IN THE BEGINNING...

A few years ago, I got a bonus from work and I decided that I needed a sewing machine.  I went to look at them and came home with one.... done!  I purchased a few patterns and made myself some clothing.  Some of them are very dodgy and I wouldn't be seen dead in them now.  For the most part, my sewing machine sat in the corner of the lounge room on the floor with its lid on. 

When my son, Jesse was born, I thought that he needed some cot linen and when I looked at the ones in the shop, there was nothing that I quite liked or was willing to pay so much for given the short amount of time he would need it.  Back then, I had no idea about cutting mats or rulers or rotary cutters... I used the grouting on our floor tiles as guides for cutting the fabric!  When I looked at lettering, there was none big enough for what I wanted, so I printed out a font I liked as a template, then cut it out and made my own.  I didn't even know there was such a thing as that papery stuff that you use for applique!  I enjoyed it so much, I made a few more, just for fun. 

When Christmas came around, I thought I would make Santa sacks as a little surprise present for our mother's group boys.  They would receive it on the day we exchanged our 'secret Santa' presents and it would be a backpack style so they could fill it up and put it on their backs to take their presents home.  I used ZAC as the guinea pig, because his name was the shortest.... Sorry, Zac, I would do that so much better now!  I ended up making 27 sacks that year.  I thought all the kids I knew needed a sack.  Gee, I was pretty good at it by the end of it even if there were a few dodgies along the way.

I loaded a few pics up onto a Facebook 'Fan' page, mostly just for my own viewing pleasure.  I had no intention of starting a business or anything, I just thought it would be a good place to keep them.  Some random person from a place I had never heard of became a fan and I remember thinking, what's with that??? 

I have come a long way in a short time and feel like I get better every day.  I love doing BOO!  It would be lovely to do it full time, but there are too many bills to pay!  For now, I just survive on a lot less sleep than I ever used to or thought I could. I love bright, bold colours, and tend to stay away from pastels and florals since they are not really my thing.  I do my best not to 'copy' anyone and try to make things that I haven't seen elsewhere, so hopefully what you see is something unique that is not being done by the masses.  My tastes are evolving and I get more adventurous with my colours and fabrics every day and hopefully get a bit smarter about how I do things along the way.  To anyone who follows me or has been kind enough to purchase something, I am so grateful that you do, it feeds my little addiction and lets me go and create more loveliness!

 
It is interesting when I look back at the notes I took from visiting a fortune teller when I lived in Dublin around 5 years ago. 

"You are a creative person and should be

doing something more creative,

you will be working for yourself in around 5 years"

Everything else that she has told me on the list has pretty much come true, maybe there is something to all this hocus pocus... we will just have to wait and see!