Nonnie

Open for Business!

I've decided the time has come to stop procrastinating and tweaking and finally open my new little website for business. The shop is not as full as I would like it to be as there are currently more products half finished in my new little studio, but if I don't just open it now, I fear I never will! I'm sure I will continue to tweak the content a little and certainly there will be far more in the shop in the coming weeks but for now I'm happy with it. I will be adding a proper link in the side bar later, but for now, I give you

Linen and Roses

Although the programme I have used to set up this site is very straight forward, I'm no website expert, so it has taken me some time to get it this far. Please do let me know if you notice anything unusual or have any difficulty if you happen to try to order something. I'm sure I will be doing a lot of updating for the first few months.

Keeping my fingers crossed that you like it...... x

The Garden

Here is a first sneaky look at my garden. Or should I say a little spot in my garden. Both this chair and table used to be inside at Kew but when they moved over to Thame, we struggled to find a home for them inside. So for a few weeks they sat outside on the patio looking a bit lost. Until one evening to find that S had found the perfect home for them under the little tree in the middle of the garden. I was very impressed! It's the perfect spot for little nephews to sit and have a picnic when they visit. Not, I hasten to add, with the embroidered cloth on the table! That is going in the web shop, hence the photograph. The thing is now that I think they need to be a different colour. Not only do they look a little stark, they are also getting a little bit dirty. I'm thinking a nice soft sagey green, or maybe pale blue? We've been working quite hard getting everything tidied up outside but now we need to get planting. S is very keen on his grass and spends hours keeping it looking good, so I have decided I'm going to be in charge of plants and we definitely need some more. Although it is a modern house, the garden has quite a cottage feel to it and I want to emphasise that. Despite the fact that Mum is a fantastic gardener, I'm a complete novice so definitely need some advice. Any suggestions for easy, and relatively quick colour greatly appreciated! Next week we're both off work, so I'm hoping we can make some progress with both the garden and some jobs in the house. Although given the weather forecast, it might be more house than garden. I'm also planning on finally publishing the website! It's all done, and I already have some product in the shop, but I have things to finish off next week and pop in too. I'm pretty happy with the way it all looks. Just a bit of last minute tweaking! Tomorrow we're at a Wedding and I'm hoping the rain will hold off for the day. I love a good Wedding and hope it will be a lovely start to our weeks holiday. Whatever you're doing this long weekend have a lovely time and I will be back with more garden photos and hopefully a website announcement next week. xxxx

Coming soon........

Making a come back

Hello, yes it's me, I'm still here!

Gosh this has been difficult to do. I've been feeling like getting back to my poor little neglected blog for about a week or so but I seem to have had writers block, or should it be called 'bloggers block'? I feel like a do when I've had some time off work and you come back and feel totally out of it. Like everyone else is in a secret gang and you're not a part of it.

Anyway, today I decided to take the leap and start again.

And in a sense I am starting again. I've decided that I want to take the blog in one direction only and that is to share all things pretty and creative with you all. Not that I won't occasionally tell you what's going on in my life, but I feel the blog had become far too much about my personal life and not enough about my creativity which is why I started it in the first place. So with my website coming on extremely well(nearly ready to show you all!) and a new house and garden to develop, I shouldn't be short of material.

But for those of you that are curious, just a little catch up on life in general. In the last month I've moved from my little flat in Kew to a little house in Oxfordshire. To be more precise, the house of my lovely boyfriend Simon! I couldn't be more happy and content and still have to keep pinching myself to believe that my life has changed so much since the beginning of the year! Recent weeks have seen us take a lovely(and very romantic) trip to Paris and a very lovely weekend in Ieper in Belgium which is my new favourite place in the whole World.

So back to being creative again. My work space is not really up and running yet, but I did manage to carry out a commission for a lovely reader of my blog, Sally-Ann, who wanted a cushion for a friend to include the initials of the friend, her husband, and child. I was a little nervous about this one as she really left it in my hands as to how it would look and what fabrics I would use, but I was really pleased with the result and luckily so was her friend!

So the job this weekend is to get a lot more sorting done in the house and hopefully I'll be able to set up my little sewing area and then I can finish off the website. I'm also hoping to get out into the garden and I want to share that with you. I'll be back again next week so in the mean time, hope you all have a good rest of the week and it's sooo good to be back with you all again.

xxxx

Taking a break

I'm taking a blogging break for the time being. I'm not sure exactly when I will be back. I'm still around reading all of your lovely blogs, but for now I just need a break from mine. I really want to go back to how I started my blog which was as a place to show my creativity and homemaking. I can assure you that there will definitely be a lot more of that going on again soon, especially as I have a new home in Oxfordshire, but for now I am enjoying happiness in my personal life to a level that I have never felt before. I have lots of settling in to do and a trip to Paris to take in the coming weeks so I'm going to be pretty busy. I will be back I promise, but it may be as much as a month. I'm just not sure. And when I come back perhaps I will feel ready to share a little more with you about the wonderful man who has totally changed my life.

