Patchwork & Packing

I'm excited! A new quilting & patchwork shop has opened near to me and they are going to do classes so I rang and thankfully the beginner's class isn't starting until September which will be after my holiday cottage & house-sitting in the west coast of Scotland and our trip to Canada. Something to look forward to hugely!

Today I'm packing for a trip north tomorrow. I'm doing Drymen Show on Saturday - having a stall there for the 3rd year running and then I have various work commitments next week in Edinburgh so it will be busy ten days but great to catch up with people and to be able to sit in my parents' garden under the tree and have drinks and chats.

The fridge is stocked with a few essentials for Mike. Also, I will make him some scones before I go, not that he isn't entirely capable of looking after himself but he will be working and then in his spare time laying the patio.

I'm making sure I have plenty of books with me for my trip - right now I'm reading The Devil Wears Prada, wasn't sure I'd like it , haven't seen the film, but I'm finding the book very amusing.

Freecycle

I just have to rave about this site. Had heard lots of good things and kept meaning to go on to advertise all my bubble wrap that I could give away (except that Mike keeps taking it to a local shop where the guy is delighted to have it)

So, the other night I had a look to see if there were any paving slabs available locally. There were some advertised but I was too late - they had been snapped up. I decided to post a WANTED advert and within 12 hours was receiving emails offering us a variety of leftover paving slabs. Fortunately just a few streets away a lady offered us cream/buff coloured slabs so we collected a whole pile of them. They will be great for our patio. Once they are in place we will power-wash them and bring them back to their original state. Also, I gave the lady a little "thank -you" and as a result she wants to invite me along to have a stall a Christmas fair that she is organising so that's hopefully some future business and another person that I have met locally which is great.

This morning I bought a few trays of plants from a local greengrocer. Hopefully this evening I'll get them all into tubs and baskets and brighten up the garden a little. Three trays of plants plus two little individual pots all for just under £8.

Our kitchen

Our kitchen is tiny, a little space where two people can stand as long as they are friendly! I love it though, all white Shaker-style units and duckegg blue walls. I have managed to squeeze in quite a bit of our wedding china - the Portmeirion - along with my collection of jugs and vases, 3 cafetieres, an asparagus steamer, a slow cooker, a pressure cooker and a slim dishwasher which for me is an essential if you want to entertain a fair bit. I like just going in there in the mornings to make tea or brew coffee and seeing all the colours and patterns mixed together there.

Tulips

My husband brought me beautiful yellow tulips on Tuesday evening. They are really cheering when the weather outside is so ghastly. They are doing that flippy, floppy tulipy thing where they are not standing straight but I quite like it actually so I won't try to fix them!

My amazon order arrived today - from before Christmas!! They have had a lot of difficulty getting the book I wanted - The Good Fairies of New York by Martin Millar. It was out of print for a long time. Anyway, it's about Scottish fairies in NY who go around helping people out. A few years ago my friend and I were on the subway in Glasgow and we saw someone reading this book and my friend, who loves NY, said she fancied reading it. I have been trying to get it for her ever since and at last I have it!!

I have to go to the market today in the rain...I'm putting it off as it is a day for staying inside really. Perhaps I'll have a coffee first....

Building a wall....

Since having to urgently put our house on the market we have had to step up our garden activities. Mike has been building a wall next to the patio (sorting out after we had the conservatory done last year) Of course since he started doing this we have had gallons of rain and the area has been a bit of a mud bath but the wall itself is looking good. We now need to go choose some slabs for the patio area.

A crocodile, a ladybird & a bee.

Just had to take a pic of these 3 cute finger puppets that a talented lady was selling last week at the fair I went to on the south coast. I'm sending them to my best friend's 3 children.

Whitby

We had a lovely day out to Whitby. It was dull on arrival but ended up a nice evening. We walked, window-shopped. I had afternoon tea with my mum-in-law and watched the goths parading on the street - they have a regular Gothic Weekend there - very entertaining. We sat in the sun on the pier and had fish and chips which was just perfect. A lovely seaside-y day.

Funny Friday

I can't believe it has been over a week since I wrote on here. The pic above is from Holmfirth where we had a little ice-cream stop a couple of weeks back.

It has been a little hectic. The "For Sale" sign went up on our house this week which was very sad! The first person is viewing tomorrow. I'm finding it so hard to run a business from home and keep the house tidy for unexpected visitors. It's hard enough to keep a tidy home never mind a business that at times takes over whole rooms! Anyway, what will be, will be.

I have been super-busy since last week. A fair in Oakham, Rutland last Friday night. Mike and I did bacon butties at coffee morning on Saturday morning, Mike's parents arrived with us on Sunday til Monday. I did a Teas on the Green event on the Monday afternoon which was lovely. Tuesday I helter-skeltered to Oxford for a whole day meeting which was SO inspiring that I felt overawed. I drove from there to Hastings and did a Cancer Research fair on the Wednesday which was very well organised. Yesterday I was in bed with a cold, sleeping, coughing etc but I got up at night for a meeting in Warwick so today is a home day, catching up with emails, calls, tidying, posting orders.

Tonight I'm hoping for food and movies. Tomorrow and Sunday I have 2 little local fairs to go to which suits me just fine. Mike has a wall to build in the garden to finish off the patio. Sunday morning we will be in church and Monday I have a little coffee afternoon/party not too far away which will be fun I'm sure.

May

May is here already, I can hardly believe it!
Today has been a little crazy - I have had to fortify myself with copious amounts of Earl Grey tea.
Last weekend when coming back from a lovely meal at Princethorpe, we passed a stone-fronted house with a "For Sale" board. Despite it being on a main road, I liked it and when we got home I looked in the paper but found nothing.
This weekend while at my in-laws' house I was reading the paper which I had thrown into the car to take along with us and there was the house....
So, we rang and arranged to go see it last night. Now, we hadn't planned on moving right now but we really liked the house and it has lots of potential. It has been in the same family since 1959. The owners have died and the daughters are selling it which they are, understandably, quite sad about. The wallpaper is fabulously retro. (The main bedroom has all sorts of funghi on it!) The front door is original, wooden with a porthole-style window. In the bathroom the original 1930's black and white tiles are still there, bowing out a little now.
The garden is wonderful - 120 feet!
Today I have been tidying our house and packing clutter away to get ready for two estate agents who will visit us tomorrow.

It's no wonder I can't get any work done!! He's not even mine!!

Narcissus

These are the paper whites just starting to come out. They are gorgeous and remind us of our Amsterdam weekend.