ROLL UP! ROLL UP!

There's been a bit of a buzz in blogland of late, and it's all to do with this idea cooked up over a good coffee by Jayne of http://countrycottagechic.blogspot.com/ and Michele of http://infocowboysandcustard.blogspot.com/. Basically, the ladies thought how great it would be to organise an event where like minded bloggers could meet and sell their vintage and handmade goods to each other and the public. I, as do others, think this a fab idea, an opportunity not to be missed, think of all the lovely things to buy for christmas and of course, there will be plenty of cake.......Vintage & Handmade Fair to be held on Saturday the 22nd of November 2008 at Rangeworthy Village Hall, nr. Chipping Sodbury, South Gloucestershire. 10 a.m - 4.00 p.m. Tables for the event are £10.00 each for the day Maximum 2 tables per person.

If this little jamboree sounds too tempting to miss and you would like to find out more information, then please click on the above links. I would love to meet you there . xxx

NOW I AM 5,ANGEL AND BUTTERFLY

I think this is one of my favourite pics of Pops, it was around the time of her 2nd birthday, a glorious age, little did I know how much fun was still ahead of us.........

Now I am 5! here she is, my angel. How time flies when your having fun. I can't believe how she has grown in three years. I love her spirit and how she reacts if she thinks an injustice has been done and her motherly ways, in one so young. Mostly, I love her slapstick humour, it gets me every time.........
This was Pops birthday party, mmmm, rain and mud, mud and some more rain. We put the family tent up in the garden and decorated with balloons, banners and streamers, lots of games were played and food was devoured, they loved the mud and playing football. Pops thought it was wonderful....... Phew!

So happy you had a great birthday peaches, I look forward to many many more,

We All LOVE you baby xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Meet May Fly, she is a fairy I've made for a customer's daughter. I have not made a fairy before. I decided to make her a butterfly fairy, with butterfly wings. I have a thing for winged creatures, birds, butterflies, dragonflies. It's started me off now, I'll be throwing wings on everything !!!!
It is the final week of school, while I am both relieved and excited about having six weeks with my babies, I also wonder how on earth I can keep them busy and happy during this time AND work on a large commission too, Help! any tips? It usually takes us a week or two to get into a rhythm that feels good for us all. We are going camping down in Fowey in Cornwall the last week of July, please let it be dry :)

I shall leave it at that for now, night night xx

A MONTH GONE BY ALREADY.......

Yes, I know, I have been a shockingly bad blogger these last few months and have toyed with the idea of putting the old thing to rest, but I think I must atleast reach my first year anniversary!!
I have just managed to put a few pics on of the open studio that was a month ago now, i can't believe how time flies. look at the sun shining in the photos! The weather has been something else these last few days, It was Poppy's 5th birthday on Sunday, boy, did it rain. Luckily, the rain held off for the two and a half hours of her party. We put the family tent up in the garden and decorated it with streamers and balloons, they loved it, and lots of games were played and jelly devoured with gusto. It was lovely, but exhausting. I will post some photos in my next post, hopefully tomorrow, I really must get back in to regular blogging, I enjoy it and I love reading comments from other bloggers and reading about their lives and loves. The issue, is having enough time for this pleasure.

Mandy's knitwear, I've bought a few of her lovely hats over the years, and her knitted bunting is gorgeous

At long last, this is my studio, I love it and am enjoying working in there, as you can see, I'm not the only one. A certain amount of time is wasted fighting for my seat.

I'm afraid my table is a complete mess, but it's my mess and it's pure bliss being able to just leave it that way.
It's 11:30pm now so I think it's time to say bye bye and put the laptop to bedZZZZZzzzzzzxxxxx

TIME TO STOP AND TAKE STOCK.

WELL HELLO MY FRIENDS, COME, PULL UP A CHAIR, IT'S BEEN A WHILE SINCE WE LAST MET FOR A CATCH - UP. DO YOU FANCY A BREW? MILK? SUGAR?

IT'S BEEN A FEW DAYS SINCE WE FINISHED THE STROUD '08 OPEN STUDIOS. I DIDN'T REALISE HOW MUCH IT WOULD TAKE OUT OF ME BUT I THOROUGHLY ENJOYED THE WHOLE EXPERIENCE.

ANDY WAS A TRUE KNIGHT IN SHINING ARMOUR AND FINISHED MY WORK ROOM AND THE GARDEN, I WAS SO PLEASED. THERE WERE FIVE OF US EXHIBITING, IT ALL WENT TOGETHER VERY NICELY I THINK.

PHOTOS HAVE BEEN TAKEN, BUT ALAS, THEY ARE NOT ON MY LAPTOP, SO MAYBE I'LL HAVE SOME FOR MY NEXT POST....

A MAJOR HIGH POINT OF THE EVENT WAS MEETING MY BLOG FRIEND, MICHELE ( COWBOYS AND CUSTARD ) AND HER LOVELY MR. CUSTARD. IT SEEMED SO NATURAL TO BE GREETING THEM AS IF SEEING OLD FRIENDS AFTER A LONG SPELL APART, WE HAD NEVER MET BEFORE , HOW STRANGELY MAGICAL . MICHELE WAS JUST AS I IMAGINED, HAVING NOT SEEN ANY PHOTOS ON HER BLOG, JUST A TANTALISING SHOT OF HER HAIR OR A BACK VIEW, HER VOICE ON THE TELEPHONE....... IT'S LIKE FINDING THE FINAL PIECE OF AN ON-GOING PUZZLE, BUT THERE IS NO ANTI- CLIMAX, JUST HOPE, THAT WE WILL MEET AGAIN...

