Sunday 16 September 2007

Accepting the change...

Accepting the change...the change of so much in my life, I have found myself reflecting all week. Usually after every holiday I suffer post holiday blues, this time it is so much more, after nearly seven weeks of freedom from time restraints and all the great beach time (despite the weather reducing it somewhat) I am finding it hard to find my rhythm. Add to that the change in my Mothering status with both my children starting school I am really having to work hard at being positive and make myself look for the beauty in the simple things that surround me. I am also admitting to myself (still with great reluctance) that the summer season is drawing to a close and Autumn is starting to show signs of its arrival. Our favourite tree in the garden, the one we sit under in the summer when the sun is to strong for the children's delicate skin, is dropping leaves, the centre of the tree has turned yellow, it is a beautiful happy colour, yet still it pulls at my heart strings...eventually the garden will be covered in leaves and slowly the lushness of it all with fade. Soon, yes soon I am sure I will embrace the season, but just for now I notice the chill in the air, we sit outside less to eat, no knitting has been done in the garden whilst I watch the children play, we plan our days out rather than lazy days around the paddling pool. Reading blogs last year really helped me with this transition of the season, to read the outdoor nature trails, bags made in Autumn shades, children's crafting..painting leaves, acorn hats etc...so soon I will throw myself into it, just let the sun shine a little longer...
The advantage of the breeze is the washing is dry so quickly, as I had bought so much fabric last weekend I washed it all and had it ironed all in two days (see first picture). I went in search of good quality linen I was not disappointed. The plan was to sew some 'lounging around the house trousers'...but I had to have immediate gratification...so I made a row of little 'pull along' ducks. Sadly they did not pull along as they need to be more 3D so I need to work on this design (the basic design was from a book, the name of which I do not have to hand). I packaged them up as gifts and put in a few quilting pins to indicate the use as a pin cushion.
Suddenly there seems to be lots of babies and lots of little gifts needing to be made, and just at the right time my Amazon order arrived and in it was the book 'Simple Gifts to Sew'. Now I have a lot of craft books as most of us do, some are just pretty, some are useful and some are better left in the shop, this book however really caught my imagination, well actually you do not need an imagination except to take the designs a little further to make them more personal. It is clear easy projects, slightly different from the usual pillows and embroidered tea towel, not that there is anything wrong with this, and I have most of the materials already in my sewing room. SO with a free afternoon (very unusual for me) I immediately dipped into my stash...a few hours later many little gifts had been made...my kind of crafting, a little relief from the hours of quilting I have done this summer.
So once the gifts are made I can not wait to get them packaged up and given out. Later in the afternoon I did the dreaded weekly food shop, browsing down the reduced section of all the school stationary and school bags which are now all half price...I came across these little magnets for pence...(34p) Now I like magnets and I get mine usually from a children's resource centre, not cheap either, worth it though as the children make great things with them. SO when I saw these I picked up a few packs, great little stocking fillers (Did I really refer to Christmas then)? All I need to do is remove the magnet itself. Having read through the whole previously mentioned book I really liked the project for fridge magnets for little hands, we use the word magnets on the radiators, obviously when they are not hot! due to the fact that the fridge is set in a cupboard. I have so many piles of oilcloth, as I change our table cloth over every few months, its a big old pine kitchen table, bought from a reclaimer's yard in Oxford, despite lots of cleaning it has lots of groves and ridges from time and use so the oilcloth is a great cover up. I keep them all, but every time I come to redo the table I want something new so I now have a useful project to try out whilst being very environmentally friendly as my older child says 'Mom you have to reuse and recycle'.

With the many changes taking place here at the moment along with it has come some free time. It has been put to great use, for the first time in sooo long I went out for a meal in the evening to a lovely restaurant without the children, if you do not have babes it may sounds silly, those with will know what I mean. I got to wear a silk dress, not something you can do with sticky handed children, shoes that do not need to be flat to enable me to chase after little people, in fact I actually felt quite grown up. To also have some free time in the day, OK I have a house to put back together after its been torn to shreds by numerous children over many years. But I did get time to sew, to read a magazine, to shower without someone wanting me to read to them... Have I convinced you that I am not missing the kids...maybe I am just trying to convince myself!!!
...I miss them with a passion...


Are you really still reading my witter...I thank you:-)

12 comments:

Linda said...

You make such beautiful things.Are the children away at school? If so no wonder you are missing them.x

Anonymous said...

I'm still reading! I think you're comments on the changing season are beautifully put - but then we all know that come the beginning of October and Halloween round the corner we'll be loving it!!

est said...

very interesting post! thank you for sharing :)

Victoria May Plum said...

The little "pull along" duck is adorable.
I can't imagine how it must feel to be on your own in the day, after years of having little ones around. It must be a very big change for you.

Victoria x

Anonymous said...

I hope your love for Fall comes to you soon. It's here, in all it's glory. Which in Iowa, means 30 degree nights and then two days later it's 85-90 during the day. We are the land of many temperatures... especially in the fall!

Tone Yvonne said...

Hi

Changes doesn't always come easy - not even the seasonal transitions..
Sometimes it just takes time - don't fight it - it will only take longer....

It's not unusual to have a reaction after a loooong summer break, and if your kids are away at school, well there you have it.... It's all human and sorrow is a natural feeling - embrace it - don't fight it - and you will get through ..... promise :o)

Spend you free time doing things that cheer you up..... sometimes kids are too much - we all need grown-up-time to recharge our energy.....

It might not feel as comfort,but Dalai Lama says: "Things can always be worse".... Let that reach your emotions..... you head will probably resist this, but you heart will know...

This came out much longer than I thought it would!! ;-D

Take care!!

Anonymous said...

Yup - I made it all the way to the end too! Love the little gifts as well as the very cute ducks - well done you - i wish I had the time at the moment to get my sewing machine out - you seem to do so well at getting things done! I know exactly how you feel about the end of the summer - it seems to have gone so quickly too this year, although the daytime is still really nice here, but the walk to school is a bit nippy!

Just Original said...

My Mum always says I am wishing my daughters life away, I am always saying I can not wait for her to start full time school (she's just turned 3). Reading your comments has made me wonder!

Thanks

Vanessa x

Anonymous said...

It is so funny to hear about your Autumn blues as we head into Spring which just seems such an exciting time where we start to anticipate all the things that you are having trouble parting with. I hope that you will embrace the season and its changes soon though - there really are lovely aspects to every season!! Thanks so much for your beautiful comment on our blog - you are a real sweetie!!! Love your baby bits and pieces and cant wait to see more of your lovely work! Have a fabulous week!!!

(Angie) Norththreads: said...

Lovely blog you have here!
~cheers~

Racheal Miles said...

I am still reading and enjoyed every word of it.
Racheal x

Anonymous said...

Still reading, and still admiring all you wrote! Thank you for sharing all your reflections here. By nature I'm usually a happy person, come the end of summer though, I really get the blues and grapple a bit before really embracing autumn. Here in Norway fall can been dull, gray and rainy sometimes, and then winter is long cold and often snowy...So we live for spring & summer here! I understand how you are feeling. So many lovely things here! Love the duck on wheels especially--that's really tugging on my heartstrings! Keep smiling...((HUGS))