April 2025: Hawthorn Hip Bag Progress & More

I feel like I’ve been running on empty for much of this year so far. I started 2025 great with a last minute and much needed trip to Morocco which was just what we needed, especially as I then had a medical thing come up after that trip (nothing really bad, don’t worry!) which has taken some getting used to.

If 2024 felt like the worst year since 2021, this year is trying quite hard to match it… but I will not be beaten friends!

Disclaimer: This is a personal blog entry and you will not learn anything from reading this other than my thoughts and feelings, which will help you get to know me better! 🙂

Personal Update

April was rubbish in that I got ill with suspected C-Virus. It knocked me out of action for most of the month, which obviously had a knock on effect on the product development and content plans I had for the month.

In addition, I was really struggling with feelings of sadness. Learning last year that I wouldn’t get to be a mum was hard, but alongside that was knowing my wonderful niece was going to have her own baby, and there are so many feelings that come with that; huge joy and excitement for H alongside an incredible sadness for myself and D.

Life can feel incredibly cruel and unfair when it gives you something with one hand while taking something else away with the other.

Normally I’m a ‘stiff upper lip’ person, able to just push down those thoughts and feelings and ‘keep carrying on’ but when you’re down and out ill, it is really hard to keep everything at bay.

Now at the end of the month, I’m ok, and very excited to get to the UK in May to meet baby M and give H the biggest hug. I know it’ll be tricky for me for some time, but that is life right?

Product Updates

I couldn’t film anything with audio for most of this month because I could barely speak when ill, so I resorted to silent recordings to edit when I was able to record voiceovers. It was a much harder process as I use the talking I do when recording as a guide for remembering what I sewed, how I sewed it, and why I did it that way. Video and photos without it makes for a big puzzle that needs to be figured out.

I did manage to get a new video featuring my Charlie Circle Skirt templates pack live on my YouTube channel at the beginning of the month, which felt like a win. Especially as people are now buying the pattern from YouTube! 🥳

The beginning of the month I started working on the redesign of my Hawthorn Hipbag sewing pattern. I love the original design, but after seeing a designer on Instagram calling out another one for ‘design theft’, I decided I did not want to potentially be dealing with that too, so I changed up the design, redeveloped the pattern and started work on the first calico toile.

What’s Next?

I created and sent out a survey this month to my email subscribers to see what they would like to see from me this year. There was a resounding request for a course on a particular topic, so I will probably be working on that in early May.

I have about a week to myself while D is away for a conference, and the plan is to get the course content mapped out the first week of the month, record it the second week when he is away and then edit all the video content when I’m back in the UK for the last two weeks.

Fingers crossed… It’ll be a lot of work, especially as I also want to finish off the Hawthorn Hip Bag pattern and kit to launch before then, but we’ll see how I get on!