Busy weekend

Hello, Hope you're all had a lovely weekend & have eased yourself gently back into yet another week. Just a short post today as it seems very quite in blogland & hey I don't want to be talking to myself!!
I had a great weekend even though I had to work yesterday. I went out for my friends birthday last night, a very small group of her family went to a local pub for a quiz........now trust me we're not the brightest group but there was 8 of us, ........ imagine our surprise when we WON!!!! It was £1 each to enter & we won £25!!! So Claire kept the money to treat herself to yet another present.

Above you can see my crocheted granny square lavender bags. I've just received a large order for these so I'm working flat out to complete it before the fair on the 4th & the 13th....... I've just updated my web site.

I've also been selling these crocheted lavender hearts........... they can be used as tree decorations, on your coat hangers or even on your bed frame as I have done to help me sleep. I've not been sleeping well for the last few weeks....my mind is flat out at the moment so I've been going to bed about 11ish then up again by 5 to do somethings before work. Please remind me to be better organised next Christmas!!

At last but not least............. Russian doll felt brooches......

A close up.............
You can find out more here.

Have a good week.

Crafty day ....Part 3..

Hope you're having a relaxing Saturday. I've been off today....thankfully.... it was much needed as I've worked 10 out of the last 11 days! I was up nice an early...5am!!!....... & started the housework so I could spend yet another day off being crafty.

First I thought I'd share my living room with you........... while it's tidy!!!

I love the door......it slides!!!.....OH & his friend tried to break it when they were doing up the house because they hated it but I think it's great. It's kind of orangey yellow coloured glass which I'm told is very unusual.
The storage cubes are a new buy, they used to live in Habitat with all my paperwork in so when I heard they were being skipped I had to give them a home. I plan to store all my fabric in here when I can find the time to sort it all out. The tiger on the sofa was a Christmas present from OH, I have more things like this that I'll save for another post.

The lighting in my kitchen is so bad & I hate sitting out there so I brought the table in to the living room......



It takes up quite a lot of space...........something I don't have............ but I'm going to go with it until the fairs are over. At least it's more cosy in here & I can still watch TV!!! Today I've been making card holders, Christmas cards, wheat packs & more brooches.......... I hope to take photo's for my web site on Monday so I'll try & show you.
It was hard work with the machine again.............. I sorted the cotton snapping problem & was going great guns until............ my cotton ran out, then the bobbin went & I had problems yet again with putting in the new one..............then the bulb went!!!!
I think it's trying to tell me something but I'm a stubborn old girl & I'll keep going :)

I've saved this terrible photo until last........

I washed my hall & stair carpet today................... I don't have very much carpet in the house, OH is allergic to cats & wooden floor don't get so furry! I choose a light colour carpet as there's not much natural light & for the last 3 years I've cleaned it nearly every month.............Yes that's right this filth is only one months worth!!! Every time I do it it shocks me so I just had to share.
Remember it's just me & OH here, he's away lots & I'm working all the time so how can my carpet get this dirty???? We don't have a visitors so I can only guess it must be those damn pussy cats not wiping their feet!
My last house was rented & I never washed the carpets once...........my goodness how bad must they have been? So how often do you wash yours???

Back to work tomorrow & out in the evening for my friends birthday....... we had a terrible time last year.....remember??...........I'm hoping this year will be better.

Deertastic!

Just a quick post today as I should be making things for the fair but I just had to show you my new goodies! Look at my lovely post card..... think that will be going on my notice board & also a pen...... how did you know I have a pen thing?? This may become may diary pen..... do you have one of those??? I get really funny about things like that...... I will always write in my work diary in the same pen & hate it when it runs out half way through the year. Did you guess I'm a Virgo?!
So here are my goodies.................
What do you think????? Ohhhhh how I love little deers........ Thank you Jayne...... just the ones I wanted. Look they're on the post card! Now I have to find a home for all my goodies before OH works out just how much I've spent on plastic deers.....hehehehe!! I will take another photo when they're all together in their new home.

And now yet another photo.......

