First one..............

Hello everybody, and thank you for your visit and comments on my last few posts! 

I'm not sure quite where the last week has gone, but I was busy out and about with friends which always seems to make the time fly, as well as the usual chores, a bit of sewing and a bit of reading.

On the creative front, I am chuffed to have made my first Etsy sale! Someone has purchased one of my hand-embroidered hearts made from vintage wool.

This came as a huge surprise as I had only stocked my shop for the first time before Christmas with Christmas stock, and had just been thinking that as I had missed the opportunity to have a January sale I may as well remove the mostly Christmas themed items.

But I had completely forgotten the potential for Valentine's Day gifts!  Many of my listed products are hearts,  made from vintage mangle cloth, linen and wool, and not all are purely festive, and so I should have jumped on the bandwagon a little earlier and listed some other items that would fit the bill as a gift on Valentine's Day. 

I shall try and list some of these lavender stacks in my Etsy Shop in the next few days, as they would make a sweet scented gift, and not just for Valentine's Day. 

Should anyone be interested in purchasing one before then, please email me for details.

In the evenings I have been enjoying these enchanting novels by Sarah Jio. 

I'm not good at book reviews, but to give you some idea they are mainly set in the Seattle area, and are written in a way that makes it hard for you to put down. One is set on an island ( The Violets of March), one in a waterfront floating community - think Sleepless in Seattle! (Morning Glory), and one in a beautiful old English manor house (The Last Camellia). They are beautifully descriptive, and so the settings in which they take place become easily imaginable in your minds eye as you read - you can envisage being there. These all  have a flower link running throughout, as suggested by the titles, but are foremost stories with a mystery to unravel from another generation, of life and love, of chance, sadness, dreams and missed opportunities, of tragedy and of lives interwoven across several generations. 

Each one I found hard to put down.

Each one I was sad to finish.

When I've had the chance I have been plodding on with my reverse applique cushion.

Having found the reverse applique fiddly and time consuming, I am now enjoying making it!  

I have added stitching around the leaf shapes in dark yellow, orange and red thread, and am in the process of embroidering little white French Knots.

Just embroidering what is in my minds eye rather than having a design on paper.

Logan lies behind me whilst I sew, as this is not only the best place for watching the world go by, but it also provides the best light for stitching by, especially on the greyer days.

To cheer up the grey days, more pretty primulas have somehow found their way inside the house, this time into the bathroom.

And whilst I ponder on what design of blanket to make with the yarn shown in my last post, I am reminded several times a day when I pass the little crochet corner on the landing, of the unfinished bright granny squares blanket waiting in my basket.

But it's not all unfinished works around here! 

When on my last crochet roll, I did manage to make and finish a little denim blue beanie hat just before Christmas. Using a pattern from one of the Nicki Trench crochet books, probably the Cute and Easy Crochet one, it turned out well and fits beautifully. 

Wishing you all a happy and creative week!

Little by little..............

Thank you all for your lovely comments in my last post, I hope you all had a good weekend.

Ours was quite a relaxed affair. After a busy weekend last weekend, when we visited Chartwell in Kent to see an exhibition of photographs from the finalists of the International Garden Photographer of the Year, in association with The Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew, (well worth a visit if you live nearby as some amazing photographs from all over the world ) as well as shopping trips and lots of dog walks, we decided to chill out this weekend.

We got up late both mornings.............

...........went for lots of long walks ( Bella and I reckoned we clocked up about 9 miles!).......

.....lazed around doing lots of reading afterwards to recover (currently reading a biography of Diana Mosely by Anne de Courcy)....... 

.........and enjoyed cooking and eating lots of home cooked food (Chicken fajitas with all the "trimmings" one night, salmon with coriander pesto on a bed of spinach with sweet potato chips the next ) . 

We had green smoothies for breakfast each morning, made from spinach, frozen tropical fruits (mango and kiwi) and banana, all whizzed up with ice-cubes and some water in a blender - tastes a lot nicer than it sounds, and you can't taste the spinach at all....honest!  And you feel so healthy and smug afterwards so you feel no guilt whatsoever when you indulge in wholewheat pancakes with nutella and bananas to follow, he he!!!! 

