am just waiting on a bit of spare time and I'll give it another go...

Where to start...

This has been on my to-do list for such a long time... But I find it very hard to overcome the inertia of just thinking about it and actually start doing something. Well, this is my attempt to become better at doing. And there is so much I want to do! I have picked up my knitting again and have been learning to sew. I dabble at baking and would like to be more adventurous there. There's something about having my two little boys that makes me want to be creative and practical at the same time. Multitasking, I suppose. Anyway, perhaps this will keep me motivated... we'll see!