My first cushion goes well sew there's no stopping me now!

(Sorry for the awful sewing pun, I couldn't help myself.)

I worked in the shop on Friday morning as we had a board meeting at 9am, so it made sense to stay and do a morning shift rather than go home and come back in the afternoon.  I came up with some wording for some new shelf labels.  Once I'd finished I went to Manning's bakery and got a cheese pie, a corned beef and potato pie and a vienesse and a quarter of an iced jam sponge cake.  They were all super delicious, especially the vienesse!

The two sewing books that I ordered off Amazon arrived.  I got the Sewing Book

and Sewing Machine Basics.

The Sewing Book is very comprehensive and features photographic step by step examples of different techniques, but the Sewing Machine Basics focusses more on projects you can make and includes some paper patterns at the back that you can pull out.

I made my first cushion at weekend following the instructions in the Sewing Machine Basics book.  I'm really pleased with it, and it doesn't look home made at all.  I'm finding the sewing machine surprisingly easy to use, and I even threaded a bobbin really quickly.

I spotted lots of moomin fabric on Etsy.

We nipped into town on Saturday afternoon and I got 2 Simplicity sewing patterns from a charity shop for only 20p each.  We went to Manning's bakery (again!) and I got a cheese and onion pastie, Chris got the corned beef and potato pie and we got a large family sized custard for heating up and eating warm later on.  I also went to the sewing stall and got a seam ripper and some ric rac.  I never knew it was called ric rac but I love it.  It's great for adding a contrasting colour to an item.

On Saturday night I watched a film called the Kite Runner which was really good, and one of the better films I've watched recently.  I thought Hassan was a sweet little boy.  It reminded me of an Iranian film I watched called 'Where is my friend's house?', which was a fantastic film, but I can't seem to find it on DVD.

On Sunday we went to the flea market, but I didn't buy anything as there weren't many stalls on this week.  I was hoping to find some sewing goodies.

I finished off the thank you cards and got them in the post.  I bought some silver 'thank you' stickers from the craft shop.

Unfortunately I've not much motivation to do things at the moment.  I need to give myself a kick start after having a lazy Christmas holiday.  I think energy breeds energy.  So the more you do the more energy you have.  And vice versa, the less you do the less energy you have.

I'm trying to remember not to take on too much this year, especially as the gardening season is approaching.  I'd like to develop my dressmaking skills and make lots of flowery dresses and skirts for summer, really long ones, ones that no one else will have.  I wonder if I can achieve this, or whether it will be too hard?  Surely it can't be that hard?  But I do worry that I'm not the creative type.  I wish I knew what I was good at and then I could concentrate on doing that. And in my career, I wish I was trained and skilled to do a certain profession, like seamstress or electrician, it must be good to actually be something. 

Anyway, I need to stick to doing what's priority.  It's also important for me this year to do new things, because if you keep doing the same things you'll get the same results, and I want new results.  I definitely, definitely need to do more exercise.  I need to eat better and drink more water.  I'd like to drop a day at work to free me up to do productive things, but first I need to decide if I can afford to drop a day or whether this would make things tricky financially.  I also need to save money for a holiday, and be more thrifty in general. 

I was thinking the other day how I'd like a cool classic car like an old mercedes or an old jag, black with black leather seats.  My sister used to drive an ace convertible classic black merc, it was sooooo cool.  I'd also love a better and bigger house, with a garden that feels private.  I just wonder how we'll be able to afford this?  I need to do something other than just working 9-5, I need to show some initiative, become an entrepreneur, think of new ways to make money.  Maybe I could have a go at screenwriting, or a concept for a film?  I always wanted to be a playwright when I was at school.  But the writing would have to come from deep inside me, it would have to be something I felt passionately about.  I guess I've got plenty of things I could write about, I'd like to make a point through my writing, and inspire people to think differently.

At work we were all given 90 day's notice that our jobs could be at risk of redundancy.  Which means, come May, I might be out of a job.  Which wouldn't be good financially, but it could open different doors for me and force me to do different things with my life.  Deep down, I don't really like going to work, but I've got bills to pay.  A self-sufficient lifestyle seems like a great idea to me, perhaps I'm not being entirely realistic because I know it would be really hard work, and it's not an easy option, but it's how we were meant to live, in touch with the land and the seasons.

Finally, I went to the market today and bought lots of fabric.  I got it all for about £17.  I also bought myself some proper dressmaking scissors.