Bet you're all loving my new camera??? My lovely white cat who's nearly 20. I don't show her off that often as she looks so old in photo's it makes me sad :( think this one is a good one. ooohhh can you see my spotty nightie???

I have an email invite for 20% off at Habitat next week, want one??? I've sent it to a few people already but if you want me please let me know, you can use it in any habitat.

Back soon................

New toys & kind friends...........

Hello everyone, I'm tempting you with this yummy apple crumble..... I made this a few days ago & wanted to share it because it's the first time I used my spotty dish. I wish I had another one today............ I could just eat that now.

In my last post I told you all about a bargain I had found...........
Well to be honest I didn't hang about to read many of your comments because I had to work & just before I left I decided I wanted it................so I got it!!!
It was only £69.99 reduced from £199 so it was a real bargain! Regular readers will know I don't do technology........OH took his old camera back & took the lovely picture of Nanny in my new header picture. I think he wanted to prove that you could take close ups with it if you knew how to use it! Today has been the first time I've had chance to play & it's great!! I like the fact it tells you what to do on the screen...... an idiot could use it so there's hope for me!!

Here's Nanny yet again...........


I seen black & white photo's on other blogs & been very impressed.............hey now I can do it & it's so easy!!! I'm chuffed to bits :)

Now onto some serious stuff.............last year I brought this little fella from Michelle........

I fell in love with him & just like all my deers he stays out all year. I've been telling you all week about my goodies that I order this year so here they are...............


Fantastic!!!!....... I was so happy when I opened the box........... We used to have a Santa just like this & every year it was my job to find him in the box of decorations. I could never understand why he had to go away in January. I asked my mum only a few weeks ago where ours went & then I spotted this on Michele's blog............ but will he go away in January???
My deer collection is growing quickly & I've just placed an order with Jayne :)

Couldn't resist these cards, so much better then the tacky ones in the shops.

Yesterday I had a visit from Sal, I'm sure you'll remember how fed up I was about working on the day of the Vintage & Handmade fair............ I did moan just a little bit!!!
Sal had a lovely gift for me to make up for not going.........


Thank you so much Sal, you said it wasn't much!............I couldn't believe how much you gave me. It's all great....fabric, lavender bag, heart, cards & more!
Now I feel like I went to the fair :)

The last few photo's have been taken with the new camera........... if you can see a difference please let me know............ if you can't see a difference please keep quiet!!!!!

I'll be back with more deers soon. In the meantime if you would like to donate money to the poor people who have lost everything in floods you can do it here...... I worked out if I didn't treat myself to coffee & the odd cake this week I could give. My heart goes out to them, I only wish I could do more.

Have a good week :)

What do you think??

Morning, Shall I buy it????
It's a real bargain & I do love the colour but I'm not very good at updating things, I feel it's a waste of money when I already have a camera. Well it's OH's & it's only 5.0 mega pixel, all my photo's are dark & blurred but I think that's me not the camera!!

After getting in late last night I found this waiting for me.
Yes it's my goodies from Michele....fast worker isn't she??
I'm going to tease you now & show you later what's inside........maybe I'll take some photo's using my new camera! Let's just say I love it all & I'm very happy with my purchase.


Yesterday I went to Bristol for selling training.....how many times???? It was very scaring because it was really hard sell......like mobile phone shops!!...........not sure I can do that. It was fun though but a bit 'blue sky thinking'.
It finished 15 mins early so I made a dash to hear.....

Terrible photo but it was taken early this morning . This is all I got.....£1.60 worth of stickers.....omg......it's unheard of!!! I had yet another bonus last month so was going to treat myself but after a long walk there was nothing I wanted........NOTHING I WANTED.....what's going on!!!
I went to buy the new iphone case hoping it would fit my Nokia but it didn't :(
There were 3 members of staff in store & just me....... they didn't say hello & were all stood behind the till chatting about chapped lips!!! I felt very uncomfortable & just wanted to leave....... take note Cath ..... you need to train your staff on customer service!

On the train home I had an idea...........

I'm going to make lavender bags to go with the Union Jacks..................
Do you like????

I need to press this & finish it with a spotty ribbon.
Also I'm not sure if I'm allowed to do this but who'll know?
Let me know what you think..............now be honest!

