Secondhand furniture

I fell in love with this little cupboard at a local charity the other week.

It took a few days of persuasion and measuring and suggestions of where it could go before I finally persuaded the other half that we really did need it in our house!

We differ quite a lot on decorating. He grew up in a house full to the brim with antiques, which has turned him the other way and he prefers a more simple, minimalistic modern look (empty!), where as I love a shabby chic style and a mix of old and modern furniture, but not really antiques. I love things to look a bit lived in and have had a bit of life rather than being totally pristine.

I managed to convince him with the cupboard - although we both liked the idea of painting it plain white to give it a more seasidey look. The stencils were a bit to 80's for me! But I did feel a bit mean painting over them as someone obviously spent a lot of time and a lot of love painting it.
But 5 coats of eggshell later (yes, 5!) we had a lovely little cupboard, just right for us.

It was probably meant as a bedside cabinet, but now it has all my sewing bits and pieces (threads, patterns, scissors, pincushions etc) and looks a lot neater than the overflowing baskets I had in the space before.  We had a big clear out the other week and I took 4 big bags of fabric to a few different local charity shops - so if you are in the Whitstable area, there might still be some around!

By the way, I'm not sure if this is just on our computer as we had to reformat it the other week, but since then I have found I am unable to read posts from several of the blogs I regularly used to read (Bubblebay the only one I can think of off the top of my head). It opens up with their header etc, but won't scroll down to display the blog posts? Has anyone else had this problem?

First make of the year

It was D's 5th birthday last friday, and remembering that I had made a cushion for her brother with an F on for his birthday, she had announced a little while ago that wanted one too for her bed. I of course left making this until the night before! But I did get it made and she was very pleased with it (check out the bedhair too, my children suffer from crazy hair in the morning!).

Little D.

However did our clever, gorgeous, girlie, determined, funny, stubborn, mature, hardworking, nutruing, caring, cuddly chatterbox become 5 already? (With a good helping of tantrums, crying, strops and fighting thrown in over those 5 years!).

D's cushion is the only make so far this year, but I have lots of plans over the next few weeks including 2 orders for boy baby quilts due at the beginning of February and some Valentine bits and pieces for Taking the Plunge I have also signed up for 2 more markets at the Horsebridge as the last one was so successful. I'll post with more details soon and hopefully lots of lovely new makes!



Shiny, fresh and new

That is what 2011 feels like to me right now; a shiny new book waiting to be read. The corners of the pages are not yet folded over, the spine is smooth and uncreased and what is going to happen next is anyones guess, the pages are yet to be written.

2010 was a year of change, excitement, trepidation and taking risks in our house. I don't know what 2011 has in store for us but I love the hopeful, positive feeling that a new year brings - enough to make you believe that anything is possible and that everything happens for a reason.

I say aim for the sky, hope that your dreams come true and try your hardest in whatever you do.

We took a little walk in some local woods to welcome in the new year.

It was a bit damp and very muddy but lovely all the same and the perfect way to welcome 2011.  (Although take note from my husband and don't try climbing the same trees that held your weight when you were 13 as he discovered that sadly they don't hold your weight when you are 33!).

I hope that your new year has started well and I would like to say thanks to all the lovely people who followed and left comments over the last year. I hope 2011 is a happy, healthy one for you all.

I will leave you with a quote - I have not idea where I jotted it down from, who wrote it or even if I have posted it before? But I like it and hope you do to :)

Life is too short to wake up in the morning with regrets,
So, love the people who treat you right and forget about the ones who didn't,
And believe that everything happens for a reason...
If you get a chance - take it;
If it changes your life - let it;
Nobody said it would be easy...
They just promised it would be worth it.

Procrastinating

I hope that you had yourself a merry little Christmas?
We had a really good, fun and relaxing one.

We've had guitars, lego and weeing dogs making a lot of noise in our house.  It's hard that time between Christmas and New Year - in a good way of course. My husband has normally always worked but thankfully not this year. So we have all been procrastinating at home; getting up late, playing with presents, watching dvd's and of course eating and drinking far too much. I am not sure how I am going to be able to get up for the school run again next week.

Ah well, I am planning on making the most of it and drinking and eating a wee bit more - healthy eating can wait until next week!

I am sure I will not be organised enough to blog again tomorrow, so Happy New Year to anyone reading my blog - wishing you a fantastic 2011!

Just in case...

...the lady from the Horsebridge Christmas Market, (who wanted one of my black bird cushions but it had sold) happens to come on here...I  had just enough fabric to make one big cushion (and maybe one little cushion to come) and it is now in my Folksy shop.

Plus this little pram quilt is on there too..

Changing the subject completley - what with all the snow the UK has received over the last week, I had to take a pictute of the strange glow that snow gives off late at night. Looking out of our kitchen window normally, it is  pitch black and you can't see a thing but this picture was taken close to midnight on Saturday night and everything had a bluey/yellow twinge to it.

So very strange.

I know the snow has caused chaos and I have heard a lots of horror stories of people getting stuck out in the snow over the weekend but surely even Scrooge would be feeling a teeny bit of Christmas spirit now...It;s beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

A successful Christmas market

Well I made it through the weekend and am happy to report that I had a fantastic time at the Christmas Market at the Horsebridge in Whitstable on Saturday.

 

It was the best market/fair I have ever done. There was a constant stream of customers throughout the day - no doubt they were all going stir crazy at home after being snowed in for a couple of days! It certainly seemed like the whole of Whitstable came out for the day. I wasn't the only one who had a good day either, all the stallholders I spoke made brilliant sales all day.

I sold more than I ever have sold before, plus I got some orders. The cushions were really popular (luckily as I had loads!). I have to confess that I did have more stock than I have ever had before, so I guess a lot more choice for people means they are more likely to buy. I also got some orders, so the sewing machine is still going to be in constant use until chrismas whilst I make 7 mermaid dolls, baby quilts and bird cushions!

 

I thought a lot more about my stock this time and had quite a few smaller/cheaper items including lavender hearts, brooches and keyrings, which were all between £2 and £4 and these little things certainly add up if you sell lots of them plus I didn't have anything on the table that was over £25.

I've started to post some of the items left over from the fair on my Folksy shop and the some of the cushions can be found in Taking the Plunge (only in store, not available from their online shop).

I was seated at the fair next to the most fabulous facepainters I have ever seen. They were super speedy and so detailed and brilliant - they had a queue most of the day, including my only little D who wanted to be a witch. The red eyes only add to the image I think!

Let is snow, let it snow, let is snow....

Like much of the UK, Whitstable has had a lovely white blanket of snow for a few days now. It has meant 2 days off school for two excited children. Lots of time for the offical first viewings of the most Christmassy film ever - The Polar Express, playing and making snow angels!

It has turned a bit icy and slippery now, but this was the lovely soft, crunchy under foot stuff when it first fell. Simply lovely. It is impossible to not get into the spirit of Christmas when everything looks like this.

Oh and just another quick reminder about the Christmas Market I am taking part in at The Horsebridge Art & Community Centre in Whitstable tomorrow. It is open between 10am and 4pm and as well as 20 or so stalls bursting with crafty goodness, there will also be carol singing, mulled wine, mince pies and facepainting for the kids.

I took over the kitchen table earlier in an attempt to work out how the hell to display all the stuff that I FINALLY managed to make! Hmm, I threw it all on the table so it looks a right old jumble in the picture.

I will take a bit more time displaying it all tomorrow!

Wish me luck.