A new year, a new creative place

Hellooo, anyone still here?!

I didn't make any New Years resolutions, I've attempted them before and rarely get past mid January. BUT... I really want to visit this space a lot more often and become a better photographer. I'd like to start documenting everything a bit better, not just the things I make and sew, but generally everything! Ruben turned two in November and I was struck by how fast life seems to be whizzing by these days. So this isn't really a resolution but more of a 'ifIwriteitdownherethenmaybeI'llbemoremotivatedtodoit' kind of goal...
 
Ruben is now at nursery part time which means I'm now able to spend that time working on gather - I'm still trying to figure out how to get the right balance between being a mum, working, blogging and getting to spend some time on the things I really enjoy doing for myself. I fear the latter is the first to go... I'm not complaining though! The 'work' part of my life definitely involves doing things I love and is also the reason behind my new lovely work space:

I've always had to use the kitchen table as my sewing space and just move the general chaos and detritus that comes from living in a small house with a toddler. I found it quite difficult to spend 'working' time in the house without my mind drifting off to everyday chores and I was finding it hard to focus. So, our upstairs landing, which had previously been used as a kind of dumping ground, has been transformed! I've now got a beautiful, bright space which I use both to work in and sew (and seeing as a lot of my work at the moment involves sewing, it's working out rather nicely!).

Here is the before:

My fabric stash was buried under all that rubbish

After it was emptied, a small but workable space

And the after:

A small part of my fabric stash, the rest is still under the desk!

I've got my father-in-law to thank, he's a master craftsman who whipped this up in a couple of days for me! I love it AND it's the sunniest place in the whole house.

I've not been completely unproductive though, despite not much evidence on here! Before Christmas I finally finished my Dead Simple quilt top and I've now sewn together the backing fabric as well. I'm just waiting for a good sunny day to photograph it and I can then show you all, I'm really chuffed with the way it's turned out. I also finished my Colette Macaron which I made in 3 days as a last minute wedding outfit - nothing like a bit of pressure to get you sewing eh?! I also, somewhat ambitiously, have embarked on a MASSIVE hand sewing project. Whilst having a look through the Lilys Quilts flickr group at some of the other Dead Simple quilts, I was inspired by the hexies that I saw on there and have started on an entirely hand pieced quilt. I know. Because I don't have enough to do already? I'm expecting to finish it sometime in 2068.

Photos of all the above to follow once I've, um, found my camera (not a great start to the 'I'd like to get better at taking pictures' goal really is it?!).