Soul sewing

Hello my lovelies, I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas and that it was as all or little as you wanted it to be. For me...it was all over in a flash. One day I will get to take it nice and easy on the run up to Christmas but I'm afraid this year (again) was not...I wouldn't change a thing though, it was lovely. I didn't get to spend as much time with family as I would have liked but still it was nice to see, hug and catch up with everyone.

I have a couple of days before I go back to the day job so I'm taking this time to relax and do some fun (me) things. Yesterday I spent the afternoon sewing, which I haven't done in a few months. One thing that I do know is that I am truly happy when I am sewing. I don't do it as often as I would like but I'm working on that one.

I'm not a one for new years resolutions so last year I decided to choose a word for the year ahead rather than something that I would probably never stick too. My word was "change" for 2017 and boy was there change in my life!!!

This time I'm going to chose the obvious word "SEW" I don't know at this point how but I intend to sew as much as I can in 2018. If I were to chose another word for 2018 it would be "Calm" lol. I think most people would chose that one!!

Its amazing how energised and fired up I get when I've been making something. Its a total mood lifter for me...every time. Its definitely in my soul to sew, I can feel it. And every time I make something new I feel an overwhelming sense of achievement that I just don't get from anything else and almost surprise myself.

I think it was in April this year that I decided to try and aim for the #Make9 pledge you can read my post here. I did think it was a little ambitious considering 4 months of the year were already over!! You will be able to see that there were quite a few changes to the list but it was more to fit what I wanted to make rather than the patterns that I had at the time of writing the list. 

To be honest I've never really kept track of what I did actually make. Until today where I made a list of all the things I have made this year:

1. SOI Ultimate Shift Dress

2. SOI Silk Cami x2

3. PJ Bottoms

4. PJ Shorts

5. SOI Ultimate Pencil Skirt

6. SOI Poppy Playsuit

7. Ogden Cami x2

8. Linden Sweatshirt

So all in all I managed 8, which I don't think is a bad effort. I could actually squeeze in one more if I wanted to but lets not put any pressure on the last few days of 2017....remember "calm".

OK so this is me signing off for 2017.....I will be back after New Year to tell you all about my sewing plans for 2018!

So whatever you have planned, whether it be dressing up and going out to parties or staying in your jammies (I will be doing the latter) have a truly wonderful New Year....here's hoping its the best year yet for us all. 

See you on the other side...

Emma xxx

Homeland

We Hello my lovelies, well what a lovely couple of days we've had. We had planned to travel up to Newcastle on Thursday but we needed to change our plans a little as Mr.B was recovering from an abscess on a tooth. We made it up north on Friday afternoon...boy was it cold :) lol I think I have been living down south too long! We met up with my Dad and had a mooch round the shops and the Christmas Market. 

The lights in Newcastle were so pretty and it was a comforting feeling walking around hearing warm Geordie accents...this is what I miss the most. Mine is ever so slightly diluted now, although some would disagree. We made the trip as 15 years ago we had our first date in Newcastle when I was still living up there. We even had our first kiss on the Millennium bridge. Awwwwww!

We also visited a favourite childhood memory of mine, Fenwicks Window. Every year they decorate their street facing Windows with some sort of theme, this year.....PADDINGTON BEAR!!! How adorable is he!

The Windows seemed so much smaller than I remembered as a child but still as magical. 

Then this morning we walked over the Millenium bridge and had breakfast in Pitcher and Piano. It was such a beautiful view sat overlooking the River Tyne and the Baltic Mill. It was bitterly cold but blue skies and sunshine. After coffee and pancakes we walked back over the bridge.

Now we are back home and unpacked....whirlwind visit indeed. Tomorrow I am ice skating with my lovely friend Mel, let's hope I don't fall on my ass! Then it will be all systems go....the last week of work and time to get prepping for Christmas Day. Food shopping, house cleaning and present wrapping.

Are you all ready for Santa? 

Emma xxx

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

The last week has been so hectic....hectic in a good way though. One minute it was the middle of November and I was casually planning Christmas the all of a sudden it's the week before Christmas and I don't know where I'm at!

The tree is up, however I have to admit that it was actually up with no decorations for 2 days before I dressed it lol 

Mr.B was an absolute star for getting all the outside lights up before we had snow. He's a keeper that one, he knows how much I love the Christmas lights! 

But it's definitely starting to look like Christmas :)

All of my Christmas shopping is done and half are wrapped, I've written my food list for the next 2 weeks so I just need to get myself organised with that. One more week left at the day job and we have a trip to Newcastle planned for the weekend. 

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend,

Emma xxx

WIP basket

Hello my lovelies...I'm so sorry that it's been a while. again since my last post, life is a bugger for getting in the way!!! Even more so at the moment as I'm trying to get things ready for Christmas. I hope you are all enjoying the festive season.

One of the things I have started and is still in my whip basket (there are a few lol) is my second crochet blanket. The colours that I chose (above) were in mind for our snug but when the wool arrived I decided that it needed a shade of red so I ordered some more the very next day. 

I worked out a quick pattern which I would repeat until I was happy with the length and away I went...

I stuck with the zig zag stitch as I love the pattern it creates with the wool but also because I feel that I am pretty confident with this stitch now. Crocheting really relaxes me, I can quite happily sit on an evening with my project on my lap with a cup of tea. I loved how it was turning out but I think I made the right decision adding the red....what do you think?

For now I have put it to one side whilst I focus on other things. I'm looking forward to having some spare hours over Christmas to getting it finished.

Take care my lovelies...

Emma xxx