A Belated Half-Term Sunday Sevens

 

I had the photos ready, but somehow this just didn’t happen last week. I will get back on this blogging lark I promise… Ahem, so you’ll just have to imagine this is last week…

On Monday we headed off to meet my Mum at Chester Zoo. It was absolutely freezing, but plenty of coffee and cake breaks helped 🙂 The photo is from the Monsoon House, where we retreated to keep warm, but the butterflies were fascinating to see. On Tuesday I managed to sneak a bit of sewing time in between Mum duties. I finally dug out this fabric I bought on the last Dewsbury trip (now thankfully restocked thanks to a great, feel-good trip on Saturday, thanks Ali) to get back to basics with. Can you guess what it’s for? And don’t worry I didn’t wear them for the sewing meet up… 😉

On Wednesday we headed out to NT property Dunham Massey to view the beautiful Winter Garden, where the bulbs were out in force: a really cheering sight. On Thursday we popped a little further down the road to NT property Tatton Park, where we met this new ‘friend’ as part of their scarecrow festival (think they were all designed  by local schools).

By Friday we were a due a day in, so the children got a pyjama morning followed by some fun with this domino game. I popped into TKMaxx on the Saturday where I managed to purchase two of each of these frames. I’ve been updating all of our family photos in the lounge, and in the process been attempting to add a more cohesive feel to the room, so I was really pleased with these. The photos are taken from a trip to Grasmere in The Lakes last October, where we experienced the most beautiful weather. We were very lucky indeed.

And finally I couldn’t resist opening this mini delight on Sunday to alleviate the back-to-school Sunday-itus… It was part of my secret santa at work and was the perfect size for a single glass full. It almost chased the Sunday night blues away…

Hope you’ve all had a lovely half-term break, whether it was this week (or last 😉 ) To read more about Sunday Sevens pop over to Natalie’s site Threads and Bobbins.

 

Advertisement

It’s been a while…

So, I’ve just plucked up the courage to log back on here after quite some absence…

To say things have been difficult the past year or so would be a bit of an understatement! I’ve usually kept my posts on here sewing-related, but have been feeling bad for a while about not explaining my absence, especially to my regular followers and commenters, who had become close to ‘friends’ on here. I’m really sorry, but sometimes when life just gets tough, you just have to close down a little…

So here goes my ‘confessional’ and then I’m hoping to get back to usual business : the sewing, albeit in a (probably) less regular form…

So last May (yep, right in the middle of #memademay 2016… I attempted to keep smiling for a while, but eventually gave up…) my ten year marriage disintegrated. It actually feels pretty good that I can now write that without collapsing into floods of tears, so progress of sorts I guess… It had been bad for a while, but it still came as a pretty big shock, as anyone who’s been in a similar position can probably testify. And the repercussions were pretty far-reaching: especially my loss of a sense of ‘us’ as a family. Generally, life just became a bit ‘much’ and I had to close down a little: coping with any more than keeping my children ok and holding down my job was just impossible and so I had to ‘leave’ here for a while…

And turns out I’m a ‘happy’ sewer, which I read about in a sewing magazine a while back. As in, I don’t sew to cheer myself up, I sew because I feel in a good place to be creative. Because, of course, sewing inevitably involves a fair few ‘failures’ and I’d had enough of ‘failing’ to open myself up to any more… And so, I shut down on sewing also. Although I have done a bit of knitting, more comforting I guess?

But it’s not all bad: turns out there are some silver linings to going through divorce proceedings. Most of all, what lovely, supportive and loyal family and friends I have. I kind of knew this anyway, but going through such personal s##t (excuse the language, but it’s the only term for it) really brought this home for me! And Ali of Thimberlina fame that kind of includes you, thank you for the gentle nudge and your humour: you made me laugh out loud! It was just what I needed at the time!

So, there have some rumblings in the creative department of late, hence my return here. I certainly have a very large stockpile of magazine inspiration to inspire me… So ‘failure’ and a whole lot of creative fun, I’m just about ready for you again! And of course the upcoming #yorkshirespoolettes meet up may have nudged me into action, especially when I heard a certain someone was heading over all the way from Germany!! Excuse my failure to remember how to do links, etc,  I’ll get back to it and may well have been compiling my half-term Sunday Sevens photos for the week even…

And whilst I’m a little apprehensive about dusting off my no doubt rusty sewing skills, I’m equally looking forward to catching up with what everyone’s been up to on here… Even if that involves scaring me senseless at how accomplished you’ve all become. May well be ‘back to basics’ for a while for me…

To steal a famous Take That song title, looking forward to being ‘back for good…’,

Teresa

 

 

 

A Much Belated #memademay Week 3

 

I know, I know it’s June already but to be honest May was a bit of a month for me. Life sometimes has a habit of throwing you a curveball and when it does, you just have to get through one very long day at a time. But despite it being a very long month on lots of different levels I did somehow manage to complete my #memademay pledge. So please feel free to pass this by if you’re totally over it by now but just to prove to myself that I managed it despite a lot of hurdles, I still managed it, looking tired and drawn but somehow still trying to smile…

Sunday was a relaxed day at home. I still love this (New Look Vintage I think) top and it works even better with high-waisted jeans. On Monday I dug out my ancient Colette Sencha top. Much though this is a very high neckline for me, the crisp White and fitted style rescues it 😀

Tuesday and another work day required an old favourite: my navy, linen Colette Ginger. A Wednesday evening dinner required my new favourite: my lace, Seamworks Wembley cardigan.

My day off on Thursday called for my second version of the Seamworks Wembley cardigan which I will get round to posting about once I catch my breath. The last day of the working week called for not one, but two me makes (maybe a future goal? ): A Tilly and the Buttons Delphine skirt and Papercut Coppelia Cardigan (must make another of these, I’ve worn it loads but does need something high-waisted underneath).

And finally, amazed that I got through a very long week, my most featured item of #memademay16 my lace Wembley cardigan: easily my favourite and most wearable make to date 🙂 And the change of scenery is my parents’ backyard in North Wales.

One more to go, I promise I’ll get it posted before July. Thanks for keeping with me X.