Cath Kidston project and self assembly

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It's been a busy week all told, some days I don't know if I'm coming or going and to be honest, yesterday I was running on about 5 hours worth of sleep (not by choice!!) and it was tough to motivate myself to do much of anything.

As my Facebook and Instagram followers have seen, I've been busy this week making the freebie that came with the Cath Kidston Sewing book which I got for my birthday last year. The book comes with everything you need to make the 'Pocket Sewing Kit' and is the front cover star. I'd been putting off making it a little as I was feeling a bit lazy about cutting out the pieces from the fabric and a little scared I'd make a mistake too as the fabric that is included is Cath's Little Bird Print which is so cute (and a little expensive for my budget if I had to repurchase it). Anyway, I was pleasantly surprised when I finally decided to make a start to find that all the pieces are pre-cut - BONUS!! It meant that I could start sewing straight away.  (There may have been a little *happy dance* thing going on at that point).

The pattern itself was easy to follow and I'm fairly pleased with the overall result, with the exception of the binding. I think it's more user error than an issue with the binding itself, but for me it's a tiny bit too thin in width to allow my clumsy old hands to attach it as neatly as I would have liked. Still, it's on and it looks nice as a contrast to the main fabric.

I did have a mild panic attack when I attached the first piece of binding though.  I had dutifully cut the first piece to the required length and evidently I had not been paying sufficient attention when I did so as I had accidentally cut through TWO pieces resulting in two lengths of binding when I only needed one for that section.  The trouble being that until I had moved a little further in the project I couldn't be sure that I had enough to finish. Luckily whoever decided how much of everything to put into the freebie stash was prepared for silly people like me and there was still more than enough to complete the project. HUGE sigh of relief when I discovered that I can tell you.

The other thing I've achieved this week is the putting together of some cube shelving.  I'm aware that

Storage before...                                    ...and after

for some this is a straight forward task and for others it's actually flat pack hell and they'd rather run for the hills; I don't mind it really and when it's something that's purely for functionality rather than beauty as well I'm happy enough to give it a go. I spotted a 3x2 cube unit on sale when I did my weekly food shop and (after a quick text conversation with the other half as, lets face it, January is a loooooong month financially speaking) I picked it up and brought it home. Once little miss was safely down for her nap and I'd run round like a headless chicken tidying up, I sat down and put it together and am proud to say it took me 20 minutes at best. Who needs men eh? 😉 It's to store the toddler's toys in the living room in such a way that she can easily see and access them in the hopes of encouraging some more self-led play. Her bedroom is set up like this now (I rearranged stuff just after Christmas) and she does seem to play better in there on the odd occasions she's in there for more than 2 minutes. I'm really pleased with how it turned out.

Finally, the Lake Baikal cross stitch is still going on in the background and I usually manage a good hour each night on that so it should hopefully be finished this year unless I get properly distracted by other exciting projects. The kitchen is coming along, albeit very slowly. The pantry area still needs to be painted but the wall it sits in/on has been stripped of wallpaper and we've got the fridge and shelving in so it's functioning as it should be. February half term will no doubt see a fair bit of progress as the hubby is on annual leave so fingers crossed there may be some more exciting progress at that point.

Until next time,

M x

Dealing with loss

Disclaimer: this blog post has nothing to do with crafting.

I had some incredibly sad news this week - an old student of mine took his own life a few months ago. He was only 25 years old and was such a genuine, funny and thoughtful young man. I'm not sure what went wrong for him as I only have the barest of details, but I can only hope that his pain has now ended. What makes his death even more poignant for me is that he not only leaves behind his parents for whom this must be such a difficult time and I cannot even begin to imagine what they are feeling, but he also leaves behind a young son. It is heartbreaking to think that as he grows up he won't have any real memories of his dad.

It's not the first time that we have lost a past student like this and it doesn't get any easier to hear of young people feeling that they have nowhere to turn or no other option but to end it. One assumes when you hear of things like this that it is likely to be down to mental ill health. This is an area where there is a distinct lack of funding in my opinion which results in very limited resources being available to people. The way things are in this country at the moment, economically and politically, there are an awful lot of people who are struggling and this will undoubtedly be impacting on their mental health. No one is immune to finding things hard at some point in their life, myself included and the dark days can be really hard to get through without the right support. I'm lucky, I have an amazing family to support me, food on the table and a roof over my head; there are far too many people across the world who don't have that.

When we lost Cal it rocked us all completely. If you looked at his history and saw him only through those eyes it would be easy to say that it was always going to happen, that it was just the route he would take. What you won't have seen though is the incredibly funny, fiercely loyal and thoughtful young man that he was. I watched him grow from this cheeky little 'scally' into this amazing young man who we were all so proud of, I just wish he knew that. Whenever I think of him I wish I had seen him on his last day, to give him a sympathetic ear, to listen and be there for him... I wish he was still here, I wish they both were.

