Duvet Days....

Duvet days... yes I am all in favour of these, pull the covers over your head and ignore the fact that the world is turning and right outside the very heart of your home life carriers on... whilst you snuggle up and stay in your PJs all day...Yes... of late I have been a typical cancerian and retreated into my shell... is it the month? the grey winter days? is it my mood? is it that I seem to have lost my place in my own world? Possibly a mixture of them all, so when the littlest family member is poorly and he needs to stay at home and be looked after... Well I have peace in my heart and we hunker down for a day of cuddles, crafting and general niceness... Snuggling in our big bed, surrounded by all the things we like to do... quilts for keeping us cosy, teddies for company, books for reading, knitting for Mommy and of course some snacks to keep the hunger at bay...
To be fair eventually you have to get up so after some serious splashing around, its on with a fresh pair of PJs and down to the kitchen...
...various crafty goodness keeps us going for a happy hour or two... new pens in yummy colours, lots pictures to be turned into thank you cards from the children are made, even a little bit of youtube time whilst Mommy sorts out the next project...
A little sewing, bean bags (or in this case, adukie bags) a fun little project that even a five year old can do with supervision... little squares of fabric (any size) a little felt and some Mommy and babe time at the sewing machine...
As the illness seems to be hanging around and we are all generally a little under the weather, lots of healthy food is getting served to keep our vitamin c levels up... which all helps to keep us happy and playful...
Yes a nice day... a much needed day to reconnect with the very core of family life, just moving through the day slowly, peacefully and with love...
Yes I lost my groove and I am indeed working hard to regain it, as I take the odd peek into blogland I see I am not alone, I guess with all the outside influences it is actually a hard month for many, credit crunch, poor weather and coughs and colds... I personally feel I need to really spend some quality time with my babies and I have a half term to look forward to... I am already starting to put the craft box together so we can hunker down and spend quality time just chilling out, lots of outdoor walks, wellies on and of course camera in hand... just a few more days now and this month will be over.  I walked to school in the sunshine yesterday and for the first time in what seems like a life time ago, I felt the warmth from the sun, blueish skies and I heard bird song... not long to go now until the season changes...

Show and Tell...

I can only apologise for my unintentional blog break... I lost my groove there for a while, the snowy days and blue skies changed into grey wet and generally damp January days, I missed the children and generally felt a bit like the weather... GREY!!!So in order to chase the 'greys' away I have been reconnecting with the creative need and finally getting some stuff done.  So I picked up my knitting bag and I got a little busy whilst curling up in the evenings with a glass of rich red wine, the fire on and clacked away my needles in time to my music...
As usual I am unable to stay faithful to one item of knitting, so in the knitting bag I have a few projects on the go, a beautiful easy knit sweater for my littlest one... 
A little hat to match my RED winter coat...
and a completed hat, the same as mine but a little smaller, for a special little person...
Its always a good feeling when you complete something.
As my name suggested I am Suzie Sews, so with a birthday of one of my friends coming up and pennies being a little short after the Christmas madness I made my friend a gift, a totally useless but rather cute little fabric book and a matching pincushion in adorable Amy Butler and Moda Fabric...
My children and I are doing a little baking together after school, to get them started you just can not go wrong with pizza... so after binding the ingredients together...
we split up the dough and kneaded it for a good fifteen minutes...
We each choose our own toppings and then once cooked we sat down to enjoy the goodness of our efforts...
Comforting food to chase away the misery of the month...

On a personal note, I am sticking to new years resolutions and along with everyone else my looking after myself better in 2009 resolution is actually coming along quite well.  With my swimming two to three times a week, and walking to school I have just joined a Nia class, I was a little unsure it would suit me, a friend of mine was taking the class so along with a couple of other friends I went along, I have to say it was great fun and very addictive... if you like dance and yoga I would definitely suggest you give it ago, if your a little self conscious, stand at the back of you class until you feel comfortable.

Have a great weekend and once again I apologise for my little blog break, but as you can see, 'stuff' is getting done...

The Sewing Room...

