Nonnie

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Ooh I've been having a lovely pottering few days. Not only have I been sewing lots but I've been having a major spring clean and move around of bits and bobs in the flat. Above is the new look sideboard. I've gone all neutral apart from the little spash of red on the lampshade. I've really got a thing for cream and white at the moment. A lot of my frames were already either cream or white but those that weren't got a coat of paint. Even the lamp base got painted! My Christmas twigs are still going strong but while I'm in the Cotswolds at the end of the week I think I'll be raiding Mum and Dads garden for some branches with buds to force. Going to need them to hang my Easter decorations on!

The bookshelf has been re-done as well. Absolutely everything came off and went back on again in a totally new way. Only white or pale blue paperbacks were allowed back! Oops, just realised you can see the ugly sofa without covering in this shot. Better get the cover back on quickly.

Ah, that's better. Actually the blanket above is a new purchase. I popped up to the big yellow and blue warehouse yesterday and got some great bits and bobs, this great crochet style blanket being one of them. Oh, and the little cream tea light holders you can see in the first picture. Obligatory tea lights, a new wine rack which was super cheap but very smart and a couple of picture frames. Not entirely sure why I chose half term for a trip to Ikea? It was packed but I knew what I was looking for so whizzed round quickly and was back home in no time.

I love re-arranging objects. I really had fun colour coordinating my books.(a little obsession of mine!) I've been arranging the bookshelves of a certain supermodel lately(sorry, I'm such a show off!) so it was nice to be able to spend time doing my own. Especially as my books and objects are so much nicer!

Well time to get back to it, the hall is still full of clutter that has come out of the sitting room and there's more sewing to be done and orders to be prepared. Not to mention a new website to be worked on. Did I say I was on holiday this week?! x

 

A Sneaky Peek

A productive day yesterday. New cushions, a bag, lavender hearts. All will be in the new website soon. Unfortunately the flat has been turned into such a tip with all my creativity that I have nowhere nice to take photos. Everything will be packed up for a Cotswold photoshoot later in the week.

I'm off to the cinema shortly to see Jumper. I know he's rather young for me but an hour or so of admiring Jamie Bell should be a good way to spend a Sunday afternoon!

I'll leave you with another little sneaky peek. Some lovely flowers I received this week! Hope you're all having a lovely sunny Sunday. x

 

A Saturday in pyjamas!

I've been fabric shopping again! I know I said that I was using up my fabric stocks, and that hasn't changed, but I felt I needed something new as well. The website is well on track and I am busy turning the stock of fabrics into to 'one off' items that will be for sale. But I also want a section in the shop that contains a small range that will always be available to order. So I needed some new good basic fabrics.

Actually, these new fabrics pictured here don't completely fall into that category, but I just couldn't resist them. Just look at the cute little Babushka dolls. So sweet. And the kitchen utensil fabric is gorgeous too. I have a number of plans for this little lot and have a blissful few days of sewing ahead of me.

So I'm sitting in the kitchen and the sun is pouring through the window. I've decided that today is a pyjama day. After all, it's far easier to get on with sewing when dressed so comfortably. I have food in the cupboard and a bottle of wine for this evening as well as two DVDs borrowed from my friend Nadine last night. So I'm settled in for the day. Tomorrow there will be more of the same but I might go for a walk in Kew Gardens as well and I am going to the cinema.

I've become a bit of a cinema regular recently. I've signed up to a pass from Cineworld which means that for £15 a month I can go as regularly as I like. Last night I saw Juno and I can heartily recommend it. It is the cutest film I've seen in a long time and the performance by Ellen Page is surely deserving of a Best Actress Oscar.

Time to go and make those Babushkas into something beautiful. xx

With Love

With love to you all on Valentine's Day. I hope you have a lovely day today with your loved ones. If you're on your own then spoil yourself with the biggest bunch of flowers you can afford and what ever treat you fancy, be it a big box of chocs, a glass or two of wine or a pampering soak in the bath. You deserve it!

As for me, I have a date tonight! Watch this space...... x

Pretty Packages

A few weeks ago I finally got round to giving my dear Sis a lesson on how to buy on ebay. Yes I know, unbelievable but true, she really didn't know what to do! Anyway, I fear I may now have started off a bit of an addiction as she's been receiving rather a lot of parcels in the post lately! She made me laugh when she admitted how fed up and cheated she felt when she was beaten by someone at the very last second on something she really wanted. Ah, the joys of ebay.

So while we were having the practice session the other week, we were browsing the vintage embroidery section and spotted two sets of two pretty embroidered linen tea towels. We both loved them so decided to bid for both and share them between us. One of each design each. So I showed her how bidding worked and we were lucky to win both lots.

