At the beginning of May I started a monthly round up of my makes for the previous month. The idea being to  keep a track of my productivity that month. It’s so easy to lose track of what you have achieved. The plan was (and still is) to do one of these posts at the end of every month. However May and June proved to be a hectic couple of months; and this is the first chance I’ve had to take a look back. I made less than I thought I would; 8 in total over 8 weeks.  Although for 3 or 4 of those weeks I couldn’t sew a thing; but there’s a few reasons for that!

1,   2,   3,  4,  5,  6,  7.

May of course was the month of Me Made May which as predicted, prompted me to sew up a few more items to keep my challenge going. It was also the month I was prepping for The Refashioners 2013. June of course saw the series launched (a very exciting and resounding success!). Of course the first 2 weeks of June meant this blog was fully occupied showcasing all of those wonderful guest posts.

Family: I’d planned to use those 2 weeks to make, make and make. However life has away of throwing you curve balls. This one was a pretty major one. I’ve inherited a teenager! J’s 14 year old has moved in with us at very short notice. So we are now a family of 4! Which meant that May/June was spent remodelling our bungalow to create a 3rd bedroom, and redecorating all 3 bedrooms as a result plus sorting out a school, uniform, GP, dentist etc. So my making time went out of the window; and I’m slowly adapting to the sudden role of “step mum” to a teenage boy. At least I get some insight into this mysterious breed before Elliott hits that stage! Talking of which, Elliott finished pre-school last week (with a fantastic final assessment may I add. Proud mummy!) and starts at the local primary school in September. I actually got pretty choked up. That’s the thing with children. You’re excited and proud at every milestone they reach successfully; but also sad at leaving your little boy behind every time he takes another step forward. Sigh….

Television: Aside from that, I had a last minute day of filming in Bristol. Yes, the TV thing is still rolling on. Cripes it’s a long process! RiDICulously slow! Essentially, a final “yay” or “nay” from the network is imminent. (This week or next). I still don’t know which way it’s going to go. Either way though, it seems like there maybe “other” opportunities that this (and another) production company want to explore with me. It’s one of those things that I suspect will be bubbling away in the background for ages; and then will all of a sudden gather momentum and then be full on if and when something gets commisssioned.

Work: Before we had Elliott and J was floored by arthritis and successive surgeries; J and I were self employed. We bought and sold vintage clothing when Ebay was at it’s peak for such things. 2009 was a year when all that came crashing down. It was the year we had Elliott, lost our business, lost my Dad to cancer, couldn’t afford to keep our home, and J was bedridden for 6 months. It was the best year of my life in one way (because of Elliott); and worst year of my life in most others. We’ve kind of been licking our self employment wounds ever since then. Hesitant to get stung in that way again. BUT, we’re getting back in the game 🙂 We’ve decided the time is right to have another stab at it. J has been made redundant twice in the past 12 months and “regular” jobs are scant. The TV work has re-awakened my/our love of hunting out treasures to buy and sell and reminded me that actually, I do have an instinct for these things. So we’re relaunching our business. Not on a grand scale (yet 😉 but hopefully enough to support us all! The emphasis for me will always be vintage treasures. So look out for a relaunch of my Etsy shop in the not too distant future 🙂

Blog:  This blog is becoming a bigger and bigger priority for me. Which I never envisioned when I opened a Blogger account in 2009. I didn’t even know what I was going to write when I signed up! Just felt like something I might enjoy. Fast forward to 2013 and this blog is really growing! So exciting! I am super proud to announce my first official sponsor in Victory Patterns. (See giant ad in sidebar!). Kristiann is soooo lovely and between us we have some fun sponsor posts planned over the next few weeks. In addition to that, I have some exciting collaborations in the works with some indie makers and bloggers and can’t wait to share them with you in the coming months!

So that’s where I’m at really. A little spontaneous “mid year” potted update!
How’s the first half of your year gone? Can you believe we’re halfway through another year already??!