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No, not snow, but a beautiful carpet of snowdrops in the churchyard in my Mum and Dads village. Aren't they just spectacular? Hamish kept calling them raindrops which was so sweet!
This is just a quick post today but back again tomorrow with more Spring-like photos and tales of Burns night. Hope everyone had a lovely weekend.
x
Well, what a response! I hardly imagined that asking the simple question of whether or not I should cut up the cosy, would create such a reaction. Thank you all for your thoughts. Overwhelmingly the response was to cut the cosy, but for those of you who said don't cut, I've come up with something of a compromise. The cosy is going to be transformed but it will not require any cutting. I'm saying no more for now incase my idea doesn't work out, but if it does, then the finished article will be for sale in the next few weeks in my little shop. Infact, if I can get going a bit faster on the website then it might be the first item for sale in the the new home of 'Nonnie Home'. If the finished article doesn't sell then it will go for the chop at that point! Oh, and I should say, for Sue's benefit, that from now on there will be no more talk of 'chopping', just very careful cutting!
The picture above is of the welcome that greets you as you step through the doors of Mum and Dad's lovely B&B. I wanted to show you this today as all being well they are going to being mentioned in the London Evening Standard in the Friday ES magazine this evening which is very exciting for them. When I say all being well, they don't know exactly what is going in or whether it will be much of a mention but hopefully it will be something good. They had someone staying a couple of weeks ago who is a writer and was writing an article on his favourite places to stay in the World. He was supposed to stay a couple of days but ended up being with them for almost a week and announced that he would be mentioning Mum and Dad's place in his article! Before they knew it Dad was speaking to a lady from the Evening Standard and sending accross pictures of the house! But as it's quite last minute they don't really know what they will get, whether it will be just a line of text or more. Whether any of their pictures will be featured or not. There is of course the possibility that they won't be mentioned at all. I'll be popping out later for a copy(maybe more than one if they are featured) and I'll let you know next week what the out come was.
I'm off again to the Cotswolds tomorrow to go to a Burns Night party tomorrow(yes, I know it's actually today!) in Mum and Dad's village organised partly by Mum and with a starring role for my lovely Scottish Brother-in-law. I think it started with Mum asking John a bit of advise on how the evening should progress, and has ended up with him being the Master of Ceremonies and having to write a poem in honour of Burns! Sounds like it's going to be a fun evening. Only problem is I'm supposed to wear a bit of tartan and I have nothing as yet. Going to have to get my thinking cap on quick!
I've been busy working away on more Valentines things and they're now in the shop. I'm going to be adding more things, including similar items but with a pink rather than red theme. They should be ready by the start of next week. For those of you who like to buy from Etsy, they'll also all be going into my Etsy Shop in the next few days.
Well the sun is shining here finally and it looks like it might just last all weekend. It's amazing what a bit of sunshine can do. Gives you the feeling that Spring is just around the corner. Have a lovely weekend dear bloggers and I'll see you all again next week. xx
I'm becoming a bit of a hoarder lately. I buy things with the intention of either selling them on as they are or chopping them up to make into something new. This was the case with this pretty tea cosy and also the cloth which for a while was on my television table.
Sorry, this picture doesn't really show much of the cloth but you get the idea. It's very pretty.
I'm tempted to hold on to the cloth as I am determined that one day I will be the occupant of a cottage requiring just such a cloth to serve afternoon tea on! But with the cosy I'm not so sure. I rarely make pots of tea and even if I did, I'm not sure this would keep it terribly warm as it's not lined in any way. It's also rather large for a standard tea pot. When I look at it I can see all sorts of possibilities of things I could turn it into. Each flower could be cut individually to adorn any number of small items, or I could use the entire panel to create the front of a pretty cushion cover.
As you see the other side is different so I could make an 'almost matching' pair of cushions?
So my question today is do I chop or not? Do I save this pretty cosy but in doing so let it languish away unused in a drawer. Or do I throw caution to the wind, whip out my sewing scissors and turn it into a number of pretty and useful objects that hopefully someone will want to buy?
I can't believe it's been a week since I last posted. I don't know where the time went. Even my Sis was asking me yesterday why no posts. So here's a new post just for you Catherine. Well actually it's for you and all my lovely blogging friends.
To be honest, I think the lack of motivation to blog last week was caused by the horrid weather. Grey skies, rain, hail, wind, more rain, more wind, thunder and lightening. Oh, and a bit more rain. When I was not at work I just wanted to hibernate and as for taking photos, well it was just impossible!
But I don't want you all thinking that I'm not still sticking to my words of the year. I'm still being very organised. Healthy packed lunches have been made every day for the last two weeks, early tubes have been caught bringing me to work not just on time, but early, and the flat is tidy and washing up to date! And despite the grey weather, I am still feeling very positive. The website is finally happening, new designs are being sketched and stitched, and I'm searching for a new man! Yes, you heard that right, searching for a new man. I think my broken heart is finally on the mend and it's time to get out there again. I've taken the plunge and joined a couple of dating site and I've had a new hair cut. Actually, I have to admit that my blogging absence this last week is also partly due to the fact that searching pages of men is very time consuming! Seriously, it takes a lot of my time. And I haven't even spotted any good ones yet. It's like catalogue shopping! Very weird. But it has to be done. If I'm being really honest I would ideally like to meet someone in a more normal way, such as by being introduced by a friend, but I figure I've just got to try everything. I'll keep you all posted!
This morning I've been reading a new blog. Lisa has been reading a few blogs for a while and has finally taken the plunge to write her own. Do go over and say hello to her.
