Tales from my workbench and potting shed...New beginnings.

Hello and welcome to my very first blog post! I have always wanted to write a blog and after celebrating 10 years this month as a full-time maker I've decided now is the time to finally get started. I've no idea if anyone, apart from my mum (love you, Mum!), will read my ramblings so I'm just going to enjoy the process and see what happens! 

My life as a maker started many (many) years ago at the age of 4 when my gran, known to our family as Lally, taught me to knit. She was an avid knitter and knitted most of my school jumpers, usually with the obligatory too tight neck hole! My mum was always knitting or sewing too and made all my party dresses on her old manual Singer sewing machine, always with a matching hairband of course! My dad was a very practical man who could fix just about anything. I was his little shadow and to this day am thankful for all the things I learnt from him. He also dabbled in a bit of drawing and painting too and in another life would have loved to have gone to art school. Lally and Dad are sadly no longer with us but Lally's knitting skills and stubborn streak live on in me! I also inherited my dad's abilities to fix things and his bits and bobs drawers (see above), which were filled with all manner of weird and wonderful things, are now one of my most treasured possessions. Mum is still knitting and now owns her own craft shop in the beautiful Surrey countryside, where she sells her own work and that of local makers. 

In my teens I began making my own clothes and also jewellery to sell and for many years Mum and I did the local craft fair circuit. Lots of late nights and early mornings but also lots of fun! Even when I got married and moved over 200 miles away I still travelled down with all my wares, and eventually two daughters, the dog and a hamster came too! I started making and selling salt dough models, which was hugely successful but extremely labour intensive, and it wasn't unusual for me to still be up at 4am finishing orders. With one small child this was hard work but when my second daughter arrived it became impossible to carry on so I turned to my trusty sewing machine and got stitching! Bags, cushions, bunting, aprons, I just loved it all and still do. Colour is my passion and I unashamedly embrace it in my work and home. 

My home is a tiny Victorian two up, two down, back to back, terraced house in West Yorkshire. I live here just with my youngest daughter these days as my eldest has her own flat 3 miles away on the other side of town. I don't have a garden but I do have a huge allotment which I am currently getting ready for the new growing season. My windowsills are chock full of seed trays and there are several boxes of spuds chitting in the living room. As you can probably already tell, this is not your average home! I love growing my own veg and this year I'm also going to be creating a cut flower garden, which I am super excited about! 

I am absolutely bursting with ideas for my work, home and allotment this year and I look forward to sharing them here for anyone who may be interested. I am very much a 'wing it and see’ person so some plans may work out and some may not but I'm sure it will all be a lot of fun and I look forward to your company along the way!

Thank you for reading and take care till next time.

Love Kazzy x