Sanity........

Whoo..........this is a deep breath out, and Hmmm, this is a deep breath in, and I sit down and sew a little or a lot.

It is a very fortunate woman or man that has a hobby like ours. We are indeed blessed to have found that thing that settles us down and allows us to create.

 

With my retirement and my husbands closely following, there has been a period of adjustment. I was so happy to have him home, looking forward to spending more time together and enjoying each others company as we did when we first met. 
Then a change sweeps through, our routines are disrupted, our roles are changed, I have more time and freedom, but I also have more time and freedom!!

It has taken me time to realise that I have this new situation, I seriously have felt a little lost as my role has changed, but I have a creative outlet and I am giving myself permission to get in there and create. 
My mind continually tries to tell me how I have "wasted" the day.
 I can go to paid employment, be bored and busy at the same time, yearn to be sewing, and yet because I now have no wage I deem myself to be "wasting" my time now.
Sanity is a fickle mistress. 

The simple act though of going to my sewing room and selecting a circle for the 365 quilt has strangely opened a door. Its a routine, like work was, that sparks my desire to do more. 
As I tick off that little task, I then go onto the next work in progress and then my head starts planning all those other quilts that I have wanted to start.
Suddenly I feel that I can do these things, I can start because I have more time and freedom than before. 

I am also a little superstitious so please gremlins give me a break, don't fill my new found freedom with other responsibilities....yes I do like to worry too about things that may never actually happen the way I think they will.....so its Whooo ...a breath out and Hmmmmm....another breath in and I sit and sew.

 This is a jar in which I place all my current small scraps

 As it fills I decided to do as
Victoria Findlay-Wolf  suggests in her book,
"Fifteen Minutes of Play"....and that is to play.

 
And this is the happy result. I have made new fabric from small pieces. I found that sewing it onto a paper foundation gave me direction and stability. I am planning to sew these with plain fabric pieces for one of my many scrap projects. 
And this is what I do when I just feel like "wasting time"

So adjustments will continue as life continues, my husband and I are getting to enjoy having a lot more time together and he too is glad I have that hobby, then he is free to pursue his hobby.

 

 No longer a worker bee, but now we can stop and smell a flower.
 

My new hobby.....

Oh dear, it seems I have may have been infected lately, not by any nasty virus I hasten to add.......was a tad poorly last week as in feeling listless. All good now. But by the crochet thing. Seriously I thought I was stuck on stitching with thread and needle. Quilting being the main passion. 

But no it seems that after mastering a granny square, I see them everywhere and I LIKE them. Then I saw all those cute amigurumi and I thought I would not understand those patterns.

Well be prepared to have your little world rocked because I did a small project from Mollie Makes and my skills are going up a notch. mind you only if its in DC and SC and not too much increasing and decreasing.

 

 Loooook, see what I have did there!
This was an adorable pattern from Mollie Makes and it was easy.
I put it on my instagram and got 19 likes...I KNOW  19!!!! 
It was basically a circle as the base and then up the sides. Then two ears which are sewn on.
Not bad for this beginner. I now want to increase my repertoire and make a larger basket, because I love baskets.

Then I noticed this little blanket tossed on a pile in my local opshop, I didn't grab it straight away as it was falling apart and unravelling. I certainly didn't need another project on my list but the price was only $4.00. I slept on it and the next day it was still there, so I grabbed it then. I planned to make a few cushions from the squares. By carefully unpicking and redoing, this was the result.

Having some fun with filters on picmonkey, little distracting at times, tell me if you approve or not.

So as I was saying. chopped out some squares by carefully unpicking and this was the happy result.

Magnificently modelled by Maxi the chihuahua, in his normal position on my daughters bed. I have now completed two cushions and had quite a bit left of the blanket. My plan now is to sew them into a square and crochet a new border to increase the size and for $4.00 and some spare time I have fashioned two cushions and a throw rug. Well, yes there is the cost of cushion inserts and a few balls of yarn but still I will have these items done quickly because someone spent most of the time crocheting this neglected little throw to start.

Love the little gems one can find, one mans trash.......you know the rest.

I um had to stop when this huge butterfly was attracted to this huge gerbera.............see told you I was distracted by the photo shopping one can do these days

Also waiting to read this book recommended to me by Denice from

Denice's day. I was taken by some of the books she has reviewed as well as the fact she is a interesting person with a chatty blog.

Hello Denice!

Then I decided I had better start chopping up my summer wardrobe.

 Dress done!

 I actually had bought this as quilting fabric and luckily as it was on sale I bought a few meters. Enough for my dress YAY. 

A blouse and some linen pants. 

I think they will go well together. So now the hard part is done I hope to make some start on them during the week because there 'aint nothing on the TV to watch so I may use some good productive time to get my projects under control.

This is my current TV watching project, loving it but I MUST get some other things done to a finish....I MUST....

I haven't bought any more projects or fabrics without purpose so that's good, but seriously I am starting to get nervous as I am not finishing too many lately.
And I have a definite to do as a gift for my bosses retirement, that's in July next year but if I don't get a wriggle on...

Feeling quite productive 

Compared to my previous dilemma about the number of projects I had piling up, I feel very productive now.

Maybe because I have finally finished those blocks

YEAH HARRR!

20 of the little B%%'s finished.

If this project has taught me anything, it is I really do not like lots of repetitive complex fiddly blocks, so after I stumbled across the line I did a quick clothes sewing binge.

Meet my other friend in the sewing room, her name is Diana, and she is a recent addition to my life. 
Because I am a size utterly amazing, I have found that sewing at home enables me to sew clothes that are not made to make me look like a refrigerator. I have curves and damn it I will wear a red polka dot dress if I so desire...and I do. But do the chain stores make them for amazing woman....nope.

Ta Dah.....

I love Diana because initially I had to try and fit and alter this dress on me, and there are only so many times your teenage daughter will zip you up and pin you. Son just runs screaming from the house and husband disappears to the shed.
When Diana came to stay, I thought I may be a little confronted to see my amazing size replicated...but hey I am not so bad. My tummy is a little bigger but this pattern skims over the belly and I feel very pretty in it.

 This pattern is very versatile, and I have made another dress with out sleeves which I wear a top under.

So that is what I do when I am not patchworking.

Now before I go I must show you some amazing fabric I found in my local Spotlight store.

It looks like rows of ruffly crochet, and it was stretchy and colourful. Bought a meter and whipped this up, tube skirt, elastic in waist and didn't even need to hem it due to the fabric construction.
Done in 20 mins tops!

 I wear it under a big black loose tunic top and have already received a few compliments, I must say!

Got to love the sewing, just not the fiddly blocks, did I mention that?