Friday 6 January 2012

The Little Red Squirrel - 1st Blogiversary!

I cannot quite believe it but I have been blogging for one year today! Also today marks the end of one year in which I have bought no new clothes, a whole year of either making my own clothes or just buying things second hand. Can you believe it?!

I want to take a moment to take a look at all the sewing I have done this year, so please indulge me. I just love how all of these projects look when they're all grouped together, it makes me crazy happy :) 

1. The "Party Dress Book" Dress, 2. The Crepe Sew Along Dress, 3. My Birthday Dress
4. The 1960s style tunic, 5. My Christmas Dress

1. The Briar Rose Sweater, 2. Fair Isle Sweater, 3. Green and Lacy, 4. Enchanting in Black and White

1. The Pin Up Embroidery Skirt, 2. The Red Pencil Skirt, 3. The Wonderland Circular Skirt,
4. The Pendrell Blouse, 5. The 1960s top with Peter Pan collar,

1. Shirt to Skirt Revamp, 2. 1950s style dress Revamp, 3. Red Blouse Revamp,
4. Floral Skirt Revamp, 5. Cream Floral Dress Revamp

Towards the end of last year I started getting a bit down about the amount of sewing/knitting projects I had completed in my first year of this challenge, I wished I had been able to achieve more. However, when I look at the photos above I feel incredibly proud of the outfits I have created, and I realise that for me it's about quality not quantity. I may not have completed hundreds of projects, but those that I have are now staples in my wardrobe and I love wearing them.

I started this blog a year ago as a serial shopper who spent a ridiculous amount of money on clothes that just sat in my wardrobe which was bursting at the seams and yet I still felt as if I had nothing to wear. Now, I have developed my own sense of style which I know is completely unique - no one else will ever been seen walking down the street in the same outfit as me! - and the thought of choosing what to wear each day excites me. Choosing to make all my own clothes started as a challenge but it's so much more than that to me now, it's a way of life. 

So what happens now? Well, basically I intend to carry on the way I have started! For me this is just the beginning. A year of living the make-not-buy lifestyle has not only shown me that I CAN do this, but it also shown me how rewarding living in this way can be. This year I am going to take the foundation that I have created last year and add to it a little more structure. Hopefully this will improve my sewing productivity so that this time next year I will be proudly looking back over about twice as many projects, all still top quality of course :) 

All that remains for me to say is a huge thank you to all of you, my wonderful, beautiful readers, who have stopped by my blog and shown your support for the past year. I never thought I would have more than one regular reader and now here I am with 163 followers, it blows me away! Thank you so much for dropping by and hopefully I'll continue to give you something worth reading this year too!

This is going to be a good year for sewing, I can't wait to get started, but right now I think that my blogiversary deserves some blogiversary cake... :)

12 comments:

LinB said...

Happy anniversary! You deserve a cake -- it takes a great deal of soul-searching to develop an individual style. You've achieved that while working in a touring company and living out of suitcases. Huzzah!

Elise said...

Happy Annivrsary! Def an excuse for cake I think ;) Your gorgeous makes are giving me flashbacks, I remember I started following when you made your lovely white and black sweater :)

Jess said...

Ahh this post is lovely. . . . .I look at this and hope that I will be able to do a similar post this time next year:)Well done!

Jess x
http://pinkindielondon.blogspot.com

Debi said...

Happy Blogiversary my dear!!! So happy to have met you this last year and what a lovely recap...I'm finding some projects that I missed!! xoxoxo Here's to another year of fabulous sewing!

Anonymous said...

Happy blogiversary, and what an excellent year you've had!

Charline said...

Happy Blog Anniversaire !
I can't tell you how much I'm found of your christmas dress, SO CUTE.
Wish you to keep going and make us dream ^^

Charline
lapepeedeparis@blogspot.com

Atomic Mama said...

Congrats! Im drooling over everything you made! Love love love them!

Miss Marie said...

I can't even believe that you could possibly have been disappointed with your output for a moment! 18 projects you've got there - that's one and a half for every month. That is not bad going at all, especially considering the care and detail that you've put into each, and that you've had to find time between rehearsals and performing. You should be massively proud.

Marie said...

Happy blogiversary! You have made some absolutely stunning items this past year and I think you are right about the quality (though I think you did amazingly well quantity-wise too). I'm particularly in awe of your knitting!

Amanda said...

Happy blogiversary! What a wonderful achievement for not only one year but also wardrobe epicness. You've done an incredible job and I must admit to being totally impressed by your level of skill. Kudos to you :D

Isis said...

Happy birthday! May many more blog-years come. :)

LandGirl1980 said...

Happy Blogoversary! May cake and tea be in abundance! You *should* be VERY proud of what you have achieved - all your makes are awesome! My personal fave has to be the shirt to skirt :)

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...