Spoonflower. Not really about spoons. Or flowers.

I am trying to sort out my cupboard under the stairs sewing storage room as it will shortly be moving to the...wait for it...UTILITY ROOM!!!1! Yes, I know, How lucky am I. Because of the recent neverending loft conversion project we have a bit more storage space, which means I can have an actual real room to sew in, as opposed to putting my sewing machine on the dining room table and then leaving it there for three months whilst fabric and pattern pieces gather round it in some sort of modern art installation styley, until someone comes for dinner and I have to stuff it all back under the stairs again.

Birdies Galore by cabinpressstudio

If all goes according to plan I will have a workbench, a fold up chair, shelving and drawers. I will still have to share the space with the tumble dryer and washing machine, but at least I'll have a permanent space for my machine and the accoutrement's that come with it. Happy days :)

Love Fiesta by sammyk

I'm a long way off from that yet. First we have to finish the decorating. I am on the third coat of paint in the hall. The third coat, people. Which means there will need to be three coats on the stairs, and the landing. *cries*

Medium Elephants by katharinahirsch

But I have made a start on my new sewing nest by having a little bit of a de-stash. As we have officially run out of neverending loft fund loan money, and the electrician's bill came in £700 more than expected, we are slowly putting the entire contents of our house on eBay. This way we get to pay bills and really make the most of all that new storage space, as there won't be any crap left to fill it with. I'll list some of my fabric next week, and will be running a de-stash celebratory giveaway to mark the occasion. It's nice fabric, not just manky bits that I want to throw away :)

Monsieur Wonder Kat by malien00

Which leads me to the pictures that illustrate this post. How can a girl possibly keep on top of her fabric stash when there are beauties such as these available to buy from Spoonflower? The design talent out there just blows me away. Just a shame all the monies in my paypal account will be paying for sockets and switches :(

Bunions and the life-evaulating questions they raise.

Bye bye lovely shoes

I has a bunion. Apparently its proper name is hallux valgus which sounds just as grim as 'bunion' but in a latiny way. Mine isn't very big yet, but looking at my mum's feet and remembering what my grandma's feet looked like, it has the potential to get pretty toe-deformingly large.

I've had pain in my big toe for about a year, but it was one of those niggly things that wasn't really bad enough to go to the doctors with, so I ignored it. It wasn't until a rare sunny day a couple of weeks ago when I was wearing flip flops and happened to glance down at my feet that I noticed the knuckle joint at the base of my left big toe (do toes have knuckles?) was considerably larger than the one on my right toe. Ewwwww.

Off I hobbled to the doctors, to be given an information sheet and told to 'wear sensible shoes'. I went home and looked at my shoes. All 26 pairs. Then I tried them all on. And sent half of them to a charity shop and put the rest on eBay. And then spent the next two weeks looking in every shoe shop in Lancashire for sensible shoes that didn't make me want to poke my eyes out with a stilletoe heel.

Hello sensibleness. Don't worry, I didn't buy these.

I have found two pairs that fit the bill - enough room to wiggle toes, no heel, no pointyness. Some lovely boots from good old M&S, and some boring but 'they'll do for work' black shoes from Tesco, of all places. I'm really struggling with the no heel rule. I'm no willowy thing, more like a little shrub, and I am currently trying to work out how to wear a mid-length skirt and flat shoes without looking like a complete frump. Because if I can't do this, then half my work wardrobe will join the shoes on eBay :(

But what's more unsettling is the deep and probing questions about my life that the discovery of the bunion has prompted. In my mind, no heels = no nights out. This shouldn't really be a massive burden to bear - I last went 'out' properly in May for my sister-in-law's hen do, so it's not exactly a weekly occurence. But then I started thinking about going out, and how I miss it, and how I would love a big girly night out with heels and gin and tunes and a bit of sparkle and maybe an illicit fag at 2am and dancing and lipgloss and giggling.

I used to have nights like that, but there haven't been any since Munchkin arrived. Partly it's because I don't have the same circle of friends any more - we moved up north shortly before Munchkin was born, so all the friends I have here I know within the context of motherhood, rather than from uni or school or work. But should that make any difference? None of my fellow mother friends seem to be off into Manchester every weekend to drink dodgy cocktails and wear tottery shoes. Should I have grown out of wanting nights like that by now? (I'm 34 and three quarters). Mr pickledweasel was never really one for nights out anyway, so I'm hardly likely to be able to drag him away from crappy tv and early bed in an attempt to find out.

I have an uneasy feeling that if I did manage a night out I'd feel a) old b) guilty about spending money on cinzano and lemonade and taxis c) clueless about where to go, but it would be nice to give it a try. Unfortunately I doubt I'll find a partner in crime to accompany me or any shoes that are comfortable enough - maybe it's finally time to give up the idea and give in to the bunion :)