It's hard losing anyone. A family member, a friend, young or old, they take a piece of your heart. For me, it's good to think about them, talk about them when I need to and yes I quite often have a good cry about them too. You don't forget about them and the pain is always there, but it does get easier to get through each day as time goes on. You get up and go through the motions and gradually you think about the shock of loss a little less and remember the days where you couldn't breathe for laughing so hard at something that they said or did or the time that you heart could have literally burst with pride at the person they had become knowing that even if it was tiny, you had a small part to play in that.

M x

Converting a pattern

Well this week has had some amazing highs and a very saddening low which I will cover in a seperate blog post allowing those who do not wish to read about it to not feel forced to. It started off with a lovely visit to my in laws smallholding and the kids receiving some great Christmas presents from them, one of which was this super cute puddle suit for the youngest.  How adorable?! Who wouldn't love a unicorn puddle suit?

As ever it was great to catch up with the family and the boys weren't seen for dust as they went to help out with the animals. It's a fantastic experience for them and as they trotted off to feed the horse, donkey and pigs their breakfast in the early winter morning darkness you realise how having a bit of responsibility with an animal can be really good for them. We have a couple of cats, but they are an 'easy' pet to be fair and it usually falls to me or the hubby to feed them so being able to experience a more hands on animal does the kids the world of good.

On another positive note, my beautiful cousin let me know that her and her partner are expecting their first baby this year. I'm so excited for them and am already planning what I can make for the new addition. It's such an exciting time expecting a baby (even with the extreme tiredness, morning sickness and insomnia that comes along with it). I absolutely love making little cardigans, blankets and hats. It helps that I can get them done fairly quickly too 😉.

Found at: https://www.pinterest.co.
uk/pin/91831279879049654/

So, crafting wise (as I know that's why most of you are here) I've been busy converting a knitting pattern I've had for quite a few years from being knit on two needles to being knit in the round. It's a basic stocking stitch pattern with 3 inches of rib at the cuffs and bottom hem as well as a ribbed collar so in theory it should be fairly easy to convert... Having never done something like this before though my main issues have been trying to keep the pattern easy to read and how to work the neck shaping. I'm going to have to do a bit more research on the collar shaping as I can't quite get my head around it at the moment.

For the rest of the pattern I've been planning it to be knit from the bottom up starting with knitting up the body as one 'tube' and the two arms as individual 'tubes' up to the armhole shaping. Instead of casting off stitches to create the armhole the stitches are slipped onto a safety pin and will be grafted together once the jumper is complete. Once the body and arms are completed up to that armhole shaping they will be joined together so that you're knitting all three together in one big round and shaping the armholes all at the same time.

That maybe all sounds more complicated than it actually is or perhaps it's clearer in my head than I can explain! Once I've got the yarn and have knitted it up it will more than likely be even clearer in my head. I'm one of those people who needs to research and physically do for things to click fully in my head. Fingers crossed with the aid of the internet I should be able to work out how to do the neck shaping in the round and then I'm hoping to put the pattern on the blog (once I've checked it's right by knitting it up).

The Lake Baikal cross stitch is coming along nicely and I think by the end of next week I should be very close to having finished a quarter of the chart. I've also made a start on the free project that came with the Cath Kidston book that I got for my birthday - I'll go into more detail on that next week.

I'll leave it there and catch up with you soon.

Until next time,

M x

Happy New Year - pantry refurbishment

I hope you all had a fantastic Christmas and that your new year has got off to a good start. As ever we had a fairly quiet one (as quiet as it can be with three kids haha) but life is so hectic in general it’s quite nice to catch up with ourselves and spend some time together without the pull of work, school and other activities that happen each week.

I’ve been reading some blogs and watching a few YouTube videos over the last few days and thinking about New Years resolutions and whether or not to make some. I tend to find that they get pushed to the wayside by the end of February (if I’m lucky enough to last that long) and then when I look back I get a bit disheartened that I haven’t achieved them. So I’ve decided to look at setting myself some goals to work towards this year in the hope that I make some progress towards them as they'll be a little more specific.

The first of these is something I have wanted to get done for twelve and a half years. When we bought this house in 2006 it was structurally sound but the decor left something to be desired - think vomit yellow walls and diarrhoea coloured carpet in the dining room! 🤢 There were pelmets at the windows and a very sizeable construction in the garden for the rabbits that the previous house owners bred. In short, it was far from the family home that we envisioned and slowly but surely we have worked our way round the house to put our stamp on it. Everywhere but the kitchen...

Dumping ground to blank canvas (complete
with still drying plaster!)

