Sunday, 3 April 2016

Houses, Hippos & Apologies

Sunday, April 03, 2016 | By
Hi! I'm alive & I come baring gifts!
Happy 2016 everyone! Do you know I just had to double check with my computer calendar which year it actually is? That's how frazzled I am at the moment. I may not be sure of what year it is but I do know that April is way, way too late for my first post of the year. When I started this blog my aim was to try and release one new pattern every month and one free pattern round up at the end of every month. I feel so annoyed with myself for letting things in my personal life get on top of me - so much so that my little blog has been pretty much neglected. I'm sorry to my regular readers who have been wondering where I've disappeared to!

My new kitchen - almost there!
So where exactly have I been for the past 4 months? Well truthfully I'm in the middle of moving house at the moment. About a year ago I purchased my very own flat and became a home owner! The flat was a bit of an ambitious purchase - it needed a lot of work, especially the kitchen. The kitchen needed completely ripped out. I don't think I actually realised how much money all this refurbishment would cost and ended up in a bit of a stressful, financial mess. I've been pretty much flat out broke trying to make it liveable plus pay all my bills. I bit off way more than I could chew - next time I buy a property I won't be so ambitious!

It became somewhat liveable around Christmas time, so from then until now I've been 100% focused on trying to get the last little touches finished so I can finally move in full time. A new piece of furniture here, a lick of paint there. I set up my new sofa the other day and I have to say I'm absolutely in love with it - it's so freakin' girly! Beautiful sofas aside, half my stuff is now at my new place (including most of my yarn!) and half of my stuff is still at my Mum's (including me!) so I'm in this weird, hobo like limbo not really belonging anywhere. It sucks. You really do not feel creative when you don't have most of your craft supplies to hand or are not entirely sure where half of them even are!

That being said I have managed to do a little bit of creating! Tom's sister recently gave birth to a beautiful baby boy named Finlay. Does that make me sort-of an Auntie? I hope so! Finlay's Dad is a massive Celtic fan (Scottish football team for those of you who may not know!) so I thought one of my sock monkey's in the Celtic green and white stripes would be a lovely personalised gift for him. I make my sock monkey's from real pairs of socks and luckily I found the perfect pair!

    

Here's Tom enjoying the new insanely girly sofa....standard - and Finlay's Celtic sock monkey!

In amongst all the chaos of new babies, bills & redecorating I received an email from the deputy editor of Homemaker magazine. I am an occasional reader of Homemaker so I was absolutely delighted to learn that she wanted to feature my Cheeky Little Monkey on her shopping page! Of course I accepted and was thrilled when Tom appeared at my door with the latest issue (I love that boy!). Seeing my design and website in print, however small, was an awesome feeling. I'm on page 92 of the April issue if you'd like to check it out for yourself!

So what's next in the world of design for Heart & Sew? If you follow me on Facebook or Instagram you will already know that my next free pattern is for this big, beautiful purple hippo! He's made entirely from Three Bears Yarn cotton aran (a yarn & pattern pack for him will be available to purchase as always) and is currently the biggest amigurumi design/project I have ever done - he's huge! I wanted him to be big and cuddly because, well, he's a hippo after all. Please expect the pattern to be posted here within the next few days. It's all typed up, I just need to take some nicer photographs now. I hope he will be worth the wait.


That's all for now, hopefully my next life update will include pictures of my lovely (finished!) new home. For the sake of this blog. And my sanity.

♥ 
 Julie xxx 

6 comments:

  1. Keren4 April 2016 at 02:11

    Hi Julie, I too, barely have time to create at the moment. Don't feel bad. Life happens. Enjoy your new home,and hopefully the new space will inspire you and help your creativity flowing. Thanks for all the cool patterns. Good luck.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Unknown4 April 2016 at 05:35

    Oh Julie! I'm new to your blog but my dear, no need to apologize! I'm glad to see you are getting your new apartment finished up. And thank you for the patterns! Here's a gentle hug from across the pond!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Genevieve Peters4 April 2016 at 06:00

    This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Genevieve Peters4 April 2016 at 06:12

    Apologies are not necessary! We all know what life can sometimes bring us, and we've all been caught up in that whirlwind from time to time. Life happens and we have to deal with it. Purchasing a new home is always stressful even it's move in ready. Btw...That sofa is most glorious thing I have ever seen!

    A new baby in that family! Congratulations on becoming a new Auntie!(Yes that does make you a n Auntie). The sock monkey is so cute! (I'm assuming when you say football, you're referring to what we Canadians call soccer?) The hippo is adorable, and I can't wait to make him!

    ReplyDelete
  5. loobylou4 April 2016 at 11:31

    Hope you will be very happy in your new home, i am loving the sofa and the hippo 😊😊

    ReplyDelete
  6. coralgrace738♡16 April 2022 at 07:52

    I got this web site from my friend who informed me regarding this website and at the moment this time I am visiting
    this web page and reading very informative content here.
    메이저사이트
    온라인경마

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)