Happy New Years

 
Wow, well that's 2014 over and we had one hell of a year in the Fox household. Trips to Greece, Norfolk and Denmark. Many days out with friends and family and most importantly we made a mini Mr Fox! That's right, Master Fox was born on 10th December and how our life has changed since then, ignoring the sleep deprivation, for the better of course. He is by far the most awesome thing I have ever made and in the true meaning of a yearly round up I would say he is definitely the best thing I made last year. I know making a baby doesn't count as 'craft' but well I still made him from nothing so in my books this is totally acceptable.

So I suppose I should do a round up of 2014. A year a go I wrote this post about what I aimed to achieve in 2014. In the most part I think I managed to achieve most of this so lets have a look at the key points:

1. Set up a regular blogging schedule. There is no doubt about the fact that this is a bit of a failure. I did, for the most part, manage to run a bi weekly posting schedule which I was very good at sticking too. However late pregnancy, and the recent arrival of our little monkey has completely shot this out the window. I think my best aim now is just to try and blog as much as possible. I think I should aim for once weekly, even if there is no craft, as I think it will help me and you lot know what to expect a bit more. It all got a bit sporadic at the end of the year.

2. Improve my dressmaking skills. I definitely achieved this. There is still much room for improvement but I learnt about Full Bust Adjustments, started using an overlocker and experimented with some more difficult fabrics.

Chestnut Shorts

 

 Ava

Zinnia

Sewing Bee Prom

Lady Skater

3. Make 5 items I will actually wear. When I set this goal I thought it might be a bit of a tall order, but do you know what I actually achieved this really easily. Check out my top 5 wearable makes of 2014 above (Just in case you wanted to know AVA makes a really good maternity dress).

4. Knit a Jumper. The aim of this goal was to knit a jumper for myself. Something I completely didn't do. But on the bright side I knitted a jumper for Master Fox so I say that's a tick for this box!

Norton Jumper

5. Think about Christmas early. I definitely did this this year, and good job with Master Fox being 10 days early! I don't think there would have been a Christmas this year if it hadn't been for me starting in November.

6. Be a good wife. Well obviously I aced this, but truthfully, apart from Mr Fox having to do a lot due to me being pregnant I think we managed to strike a pretty good harmony in 2014, long may it continue.

So what goals am I setting for 2015? Well I want to keep it pretty simple this year as my time will be pretty taken up with the boy but there are a couple of things on my mind. Firstly is to obviously be as good a mum as I can be. Second is to get my figure back and get back to sewing clothes again. I just need to get all the chocolate out the house first!! I think the key for 2015 is to accept that small projects are best, and that larger ones may take some time to complete.

How did you find 2014, and do you have any crafty resolutions for 2015? Please do feel free to share, we would all love to hear about your goals as well as mine.

Looking to the Year Ahead:

Last year was full of its ups and downs. The biggest up was obviously being wed to my wonderful new husband. However we did suffer a number of losses in both our families, and what with that, the wedding planning, and the stresses of work it wasn't the easiest of years.

So with that in mind it's time to start the new year off with a clean slate, to look forward and to try to shape 2014 into something much better. I do love this time of year because it give's you the time to reflect and think about where you are headed. I know there is a lot of stigma about resolutions at this time of year, lots of grand gestures and empty promises, but I am determined not to go down this route. How to go about that? Well I think that setting some realistic achievable goals is probably the best way forward. So here are my resolutions for the year ahead:

1. To set up a regular blogging schedule, and to review this monthy to make sure that the content is frequent enough, but also good quality. I would rather be writing twice a week with good content than just quick posts with no depth.
2. Improve my dressmaking skills.
3. To make 5 items which I can actually wear.
4. To knit a jumper
5. To start thinking about Christmas early
6. And finally, to try and be a good wife. Now this isn't a very specific goal,but its the little things I want to concentrate on. Things like trying to clear up after myself, spend more 1 on 1 time with Mr Fox, and to remember that he has a stressful job and to try and be a bit more understanding when he comes home and is not in the best of moods.

They don't seem too scary right? The problem is I have just blogged them for the world to see so you will all know whether I managed to achieve these, or whether I threw them out the window in a rage come 31st January. However I think getting them out in the public eye is a good thing as it means that I can't just decide to not bother, just because I didn't actually tell anyone what they were. Do you have any resolutions which you would like to share with the group, get it out your system, you know it will feel good to tell someone. 

On that note I want to wish you all a Happy New Year... here is to hoping 2014 brings you just enough of the things which you really wanted.

A Crafty Christmas

It's all over :( but it's not time to wallow...

It's time to start thinking about the year ahead, the things you want to achieve, the people you want to see and what to enjoy. As well as this, for those of us that are still enjoying a break from the everyday grind it's time to spend some time enjoying those lovely gifts which our kind friends and families bestowed upon us.

I have been very lucky this year and so am writing this post to you from my brand new iPad (I really do have a far to kind husband) but I couldn't be happier. I really want it as a place to write the blog from, read other blogs, collect magazines (where they won't clutter up the house!), collect recipes as well as obviously the odd game and or movie. 

But this wasn't the only awesome gift I received, I got some beautiful jewellery as well as some craft items. I got some knit pro circular needles which I just adore. They are so useful as you can just untwist the needle from the string bit, that must have a proper name?, and add a new needle size. I have also started doing a lot of my straight knitting on. Circulars as they are much easier than having big long needle hitting you, or the cat, whilst you are knitting. I also got a new Kim Hargreaves knitting pattern book as I have a real hankering to make Longing so I can't wait to head out to my local yarn shop and get this cast on. Let's see if I can finish a jumper eh. 

I also really must sew up a nicer little case for these bad bouts, the plastic is a bit icky.

So put your feet up, relax, enjoy those gifts and think about the year to come.