Christmas is a time for joy, warmth, and creating lasting memories with loved ones. One charming way to add a sprinkle of magic to your holiday celebrations is by using Santa treat plates. These special plates are designed to hold festive goodies for Santa Claus, making the tradition of leaving out treats even more exciting for children and adults alike.

In fact, some things don’t even make it out of my head before they go wrong. There are projects that have been unpicked more times than I care to admit. Pieces that were cut twice because I measured once. Things I was convinced would be the one that ended up folded into a drawer, never to be worn, gifted, or spoken of again. I have an actual drawer for them. A drawer of UFOs - unfinished objects - quietly waiting their turn.

I’ve found that small, consistent habits make a huge difference in staying productive without burning out.

As you can probably guess, my fabric choices can be as chaotic as my brain. That doesn’t mean they can’t work together, it just means they might not make sense to anyone else at first glance. I can get wildly carried away in a fabric shop, stroking bolts of fabric like a Victorian lady fainting over velvet and spending far too long gazing at colour ranges instead of making decisions.

But then summer rolled in, as it always does, and suddenly I had six weeks off work. Six whole weeks of no bells, no students, no deadlines. That was when everything shifted. With time, space, and absolutely no one policing my day, I really started to learn who I was, and I threw myself straight into sewing. I was on every sewing course going. If someone was teaching it, I was there, armed with a notebook and absolutely no self-control around fabric shops.

There are so many decisions, and every single one feels life-or-death when you’re a beginner. What thread? What fabric? What colour? On the bias or not on the bias? Is the fabric directional or am I about to sew this block upside down for the third time? And you can only make these decisions after industrial amounts of procrastination and enough cups of tea to qualify as a hydration hazard.