My first ever blog post

Hi everyone,

Not sure if anyone is actually reading this…but if you are I will start by introducing myself.

My name is Mel and I guess this all began a year ago whilst pregnant with my first child.  I was on maternity leave impatiently awaiting the arrival of my little bundle of joy. I can’t sit around all day resting (although I’m definitely wishing I could now I have a 11 month old baby who cannot sit still for a second). So I decided I wanted to start making him or her a blanket to keep busy whilst I waited.

I started trawling the net for tutorials on how to crochet and I managed to crochet quite a nice blanket which my son loves. It took me forever though and despite watching hours of YouTube tutorials I couldn’t really get the hang of anything other than the most basic stitches and could only crochet things that were either long and thin or square (ish).

Blanket in progress

I decided I wanted to finish my blanket with a silky edging and asked my mum to teach me how to use her sewing machine.  Eventually after a few false starts I got the edging on and absolutely loved using the sewing machine.

I think my impatient nature meant that I preferred a craft where I could see it all coming together fairly quickly.

Nearly finished

The finished blanket complete with silky binding

As you can see the blanket wasn’t exactly perfect but I was really pleased with it for a first attempt.  A few missed stitches here and there don’t seem to be bothering my little one.

So my blanket was finished and still no baby….I decided he or she was going to keep me waiting so I may as well keep busy.  I loved using the sewing machine and decided that I would make my baby a patchwork playmat.  So once again I trawled the net looking for tutorials on how to make a quilt.  And then went fabric shopping…This was my favourite bit…I think I have a fabric obsession.

My fabric choices

I wanted the playmat to be bright and fun so I picked fabrics that I thought would be interesting to a baby.  I made a template from some card and set about cutting my fabric into squares ready to quilt.

Figuring out what square goes where

The cutting out seems to take forever but it is worth it once you lay all your squares out and get a feel for how your finished quilt will look.  I decided to leave it there for the night and start sewing together in the morning.

And guess what…I was taken into hospital the next morning to be induced. After the initial shock of finding out I would be meeting my baby soon I was concerned about the mess of fabric I had left laying all over the floor the night before. It’s funny the things you worry about when your stressed. After a quick phone call to Mum, she nipped round and tidied up for me so the house was nice and tidy for me to bring baby home to. Good old mum.

My beautiful baby boy arrived two days later and the quilt was put on hold for a while amid a flurry of cuddles, milk feeds and nappy changes there wasn’t time for much else….There still isn’t to be honest.

I eventually managed to finish the playmat.

There were definitely more than a few mistakes but I learnt from them as I went along and I was excited to start my next project….I just needed to find some time to do it.

The back of the quilt

My little man chilling on his playmat.

So I definitely have the sewing bug now. It is nice to have a hobby which you enjoy and can do a little bit whenever you have the time (which is normally about 10pm at night).

My friend asked me to make a playmat for her little one so I embarked on my next project.

The hungry caterpillar playmat

There were still a fair few mistakes but I had definitely improved from my first one.

So here I am a Mummy who has very little spare time but has decided it is important to spend some time doing something I enjoy.

I will share some of more recent makings with you all soon (whoever you all are…is there even anyone reading??).

I am hoping this blog will be a way to keep a record of all my crafty makings and hopefully inspire others to get sewing/crafting too. I have loved being able to spend a little bit of time to myself and embrace my creative side. Hopefully one day I will be good enough to turn this into a career, but until then I will keep practising for fun. I’m still using the sewing machine I have borrowed from Mum, so I guess I should really buy my own soon. Although I think the arrangement suits her quite well as she brings me all her clothes to adjust and sits back with a cup of tea while I set to work.

It would be great to hear from some like minded people and share ideas.

Happy sewing everyone.

Mel x