Monday 13 January 2014

First of the Year..............


Well, another Christmas and New Year has been and gone.......Happy New Year everyone!

And you can tell that, unlike some organised and energised folk, I had no New Year Resolution of blogging daily, or posting on a certain day every week.......nope, that's never going to happen!

In fact it is almost a month since I last posted.....just been too busy living in the moment to find any time for taking photos or even thinking about posting, so apologies for my lack of posts!




I always take a few quick photos around the house at Christmas so I do have something to share.








I hope you all had good Christmases, hopefully without flooding or storm damage or power cuts......

We felt ourselves extremely lucky on Christmas Day, having heard that many people in the next village were without power......

And in a nearby town on Christmas Eve, people evacuated their homes as the river rose and flooded their houses. Terrible enough at any time of year, but awful at Christmas, and sadly worse followed when these same homes were looted. 

What kind of senseless, wicked people can do that?

Anyway, as those poor folks gladly put a bad Christmas behind them, I too am happy to look forward to another New Year, having been fortunate to have enjoyed a good Christmas with extended family descending on us on The Day, and having achieved making a record (for me) 5 dozen mince pies this year! (And I don't even eat them!)



Amazingly enough, the poinsettia is still alive and doing fairly well....just a little leaf drop.


I am loving the colour of this one, such a very pale lemony colour which is somehow so fresh and uplifting.


(You can just see here another pair of fingerless gloves that I made before Christmas whilst on a crochet roll, turquoise with the same sort of very pale lemon edging - I think now that's probably what made me choose this colour trim to go with the turquoise! )

A few days before Christmas I popped in to the Antique and Flea market and came away with a basket full of goodies for around £15, including the basket!


I found some large scraps of green and cream heavy woven gingham, perfect for re-covering the Victorian chair I bought last year at the Antiques Fair.


lots of lace trims and crochet doileys.......


a huge bag of vintage trims, braids and gimps in all colours


£2 the lot!


.......and numerous other bits of lace, linens and bits and pieces that I still have to sort through and wash, as they were just put aside amidst all the Christmas preparations.

I'm finding it hard to get settled into a routine now that everyone is back at work and Uni here, and still haven't focused on what to tackle first in the long list of "things to do". 

Lots of painting and decorating to do....finish stairs and landing, finish sitting room... too many WIPS!

The back garden to plan....new terrace and new vegetable beds needed as the raised beds have fallen apart....found some garden design software in the sale, so am looking forward to using that as an aid...

New cooker needed which will mean a minor re-jig to accomodate a larger range cooker - having been used to cooking on a dual fuel range cooker for 12 years at our last house, when we moved here 3 years ago we inheirited a small 50cm single oven cooker, and believe me it is a real challenge, and not much fun, trying to cook a huge turkey with all the trimmings every year for 11 or 12 people on that!

New shower needed......need to source flooring....

etc etc etc.....

I haven't yet shaken off the in-between Christmas and the New Year feeling of limbo, and am just too bogged down with routine chores and tidying up after the holidays to start any of the above yet.

And I have temporarily lost my creative mojo I think, it having been put on hold over Christmas, so I need some inspiration and a kick up the posterior to get me motivated and back on track with whatever I was doing last year.



Have you got back on track?

19 comments:

  1. Happy new year Gill, so glad you had a lovely Christmas!
    I'm spring cleaning at the moment, I don't want to do it but I'm making myself do it, I'll feel good when it's done!!!
    Sometimes we can bog ourselves down with our to-do lists, they get so long that we don't know where to start. Just take it slowly a little bit at a time!
    V xxx

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  2. Happy New Year! You certainly got a bag of bargains with all that fabric and trim!
    Liz @ Shortbread & Ginger

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  3. Wow, such lovely finds for low prices! That's a good start of the year! By the way: happy newyear!!
    Margriet xx

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  4. Happy New Year to you and your loved ones Gill! What a lucky find you had a the flea market. Looking forward to see what you will use it for.

    Happy week!

    Madelief x

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  5. Lovely to see you back Gilly and to catch up on all that you have been doing! Looking forward to seeing more from you during the year. xx

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  6. A Happy and inspiring New Year Gill! I love the festive photos of your home! I'm keen of flea markets, your treasures are great and multi-use! Glad to hear you had a wonderful holiday.
    Until next post, a warm hug from me
    Olympia

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  7. A happy new year to you Gill! Getting back to the swing of things will take time, but you'll get there. What terrific treasures you found Gill :0)

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  8. Happy 2014 Gillian and nice to see you here! Your post was so refreshing, love the photos of course and the nifty finds at the markets/shoppes, lucky you!
    I hate to say Goodbye to Christmas and put the ornaments away! With the colder weather I find myself looking forward to Spring already!
    Hugs,

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  9. Welcome back and a Happy New Year, glad you had a lovely Christmas. I find it always takes me awhile to get back to normal after the Christmas break. I sometimes find browsing through Blogland and Pintrest sometimes gives inspiration, you just need to find the WOW item, that makes you think " I need one like that" and away you go. Happy hunting.
    Sally xxx

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  10. lovely to hear from you hope you hat a lovely christmas youre house looks great at christmas how is it now in the uk with the water and de floods and storms it was on the tv news in the netherlands broken cliffs jumping in the sea water in a lot of homes hope that you are oke have a nice 2014
    and love de new look off your blog have a lovely week leon10

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  11. Happy New Year Gill. Love that poinsettia, I must find one!
    I have quite a few diy jobs to do this year, mainly involving paint.
    We also have things to spend money on like a new boiler and patio, which means I shall be sewing from my stash or finding bargainous great things like you did.
    I'm sure you will get your head around things soon x

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  12. Happy new year, and what a busy one it will be too by the look of all the things you plan to be doing around the house and the garden.
    Your tree in the hall looked lovely but you seem to have filled the house with more lovely buys since then, just these are the material kind!
    Lisa x

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  13. I love the look of the baubles in the deep dish, it looks really great. What a wonderful basket of goodies! I look forward to seeing what you create with them, I'm sure your mojo will be back in no time :)
    Best wishes.

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  14. Happy New Year, Gill! So glad you and your family had a lovely Christmas, and so nice to see your festive photos. You are very good at finding wonderful flea market treasures! Wishing you a wonderful creative time in 2014...looking forward to seeing the inspiring things you get up to!
    Helen xx

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  15. Your Christmas looked lovely...it is amazing how fast is has gone and me are mid into January. I have wanted to post more too but life is just too busy! Happy New Year to you...I know your creations will be so lovely. xo

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  16. Happy new year Gill - thanks for sharing all your lovely pics. January is flying by here, and I'm not quite caught up with myself yet either.
    Happy Thursday!
    xx

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  17. Happy New Year to you Gill!! Thank you so much for linking in with me- I do love to have new, lovely blogs to pop by to!! Looks like you had a great Christmas and your bargains at the fair are just divine! Hazel x

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  18. Hi Gill, I'm very impressed that your poinsettia is still in such good condition, wish I could say the same for mine! What a brilliant haul from the antiques fair - love that green and cream woven gingham. I'm sure your creative mojo will return soon - I can't imagine you not stitching/crocheting/painting something for too long! See you soon.
    Jane xx

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  19. Hi Gill - well, yes, I am just about getting back on track this week, but I know what you mean about the 'limbo'! Your posts are so detailed and you put up so many gorgeous pictures, you could not possibly post every day! But they are worth waiting for when you do, so don't worry about that! Good luck with that long 'to do' list!! and Happy New Year! xCathy

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Thanks for visiting and for taking the time to leave a comment - I love to read them!
Gill x