My Crafty Life Part Three

I got married when I was twenty two (just). I think I probably spent the next few years caught between wanting to stay in and make things for our new home - and wanting to go out to prove that now I was married I wasn't going to spend all my time at home, making things.

We did a lot, though. Had to. Money was tight. We papered and painted (but it was my sister who sewed the curtains when we were on honeymonn. Thank you.). We built a kitchen from flat packs. Those were the years of "Prima" magazine with its pullout paper patterns. I stacked them up and thought I knew everything there was to know about domestic economy. Which simply goes to show how much I still had to learn.

And in the evenings, I cross stitched. I can't remember what started it (probably a magazine. It usually is.). I bought books 9all of the Jo Verso ones, so sad when she died). I stitched cards and pictures and in my lunchbreaks from the library I hunted the needlework shop for new threads I loved. A couple of hours on the information desk of an afternoon always went more quickly if I could dream about the new colours tucked away in my bag.

And then, all at once, everything changed. I wasn't so interested in work anymore. I wanted to stay at home and wait for my baby to arrive. I did a bit of knitting for him (sweaters and a hat) but I knew he had two grannies to help out there. So I started a cross stitched baby blanket, each soft square a different letter of the alphabet, with room for a name in the middle. I put in the final stitches sitting up on my hospital bed with my tiny son beside me.

And that was the beginning of the end. Funny, the final thing I stitched was a "Baby is Sleeping" door hanger. He did sleep sometimes; but the sewing stopped. Just for a little while. And there was something new round the corner.