Crafty day

Hello everyone, hope you all had a good weekend & enjoyed the beautiful weather we're having at the moment :(
On Friday, after working a 10 hour day (!), I fought my way through the gale force wind & rain to here....

(Yes this was taken on a different day!)

It was due to start at 8pm & we were thinking surely no one in their right mind would head out in this weather...... how wrong can you be!!
They were queuing up to get in & when the doors opened they all flooded in.

It was a slow start for me & at one point I felt like giving up, then they all came back!
The Christmas decorations were a hit & sold out very quickly, at one point I had 2 ladies fighting over them.
I didn't have time to take any pictures before the rush but here's one I took just before the end.....

I tried to keep my prices low but it's so hard when I know how long everything takes to make..... knitting is very different to sewing, it takes me 5 mins to run up a lavender bag in fabric but over an hour to knit one side, then you have to back it etc so I think £6 is a bargain!

I shared the table with my friend who does wall decals.....

Very popular, love the fairy.

So that was my 2nd fair & it was fantastic :) I loved it.... it was such a buzz selling my own things & I'm finally in profit :)
I've been asked to do my 3rd on Friday 4th November so it's all go (it's the first one that I'm doing alone)......I must be mad taking on 4 craft fairs in one month & leading up to Christmas. I work in retail so my hours have gone up as well! I'm hoping if I work really hard now I'll be asked back to these in the summer when I have more time on my hands....also loads of people were asking about ordering online so things are looking up. You never know I might make my millions & be able to hand in my notice soon :)

In my last post I show a photo of my basket that I took to the tea dance. After I wrote the post I went back to the kitchen to find this.....

Silly Nanny.

He didn't like it when OH picked him up.

Last year I showed you this Christmas cacti I brought......

I said I didn't know how to care for it so I didn't think it would last long but look at it now....

I'm so pleased with it, it's grown so much.

I thought I'd show you this photo of the lovely planters I brought from Habitat to go in my plant stand. Also my plate that I brought today....

I've been looking on the web for Spode baking days but haven't got round to buying any, today I went in to Panters...(do you have Panters?) & it was really cheap! This plate on the web is £10...mine for £6.20...bargain! I'll be having my dinner on that tonight.
This wasn't the only thing I brought today...... as you know I was suppose to go to the CL fair on Thursday & the Vintage & Handmade fair on Saturday, both of which I had to cancel due to work......so I treated myself to some goodies from Michele, can't wait for them to arrive so I too can share my V&H goodies.

Have a good week

Lots going on.........

Lots to tell you about today so brace yourselves!!!

First up ....where did I go yesterday to celebrate Armistice day???

I headed off to Ottery St Mary where the local garden centre was holding a war time tea dance!!
For every 10 people dress in 1940's clothing the owners would donate a further £50 to the British Legion.
Now I'm not a great lover of fancy dress but I wanted to make an effort!

I made the ribbon corsage & simply dressed up my work outfit (all black) with red accessories. A lovely red beret, red button earring's & some red lippy! Teamed with my shopping basket I think I looked the part, I was getting some funny looks on the train!

I dragged my mum along (no chance with dad!) but when we arrived there was hardly anyone dressed up! It was full of really old people.....there's a pattern forming here with my days out!..... they were all dancing but it wasn't very war time. I was starting to feel a bit silly now!

We set off for a bit of retail therapy to cheer us up, mum works there so can get discount & I've just found they sell Yankee candles.....Silver bells is my favourite!

When we arrived back at the dance it was tea time........

Homemade biscuits...........yum! Then the music started again.....

No money wasted on decorations here! I was very disappointed by the lack of bunting!

This was the total number of people who had dressed up..... I was in the back so didn't put myself forward & no one asked me....maybe they thought it was my normal outfit!
These people looked fantastic but you could only see the back of them because they were facing the judges. I turned out to be a very enjoyable evening & it was nice to spend time with mum.
At the end of the evening they announced they had raised nearly £600 for the British Legion! The tickets were only £3.50 including the tea which I think is really good, unfortunately there were a few people sat in the normal restaurant watching that hadn't paid at all!