I'll try to spend a little less time looking at men this week and will be back later in the week hopefully for a sneaky peek at some new things. The photos on this post are some little valentines items I've been working on this weekend. They'll be in my etsy shop later in the week.
Have a lovely Monday. xxx
I've been working on some new pieces this weekend. I'm trying to be really good at the moment and be creative with the fabrics I already have rather than falling for the temptations of new fabrics. I have so much I could probably make enough items to sell all year! It was only as I finally sat relaxing last night and looked over at the other sofa where I had laid the cut out pieces, that I realised the colours I had randomly picked matched the colours of the flowers sitting on my cabinet! So I guess that even though I was working with what I had, I still had those spring influences in my head.
The patchwork came along very well over the weekend too. It really seemed to work telling all of you that I was going to finish it. I stitched all evening on Friday while watching Jamie Oliver and got all of the decorative back stiching done. All I have to do now is finish off the edges! I'm hoping I can manage that this week, although I am trying to work hard at getting a lot of new pieces made both for my etsy shop and my new website which I hope to have up and running within the next month!
As well as all the sewing, I had a lovely time on Saturday in Marlow with the family. Hamish was a very good boy while we were out at lunch. He's so grown up now. Mum brought over an old book that belonged to my Sis and I and was an absolute favourite.
Did anyone else know Harold Bean? I hadn't seen this book in years and I'd forgotten just how cute it was. It's all about what jobs Daddys do ending up with Harold Bean who is an ice-cream man. The illustrations are absolutely brilliant with so many things to look at on each page.
Hamish really loved it particularly because there were some fire men(like Fireman Sam!) and 'Bob men' or in other words, builders(Like Bob the Builder!) Not quite sure who is more his hero, Sam or Bob but he loves them both so any similar characters are always popular.
We went back to my Sisters for tea and cake then I looked after Hamish while his Mum and Dad went for a drink. My first time babysitting went very well although given that he went to bed before they went out, it wasn't exactly hard work! I don't think he was aware that his Aunty Nonnie was looking after him at all.
Well I'm off back to the sewing machine again now for a little more stitching before bed time. xx
Remember this? For any of you who have been reading my blog from the start back in August 06, you might just remember that I started this patchwork quilt back then. I'm slightly ashamed to say that it is still not finished! It lays folded over the arm of one of my sofas pretending to be done and every time Hamish comes to visit I have to put it out of the way because it is full of pins. Infact I keep thinking that I need to buy more pins and then I remember that I have at least 30(probably more) stuck around the edge of the patchwork.
So having read Mia's post today about the fact she is starting another patchwork quilt, I am setting myself a challenge here and now to finish the one that I have started. And you lot are all my witnesses to this personal challenge. You can nag me about it if you like. Say around the middle of February. Feel free to say, 'hey Fiona, is that patchwork quilt finished yet?!'
The crazy thing is that it is so near to be finished. The patchwork bit is actually done. It's the backing that is half finished. I'm actually just backing it with vintage white sheet without any padding inbetween as I don't want it to be too bulky. What is taking the time is the fact that I am hand stitching through the two layers along each patchwork join, in one direction. I'm doing this in red embroidery thread so that the white side will not be plain but will be decorated with rows so little running stitches. I'm about half way through this process. I then just need to put some sort of binding around the edge. So it's really close. Just got to get on with it instead of thinking about new projects.
Well it's the weekend again. After a dull, wet week I'm feeling really ready for it. I have a lovely day planned tomorrow as I'm going over to Marlow for lunch out with Mum, Dad, Sis, Brother-in-law(John) and wee Hamish. It's John's Birthday on Monday so he decided he wanted to have lunch out all together. Marlow is such a lovely place to go to so I'm really hoping the sun might shine. On the way over there I'm planning on popping into a craft shop my Sis told me about to pick up some new bits and bobs for getting creative.
Hopefully Sunday will be the day for being creative. I hope that you all have a lovely weekend whatever you're doing. xx
I just had to show you all a couple of very cute presents I received at Christmas. These were from my Sister and Brother-in-law and I just love them. I'm not sure if they're trying to say something about my organisational skills as the item above and below is a card box. It has month by month sections inside where you write a note of Birthdays and Anniversaries and file the cards ready to be sent! Very organised!
Not only do I absolutely love the box with all it's sweet little houses around the outside but I also love the idea of being so organised and it definitely fits well with the goals I'm setting myself this year. I'm never any good at keeping to a list of resolutions so I'm following Cherry's suggestion instead. I'm just setting myself a couple of words for the year which are going to to see me through the year, hopefully in a better way to last year. My words are Positivity and Organisation. I'm feeling extremely positive this week, now I've just got to get organised. Filling this card box will be a start!
As well as this box and the DVD of 'Miss Potter' which is the loveliest film, my Sis also made me a couple of lovely presents. She very cleverly produced some absolutely delicious Thai Jelly for which she made the sweetest little cover. Isn't it gorgeous?
Along with the Jelly was another package with the label 'Nigella Rules!' and inside I found a lovely jar filled with milk and white chocolate chips, just ready and waiting to make a batch of Nigella chocolate chip cookies. I may not quite have Nigellas store cupboard but my ever growing collection of lovely jars filled with ingredients makes me feel very organised in the kitchen.
So I'm going into 2008 with my two words firmly in my mind. Hopefully I can stick to them and make this year a great one!
Wishing you all a very happy New Year and breaking myself back in gently today with a picture only post. Some lovely frosty scenes of Mum and Dads garden a couple of days before Christmas. I was so keen to get these pics I put my coat and boots on over my PJs and skipped out into the garden before breakfast. Hmmm, wonder if that's why I spent New Years Eve in bed with a feverish cold.....!
