Hello, it's been a long time!

Writing a blog post after a long gap is a bit like pulling of a plaster - do you go very slowly or do you rip it off??!! I am going for the latter - too much time has past to try to catch up and if you follow me on Instagram or Facebook you would have got a sense of what life has been like.

At the beginning of the year when everyone was making resolutions and stating their word for the year I realised that my word, or phrase, for the year would be the same as last and it would be letting go - both physically and mentally. What I wasn't expecting was a week with a huge amount of letting go... I had to say goodbye to my daughter and my mum in the same week.

My daughter is on a Gap Year before heading to university in September and, at the beginning of February, she was heading off to New Zealand and Australia on her travels.  As some of you know, my mum broke her back in August 2022 and life has been  very difficult since.  However, at the end of January she started to deteriorate so I was taking my daughter to the airport to leave the UK whilst the rest of the family was flying back to the UK to say their goodbyes.  My mum died 5 days after my daughter left.  Writing this now, I am not sure how I got through that week but you do – one foot in front of the other and an hour at a time.

With everything that has gone on in our lives for the last 4 years, I have found it difficult to make – either because I was physically unable to or I did not have the headspace for designing my own quilts.  I have rarely made things or quilts from other designers – I like to design my own or to be honest make things up as I go along!  However, I wanted my daughter to take something mama made with her on her travels and I thought that a first aid kit in a mama made zippered pouch would be perfect - made by me and functional.

I had had this idea in my head for a while but there's nothing like a flight taking off to kick you into action. It was all made from scraps and whilst I had an idea it was literally just that so I just made and hoped! The red cross is made of a central strip with two other units attached top and bottom and then I added other low volume strips until it was a good size. 

Not looking too bad after its trip around the world!

Both sides were made the same way and I knew I didn’t have enough time (or energy) to quilt it and so I fused the front and back to woven interfacing to give some structure.  The lining was two pieces leftover from a quilt I made for a child who had lost their dad several years ago and I already had the zip in my stash.

There are things I would do differently if I made it again and I have to say I do much prefer boxed pouches. But really the only thing that matters is that my daughter loved it - which isn't always a given when they are in their late teens! And my youngest also liked it and would like one when she goes off travelling. Couldn't ask for more than that.