This post is kind of dedicated to my husband, although I doubt if he will ever end up reading it. I am currently off work with stress and depression. Long story and I won’t bore you with the details. However, I would like to ask a question – how on EARTH does any one EVER find the time to do a full time job?!?!?!
I used to leave the house with kids in tow no later than 7.30 every week day morning, drop them at the childminders, and go off to school. I would put in a full day there, pick the kids up around 5, come home and cook dinner, do the packed lunches, go to the gym, do the washing, bath and put the kids to bed and then at around 9 settle down for 2 hours of planning and marking. No wonder I kinda went off the rails a bit. Anyway, now I am ‘sitting around on my arse all day doing nothing’ my lovely husband keeps finding me things to ‘keep me busy’! So thoughtful of him. He works away and only comes home for about 10 days at a time. We were lucky enough for him to be home over Christmas and New Year. But as always when he left he also left a trail of destruction through the house like a tornado! The day before he left he decided to wax all my wooden worktops in the kitchen. This was how my kitchen looked the morning he left for work 
and this is how it is meant to look 
Not content with making the kitchen impossible to work in he also decided that I needed to do some tidying up after him in the bedroom too 
My days are still filled with the normal house and kids stuff, but now that I am off work I have just a small amount of time for myself. I took up knitting again because I found it relaxing and I hadn’t had much of that recently. I also started learning new skills, making things with felt and on the sewing machine. I love it. But since opening my shop, All Needles Great and Small on Etsy, all this crafting is kinda turning into a day job. So when I am in the middle of networking on the Craftbritannia forum, or Twitter I see this as a serious use of my time. Buying supplies is time consuming too but well worth it because I want to make sure I am spending what little money I have on good things.
One item I have bought recently is felt. I have enjoyed making a couple of little bits with it before and decided to try my hand at bigger things. I bought some gorgeous felt squares from Lupin, http://www.etsy.com/shop/lupin and have made some gorgeous items with it already. These are two of my favourites 
This red cushion is in my shop http://www.etsy.com/listing/90028867/red-and-white-valentines-ring-cushion and has been included in an amazing 3 treasuries 🙂
Also this week I was able to list a pink version 
in my shop http://www.etsy.com/listing/90364450/pink-and-white-valentines-heart-shaped
Both of these deserve a big thank you to Lupin for the quality of her gorgeous felt 🙂
I have been busy making a fairy for our Craftbritannia Sales Fairy swap. Sorry, no pictures yet as she is not allowed to be revealed until after the big event. I made my first ever cushion cover on the sewing machine, nothing amazing I know but a big event for me.
However, I would have to say that the highlight of my week was receiving a special order card from Storey shop http://www.etsy.com/shop/Storeyshop for my husband for our anniversary/valentines. A few years back there was an advert on the TV for some frozen chips and two girls were eating them and comparing two things and saying which they liked best. As one girl asked the other “Daddy or chips” the Dad pinched a chip off her plate and so she replied “chips”. Now you may or may not remember the advert but it is a bit of a longstanding joke in our house that my husband’s passion for golf comes first on the list way above the kids or me. So I asked Helen to make me a card with the line I often ask him “Wifey or Golf” on the front. And here it is 
Thank you so much Helen, I will let you know his reaction when it finally arrives with him in the Middle East 🙂
So as I contemplate a return to the day job I would like to ask – how do you organise your time?
Designs by Emma @Allneedles' Blog 