The newest member of our family. He’s already keeping us on our toes but we’re all loving having him.

The good thing about moving is that I now have a better space for working and with that a dedicated spot for my sewing machine and sewing “things” to be accessible at all time.

Now, they’re not the prettiest of desks I must admit but they serve a purpose and they’re big and they were free!

I’ve been doing a lot of house keeping and emptying of boxes and generally tidying and cleaning which isn’t really all that exciting to talk about is it? I have though also been doing some more exciting house keeping with my website. It now has an integrated store and is mobile friendly. Not too much has changed visually although I have tweaked a few things – I’m quite a happy girl right now.

I’m also now a player on dribbble which is kind of a big deal for me and I feel very humbled to have been invited to be a player.

And also I’ve been keeping very busy with Digital Noir work too. Watch out for the new Digital Noir website coming soon.

Bullseye Cushion can be found here (there are currently 2 available)

Orange Flutterby Butterfly Cushion can be found here (only 1 available)

Get them while you can as these are the only cushions ever made using this fabric. Pretty unique don’t you think?

Following my utter shock, horror and disbelief of reading this article from the window seat (via Birch & Little) and then actually reading the Pinterest Ts & Cs in full (and tumblr’s Ts & Cs for that matter) I have sadly taken the decision to close down my Pinterest account.

Big shame. Loads of inspiration on that site. It was for me a place to collect visual images that inspired me all within a pretty interface. Nothing more. Nothing less. I do not condone or allow Pinterest to sell any of my images/work or anyone else’s work that I may have pinned. So, for that reason, I’m out.

For the time being I will be keeping my inspiration finds to myself. I will still browse Pinterest but I will not participate.

Note to self. Always read the small print.

Recipe from the Junior Masterchef (Vol 1) book

I haven’t been idly sitting by though. Oh no. We’ve had all manner of things keeping us on our toes. Visitors, floods, more visitors, birthday parties, cake making, flooring being ripped out, new flooring going down, lots of good work happening with DN and on top of all that the usual stuff such as gymnastics, running (although I have been a bit slack with this too), new dancing classes for the littlest Ingram and toilet training for the same littlest Ingram and generally trying to keep on top of all the other boring everyday stuff.

I have been desperate for a bit of time to sit down and write something here but until now I literally haven’t had the chance to do it. Ok, I’ll stop babbling on about how little time I have and get down to it.

I can’t quite remember when it was now… a while ago, I was contacted by Bonni from Snowfawn who writes an interior design column for the Cairns Post newspaper. Well, Bonni has used my “It’s time deer” print in one of said columns and there’s another one about to be published too this time with “Structured“. Here’s a little shot of the article from the paper.

I have other things to show you but alas my blogging time is coming to an end for the time being. I shall return as quickly as I can. Promise.

I just wanted to take a little moment to reflect on how far I’ve come in my getting fit journey and hopefully inspire others who have been thinking of taking up some form of exercise to give it a go. The photos above are both of me. The top one is from about 2 years ago and the bottom one was taken today. I have running to thank for getting my body back to how I know it. There aren’t many other photos of me from two years ago. Wonder why?

Two years ago I was slowly growing and not in the “I’m growing as a person” kind of way. I mean I was getting bigger. I knew that if I didn’t do something about it I’d end up being really big and then it would be harder to get fit. To top it all off I have suffered for a long long time with back pain which was getting worse (having a 1 year old and also the increasing weight I was piling on wasn’t helping it either). So doing any kind of excercise was difficult for me and I found it really frustrating to see myself getting bigger yet feeling like I couldn’t do anything about it.

About a year ago I started taking pilates classes, initially to try to manage the back pain and strengthen my core (which was weaker than a soggy tissue) but I soon realised that I could do this form of excercise and it didn’t hurt.

When I was made redundant in August of this year I had to stop the pilates classes because I couldn’t really afford to keep going with it. It was a luxury that we couldn’t afford. I had to find something that was free and easy to fit in to my time. So this is where I began running. I got myself a good pair of running shoes and I already had a lot of other gear then I was set. I started slowly and at first I could barely run for a minute and hated it when I was running along and someone would overtake me barely breaking a sweat, me puffing along with a beetroot face.

I’m glad I stuck at it though, because now I can run a bit longer than just a minute. I can run for 45 minutes now without stopping for a walk break which is a great feeling. I’m by no means the fastest runner and I’ll never win any races but I love it. Recently I have been getting up early to go out as it’s the only time I can seem to fit it in to my day and also it gets pretty hot here which is tough to run in but that’s ok – I love the peace of the early hours before everyone else is awake and the sun is just beginning to rise. Not only that I get to do my exercise first thing and only have to have a shower once instead of twice if I go out later. It also makes me feel more energised throughout the day. I don’t get tired like I used to.

One of the best bit though is the inch loss. I think at last count I’d lost around 5-6 inches from my waist alone and many more inches from other parts. My weight has gone down but not massively probably about 8-9lbs in total but I never expected to lose it all quickly and I also knew that I’d be gaining muscle and losing fat and we all know that muscle weighs more than fat right?

I feel so much better and have had next to no back pain since I started running. Occasionally I will get a bit of pain but I know how to manage that now thanks to the pilates classes I have done.

I will continue to run and get fitter and better at it and I’m looking forward to doing my first fun run (7.5k) in January.

I just wish I had started running sooner.

I will be making more cushions – not likely before Christmas but probably after new year – using my own fabrics.

ABC Cushion

Painting by numbers Cushion

Pink Elephant Cushion

Plum Floral Cushion