Back and ready for 2014!

Well, that was a bit of a hiatus!  Looking back at my last post I was so hopeful that the return to school of the older children in September would mean lots of time to sew and blog, blog and sew.  It turns out that, whilst I did have more time in theory, sleep deprivation isn't great for creative inspiration or productivity, and child number 3 has not slept properly for a long time.

"Who, me?"

When I say 'hasn't slept properly' I of course mean 'hardly at all', and when I say 'for a long time' I mean 'E-V-E-R'!  Whilst I have had a few projects pootling along in the background my motivation for doing them has come and gone depending on my level of sleeplessness, state of the house, etc.

More recently I have been getting more sleep (hurrah!) and accordingly I have been sewing and knitting more, but the blog has taken longer to get back to as I've been reluctant to spend precious time typing when I could be making! ;-)

Quick!  Must make superhero costumes before the baby wakes up!

I have been keeping up with reading lots and lots of blogs though.  They have kept me going with vicarious sewing satisfaction over the dry periods, and have inspired me to get back to it too.  I'd love to get more involved with the online sewing community this year and maybe join some of the sewalongs if I can find the time.  I so wanted to join in Gillian's Top 5 of 2013 round up but I procrastinated too long (also I think my list wouldn't have been so much a 'Top 5' as just '5'!).  Maybe next year!

Sneek peek of unblogged Renfrew construction

One thing that has been stopping me getting back to blogging is the whole 'taking pictures' thing, and I know I'm not alone on that one.  I take loads of construction photos that build up until my memory card is going into meltdown, but the finished garment photos are another matter. 

Gratuitous brightly coloured construction shot. 

I always like to see people wearing their finished items, and some bloggers out there are great at modelling their me-made makes.  Rachel at House of Pinheiro, Marie of A Stitching Odyssey, and Lizzy of Sew Busy Lizzy have no trouble looking glamorous, whilst Winnie at Scruffy Badger Time and Jo from The Amazing Adventures of Taracat never fail to inject fun and humour into their modelling posts.  Whilst I do wear the clothes that I've made quite a lot, there is always something that prevents me taking the photos - the light's not good, it's raining outside, there's nowhere tidy enough to pose inside, and, more often than not, my hair is a mess!!  Think I should probably just bite the bullet, stick two fingers up to vanity and get on with it!  I love all the garment pics I see on other people's sites whether they're slick and well executed or slightly fuzzy with washing piled up in the background (in fact those pics are quite reassuring coz we don't all have it sorted do we?!). 

So, plans for 2014 involve lots of sewing and knitting as well as a return to the blog.  Oh, and hopefully more sleep!

Sneak peek into a pocket!  ;-)