In the mean time, please take a slice of cake, freshly baked just for you. Lemon sponge with raspberry jam and cream! See you soon my lovely blogging friends. xxxx

Happy Easter!

Yes I know I'm a few days early, but if I don't snatch this moment now to post something then I fear I will be wishing you happy May Bank Holiday instead!

Firstly I must apologise for being a really terrible blogger of late. Very few posts and hardly a comment left with any of you. I promise that I will get back to normal at some stage soon, but life has just been a bit of a whirl wind of late. A very very good whirl wind!

Secondly, apologies that the picture above isn't of the eggs actually hanging on Easter branches. They are now in fact although in a very rushed way and I haven't had chance to photograph them. The flat has been very neglected lately and will become even more so I think. I've been spending rather a lot of time in Oxfordshire just lately!

Gosh there is just so much I want to share with you all and I promise I will soon enough. I am literally catching my breath at how life has turned so completely around for me since the new year and I am bursting with the excitement of what the future holds.

Dear friends, I hope that you all have a lovely Easter weekend filled with love, family, friends and chocolate!
xxxxx

A Walk in the Cotswolds

I've been meaning to take you on this little walk in the Cotswolds for a few weeks now but as you know I've been a little distracted lately! I did this walk on a rather grey Sunday afternoon a few weeks ago with the other lovely man in my life, my Daddy! Hope you enjoy taking this walk with us despite the grey skies. It's ok, it doesn't rain so you won't need an umbrella!

Into the field and past the pond. Looking out for the sheep and horses that live there.

Over the fields to the woods.

Over the bridge and into the woods. If it wasn't so cold we'd stop and play poohsticks.

Up through the woods to more fields at the top and a lovely view towards the hazy distant hills.

A lovely view back towards the village and the pretty church.

Down the field towards the lane.

Up the lane back towards the village. Those of you who have watched 'The Holiday' will recognise this lane as the one Cameron Diaz drives along as she arrives at the village where the cottage is. Funnily enough the shots of the village and cottage in the film are not the same village. In the film the camera is on the taxi then it pans out to show this lane, house and eventually the whole of Mum and Dads village!

Back along the lane into the village.

One last look back over the fields before returning home to the fireside and a welcome cup of tea!

Progress

Just to proof my new state of love isn't totally distracting me from my creative work, I thought I would show you just one of the new products that will be in the new website. These vintage linen lavender filled hearts will be living in the 'laundry' section of the shop and available to order. I've loved making them as they're all hand sewn so can be done while I'm watching TV at night.

The shop is pretty much done now but it is rather empty so I just need to complete all the items I have designed. It will be done in the end!

Hope those of you in the UK and especially the South West and South coast are all safe and well and not getting too blown away by this terrible storm. Here in London it is very wet and windy but not as bad as other parts I think. Wherever you are have a great week. x

PS, incase you're wondering, the dinner was delicious, as was the whole weekend!!!

Clearing the decks

As the new website is coming along nicely, I've been looking at all my stock to see what will be going in the shop and what won't! Ideally I want to start afresh which means clearing the decks of items remaining from last year. I have quite a lot of my handmade cards left as I went a little crazy when I made them for last years craft fairs! I've held on to a few for myself but I've decided to offer the rest to all of you in sets of four(images below). There are seven sets altogether and are priced at £5 for each set including postage. Bargain! Please email me if you would like a set, stating which one. I only have one of each set so it's first come first served. I can take payment by paypal or cheque.

I can't tell you how happy I am that the weekend is here. I've had a busy week and I'm looking forward to relaxing. My new man is cooking me dinner tomorrow evening! I can't tell you how happy that makes me. A man who not only can cook but enjoys it!!!

I hope you all have a lovely weekend wherever you are and that the sun shines. xxx

Here are the sets. I'm really sorry but I can't start swapping cards from one set to another. Each set is as it is.

SET 1 - Sold, thank you!

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SET 2 - Sold, thank you!

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SET 3 - Sold, thank you!

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SET 4 - Sold, thank you!

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SET 5 - Sold, thank you!

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SET 6

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SET 7 - Sold, thank you!

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Absent

Sorry I've been away for a little while. Life has been rather hectic of late, and exceptionally happy! Do you like the tulips? Aren't they gorgeous?

They were a gift from my gorgeous new man on Satuday and now have pride of place in the middle of my newly painted kitchen table. And yes, there is a gorgeous new man. A lovely, sweet and caring new man! I'm going to keep him to myself for now but I will tell you more before long I'm sure. I will tell you though that as well as feeling like a giddy teenager, I am also happier than I've been in a very long time. Would it sound crazy to say happier than I've ever been?

I am finding the odd moment to plough on with the website though, but I fear it may take a little longer than I had originally thought. Sometimes the good things in life just have to take over from work!

I will be back again soon, but please forgive this short absense knowing that I am a very very happy blogger! Nonnie xxx