When I was at home on maternity leave with my first baby 15 years ago I first discovered a few crafty blogs. Through long days of what seemed like continuous feeding, or trying to settle my daughter, I saw small glimpses into the creative lives of others and I was hooked. I had enjoyed some craft and sewing as a teenager - I used to love cross stitch and was fond of making myself a pair of shorts but these women who blogged made it look so enticing.
I started to buy beautiful fabrics, mostly from local patchwork shops, and make things - mostly very badly. I had no idea what I was doing and YouTube didn't yet exist. So when I made my first very simple quilt I used a ruler and a pencil and ruled out the squares on my fabrics, cut them out with scissors and sewed them together with my borrowed sewing machine. Unsurprisingly most of the squares' corners didn't meet and I had absolutely no idea how to quilt the thing, either by machine or by hand, I didn't realise the backing would be important (it's on the back of the quilt!) and I had no idea how to attach the binding. But I made a quilt - and I loved it! It was made by me, for my little daughter with fabrics I loved and every time I saw her with it, or under it, it made me feel all the feels.
We still have that quilt. I still love the fabrics. And despite the absolutely abysmal technique it makes me so happy and takes me back to that first year of motherhood. When it was just my daughter, husband and I and we lived in the first home we had bought and we thought we were busy and tired.
Over the last 15 years my skills have developed, my fabric purchases have become more frequent (or less so when paying bills demanded it) and I find myself starting my own blog when mostly everything I read says blogs are dead. However I have been working on a couple of projects that I want to share and through Instagram I have found such lovely connections with fellow crafters and quilters that I think maybe its worth it to share a bit of my life and what I make and produce and that maybe somebody will enjoy it. Maybe that somebody will be you. I hope so.
Bec x
3 comments
Well here I am reading it, so there you go! Lovely to discover you on IG.
Better late than never, Bec! I remember those early days of your crafting, and your emerging joy and passion for fabric. Enjoy this exciting new path!! X
Lovely to read you are starting a blog. I love blogs and read them frequently and have known you via instagram for quite some time. I love the chicken you showed on instagram, they are so cute! and I will visit you there and here regularly. Looking forward to reading more about your makes and wish you lots of success! Claudia aka Ompompali