The one where she fills up her bookshelves...

It's taken me a little bit longer to write this post than I'd planned. Partly it's because I haven't been feeling well, but mostly it's because... well... I forgot! It's going to take a little while to get back into the swing of things as far as blogging is concerned, but I'll keep at it.

The last 2 week have mostly been about books. Both reading and buying. I get most of my books second hand. There are 2 reasons for this:

1. The cover prices are ridiculous. I rarely buy a book at full price and even more rare is the time when I'll buy a hardback. Supermarkets are a real blessing with their cut price books... but better still are charity shops. Which leads nicely to...

2. Pre-owned books. There's something a bit sad about a book no one wants anymore. I guess I have a bit of a "puppy syndrome" with books - I want to take them all home! When the pages have been softened, and the spine cracked - oh, yes please!

So this is what I've added to my collection over the last 2 weekends:

Some are new (3 of them - thank you very much to Darlington's book clearance shop!), but most are second hand. One charity shop was offering 5 books (Yes! Really! 5! F-I-V-E!!) for £1 - quite refreshing since most charity shops want you to pay an arm and a leg (relatively speaking, of course!). I think I'd rather pay the extra 50p or so and get Amazon to deliver!

I've been doing a little bit of crochet, but not much. Somehow the mood hasn't been right for it.

Anyway, a few weeks ago, J and my dad moved some paving slabs from the front garden. The previous occupants of this house had decided to make a driveway... well, with a 12 inch drop from the street to the "driveway" it was never going to happen!
I had plans for those paving slabs. Big plans... Want to see? You do? Ok then!

Ta da! My little patio. It's perfect on a hot afternoon (yes, we did actually have one or two - if you blinked, you probably missed them!), with a cup of tea and a good book. It's also surprisingly peaceful for a built up area - lots and lots of bird song with the occasional siren or lawn mower thrown in for good measure!

We bought a few plants to spruce up the front and back gardens a bit today. Lots of violas - which I love, and they seem to love the soil here... and this:

I can't remember what it's called now, and the tag fell off somewhere between the garden centre and the car! It reminds me of forsythia - though it most definitely isn't forsythia. I can't wait for it to grow a bit and develop its own personality now it's free if the pot it came in.

I'm not sure if this next photo will be good enough for you to see the hydrangea...

It's pretty small right now. Can you see it? It's tucked in on the right hand side...

I always hated hydrangeas... until we went to France. Wherever we went, every house seemed to have at least one hydrangea - often the gardens were full of them (is it some strange law in France??).
By the end of our week, both me and J agreed - hydrangeas are beautiful... especially the blue ones!

So we got this one today (yes, blue!) to remind us of France... Hard to believe that August (and a return to France) is so close now!

Ok, I think I've rambled on enough for now... I'll leave you with Mr T and Miss E having a snuggle.

Enjoy your week!

It's been a long, long time...

... Since I posted. I'm feeling guilty because I don't have one particular reason why I fell out of the "Blogosphere".

To start with, I think I spent a long time getting over the shock of losing my home, and learning to adapt to life surrounded by neighbours and all the accompanying noises - rather than having near silence all day and night, and the freedom to sit outside in my pyjamas if that's what I wanted to do!

I've also been suffering several crises of confidence. The first being the lack of views this blog has had. It took me until last night to realise that I haven't been tagging any of my posts... DUH!
After I've filled you in on events, I'm going to toddle off and correct that...

My lack of views/sales in my Etsy shop has caused me problems too.
I followed advice and worked hard on my photos, tags, titles and descriptions. My views rose and my sales started to look promising. Then a few months back, it all came crashing down. I'm lucky to get 10 views a day... and I think most of them come to me by accident!

At the weekend, I paid for a stall at a local village's annual Summer Fayre. I hadn't realised it's far more of a classic car show these days. I had lots of people looking, but few buyers. I did manage to recover the cost of the stall, and make a little extra on top, but it was no where near as good as I had hoped.

Saturday evening, I was dotting between strategies for increasing views and feeling like I should just stop right now.

Yesterday was spent feeling angry... mostly with myself.

So, I'm back. I have a new out-look and a new determination! I love what I do, the creativity of knitting and crocheting, and I'm not going to stop just because not many people are seeing my work.
I need to make changes, that much is clear, but I don't yet know what those changes need to be. I'll face them and tackle them as and when I work out what those changes need to be.

One of the things I can do right off is get back to communicating with the world at large. Even if I am just talking to myself right now!

I'm planning to write a blog post at least once a week. News of what I'm doing, what I'm planning... and photos!!

Talk to you soon.

xx

Parcels and purses

I don't have much to show for my efforts this week. It's not that I haven't done very much - I just don't have much to show!
I've been dotting around here and there working on various projects (blankets, a wrap, baby booties), and have only finished these beauties:

They measure a very sweet 4.25 inches (about 11cm) square, and have a twisted cord strap that measures about 62 inches (155cm).
I love these little bags (purses)! The one thing I hate about summer clothing is the lack of pockets, and that's basically what these are - a pocket on a string!

Sitting here thinking about what else I've done this week, I realise I really need to take more photos! Also, I need to learn to take my camera with me almost everywhere I go...

On Friday, I got home to find a parcel waiting for me... A gift from Marina, one of my very best friends!
Want to see what was inside the parcel? Sadly, I haven't managed to take a photo that does it justice yet... I promise a photo on my next post! Until then you will have to be content with a description!

It's the most gorgeous wrap I've ever seen! Knitted with moss stitch and cables in a soft grey. The wrap is so soft and warm, but light as a feather... It's perfect!

