Hello Needleworkers from around the Hive

I am new to this community and am rather shy when it comes to my needlework for reasons unknown. It seems to be a dying art in most of my country. Perhaps this will be the place I can finally open up about all the silly mishaps and interesting things I craft with needles and thread/yarn. 

Recently we moved to the countryside to a bigger house and I am proud to say I finally have a room to call my office/craft/sewing room. It's not big but I have a table and enough space to put up my sewing machine! You won't believe how much you miss the ability to sew until you live in an apartment too tiny to put up your sewing machine table. For a whole year I didn't touch it. I looked at it a few times, I showed it to my very intrigued 3 year old daughter who excitedly cheered me on to "sew mommy, sew. Pleeeeeaaaassssseee show me how it works?!" but I couldn't, there just wasn't space and having a cramped placed is not the right space to get creative when you want to make a quilt and have your husband climbing over a table in the kitchen and then tripping over a cord or two to get to the bedroom (which was not much more accommodating due to what seemed like ten million kid toys). 

So now that we have settled in here a bit, I got out my sewing machine tote and all my assorted tins and I decided to start my new sewing journey off the right way. I decided to organize everything before embarking on a mending spree of pretty much everything that needed a button or had a tear.


![Darning Needles2.png](https://images.hive.blog/DQmXkdptdhrLP9R56xxfohoXmdYEitgVG9TEPx9q9oTXWRz/Darning%20Needles2.png)


This was VERY exciting for my daughter who immediately was drawn to the colorful pins and my cupcake pin cushion. I decided that she could re-arrange the pins while I organized all the needles in my kit. I realized how old my first sewing kit is. I think I must have been in my teenage years when I got it. It's a "Sewing Susan" kit and is horribly sun-faded and almost all the holes for the needles are now either empty or oversized from wear and tear. 


![Darning Needles1.png](https://images.hive.blog/DQmeVsRb6e6p1YNFBVi3C62tveFP7UszfSKYuoDsBCimd7D/Darning%20Needles1.png)


I looked at these needles lovingly. They have moved house with me so many times, kept safe from the elements in their little tin. They have mended probably hundreds of garments with a rainbow-full of coloured thread and probably even been used to pull cactus needles and thorns out of fingers and toes. Some of them have disappeared from the kit leaving gaps, but these ones are still with me and still rather sharp. 

Once I had finished organizing my tin of hand sewing needles, I decided to get out all the other bits 'n bobbins. About two years ago I inherited about 10 boxes of sewing things from a friend of mine (who also donated her first sewing machine she had as a kid to my daughter) and had never got to fully organizing everything. I am a very proud owner of many many bobbins. And I'm sure you probably agree that you can never really have enough of these. 


![Darning Wheels.png](https://images.hive.blog/DQmR3ZVUGeM6fQATMW5o4nqTe5jgyV1huF1kMuNZNUioBnH/Darning%20Wheels.png)
Then I moved onto the next tin which was a mishmash of all sorts of buttons and charms, press studs etc. Everything found a home and I now know where my measuring tapes live. Hooray for designated spaces. 

![Darning Needles3.png](https://images.hive.blog/DQmYV12gcpkM4DhAQRtEHEmLGvaCUTNuopxrGpYtTY5q4gu/Darning%20Needles3.png)

My cotton reels looked so happy together. No more bits of thread everywhere, just happiness. 

![Cotton Tin.png](https://images.hive.blog/DQma7cD2RGusf3k6E17N3z7pbxwPYWeY9UPrK4vSPPLCJqd/Cotton%20Tin.png)
Photo credit to my husband

And while in this process, I really had fun taking photos. My husband walked in on me while I was perched precariously on my wingback armchair and decided that I didn't already look gangster enough so he added his cap to finish off the look. He insisted I add this one in for authenticities sake. I hope you get a good laugh from this one, I don't ~~normally~~ always look this ridiculous. 

Photo credit to my husband

So now I feel like I'm ready to start a new journey of sewing and hoping to share with you all along the way. Looking forward to meeting you all and sharing and learning. 

Knitting, sewing and a bit of crochet make my day

Hope you have a beautiful one :) Thanks for reading. 

*All pics are originals by me unless otherwise credited in post.