The kitchen is not the biggest room in the house and by any standards it’s fairly small. It’s poorly laid out and there is a distinct lack of storage. I have hated it since we moved in but struggled along with it as there has always been something else more pressing to deal with. This year that is going to change and we will finally have a kitchen that I am happy with and feel more like cooking in. How does this fit in with Makepeace Made? Well, barring the removal of a concrete shelf and some plastering (and the plumbing in of the gas cooker) which will be done by professional tradesmen, Mr Makepeace and I will be doing the work. I’m hopeful that this won’t mean it goes on for months, but it will mean that the costs are kept lower... and we’ve already started. On the 2nd January I had a fab local builder in who has converted my pantry from this dumping ground where we quite literally shoved stuff in and hoped for the best to this blank canvas.

The plan is that my fridge freezer will go in the cubby hole along with some shelving for the tins, fruit, veg, cereals and other dried goods. When we get to that point I’ll add another photo. Needless to say my house is a bit upside down at the moment but I'm still managing to
get in some stitchy time and I feel like I'm made some good progress on the Lake Baikal cross stitch. There's still a fair way to go though. It's been an interesting stitch with blending different colours as well as stitching with one, two and three strands of wool/cotton. Given that it's just whole stitches, French knots and backstitch there is a fair bit of depth to the overall finish.

Other goals for the year are to see more of family (I've actually been planning ahead and pencilling in some dates to aim for) and to get in some more crafting with a view to finishing a project each month. I’m planning to knit a new jumper for myself as I seem to be struggling with being cold at the moment but I’ll be designing it myself and knitting it in the round as I absolutely detest sewing up knitted items. I don't know why as I enjoy sewing with other fabrics, I think I just find it a bit tedious and want whatever it is I'm making to be finished. I did film a 'stitch with me' video for YouTube but haven't got round to the whole editing thing and to be honest, I'm not sure I'm overly happy with it anyway 😞 so there may or may not be some more filming going on in the future.

I'll leave it there this week. The boys are back to school next week (hurrah!!) so we'll be back into our routine.

Until next time,

M x

Our kindness elf and a crazy busy week

Why is it that as you get older time just whizzes past? I'm sure that as a child the couple of weeks leading up to Christmas went so, so slowly - it took forever to get to Christmas Eve.  As an adult, I'm sat wondering where all the hours in the day are going!

This week has been crazily busy. We had a bit of a party at toddler group on Monday which was lovely and then posted the last few Christmas cards. I know that more and more people are stopping sending cards at Christmas and while I understand their reasons I still like to send them to close friends and family where I can. It probably stems from growing up receiving them and remembering how much I enjoyed getting those cards. With the ones the Makepeace clan receive now I display them on strings over the season and then cut them up to make labels for the following year. I then try and recycle any excess parts where I can.

Tuesday was MOT day for the car which meant lots of walking, getting soaked in the rain and a repair bill which was not ideal just before Christmas but these things are sent to try us. Wednesday morning was a trip into town to take my new glasses back to the opticians as I felt that something wasn't quite right. I've been wearing glasses for 32 years and any long time wearers of specs will understand when I say that my eyes were just not adjusting to the new prescription. Turns out I was right and it would appear that one of the lens may have slipped whilst being cut and so it was incorrectly positioned meaning things were somewhat blurry. Now its a case of waiting for the lens to be re-cut, sent back to the shop and then I can pick them up again. Frustrating, but at least I'll be able to see properly again, at least I hope so!

Crafting wise, I've been cracking on with the Lake Baikal cross stitch, although I'm not as far along as I would like. Partly because I've been reduced to only stitching on an evening and partly because a couple of the evenings I've been too tired or been struggling with my glasses. I've been thinking about what project I can start after Christmas and have a couple of ideas, so watch this space. It has to be said that watching Kirstie's Handmade Christmas has been helping to give me some ideas, but I'm not sure that my husband will appreciate me having a go at all of them... The kids also got in on the crafting act this week as one of their 'kindness challenges' set for them by our elf, Jingles.


Jingles first came to stay with us about 3 years ago after some poor behaviour from the boys but instead of the more well known 'Elf on a shelf', Jingles is a kindness elf who appears with a letter each morning with a challenge to encourage kindness from the boys. This year he's been with us since the 1st December (previously he's only done 12 days if visits) and we've had a range of challenges for the children, including leaving happy notes in books at the library, making someone else's bed, talking to someone new at school and making a gift for someone. We decided to go down the salt dough route for their homemade gifts using the ratio 2:1:1 for the flour, salt and water which worked but wasn't as pliable as I would have liked. All 3 kids had a go at rolling out their dough and cutting out shapes, which we then baked and painted. I haven't varnished them, but may seal them with PVA glue so they last a bit longer. Sweetly, L gave his to me, his dad and baby sister - he can be cute sometimes.