SOME OTHER EXCITING THINGS HAPPENED DURING OUR OPEN STUDIO, BUT I CANNOT TELL AS YET, WE SHALL SEE....

THESE PHOTOS ARE A FEW WELL OVERDEW MINUTES OF FUN WITH MY POPS, THERE'S ALWAYS AN ELEMENT OF GUILT INVOLVED WHEN I'M PUTTING ALOT OF TIME INTO MY WORK, THE POSITIVE SIDE OF THIS IS THAT THE CHILDREN SEE ME MAKING AND ARE EAGER TO HAVE A GO THEMSELVES. GEORGE LOVES FELTING AND POP'S HAS JUST STARTED SEWING, I COULD DO WITH SOME HELP!!!!

EARLY MORNING SUNSHINE AT THE LITTLE WREN HOUSE.

HELLO, I DON'T WANT TO BORE YOU WITH YET MORE PICS OF MY WORKROOM BUT I'M AFRAID I MUST,LOL. THE SUN SHONE GLORIOUSLY EARLY THIS MORNING WHEN ME AND POPS VENTURED IN TO THE LITTLE WREN HOUSE, IT SMELLS OF WOOD AND PAINT, NEWNESS, I'M SO EXCITED NOW.

I THINK THESE SPANISH TILES ARE LOVELY, I BOUGHT THEM ONE A WEEK YEARS AGO, WISH I'D BOUGHT MORE.....

THE POND HAS BEEN CLEANED OUT, WE HAVE TWELVE NEWTS PLUS THEIR BABIES AND A LOVELY FROG, HE STANDS WITH HIS BACK LEGS ON THE BOTTOM WITH HIS FRONT LEGS OUTSTRETCHED GAZING UPWARDS, LIKE SOME KIND OF SUN WORSHIPPER, I'VE NEVER SEEN ANYTHING LIKE IT.

AGAIN, IKEA COME TO THE RESCUE WITH THESE SHELF UNITS, CAN'T WAIT TO FILL THEM WITH ALL MY BITS AND PIECES.

MY GIRLS. I THINK THIS IS THE FIRST PIC I'VE MANAGED TO GET OF MILDRED SINCE SHE WAS A KITTEN, SHE'S TWO END OF THE MONTH! LIKE HER BROTHER, SHE IS A BEEEAAAUUUUUUTIFUL CAT. I HAVE WORKED VERY HARD TO KEEP HER, KEEPING HER IN FOR SIX WEEKS AND GIVING HER LOTS OF LOVE, CROSS FINGERS, I THINK IT HAS WORKED. I HAVE TO CONSTANTLY CHECK THAT THE NEIGHBOURS ARE NOT TAKING HER IN AND FEEDING HER.

SHE IS SO WORTH IT.

I WILL TRY AND POST ABOUT SOMETHING OTHER THAN MY WORKROOM NEXT TIME. THE WHEATHER HAS BEEN GLORIOUS, LOOKS LIKE IT'S GOING TO TURN TO RAIN TOMORROW, THE GARDEN NEEDS IT SO THATS OK..... BYE FOR NOW X

AND FOR SOME MORE .........

As promised, here I am again with yet some more pics. The first ones are of studio progress, and as you can see, it's amazing what you can do with a bit of determination and hard graft, thank you so much my love, your a hero x

Don't you just love IKEA? i'm not so keen on the furniture, but their lighting is ace and soooo cheap, they do great jammy dodgers too! a must for us on every visit.

I love my sink, how sad is that? called Charlotte, I have a habit of HUMANISING objects I like or love, I wouldn't tell my brother, he's a psychiatrist, he would have an absolute field day!

The GANG. A dummy run( RRR!) For the textile festival market which I attended on Saturday and Sunday.

Little Nell and her little hen.

Maybelle.

The venue for the textile sale.The setting was in this lovely old house which was once part of the mansion belonging to the mill owner. I really enjoyed the two days here, made some sales, met some lovely people and learned a lot, fabulous!

Miss B.T

This is me, a month ago, I had surgery to remove a freckle that appeared about ten years ago. I had the photo taken because I was very pleased with the plastic surgeons hand work. ALAS, my biopsy results were not what we expected, my freckle was what you would call a wolf in sheeps clothing........ I have to have the surgery again next week, such is life, things could be a damn sight worse, it was a dissapointment to think I'd been living with a melanoma for all these years, I have an angel watching over me, THANK YOU MY ANGEL X

IT'S BEEN SUCH A LONG TIME....... BUT NOW I'M BACK!

HELLO, IS THERE ANYBODY OUT THERE? i SHOULD THINK NOT! AFTER THE PERIOD OF TIME THAT i HAVE BEEN ABSENT FROM BLOG LAND. lIFE HAS BEEN A TAD ON THE MAD SIDE i MUST SAY, IT IS HARD TO KNOW WHAT TO WRITE, HOW TO BEGIN, SO I WILL START VERY SIMPLY BY SHOWING A LITTLE OF WHAT HAS BEEN GOING ON AROUND HERE. I WILL TRY TO BLOG EACH DAY THIS WEEK IN THE HOPE OF CATCHING UP WITH NEWS AND EVENTS, IT WILL DO ME GOOD.

some before pics of the wren house.

As you can see it's a bit of a mess, but the pics that follow the progress of andy's hard work will show what can be achieved when you have a major deadline.

FRIEDA AND THE BIRDS.

maria von katz.

MY SWEET WREN HOUSE.I AM GOING TO LEAVE IT AT THAT FOR NOW, BREAK MYSELF IN GENTLY, HA HA XXXX