“No need to hurry. No need to sparkle. No need to be anybody but oneself.” -Virginia Woolf

When I became pregnant the second time round, I had a chat with myself.  ‘Get ready’ I said.  ‘Prepare to disappear’.

   
I knew that having two children was different from the portable one.  I could sense that my time was going to be squeezed beyond my then comprehension.  I could feel a very great change coming on.
 
And once I had the baby disappear I did.  Into my house in the suburbs.  Obviously not into thin air.  In fact by then I had gained a massive 30kg and was a visual punch in the face.

So before my disappearance and while I was starting to feel the full force of this new life growing inside of me I had another realization. A jewellery designer whose rings and necklaces I had been stalking on the internet was not London based, as I had supposed.  He was based in Athens.  He had a shop in Exarcheia.  As soon as I saw the address I was down there as fast as my fat little feet could carry me. 

If it is possible to fall in love with a shop then that is what happened.  With my embroidery I like to take something old and give it a new direction.  Paul Sarz takes from age old traditions and symbols and produces something fresh.   He is clearly influenced by Gothic and Victorian styles, but has a way of making melancholy modern, the sentimental empowering and the macabre charming. It is a comfort to me that there is a place I can visit anytime, and it will be always beautiful and inspiring yet strangely familiar.  A bit like a gallery that has a great exhibition on, permanently.  
   

 So you can imagine my excitement when he asked me to make one of my stitchy creations as a gift for his godchild.

But. 

It took me six months till I was finished.

Six months.

And I have updated the blog twice this year.  Not exactly what you might call a 'serious blogger' eh?  Also since I have decided re-tackle teaching drama, in addition to mama madness, I will soon be working every day.  I have become a fan of Virginia Woolf and Sylvia Plath since I became a housewife.  When your existence is jam packed with wooden train tracks and Peppa Pig and every book you read has sentences that rhyme you can sometimes- not all the time- but sometimes get a bit pissed off about it.  I have become neurotic about my free time, that none of it can be wasted. As a result, I do manage to get some stuff done for me.  Some.  But what of this blog?  Is it ok to update once or twice a year?  Is it better to just say goodbye to everyone in a dignified manner as so many others have and close the thing down?

Is it a nuisance to follow a blog that updates every Twefth of Never?  

If you live in Athens don't forget to visit the Paul Sarz shop.