On the twenty first day of the new year I picked my sewing machine up from being serviced and made a hat.

I don't know if that sounds like such a big deal to you, but I'm a bit pleased.

You see I used to sew a lot: clothes, flags, accessories, you name it. There was a time back there that I could design, cut and sew a girl's dress in a few hours. I had sewing confidence, I had little girls who were happy to wear homemade, I had time to sew and I had a sewing machine that behaved beautifully.

But somewhere along the line all that changed. My girls started growing bigger and raising their eyebrows at my mixy-matchy creation, my baby started school and all of a sudden I found myself with less time (?!!), and then my machine started acting up. But instead of getting her serviced, I pushed her all the way to the back of my desk and forgot about her. And every now and then when I pulled her out with the idea that I'd sew something cool, the thread would keep breaking, the stitches would gather in a lump at the back and she'd make sounds like a lawn mower. So I'd give up, push her back and feel like maybe I just couldn't sew anymore. I lost the sewing way.

But these holidays the number one thing on Miss Jazzy's holiday must-do list , was learn to sew . So we chose some fabrics and a tote bag pattern and pulled out the machine, only to find she was still misbehaving. We managed to get half the bag done here and finished the rest at our friend Merrilyn's shop. The machine went to the fixer-uperer.

Which brings me to today. Today I picked up my machine, downloaded a pattern, chose the fabrics, carefully cut-out the the pieces, even more carefully followed the directions and ta-daaaaaa!!!



Of course with apple season almost upon us I had to quickly crochet a cute little apple too.

Now to make a few more to keep in a basket by the front door to try and eliminate the school morning hat scramble.

For those interested - I bought the hat pattern here and found the apple pattern here.

Wishing you great success with whatever you're making.

Lots-a-love

xx