Beginnings

Well it's about time I made a new post!  The house move is done, and I'm loving our quirky new home by the sea!  The job quitting is done; I'm lucky enough to be in the position where my lovely hubby is happy to do the bread winning while I try my hand at being a domestic goddess and crafting queen - dizzy heights indeed!  So, armed with my gorgeous spotty new chair...

From my favourite shop Freedom

...and my shiny new sewing machine and awesome leather-topped antique sewing table that I got for (almost) a steal on Trade Me...

...I'm finally able to begin sewing for the first time in about 15 years.

My first project was to make a quick pin cushion using this tutorial from one of my favourite blogs Mousehouse.  Here's how mine turned out

With my confidence flying high I decided it would be a good idea to launch myself into making 7 Christmas ornaments for the Kiwi Christmas Ornament Swap hosted by Dione at Sew Funky.  After much Googling and mind-changing I finally settled on making a robin using some Christmas material I'd got from Spotlight and this cute template I found.

Needless to say my inexperience amidst moving house, making the difficult decision to quit my job and the imminent arrival of the parents-in-law (!) proved challenging to say the least.  However it was a valuable learning process and by the time I got to the last ornament I'd finally managed to work out the best way of making each component and the least fiddly way of putting them together!

I decided to ditch the feather tail in the end

Waiting for the final robin before they fly the coop to their new homes

I felt like a child whenever I received any of the other swaps in the post!  They're all beautiful and each one is unique.  I'll post a pic of my tree with them on next time!