Getting Through One Project at a Time

Hello!👋

Hope you have been keeping well!

This week started out well with a nice sunny bank holiday here in my part of the UK. 🌞

We went for a nice walk with the kids on their bicycles and then some jumping on the trampoline!

It was really nice to get out of the house and see blue skies to lift our spirits, as I was feeling very overwhelmed at the beginning of this week..

With everything I have going on behind the scenes from my social media channels, to feeling creatively blocked and also organising my sewing challenge in June that is bringing up too many emotions about my dad’s passing, it has been all a bit too much. 😔

Pair this with, what I think, is a pulled muscle in my back 🤕 and taking a few painkillers, I felt sorry for myself these days. 😅

Happy to say, though, that towards the end of the week, I was feeling much better! 🦾

I did manage some sewing in the midst of all this though! 😀

I finished the matching pyjamas for my girls that I cut out a few weeks ago and they have loved wearing them this week! There were no arguments about who was going to wear which one as they were both the same! 🤗

And I can’t believe I have finally made a start on my partner’s parka jacket. 🥳

I have had it cut out since January! 😱

And it has just been laying on the floor… in the way, so I thought enough is enough! Let’s get it done.

So far, I have managed to sew the back main pieces together and begin making a welt pocket on the front main panel. And let me tell you, these instructions are the worst I have ever seen. 🥴

Most of my time is spent trying to understand what they mean, I highly suspect they have just been copy pasted from Google Translator!

If you are curious about the pattern, it is the Nr 552 Men’s Parka Jacket by Grasser.

They have stunning patterns, but the reason I put this one off for so long was for fear of dealing with the instructions. 😣

As for the sweater I was working on…

I had initially set it aside at the beginning of the week, as I was frustrated with things not working how I wanted them to. And by Friday it was playing on my mind, so I really needed to get it finished and out of my head space.

I don’t like having too many works in progress, as it occupies too much of my brain space. 😂

I decided to just follow the pattern instructions and make a turtle neck. I will just have to deal with only being able to wear it when the weather is really cold. 🤷🏼‍♀️

The pattern I used was the Tilly Turtle Sweater by KnitStitchRepeat.

I did start another knit project which is destined to be a gift for one of my daughter’s teachers. I found out that her favourite colours are green and blue. So this project is something to look forward to making in the meantime.

I have been trying to get my daughter to find out each teacher's favourite colour so I can incorporate it into the gifts I am going to make for a more personal touch. 🥰

Last year, I made gifts for 4 teachers which included the Scrunchie Tote Bag by Cool Stitches and the Nasyow Pouch by Country Cow Designs as a set, all in different prints of luxurious plush velvet.

This year, my daughter wants me to make her main teacher a skirt, which you all know is tricky without her measurements. So I have been conspiring with one of the other teachers to get her measurements.

I can only laugh, but one of the strategies that has already been used is laying said teacher on the ground and drawing around her with chalk and then measuring it without her actually realising what it’s for! 🤣

These measurements will probably not be accurate, but it will give me a better size bracket to work with and I will need to hope for the best fit. 🤷🏼‍♀️

After writing all this, it may not seem that I have a creative block at all, but I am blocked on what to make myself. There is just so much  that I want to make and I have more than enough fabric and patterns to do so, I just don’t know what to pick. 😩

I won’t choose another sewing project though until I can get my partner’s Parka Jacket out the way!

😎Confidence Corner:

Believe in yourself! Have faith in your abilities! Without a humble but reasonable confidence in your own powers you cannot be successful or happy. - Norman Vincent Peale

As I mentioned above, I currently have a lot on my plate and I was feeling very overwhelmed at the beginning of the week. 😩 And I am the one to blame really.

But I do know that if I can organise myself properly, I can manage it all! 💪

In all honesty, I have had second thoughts on all the tasks I have taken on lately and have wondered if I really should be doing them. 

But then I also think about if I weren’t to be doing those tasks, what would I actually do instead?

So I continue to do them and say to myself that if I can manage all this now, imagine what else I can do in a few weeks, months or years from now! 💃🏼

🧵Today's Sewing Tip:

Did you know you can sew on a button with your sewing machine instead of by hand?

I only started doing this recently, and I am not sure why I hadn’t done it sooner.

There are 2 ways that you can do this, and in both scenarios, it is best to use a button sew-on foot. Mine came included in the sewing machine accessories and it looks like this:

Option 1:

Drop the feed dogs which are those little teeth underneath your presser foot. This way your machine doesn’t pull your fabric through the machine, it just stays in one place.

Set your machine to a zigzag stitch and adjust the stitch width to the holes on your button.

Option 2:

If your machine doesn’t have the option to drop the feed dogs, you can still use a zigzag stitch, instead you just need to reduce the stitch length to zero so that your machine knows not to travel any distance, in other words it will not pull your fabric through.

⭐My Favourite Things This Week:

• Having so many days of sunshine ☀️
• Finishing my daughters matching pyjamas. 🥳
• Finally finishing my blue Tilly Turtle Sweater.
• Starting a new knit project.
• And also making a start on my partner’s parka jacket! 🎉

🗓️Upcoming Plans

• Keep organising my Instagram sewing challenge #sewbloodpressureuk24
  (Are you going to participate? Let me know! 😊)

• Continue working on my partner’s jacket.
• Repaint my cutting table (still haven’t done this🙈).
• Continue working on the knit sweater for my daughter's teacher.

🎬What I have been Watching/Reading:

• The Circle (Reality TV Competition)

This series followed contestants talking to each other over messages via a social media app without meeting each other face to face until the very end. The contestants needed to guess who is a catfish(fake persona) among them and stay in the game for as long as possible to reach the final.

I watched the season finale this week where they announced the winner of the series and I did not expect who it was.

You know when you create an affinity with a person/character and want the best for them… well the one I was rooting for didn’t win. 😐

• Secrets of the Neanderthals (Documentary)

In this documentary, experts investigate the lives and disappearance of the Neanderthals.

• Crime Diaries:Night Out (Series)

This is a Spanish series based on true events. It is about a college student that goes missing after a night of Halloween partying with friends.

🎉Upcoming Events

Sew&Bond - 25th of May 2024 10:15 - 15:45 - in Gatley Hill House, South Manchester.
(5hr30m, an extra 30min than usual)
Email bianca@beesilva.co.uk and quote reference: SEWBOND05
For more information: https://www.beesilva.co.uk/sewbond05/

June 2024 - #sewbloodpressureuk24 - Sewing Challenge on Instagram.
This is not an in-person event but a sewing challenge with the aim of raising money for a charity and awareness on the importance of monitoring your blood pressure.

Sew&Bond - 22nd of June 2024 11:45 - 17:15 - in Gatley Hill House, South Manchester.
(5hr30m, an extra 30min than usual)
Email bianca@beesilva.co.uk and quote reference: SEWBOND06
For more information: https://www.beesilva.co.uk/sewbond06/

Sew&Bond - 27th July 2024 10:15 - 15:45 - in Gatley Hill House, South Manchester.
(5hr30m, an extra 30min than usual)
Email bianca@beesilva.co.uk and quote reference: SEWBOND07
For more information: https://www.beesilva.co.uk/sewbond07/

Thank you so much for reading my newsletter! And if you enjoyed reading it, please tell a friend about it to allow me to reach more people. 💖

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Bye for now,
B! xx