I'm posting at 12:52 AM (AM!) because I'm having a wee bout of craft-induced insomnia. I can't stop thinking about what I've done today and what is still left to do and what it will look like and how I'll do it, and what fabric and how it will be constructed and...well you know how the brain works in the wee hours of the morning, even if it's not craft you've got on it. Sigh. I'm looking forward to tomorrow because we're going out to get the Christmas tree, and that's going to be so much fun with Hazel, but I'm dreading how tired I'll be. Must try bed again after I hit the "publish post" button.
One thing that I did wonder while lying in bed pretending to myself that sleep was just around the corner, was exactly how cheap this drive for handmade holidays actually is. On the surface it seems like the answer to these difficult economic times, tightening the belts, getting in touch with our thrifty selves, the things our grandmothers took for granted and all that. But really, isn't this a bit wanky? It's a bit like all the secure middle-class kids at Uni going all hippy and pretending they were poor. Maybe I'm going about it in the wrong way, but when I add up all the bits 'n pieces that go into making something I wonder whether buying something wouldn't be cheaper. I suppose we're meant to be buying our way out of this global recession... But seriously, what do you count and what don't you when you're adding up how much you've saved? Not that I'm going to, but even the fabrics I'm using out of my stash have been paid for at some point in the past, they weren't free. Same with the thread, the electricity the sewing machine uses, and say a zipper you had to go out and get, or another spool of thread, or all the makings for an advent calendar. I can honestly say that one was much more expensive than anything at the shops! :P I just feel like a bit of a fraud sometimes with all this pretend economy. I know this completely disregards the happiness that doing this sort of thing brings me and (hopefully) the recipients, but I do think it's a valid question to be asking.
What have I accomplished from my Christmas to-do list so far:
Monster for Isabella - done and handed over
Pillow for mum - done
Little bag for mum - everything assembled but not started
Quilt for Rebecca - finished but needs to be washed tomorrow
Stuffy bunny for Hazel - done and hidden in closet
Monkey for Hazel - done and hidden in closet (I'm so screwed if she figures this out)
House for Hazel - inners done, fabrics sort of decided on.
Nightie for Hazel - fabrics and pattern decided
One monster - sewn but not stuffed
Two monkeys - one head partially done, body cut out, other one has a few face bits cut out.
Nightie for Alex - same stage as Hazel's.
Man, I wish I'd never written this list out, I won't be getting to sleep until at least 3am now!