Next up are some gifts......

CK Christmas tea towel is a treat to myself! Does anyone know if you can still buy poster hangers? It's too nice to use. The Keep Calm mug was a belated birthday gift & the CK mug was a gift from Erica for teaching her how to knit.....I really haven't done very much as she's a natural.

Did anyone else see the White Stuff campaign to adopt a Gnome for charity?

I love Gnomes so couldn't resist this one. He sat in the shop window for weeks with my name on, I had quite a few texts & email asking if I really had adopted a Gnome! I went to collect him on Tuesday but it's far to wet for him outside, I think he looks quite at home next to the LA sign.

This week I've been trying to make badges & hair slides to replace the ones I sold on Saturday.
Looking forward to the fair tomorrow but wish I had made more stuff now!

Hope you all have a good week, for those of you lucky enough to be going to CL & Vintage handmade fair......have fun!
I'm working in Bristol next week so I think a visit to my favourite shop might be on the cards!

On the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month the guns fell silent.

This will be our first armistice day without the WW1 veterans, who would've have thought all 3 would go in one year? It doesn't seem a year ago when we watched them lay their wreathes for the last time.
With the pasting of these hero's it now up to us all not to forget the horror they saw.

I'm working today (the first time in about 6 years) but I'm hoping I can pop out at 11am. Although I had booked today off I had to change it due to a head office visit. I don't like working because you always get a customer ask you something at 11am & it makes me mad!!!
It's also the first time I'll be celebrating today, come back tomorrow to see what I did... .......
I'm excited!

Remembrance day & craft fair

'They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old

Age shall not weary them nor the years condemn.

At the going down of the sun, and in the morning

We will remember them'

Hello, sorry to repeat last years post but I don't think anything more can be said.
I stayed at home today to watch the TV service, this was the first time in years that I hadn't made the effort to go out. I was thinking about the time I made the journey to the cenotaph, it was about 6 years ago. I'm so pleased I did it but not sure I could face it again, I still remember how cold I was & how my legs didn't work after it had finished.
Listen to me moaning when people died in freezing trenches!

So on a lighter note yesterday saw me & Penny heading off to Whipton Community Hall in Exeter to attend our first craft fair.
Come on in......

It was a very cold grey afternoon ................ just look at those lovely heads on the windows....

I arrived first to find a very tiny hall full of tables, our was the 2nd one just inside the door. They were so tight together I couldn't even get my stuff set up!!!

Here's our table all set up.
What do you think?

It didn't look as good as I hoped, I had a picture in my mind that just didn't work out on the day. The table was so small we had trouble fittings both our things on.
It was only £5 a table so maybe we should've gone for one each.
Did you spot my lovely new bag?
I ordered it from The Mail On Sunday back in June but it only arrived this week.....
I love it, it stands out in the crowd!

Before pricing anything we went for a wander to see what was on offer, well Vintage & Handmade fair it was not!!! In fact it was rubbish! One lady had a whole table full of knitted toys that were really bad, she was charging £1 for them. I felt really sorry for her because she told me she knitted all the time just for this fair..... not sure if she sold anything because her table looked just as full at the end.

What do you think of Penny's dresses??

Beautiful aren't they, all made from recycled fabrics.

I made my first sale at 2.05!!!! I was so chuffed!
Here's a close up of the table looking slightly messy from people 'looking'.

Christmas decorations, lavender bags, corsages, shoes & slippers.

So was it worth it?
No!!
It was full of old folks coming for a chat & a cup of tea. One lady even told Penny her patchwork double size quilt was so expensive.....she put £225 on it because it took her years to finish it.
It just wasn't our target market but I did sell lots of little things that added up so I did make a profit on the day..... I suppose you can't ask for more. Unfortunately Penny didn't sell one thing even through she had made some beautiful things.

I have another one on Friday 13th (oh dear!), I think this will be better because The Body Shop at home will be there plus a locally owned shop that it quite high price but sells more things in keeping with my stuff. Hope it will be worth it.
So angry I gave up my Saturday off & now I can't come to the Vintage & Handmade :(