So is it just me or is January just whipping by?  Not that I am complaining, I have found this month hard of recent years, but with the snowy days and the bright blue skies I am finding my new rhythm quite easily...  I miss my children now they are back in school, those lazy morning, all three of us having cuddles in the morning in our big bed, with books and sketch pads all within easy reach and of course the breakfast crumbs... yes you only find them when you pull the covers over your head the next evening ready to snuggle down to snooze only to have to leap out of bed and brush the crumbs away... or is this just my family?So I thought a New Years Resolution to tidy up my sewing room was a good thing to do... and true to my word, I accomplished it... 
OK I was rather inspired by my new cupboard to store my fabric in, it has meant that I lost my comfy sofa but it does provide me with a lot of eye candy and for that I will not complain, no in fact I am positively in love with my new cupboard...
I thought it only fair to share with you the whole picture... In typical sewing room fashion, storage is the key, lots of baskets filled with yarns, fabric and a bookshelf that groans under the weight of the books filled with inspiration...
...a little silliness on the window ledge, (can you see the January snow through the window)? something to make you smile when its raining outside and you need every help you can find to brighten up the grey winter days...
... and of course the sewing table itself... a right angled set up of two tables to enable cutting out and sewing to be accomplished with ease...
...all around the room are corners filled with jars and all things pretty...
...not to mention little handmade goodies from my fellow blogging friends...
...and talking of handmade, I had to share with you the most thoughtful Christmas present of 2008.  From my very good friend, my fellow sewer and of course knitter... no ordinary knitter... this is the girl that taught me to knit...  my cave dwelling, scuba diving, white water rafting friend who knits to relax... yer she is cool... 
OK I was naughty, I actually opened it before Christmas and it filled me with joy and felt like a warm hug from a special person... when someone knows you this well...
... you know you have a true friend.   

So with such a nice place to sit and work... I am sure 2009 will be full of creativity... I have made a good start and I will 'show and tell' soon...  Have a great weekend...

Please note.... if you click on to any of the pictures they will enlarge for greater detail...

Music I am listening to...  Sharlreen Spiteri Melody  such a good album I bought it last week and have played it back to back...  singing all the words at the top of my voice in the car ... STOP and It was you ...yes a super CD every track a winner.  Every song takes me back to a little club I used to go to pre children... cool live music, small cramped dance floor, so smoky you could not see the other side of the room... Yes a good CD indeed.

The Gingerbread house...

Happy New year and may I take this opportunity to wish you all the very best for 2009 and may it be filled with lots of love,  peace, health, happiness and of course creativity...So the New Years Resolutions are still just jotted down notes in my journal and will soon be an actual list.  I checked up on last years resolutions and I had a success rate of about 75%.  If I may say so myself I thought I did pretty well.  Some will be carried forward, some are no longer appropriate for me anymore and some... well... just unrealistic.  
Two years ago one of my resolutions was to start my Suzie Sews blog and maintain it for a year, so on to year three and here I still am, still wittering, still taking pictures of everything and still sewing and knitting up a storm.  I however do not feel still, no life moves and changes, it shifts in all sorts of directions and the ability to move and grow with it are an ever demanding part of life.  Each day that passes I am grateful for so much, I love the things that life teaches me and I love the creativity of my spirit.  I draw inspiration and strength from my ability to use my hands creatively.
So dare we imagine what the New Year holds for us all.  One of the things I believe in is to enjoy the moment.  Motherhood has taught me to slow down, stop the rushing and just open my eyes and see the beauty around me and take joy in the simple pleasures that surround me on a day to day basis.
Its fabulous when we make an effort and we do something out of the ordinary, but what about the ordinary, why should it be so dull?  If you promise yourself one thing this New Year, try and see the goodness in your everyday life.  The sun coming up in the morning, the first show of spring, the delicious food you eat, a successful sewing project...  a smile from a stranger... the list is endless... one of those special moments for me was the last day of the holidays...
The children and I had been invited to a friends for dinner, our kitchen cupboards needed to be restocked after the holiday period so we had no food to take... after a rummage through the kitchen I remembered that we had not done the Gingerbread House... so two excited children and I have to admit.. me too... got sticky and messy and spent a very happy couple of hours putting together our master piece of a house to take along with us as a Hostess Gift... the best part... watching four giddy children smash it to pieces at the end of their meal and eat it all up...

So after a rather sparse time on the making front, I feel inspired, the sewing room is all tidy (with a gorgeous new cupboard to store my fabric in) and ready to spring into action and that is the place I am going to right now...  Wishing you all the very best for the 2009...