Yum!!!

Logan in the "recovery" position........

but only after a shower in the bath to wash off the mud, followed by a drying session in front of the fan heater....only then is he allowed on the sofa!

.......not another 3 miler...........

Yay, I have finished the reverse applique stage of the latest cushion, phew! 

Got there little by little, aided by some beautiful soothing lute music by John Dowland. Now for the fun bit, to play around adding a few finishing touches and see what happens!

Whilst out and about on Friday, I picked up some pretty primulas at the local garden centre for £1 each.......pots (above) and tray painted in Annie Sloan "Duck Egg"

..........and I supported the local department store by buying a few balls of yarn for my next crochet project, which I am still deciding on. 

I kind of know what I want to make in my minds eye - a simple throw from blocks, joining as I go,  just in these three colours - but I have yet to find a shape and pattern that is just right, so I will be looking for ideas on blogs, Pinterest and in books. Worse case scenario, I will pick a block from one of my crochet books and go from there.

The yarn is just sitting there waiting.............

........meanwhile the tulips are just starting to open up........

......and there is lots of cheerful colour in the sitting room now, thanks to the flowers and flowering plants, for the many dull and wet days that we are still having - although today was an exception with plenty of sunshine and blue skies.

Hope you have had some sunshine too!

Cheerful Tulips and a Bit of Progress

I just couldn't resist these tulips in the supermarket this morning. Aren't they glorious?!!!!

It was pouring with rain when I went in, and the first thing that caught my eye were these beauties, and before I knew it my greedy little hands had whisked a bunch into my trolley.

They weren't cheap, but what the .............it was raining! I wanted them!

They are making me happy when the rain is lashing against the window, and I don't regret my extravagance one bit.

So there. Sniff. 

(Just practising my defiant attitude for when the breadwinner comes home and says have you bought more flowers? Why do you need more flowers?......)

I'm making good progress with the reverse applique, but I have to be perfectly honest with you and confess that I am not really enjoying it.

It is turning into a bit of a chore, but I am determined to finish it!

I will not be defeated by it, I set out to do it and so I shall, but both my shoulder and my hands are suffering from the fiddliness of the work.

So I have had to stop for today as my hand is too cramped, and so I thought I would share the progress I've made in the last couple of days, as I am well aware that the early stages, shown in my last post, did not look too promising, or very exciting, and I can easily forgive you for thinking "what on earth is that all about"!

But I am now 3/4 of the way there with the reverse applique stage. I've started so I'll finish.

Where I take it after that I am not quite sure yet.

The boldness of the design makes me think of traditional appliqued quilts, so I may run with that theme and add some quilting.

I do hope it's going to be worth the effort and not turn into one of those half-finished, disappointing projects that gets tossed aside in disgust.........we shall see.....time will tell........

The poinsettia is STILL thriving. I am still in shock that it has lasted this long, as they are usually half dead by Christmas Day in my house.

And still loving the pale lemony colour. 

A new Greengate tea towel arrived all the way from Ireland yesterday, courtesy of the efficient Al at All Tea Towels. I find it quite hard to resist these lovely designs!

I have being buying the odd Greengate tea towel from Al for the last couple of years as they are always well priced and arrive the next day with free postage to the UK

One of my Christmas presents was this inspiring Annie Sloan book, so I'm sure it won't be long before I tackle another painted furniture project as I'm really looking forward to trying out a few ideas from it.

I am currently on the look out for a small double-door cupboard to paint for the upstairs bathroom, in which to store toiletries etc, but after that there is really no more room for any other furniture in the house unless I get rid of something we already have!

AAAhhhh, what will I do then????  Re-paint what I have?

Thanks for all your lovely comments on my last few posts, it's good to be back blogging after the holidays!

Here's hoping for some sunshine soon, wherever you are.........................