That's it from me today. The boys break up from school this afternoon for the Christmas holidays which means I can FINALLY open all the treats I bought the other week.  Chocolates, biscuits and peanuts - I've been dying to crack them open and now I can 😊. A lovely bit of family time for a few days will be just the ticket.

Have a very Merry Christmas if you celebrate it and I'll see you on the other side.

M x

Mincemeat and cross stitch

It's beginning to smell a lot like Christmas...
I was asked the other day whilst discussing what I was picking up from the supermarket for Christmas nibbles if I was going to get some mince pies. It was a resounding no from me. I am quite partial to the humble mince pie, but I have been thoroughly spoilt in recent years and my husband makes his own (and not just the pastry either). He lovingly prepares a new batch of mincemeat every year (OK I nag, beg and cajole him to) and they are quite simply divine. Trouble is that now I can't enjoy the shop bought ones or even the jars of mincemeat. The house smells amazing while he's making them too. He uses a recipe from a Gary Rhodes recipe book that's about 17 years old.

 So last week, after I uploaded the blog post and shortly before the school run, my new cross stitch arrived. I was itching to get started and I've made reasonable progress I think, despite having to wait until the munchkins were tucked up in bed before making a start. Considering there is around 36,400 cross stitches to complete I've stitched maybe an eighth of the pattern but it still doesn't actually look like anything.

I've also helped the boys to finish off their felt Christmas tree decorations that we bought from Aldi a few weeks ago and they are now happily adorning our tree. They've come out pretty well and the boys are really pleased with them. I think for next year I'm going to attach them to a length of ribbon and make a garland with them (mean mummy that I am I have a thing about everything on my tree matching!)

Only one week left at school now for the boys and only one toddler group for me and A. I'm hoping that means I can get some more stitching done but I'm also super conscious that this kit was expensive (for me) and I really shouldn't get through it too quickly - I'm just really enjoying it.

Until next time,

M x

Lake Baikal cross stitch

First of all I have to admit that there hasn’t been an abundance of crafting going on here at Makepeace Made. It’s not that I haven’t wanted to, just that I haven’t had the materials to work with and with Christmas just around the corner the finances are being focused elsewhere. When I got pregnant with little miss A, I had a big clear out of my crafting materials as I just didn’t have space for it all what with turning our spare room into her bedroom. I still have some bits and pieces, just not as much as I used to have. Add in to that the fact that I really fancy getting my teeth stuck into a big cross stitching project (thanks for that Floss tube!), and I just haven’t had the motivation to do much of anything.

Top pic is a section of my brother's card.
Bottom pic is one of the teacher's presents - a craft box filled with
sweets. Apparently Mt T is "going to love it!"

I have cobbled together the Christmas gifts for the boys’ teachers and I’ve also hand drawn a card for my baby brother - OK, he’s 29 this week and I’m sure he would hate to be still referred to as the baby of the family but to me he will always be that cute little curly haired boy even if he is married with his own home and a proper grown up job.

As the title of this post suggests, I have also found my big cross stitch project and I am so excited for it to arrive. It’s a counted cross stitch on 11 count Aida which is slightly different to what I have worked with in the past but it is so stunning I thought I’d attempt the challenge. It’s the Riolis ‘Lake Baikal’ which having bought the kit I then had a good old Google about the lake itself and now really fancy a trip around the Russian region of Siberia where this lake is situated. I ordered the kit online after numerous hours spent searching various websites and a couple of fruitless searches in my local town centre.

I was actually incredibly disappointed in my town centre as I couldn’t find one single cross stitch kit. Now I was either looking in completely the wrong places or it’s deemed to not be overly popular around here. Never mind, it worked out for the best as both me and the hubby are loving the Lake Baikal kit and I’m itching to start. It will be the biggest project I have undertaken in cross stitch I believe and will be quite the labour of love. I’m contemplating doing a couple of ‘Stitch with me’ videos for Flosstube, but we’ll see how that pans out as I’m not a fan of my voice on recordings.

You can just about see this year's addition - my little crochet
snowman

On a more personal note, our Christmas decorations have gone up and things are looking decidedly more festive. We've also had the arrival of our Kindness Elf and the boys are enjoying taking part in their kindness challenges.

It’s been a quiet week group wise as A hasn’t been particularly well. I was excited to realise that 'Kirstie’s Handmade Christmas' is on Monday to Friday for 3 weeks so no doubt I will have a lovely long list of crafts I want to do ready for Christmas 2019. I have to be realistic and accept that it simply won’t happen for this year.

I’ll leave it there and catch up with you next week, hopefully with some crafting to share with you,

M x