neglected

My blog's been rather neglected this year, I've felt so busy with uni and motherhood. It's been a hard year and it's crazy that it's nearly over - exams in a week and a half. I've struggled this year, struggled to find time to relax, time to do hobbies I enjoy, time to try and remember who I am and who I'm trying to become. Some days I just carry on because that's all I know how to do. Miss S has been a wonderful blessing and joy in my life, an amazing bright spot in a world which sometimes seems too dark.

embroidered art

I decided to post my recent art after all. Somewhat hesitantly, but then, why not? As a disclaimer, I'm not suicidal, but I have been in the past, and have self-harmed in the past. I've found that getting these types of thoughts out as art helps them stay out of my head (which can only be a good thing). If these sort of images disturb you or prompt you to think in negative ways, please don't look, this is theraputic art for me and I don't want it to affect anyone negatively. So I've put a cute pic in to give you a bit of distancing.


These pictures were all done in soft coloured pencil on the thermal backing of an old curtain, and then embroidered with polyester thread.

contemplating death

suicide

self-harm

Any thoughts?

cruisin' and crawlin'

I haven't been doing much lately, enjoying my holiday, and keeping Miss S out of trouble now that she's crawling and cruising around the house.


I've been doing a bit of drawing to keep myself entertained, though of rather emotive and heavy topics (suicide/self-harm), I won't post more than a detail here, showing of some of the embroidered detail work, but if you're interested, look me up as khhast on flickr.com

One week of holidays left, then I'm back into the study. I hope to keep a bit more creativity in my life this semester, but managing pain levels tends to be more important most of the time.

a rainbow of trackpants

I've been enjoying my holiday break so far, I've been getting a bit of study done, working on some assignments with some classmates, but between that I've been trying to relax a bit and chill out.


I've started making a few pairs of track-pants for Miss S, and it's been great to get some sewing done and just enjoy myself. One pair is complete and another half done, though I'll need some more elastic to finish the third pair. I'm just using the simplest of patterns based on another pair of pants we have for her to grow into, only two pieces of fabric with a fold over for the elastic at waist and ankles. They look like they'll be super cozy for winter, and of course super cute!

photos go on holiday

I'm so glad I'm finally on holiday, I'm in real need of a break, though I have plenty of assignments and readings to get done over my break.

I've been really enjoying taking photos lately, exploring my camera a bit, and I've finally worked out how to do the cool depth of field photos that are all over the place. Here's one of my sewing machine...


and one of Miss S's latest toy.


I took this third photo on our duck feeding trip last week of the sunshine sparkling in the paddling pool.


I've finally got a bit of sewing done, maybe more on that later. Enjoy your Easter weekend.

one last fling...

with the sewing machine, as I'm back to university tomorrow morning (not that it'll stop me, just slow me down), leaving Miss S home with her darling dad. I'm sure they'll have lots of fun. But the last week I've been rushing around a bit trying to get things done, which at times got a bit stressful. So to cheer myself up a bit (the study looks rather heavy going by looking at my textboooks) I made myself a new top:

I'm sure it looks better on me than my mannequin.

A close-up of the pleated neckline detail.
Sorry they're a bit fuzzy, I was having trouble cos we were in the hallway for its good light (random, I know).

I based it on a gathered neckline t-shirt with raglan sleeves I got for Christmas. I decided to not have a seam between the front and the sleeves, and just to continue the pleats right around to the raglan seams at the back. So it has kimono-style sleeves at the front, but raglan-style at the back. I haven't hemmed any of the edges, just coverseamed them a cm or so from the edge. The neckline I basted the pleats and then coverseamed over them.

I'm really pleased how it turned out, only a few minor problems (like the fabric doesn't breathe very well, so not good for the hot sweaty days we're currently getting). It's the first item of clothing I've made in a while so I'm a little out of practice.

finishing and starting

I'm counting down to this date:


University starts back in only 5 days and my list of things to get done over the summer break seems to be nearly as long now as it was back in November. Eek! Today, however, I did manage to finish one thing on my list: Nappies! I have finally finished sewing nappy pockets and can get back to some more creative sewing, almost. The nappies have had all 360 corners of velcro trimmed (4 corners x 5 pieces of velcro x 18 nappies = 360 corners, and no I didn't really need to know how many there was) and then had a wash so they're now all ready to use. Don't the colours look fantastic?!


I've started on another sewing item on my list, new curtains for our bedroom. We were given some nice full-length curtains which I've chopped the bottoms off so they can be normal length window curtains and curtains for the small window above our bed. So far I've hemmed the large ones, the small ones are still a work in progress.

I found some baby snails (they were tiny! only finger-width in length) while yanking out some very very long grass in our front yard, and had to stop and run find the camera. Most of the grass is still there, I didn't want the baby snails to lose their home. They were so amazingly wonderful. And their shells were translucent in the morning sunshine.


In other news, Miss S is starting on solids tomorrow! She hasn't put any weight on since I went lactose-free to help her reflux 2.5months ago, so we're getting started on solids to see if it'll help. Going lactose-free cut out a huge amount of fat from my diet, which may have been good for me, but not so good for a growing baby. The plunket nurse (free medical service for under5s) will visit again in a fortnight to see how she's going. It will be fun! The darling husband and I are very much looking forward to Miss S's reactions to food.

What are you excited about getting crossed off your list these days?
Or just getting started on that's exciting and inspiring you?

Happy Valentines Day!

My sweet wee Miss S is celebrating with me, with her socks!


They're a bit hard to see, so here's a closer look:


Hearts! How sweet! On tiny wee baby socks! So very adorable.
(It was so hard to get this photo, she just wouldn't stop moving for me!)

To help get you in the mood, here's some lyrics from one of my favourite songs at the mo:

Until the world has stopped revolving
Until the birds have left the trees
Until the winds have stopped from blowing
You'll be loved by me.

Until the rain has stopped from falling
Until the fish don't swim the sea
Until the stars have stopped from shining
You'll be loved by me.

Sorry but I have absolutely no idea what it is or who it's by as it's just a random one on the darling husband's computer.

So happy Valentines Day everyone!

What are you doing to celebrate?