Juggling Me&My life

The first reaction I usually get when I tell people I'm a full time mum and work from home, is a shake of the head and an 'are you mad?' stare, and its true, it is a type of madness.
When I was pregnant with my son I decided on a whim to enrol in the Open University and study Criminology (blame the pregnancy hormones!) he came along in the October and my degree began in following Jan, and it was surprisingly easy. I studied at night instead of channel surfing, I studied for 2 hours at the weekend while my dad or my partner took my son out, I don't feel I missed out on family time, but it was a crazy reactionary decision that I then had to juggle.
So after 2 years of modules, deadlines and lots a lots of badly written notes I decided to take a break. The idea was to enjoy the last year before my son went to nursery, and to get a job. Instead I set up Me&My, Id always made things for the house and for my son, and I missed the routine of studying, so I replaced it with sewing. I must have taken out the whole craft section of the library and have broken my sewing machine countless times at 3am trying to perfect a design! But the business evolved, and the designs become popular and slowly my house turned into a fabric explosion. It is hard work, and its not for everyone, you have to set aside a good chunk of time just for admin and orders, and forget about making things just because you like to, once an order for 10 of the same design t-shirt comes in, you do end up never wanting to sew another one of those designs again! I cant look at my fox t-shirts with out coming out in a cold sweat! working from home can be incredibly rewarding and enriching, you learn to be organised, you learn to entertain a 3 year old with scraps of fabric, and 'dress up' takes on a whole new meaning when you need to take stock photos! but it can be chaos, house work gets forgotten, Iv had whole weekends locked away in my studio, lots of cuppas get drunk, and meals get skipped when you are really busy. You also enter the world of craft fairs, which in itself is a whole new story......

Happy Easter

Well, I have just got home from THE coldest fair I have ever done!, now I have done Christmas fairs outside, I have done fairs in the rain before, but today I have never ever been so cold in my life! despite the sun trying to shine, it was a tough day, however, lots of lovely comments, some sales and great feedback means it was worth it.... now time to photograph the new accessories range and put it up on Etsy.....plus some very exciting news to come...

HAPPY EASTER Everyone.

 

 

 

 

what a random day.....

well well, its been a rather strange day! I have been steadily prepping for the Easter weekend craft fair after taking a month off, and thinking I must get back into things, then all of a sudden I have orders coming in from all over the place, and I'm now as busy as I would hope to be...looking forward to Sunday, trading at Inn on the Park in St Albans, and keeping my fingers crossed that the weather is kind! here is a preview of some new ranges, I promise there WILL be better photos, but I really get excited about new products and have to share them! feedback as always is most welcome.

 

 

Me&My week....

its been a busy week......

I'm going to be trading over Easter weekend at Inn on the park in St Albans, and iv been whipping up these soft toy bunnies like there is no tomorrow, I started with idea Id make just 3, and they have rapidly become my new obsession, it uses up pretty fabric and they are easy to make, and now I have a whole warren of rabbits! I also took my son shopping for new clothes, but he is his own fashionista and insisted all he needed where some sunnnies and a straw hat! (its currently SNOWING!) and of cause, last weekend was St Patricks day, so he had to Honor his roots and rock the Irish shirt

Spring has sprung at Me&My

So, Me&My will be at a few craft fairs in the next few months,

So have been working away on a few accessories designs...all are made of felt, hand stitched and will end up as hair clips or brooches, theres also a bunny design in the works too.....

A set of 2 clips will be £3.50 and will be available from my Etsy shop over the weekend.

next on the to-do-list, T-shirts and baby grows! 

 

 

Bring on Spring!

its been nearly a month since I last sat down to write on this blog....
its simply been a crazy crazy month, family illness taking centre stage, many trips back and forth to London to see sick family member (who is getting better) house purchase falling through because the house turned out to need MAJOR renovation, so back to looking for a new house to buy, and the fact that at 4 months pregnant I'm feeling rough!work has definitely taken a back seat, I have been sewing little things, mostly to keep me busy and because I can zone out and just enjoy a simple task. but I cant help but stare at the pile of beautiful fabric, half finished t-shirts and patterns strewn around my studio and think I must just jump straight back in.....and I might just do that.

 

I did however find time to make this little fleece rabbit, took all of an hour, but it is my sons new favorite toy, expect to see many more of these, as I have many friends with babies, and many metres of fleece!

I have been really lazy....

Hello again....
its been slow progress here at Me&My, in between a child with a never ending list of winter ailments, from coughs to colds, throat infections to ear infections I cant think of a week he hasn't been ill in the past month...and packing up our cottage and heading 20 miles north to Bedford where we finally bought our first home, I really havnt so much as picked up a needle or dusted off my sewing machine since December! :-) 

Being from London, and spending most of my childhood in just one place and one house I always thought Id follow suit, but I have moved something like 8 times in 8 years! so clearly the nomad in me wont stay put! However, there is something about buying a house which makes it seem all the more permanent, I am already dreaming of colour schemes on walls, tiles in the kitchen and 'upcycling' all my furniture....so business has been on the back burner. However, there are a few things in the pipe line and once I dig out my camera charger (which along with socks and snacks seems to go missing at an alarming rate) I will stock up my Etsy shop with new tees and baby grows, in fact I may even do it this weekend just because its about time!   here are some things Iv been messing around with, badges and hair clips....(terrible photos...damn you missing camera charger!!)