I collected my half of the winnings this weekend and I'm really pleased with them. These really are destined for the snip(not chop Sue, don't worry!) as I definitely purchased them with some projects in mind. I have the whole of next week off so I plan on getting down to some serious sewing although I will of course have to have a couple of days in the Cotswolds. Well, wouldn't you?

Last week I received another gorgeous package in the post which I totally ran out of time to photograph and blog about. I was lucky enough to be a runner up in Lucy's sweet pink and green giveaway and just look at the pretty things she kindly sent me.

A gorgeous heart magnet, some pretty pegs, a beautiful heart keyring, some very sweet floral fabric and an envelope containing some chocolate. All wrapped in pretty pink tissue with flowers scattered between. Even the outside of the package was green paper. Such attention to detail. Thank you Lucy it is all lovely. So far I haven't used anything. They are all sitting in a little pile on a chair in my Sitting Room where I just keep admiring them all. Even the choc hasn't been eaten. How strong willed is that?!

Well, as it's getting rather late, so I think it's about time I took myself off for some beauty sleep.  See you all later in the week. xxx

Sunshine and Spring

I'm relieved to say it's been a less stressful week than last. More early nights and less time spent at work. Not a lot to show creatively as it's all going on behind the scenes at the moment. I'm working on a couple of orders and making good progress with the website. Having said that there's still a lot to do on the website. So far I'm just getting there with the overall look and setting up all the different sections of the shop. But I think it's going to take some time to get the shop full, especially as I lot of the items that are going to be in the shop are still just sketches in my note book, or bits of pinned together fabric draped around the flat! But I'm feeling pleased with progress so far. I'd love to think it might be finished before Easter but I'm not going to put too much pressure on myself, expecially as Easter is early.

It's been a gorgeous sunny week here in London. Today the sky is a gorgeous blue, the sun is shining brightly and it's even quite mild. It really lifts the spirits when it's like this. I've had a smile on my face all week. The little pot of cute daffodils Catherine and Hamish bought me last weekend have even brought a little bit of Spring into my Living Room too.

So it's the weekend again. I'm planning a fairly relaxed one, although I'm out tomorrow evening over in High Wycombe. Tomorrow will be spent finishing the orders and doing a bit of pampering before my evening out. There's nothing nicer than spending Saturday afternoon relaxing in the bath and getting ready for a nice evening out. It's just what I need.

I hope you all have a lovely weekend. See you again next week. xx

Nostalgia

 

Hello dear friends. Well I didn't really expect to be away from the blog this week, but work got the better of me and not only have I not had time to write, I've barely even visited any of you. I'VE MISSED YOU ALL!

I've had a totally crazy week work wise ending on Friday with a 16 hour day where I was in the office until just after midnight! We have a very important presentation tomorrow and it was all hands on deck trying to get everything finished in time. Tomorrow I have to be in for 7am so it's early to bed tonight as that will mean a 6.30 tube! But hopefully the rest of this week will become calmer and I'll have some time for myself at last.

As a consequence, absolutely nothing has got done around here. Catherine and Hamish came over for the day yesterday which was lovely but there was not a scrap of food in the cupboards so I had to take them shopping as part of their day out! But we had a lovely walk down by the river as the picture above shows and did lots of chatting. Hamish kept us busy and amused as usual!

I have so much I need to do. There are piles of half finished designs all over the place and a website to build(only the home page done so far!) and I ought to have been getting on with them today, but you know what, sometimes you just have to stop, say no to yourself and do absolutely nothing. So that is exactly what I've done. Nothing.

Well that's actually not quite true. I am feeling in great need of music at the moment. I think it's because I'm feeling so ridiculously upbeat and happy. So this morning I looked at my CD collection and found it rather lacking. To call it a collection is quite misleading. More a small selection of CDs, non of which had anything particularly upbeat within them. I needed something I could dance around the flat to because that is how I am feeling today, despite being a little tired. So, as funds are a little lacking and I couldn't go crazy on Amazon, I logged on to Youtube and started creating a playlist for myself. I spent so much of the afternoon doing it and became so engrossed that it took my quite by surprise when I looked up to realise I was sitting in semi darkness! But what a list I've created! It's definitely nostalgic and very definitely a weird old mixture containing, AHA, Abba, Duran Duran, The Smiths, The Jackson Five and Girls Aloud to name but a few. Put it this way, I've really been going back to my teens and early twenties for inspiration with a bit of current stuff thrown in for good measure. It's been such good fun and I swear I must have lost a pound or two as I've danced my way around the flat! And now I have some great music to listen to while I'm getting on with that sewing and website building this week.

I'm going to attempt to catch up with you all this week and hopefully I'll be back myself again before another week goes by. xxx