It would be foolish to suggest that I am now back in the calm of the fold up here in Scotland! However, I am back.
The last few days have been just about the most stressful of my life so far - childbirth was far easier!
On Friday last week and Monday this I went to a couple of university interviews for a place on the Midwifery BSc Hons course starting in Sept 2011 - a realisation of a long time dream. Friday's interview wasn't so bad. We had to write an essay and then had a face to face. I came away feeling positive. Monday's however, was a totally different kettle of fish. For this day we had a selection procedure, if we didn't succeed in the morning by passing the maths test, essay and group exercise, we wouldn't be able to proceed to the afternoon whereby we were able to have face to face interviews.
As you can imagine, tensions were running high. Maths isn't my strongest point, it's not that I
can't do it, it's just I don't work well under pressure. When I'm under pressure, for some reason my brain decides to shut down, so it doesn't matter how many times I've practiced dividing decimals, suddenly it looks a foreign language (oh and no calculators were allowed, before you all laugh and tell me to just press the right keys!!)
Fortunately I had obviously pleased lady luck as I managed to get through selection by the seat of my pants I think and got the opportunity for a face to face in the afternoon.
I don't feel too bad as everyone found the test hard, in fact some of the ladies who'd had maths tests elsewhere said it was, by far, the hardest test yet - so that's some relief.
Whilst I was being interviewed I managed to see that I'd gained 65% for the maths and 85% for the essay but didn't manage to see my group result - so I feel pretty okay with that. I won't be under so much pressure as a midwife and if I'm giving drugs then I'll always double check and then check with a colleague, as I said, it's not that I can't, it's just the pressure of three pages in 20 minutes - they say time flies when you're having fun...can I suggest it flies when you're not too?!
Saturday mum and I had booked to go on a quilting course. Mum wanted me to do something that got my head out the books and really I needed to get her out of the house as she's been tied down there for the last six weeks due to having a bunion operation. Dad has been a star, but she's limited with where she can go that has a wheelchair as she can't go far on the crutches and, let's be honest, Dad isn't wanting to spend a day quilting or doing something like that!
So we made these:
with jelly roll. I'm rather pleased with the end result. I have no idea what I'll use it for, but I now know how to make a bag, so can probably make some for the children with just one strip of patterned material too. However, the upshot of the day (or rather down!) is that I realised just how elderly my machine is. The "chugga chugga ping" is not actually a healthy sound and isn't "quaint". I did end up with janome and elna-lust (won't make any sense if you're not familiar with sewing machines). Luckily I'm teaching several times over the next couple of weeks, so should have enough earned to feed my habit!
The other WIP that's finally finished is the cardigan for a friend's baby. I don't know what she's having, so opted for the cream. The pattern was using a Sirdar yarn, but I wasn't so keen on working with that feel, I tend to pull it too tight, so chose to use a Debbie Bliss cotton. This was my first error as the cotton doesn't go as far, so I ended up running all the way into the city one morning for one more ball of yarn, paying more for parking than the ball and buying more yarn that I probably don't need for future projects that I haven't started *sigh*. Anyway, I
still ended up short, so adapted the pattern in the end to introduce a contrasting colour in the edging. I actually prefer this result as I feel it's more unisex. Now I just hope she likes it - people can be funny with knitted items!
I did have a sudden panic when I caught sight of the motif on the cardigan in the fading light last night that it looked suspiciously like a cannabis leaf, but luckily Mr Beehive relieved my fears informing me that it was all in my head *hmmmm*? So this one is now known as canabis cardi, which is hardly surprising since I've been re-reading Spiritual Midwifery by Ina May and am probably totally caught up in the psychadelia and trips!!! (again - makes no sense if you haven't read it!)
So, now we wait; for babies and unis...
Pair of summer pyjamas for the Little Miss (un hemmed at this point!). Amy Butler daisy chain fabric. I'm really pleased with the outcome, but the shorts could've used a few extra mm's around the butt!
This is a knitting bag for a friend of mine. I've lined it with a vintage rose fabric and it's fastened with a wooden button. It is long enough to take the longest needles and a current WIP or two.
This was an experiment in PUL. I'd wanted to do a lunch bag for myself (although someone already has her beady eye on it!) and had a spare remnant of Amy Butler fabric which I thought I'd use. So it's padded and lined with PUL so it's wipe clean with a padded handle. It'll happily take sandwiches some fruit and a drink.
A pair of checked baggies for my nephew with a couple of pockets for him to put his finds in. These were originally for Master Beehive the younger, but whilst I was sewing and he was at school, he grew! That'll teach me to make a pattern up from a pair of his existing baggies that he's obviously grown out of. He was showing a 1/4 inch of ankle out of the bottom sadly. Luckily there's a 4 year old who'll appreciate them (well, his mum will !!)
