Merry Christmas PJs…

Where have you been Madame Tifaine…?

My blog post could easily have been entitled ‘Hello Stranger’, ‘Where on earth have you been?’ ‘I’m sorry, but I’m a stranger here myself’ but as I’ve ended up inadvertently writing an accidental Christmas post on Christmas Eve in Christmas PJs while learning more than I’d ever need to know about reindeer herding from BBC4 I’ve lead you to believe that we are here simply to talk about my Pyjamas.

I’ve brought you here under a false seasonal pretence.

You may have noticed that I’ve been somewhat absent of late (thats a really polite way of saying that I neglected my blog for over a year!) and maybe the PJs are a good way of saying I’ve woken up from the year long hiatus and I’m back.

In fact my hiatus got so bad that people very sweetly got in touch to make sure I was in fact not dead.

I assure you that I am alive, and feebly kicking.

And why? All because of work.

We all know that the 9-5 can be a bit of a drain, but when it literally becomes THE drain on your joy, your energy and your sanity you know thats something’s got to give.

I’m a librarian by trade, and although it isn’t a job which requires you to spend all day stroking cats, eating custard creams and reading, I have always derived personal and professional joy from my work. Until I didn’t. Until it started making me feel stressed and ill. And I realised that I couldn’t even muster the mental energy to switch on the sewing machine. I know that this is only indicative of high stress levels for a very small portion of society but for me it was a massive health alarm bell!!

So dear reader…long story short…I quit my job. And I’m slowly trying to feel my way back to my version of ok and normal. Sewing, knitting, coffee, excellent friends and yoga is a pretty good form of self-medication right now and (cringe for the cliche) time is a great healer.

So this Christmas I am counting my blessings and acknowledging that I am incredibly privileged to have had the freedom and support that have enabled me to make a huge positive change in my life.

So often, we try and over burden ourselves with trying to be everything to everyone and sometimes its ok to say…I’m going to try and do this a different way. Preferably one that leaves space for taking care of me in this equation.

I think maybe this is why I’m in my very first pair of handmade PJs. It’s a huge act of love for me. A present for myself, a hug in fabric form from me.

My next steps for me are a little seasonal rest to spend time with my family who have been pretty amazing throughout (shhh…don’t tell them that they’ll get ideas above their station!!) and hang out with my chilled self.

If you follow me on Instagram, you my have seen a much shorter version of this post in my stories. In the new year I’m going to embark on expanding this little corner of the sewing blogosphere into a very small business. At the moment I’m offering 1-1 sewing tuition to continue to flex my education muscles, as I’m not sure that I can every leave behind wanting to share knowledge! And then…we’ll see what magic a rested brain can make!

So the technical bit of this post is a bit of an after thought. My soft flannel polar bear fabric is an eBay bargain, and the pattern is one from a Charlotte Auzou book.

Thank you for reading. Thank you for letting me share a little Christmas Eve corner of the internet with you. I wish you a very Merry Christmas and a very Happy 2019.

Madame Tifaine

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