So after discovering that I had something ridiculous like 12000 unread posts in bloglines I – for the first time in four years – marked all as read to start again. Woe is me! Before doing this I looked at any blogs that I hadn’t made a concerted effort to check and unsubscribed from them (mostly big American ones with thousands of readers) but this means that if I haven’t commented on your blog lately, I haven’t read it and I’m sorry. I’ll make an effort to keep up this time!

Anyway, one of the benefits of cutting out the deadwood is that I’ve actually been able to keep up with my favourite blogs and I’ve recently discovered a new one that I think my sewing friends are going to love. Zoe (who actually reminds me a lot of Melissa from All Buttoned Up) is participating in “Me-made-May” which does as it says on the tin – participants are going to spend the month of May clad in clothing they’ve made themselves. Which I think you’ll agree is quite an audacious feat and one which I am green with envy over. Can I just show you some of Zoe’s stuff?

Click on the image to go to Zoe’s blog post about it.

So I’ve decided now that the Business Plan of doom is finished and I have a Bona Fide Fashion Design Graduate working for me that I have no excuse anymore. It’s time I made my first garment for me. Bearing in mind that I’m a bigger lass (UK16 on top and UK16-18 on the bottom) have any of you got recommendations for flattering dress patterns that I could attempt?

I have fallen in love with Zoe’s bird blouse, made from this pattern which was in Burda 01/2008. I can’t seem to work out how to buy back editions on the Burda website, I can’t locate this edition on eBay and nobody on twitter has a copy to lend me. Can any of you lovely lot help me?

Posted under recommendations, sewing

You know that old adage about time flying? Well, I don’t know how it happened but I’m 29 weeks pregnant and I’m very unprepared! Maybe it’s just because I know that we’re old hands at this managing a baby malarkey but until this last couple of weeks I haven’t bought or made anything in preparation for this little bundle. I disgraced myself yesterday by paying for a knitted cardigan (but it’s so cute!) and I’ve now completed a couple of things.

These are knitted to the Aubrey Doodlepants knitting pattern and for the non cloth nappy users amongst you, they’re longies which are designed to be worn over cloth nappies. I’ve made a few pairs of these before and I’ve always been impressed but this time I went down a needle size to ensure a thick fabric capable of holding moisture.

Of course, since they’re so small I had more than enough wool left to make a matching hat which I used the Fae Folk hat pattern to make. I do like this pattern but I wasn’t terribly happy at how my decreases came out so I’ll make a bigger version and see if that is any better.

I still haven’t caught up on any of your blogs this week and I can only apologise, I honestly don’t know where my time is going! I do plan to spend Monday (my birthday!) relaxing with some nice tea, a pack of Fox’s classics, some knitting & sewing and my laptop whilst I have the house to myself so hopefully I’ll be back in the swing of things at some point this year!

In the meantime, I’m interested. What is your go-to handmade gift for a new baby? Or if you’re a parent, what did you make for your baby that you absolutely loved? What do you wish you’d had time to make? Better yet, what did you make (or have made for you) that you never used?

Ooh! I forgot to mention – Annie blogged about our owl swap and another swap she was doing, she got much better photographs than I did if you’d like to nosy on over and see what we exchanged. She was a fantastic swap partner which is why I’m glad that we managed to get her into the Time for Tea swap as a last minute addition. Check out the updated participant list!

Hope you’re all well! Now, if you’ll excuse me I must go straighten my hair as I’m being taken out for a meal to celebrate my birthday

Posted under knitting

My sister’s ex-flatmate has a cat, a very lovely cat who had seven kittens. C was really not having much success with getting them rehomed and I finally managed to talk my lovely husband into letting me have a kitten to keep our last cat company. After chatting to a few friends I managed to find homes for six in total and I collected them yesterday. Unfortunately, someone changed their mind last night so I may have to keep an extra kitten. Bummer, eh? Two of them left me late last night to go and live on a farm and here are the rest:

As I’m sure you’ll understand, my life as I knew it has now ceased and I’m spending much of my time staring at them and making cooing noises. My eldest sat for the better part of three hours last night with three of them asleep on his lap. He’s going to be gutted when the other two leave on Saturday for their new lives!

Craft-wise, I haven’t done anything since wrapping up the Give a Hoot mittens. I’ve just signed up today to Apryl’s Owl Swap which I have around six weeks to work on. I’ve also been eyeing up the Make 50 things in 2009 craft challenge. A few of my friends have signed up to it and I love the idea in theory, but I know in practice how sporadic my crafting is. Actually, how sporadic I am in terms of meeting deadlines too – November’s NaBloPoMo attempt proves that! Anyway, the lovely folks on the Crafteroo forum have set up a 50 things Flickr group which I’ve joined in the meantime…

Posted under general crafty updates, swaps

Ah well. I should learn not to make unattainable targets really shouldn’t I? NaBloPoMo has really not worked for me this time round haha.

Things have been decidedly hectic here. I have started the new job which was offered to me at very short notice, I’ve been there for two weeks and to be honest I’m hating it. It’s public sector, and the change of pace from working for a charity is unbelievable. There’s no sense of urgency or importance, my training thus far has been woefully inadequate and when I complained I was told that as a manager I’d have to deal with a constantly changing environment and essentially that I should suck it up. Great. I’m sticking with it because to be honest the lure of having no debt by April is too big but it’s going to be a loooooong few months.

In other news, my sister and I’s business venture is still on the cards. We have some paperwork to complete but all going well we should have a decision this week as to whether we have got the lease.

I am still trying to craft but not really getting anywhere. I’m awake at 6am with the kids, spend all day having my toddlers run rings around me before collecting F from school, hubby from work and returning home for 45 minutes before going back out to work all night. I am a walking shell of a woman, I have no energy and even less time so things aren’t really panning out the way I had hoped. Plus, one of my beautiful namaste glass needles has been broken in a #2-related accident so I’ve lost the impetus to knit. Bah, I hope I get my mojo back soon.

I’ll leave you with a picture of the parasite likely to blame for my exhaustion and I shall be back soon with something of interest I hope!

Posted under general crafty updates

Well, I promised I’d have more photos of my handpainted wool but being the clumsy oaf that I am, I got all tangled up last night whilst reskeining so I gave up and wrapped it into a ball for now. Photos soon though, I promise!

Last year I decided not to make any New Year’s resolutions, choosing instead to compile my mission 101* list. This year, my sole resolution is to sew up and complete all my WIPs by the end of January so I can plough on with new projects and have some empty bags to keep them in! I have a sweater that I finished two years ago in my bag which hasn’t been sewn along with a pair of Lil Devil Pants which I finished in September, a few precut felt bunnies, wedding invites that are half done and goodness knows what else. I’m too flighty for my own good.

For those who have visited my blog and commented on the start of my journey, I thank you from the bottom of my heart and hope to see you returning in the new year.

Wishing you and yours all the very best of happiness, good company and health for 2008

Vonnie, Bob and the kids

*Mission 101 is a resolution-type exercise. You make a list of 101 things you want to achieve and you have 1001 days to do it in. Great for procrastinators!

Posted under Uncategorized