Sew crazy

If you asked me one year ago what I would be spending my time doing now, well, I can’t remember what my answer would have been, but what I do with my time now is certainly nowhere near what I expected! Back then, to me, the actual answer would have been akin to nude surfing on the backs of great white sharks in the Antarctic Ocean. The actual answer isn’t quite so extreme, it’s rather tame. It’s.... sewing. 

Hang my head in shame!

At least, that’s what I would have thought roughly one year ago.

I was pregnant and had begun my leave from work. Now I found that I had hours and hours to while away at my pleasure! I’d spent years dreaming of the things I would do when at last I had a child and could spend my time at home as a homemaker. The grand meals I would cook! The gleam that I would polish into all of my home’s surfaces! The perfect child that would play quietly with his toys in the exact parameters specified to him and who would come out of those parameters to smother me with his adoring love before returning to his play area – to tidy up of course while I cooked those grand meals and polished the surfaces. The creativity that had lain dormant in my bones for so many years while I took the sensible option of working a job that merely paid the bills rather than fulfilled my heart’s desires at last would have its day to shine!

I dreamed of photography and writing.

Fast forward one year. Well, it’s not quite how I expected but I find that the most wonderful things come unexpectedly. We moved from the bustling city of Brisbane to the quiet town of Clermont in country Queensland with a population of about 1900 people and 50, 000 snakes. I don’t think there’s actually been a headcount of the snakes but I’m pretty sure I’m right. Even though I haven’t seen one myself yet.

Anyway, we moved from our beautiful home that we’d had built and had only lived in for just over a year. It was large enough for our future family as we intended to fill it with little people and lots of love. But after only welcoming one little person, Little T, to our family, my husband who is a teacher accepted a teaching position in this little town. So I hadn’t quite gotten around to taking care of the home decor when we packed up and moved into an assigned dwelling that is teeny tiny. There is plenty of wall space for hanging pictures but not much space for anything else. Half of our belongings are still boxed and live underneath our house in the spare car park and will probably stay there for the duration of our stay in Clermont.

I digress.

Back to being pregnant. My sister-in-law, D, and her family were living with us at the time. She LOVES to sew! Me? Meh. I learned a little about it in my Home Ec class in grade eight but hadn’t pursued it. My mother surprised the heck out of me when I was 11 years old by sewing two outfits for me that were required costumes for a school fete and church item. Up until then I’d had no idea my mother had such a skill! So, she didn’t pass it on to me.

So that was my sewing experience. Until D moved in.

I asked D once what she would do with her time if she could do whatever she wanted. Her reply was an enthusiastic “Sew!”

She talked me into making a quilt for my firstborn. I was hesitant as I didn’t have any clue at all how to go about it but she assured me that she would be there to guide me through the process. I believed her. After all, we lived together.

And so my sewing life really began.

I found that I unexpectedly got a taste for it (although I still have trouble bringing myself to say out loud that I enjoy sewing). It turns out that I love to create things! 

So here I am one year later. My plans for grand meals? Well,  it was a nice thought. Those shining surfaces? If you count the dribble that my son trails everywhere, sure I’ve got shining surfaces! The perfect child? Well I adore him to his bones, but at 11 months old he hasn’t quite grasped the concept of parameters and tidying up after himself. But he does excel in sharing his love with his Daddy and me.

The combination of this time in my life as a new mum and being careful with money, well it just seems perfectly sensible to me to use these newfound (and still growing) skills to my advantage. I get to explore the homemaker side in me and make practical items for my family that I can be proud of, while saving a few dollars here and there.

I’m a huge fan of Pinterest and take many ideas from there and also follow many of the tutorials that I see on there. 

I’ve started with making practical things that I need for my own family and also for my many pregnant friends and family (I’m currently expecting two nieces and one nephew this year alone).

Join me on my discovery of creativity as a woman who didn’t know she could until she tried.­