Well, I need to get going... The Christmas cards need writing out today to be hand delivered this evening and tomorrow... People will need to be fed at some point... And I really would like to squeeze in a few more hours of stitching!

What I'd really like for Christmas...

... Is a few more hours in the day. A working week that runs from Saturday to Sunday, with a weekend that lasts from Monday to Friday. Think Santa will fit that under my tree??

I've been very bad lately at letting you know what's been going on here. I'm planning on making a change with that and blogging a little more frequently!

The most "exciting" thing happened a few weeks ago. It rained and rained and rained. I found my way to work blocked - not just by water, but by the fire brigade trying to rescue people's homes:

You can just see J there on the left of the picture. He's going down the road to talk to the "Incident Commander" about a row of 6 houses that are about to be flooded. There was a poor old guy, at least 70 years old, walking backwards and forwards with a wheelbarrow, desperate for someone to bring him some sandbags. We did what we could, then went home to dry off and contact K's school to find out what the travel arrangements would be for getting the kids home.

My major achievement has been finally finishing the knitted blanket I started about 5 or 6 years ago. There are 90 individually knitted blocks. I finished those about 3 years ago, and they've been sitting waiting for some attention ever since!
This is was 60+ hours of sewing up will get you:

Not bad, huh?

I've been working on some things for my shop too.

I added a selection of crocheted brooches last week:

And decided to try my hand at making mug cosies (which caused great guffaws of laughter from my father!):

And today I added some baby booties:

I'm pleased with them, but not as pleased as I was with the booties I finished today. These are for a friend of mine at work. I'll be handing them over tomorrow - I hope she's pleased with them!

I also made a Christmassy penguin and snowman for a friend's daughter:

Then I started thinking "Well, they'll be packed away for most of the year", so I added an extra hat and scarf each!

I think they look cute!

Right then, time to dash and get some more things done - my "To Do" list is slowly getting smaller, so I want to keep going while I have the energy!!

I hope everything is going well for those of you who keep an eye on my blog? Do let me know how you are - I'd love it!

Until later, hugs to you!

An early Christmas gift to you from me :-)

Buy anything you like from my shop and receive 10% off your items!

Just enter the discount code MAK3M3SMIL3 when you get to the checkout!

Go ahead - make Miss E smile :-)

Let's talk about Sandy...

No, no - not Hurricane Sandy... Sandy from "thatSandygirl".

Wow, oh, wow! Have you looked at her shop yet? Have you??

And calm...!

I was lucky enough to be able to purchase several items from Sandy back in September. As well as absolutely first class customer service, the items are stunning. Want to see them? Ok!

A truly wonderful bookmark... I must admit, this hasn't seen a book yet... It's sitting on my desk in my pen pot and tends to come out to be played with when I'm in deep thought! There's something so relaxing about it!

The second item is another bookmark. Yes, I have used this one... in fact, it's in my book right now!

Stunning or what?

The third and final item isn't a bookmark. I was a little worried about buying a ring that had to be made to a specific size... Sandy did everything in her power to make sure I got the right size, and you know what? It's PERFECT!

These items are so much more gorgeous than the photos show. The photos are directly from Sandy's shop on Etsy, but I'm not critising her - mine don't show just how amazing they are either! You have to buy them yourself to get the full effect!

There are many more items from the incredibly talented Sandy that I have my eye on. Want to see some? I knew you would!

Here's another bookmark - ideal for a music lover:

How about a pair of earrings? Or two pairs? Or maybe even 3??

And now that I know my ring size (thanks so much, Sandy!), I wouldn't mind finding one of these beauties in my stocking on Christmas morning:

The final item I want to show you is something that brings back a lot of memories for me.

My nan always wore a copper bracelet. She was convinced that it helped with her arthritis. My nan was a very smart lady and she would have adored this bracelet the way I do. I'm sure this will be next on my list as soon as finances are sorted out from the move.

Please do go and check out Sandy's shop - you won't be disappointed!

It's been too long...

... but I am finally BACK! Not just to blogland, but to life in general - and of course, that means lots of crafting!

I've been busy (amongst other things) turning this:

Into this:

As you can see, we are starting to settle in. Mr T was at home straight away... It took the others a little longer.
Sadly, Miss P had to go to a new home. We miss her and her fresh eggs, but we weren't allowed to keep her here, and at least we know she will be ok and with other chickens once again.

Miss P would have loved our new "blank canvas" back yard:

I managed to pick myself up a bit of a bargain last week:

Can you believe it was only 99p in a charity shop? I saw it, and knew I had to have it (useful for hiding some of my yarn stash, don'tcha know?!?) - I was expecting it to cost a bit more, so I was really thrilled!

Ok, on to the crafting!
I've been working on a promise I made a while ago - a little snowman and penguin:

My pastel squares blanket (my first attempt at join-as-you-go, so be gentle in your comments! Mr T and Mr R thoroughly approve though!):

It's not all been about using up my stash... I bought this:

To be turned into a blanket made out of squares like this:

Pretty, huh? I don't think the lady in the shop thought it would come out quite this good when I told her my plans and she eyed up my chosen colours. What can I say? I'm a misunderstood genius!!

I've been working on a few things for my Etsy shop too, which I'm planning to put up next week. A few pairs of earrings, another hat and scarf set, and a new bag based on this one:

Ok, that's all for now... I missed so much crafting during the move that I don't feel as if I've had my "fix" unless I squeeze in a good 12 hours!

I've got something really good to share with you next time... I just know you will love it as much as I do... But, I've said enough! You'll have to wait and be surprised!

Lesson learned: Always make time for crafting... If you don't, madness is only a very short step away!