Sunday, August 12

A Skulk of Foxes

I love the word 'skulk', don't you? I have completed my skulk of foxes, although for a while they were just fox carcasses, hanging around... I was going to drape them over furniture and take a picture and entitle it 'persistance of fox', but of course, as with most brilliant ideas, I just couldn't be bothered, so use your imagination. Anyway, here's my skulk:
there are four little foxes, one is hiding behind the others... I can't decide who's my fave!
They are waiting for some semblance of decency, possibly little skirts and pants, if I have the time to whip those up before the market on Saturday... I'm trying to decide what animal to focus on now, despite having pleeeeenty on my plate in the next couple of months... I really love pandas, so so much, and might try crafting a couple of those! But as I said, I'm going to be a bit busy, having a baby and all... This is what my 'sewing' list looks like at the moment:
Our internet is going soooo slow that it took about half an hour to load this picture of a hand-written list... was it really worth it, just to have more pictures on my post? I'm not sure it was... that's half an hour of my life that's never coming back...
 The first priority is finishing market stuff for next week, then I want to have got all my baby sewing stuff done as soon as possible after that, so that I can start to relax a little... It's hard to keep my head straight at the moment, especially trying to figure out what counts as a priority and what can wait, for example:

I NEED to finish my market sewing because I have a market on Saturday, whereas I WANT to make some patterns for new animals, and start experimenting with new jewellery-making processes....
I NEED to finish sewing up the nappies otherwise my baby will have a bare bottom and run off to bare bottom land, whereas I WANT to try making cute little appliques for onesies...
I NEED to hem the baby wraps so that I have something to wrap the baby in, whereas I WANT to start making a giant cot quilt out of old woollen blankets with a giant fox face on it....

It's worse(the prioritising thing) because I have actually been really enjoying mixing up crafting fun stuff with sewing necessary stuff. I am a naturally impatient and impulsive person, and it has been great having a pile of baby sewing and a pile of 'fun' sewing side-by-side, so I don't get burnt out and bored of doing the one thing.

But it's time for some priorities, and some boundaries. Of course, getting better and getting out of bed would probably fast-track the whole process....
Is there anything you're struggling to prioritise at the moment? Do you have any deadlines looming? I love your comments :)

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Rachel, I really enjoy your posts :)
My question for you is - what is on your list of essential baby sewing? I see the things on your current list but I wonder if you've sewn a bunch of other 'essentials' in the past?
Thanks heaps
Jen

zcat_abroad said...

Ah, prioritising...

I should be reading Middle English, and creating tests for students, but instead, I'm floating round the internet, commenting on things...

I should be piecing together the baby blanket squares, so that I can give it to someone, but instead am starting a knitted blanket (and somehow, I need more wool).

I should be using up past purchases, instead of spending more on things which I then ferret away, rather than make and pass on.

Hmm, somehow, we may be related!

Rachel Osborne said...

Thanks for your comments guys. Jen, thanks for asking, here's my best attempt at an answer... I have tried in the past to hand sew little baby tops, pants & onesies(stretch'n'grows), but they are really really fiddly to make! I simply can not get the little 'envelope' necks right! So now my 'essentials' includes nappies; I made about 20 for my son when he was 6 months old, but have none for newborn size, so I had to start again for that... I also have 'sewn' bibs, which can just be squares of a fine-knit fabric doubled over to make a triangle kerchief style and just tied on, I prefer that now to regular bibs. Another thing I make is wraps, from 1m squares of knit jersey or similar, sometimes these don't even need to be hemmed; then you can just double down the corner and wrap baby up like a burrito! So apart from the cloth nappies, just really really simple stuff. And then I can just applique cute shapes onto plain onesies or tops... :) I like choosing bright colours and stripes for my wraps, not particularly 'baby' colours, and then making little stretchy hats from the same fabric to match.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for your reply! Yes I had looked at little t-shirts but I'm not sure I'm patient enough to get the fiddly little arms and necks right. Nappies and wraps are a great idea!!
All the best for the arrival of the newbie :)
Jen