Catch up

Claire October 5th, 2007

I do seem to be neglecting my blog of late. Actually it is one of many, many things I seem to be neglecting of late. I don’t honestly know where the time is going recently – think it’s all being spent at work. Thank you all so much for your positive comments – they are appreciated, and when I wrote I was having a bit of a rough week of things. I had made the decision when I started this that it would be purely about craty type things, but inevitably other bits, like life itself, get in the way (how inconvenient!).
Things have settled down to a slower yet at the same time frantic pace. David and I viewed a house last week which was woodchip hell – the owners/previous tenants had put woodchip EVERYWHERE – and I mean, they had even put a tasteful (?!) panel of it on the doors and painted them to match the room. What tipped me over the edge (literally – don’t think the estate agent was best pleased with me that day) was the ceiling fans in every room (we live in the UK for pity’s sake – it’s never THAT warm to warrant celing fans…) and the delightful 70′s dark green shag pile in the bathroom that had been use to create a “sunken bath” effect, complete with clashing wall tiles and polystyrene ceiling tiles which I am sure are illegal now as they are such a fire risk……………… Needlesss to say we despaired after that. I then called on the off chance a small ad and arranged to view last Friday, when we were viewing another property via an agency. The agency property was another disaster, and it was only nosiness that made me look upstairs! Can I just say, that all boy rooms smell if they are living on their own. Don’t know how they do it, but it smelt like a school changing room in that house!!
The 2nd property, however was lovely and we have put our deposit down for it. It’s a 1930′s semi in a nice leafy suburb – far better than anything I have ever lived in since leaving home! Neutral decor, wooden floors, and hug rooms – just the ticket. The nice thing is the smallest room, which isn’t by any standards small, has laminate flooring which is ideal since it will be my sewing room/ craft room/ place I can store all my junk. Then at least if I drop pins on the floor they will stay where they fall, rather than get stuck between the floor boards and stab me or the cats in the foot. The garden is lovely and the landlady is happy for me to grow veg in it (have always wanted a vegetable patch) and she was encouraging me when I said I wanted to have a composter. It even has a pond, which although isn’t any more than a foot or so deep, I am paranoid that the cats will fall into and drown. I am thinking of putting things up the sides, or raising the floor of it, as it has no fish in it to my knowledge, but is a haven for frogs.
The one downside to the house is the lack of original features. The kitchen is lovely and brand new, and you can see where the Aga would have been. The floors look nice as they are stained dark brown and have the original stairs and bannisters in, and that’s about it really. The fire is a really modern one, and the door has had the stained glass removed and replaces, and whoever has had the house for a while built in a porch thing that covers up the original doorway, which is a real shame, but since we are only renting it, I am OK with it all.
Not done much craft wise recently as I haven’t had the time or energy, but I did pick up some vintage postcards in London the other week from a stall in Islington, near the Angel tube station.I have another meeting down there before Christmas so I am hoping to go back there again. I bought these to use as bases for some stuff for Pinky and Boo – bags and aprons.
I have my first public sale in a few weeks – I am taking along a variety of things, and I have realised how much time I need to spend on the making up – aargh! May be a small stall at this rate, but I will let you know nearer the time – if anyone is in the area then drop by – Saturday 27th October, Brinsley, Nottinghamshire – it’s near Eastwood, which if anyone is into English literature, was the birthplace of D.H. Lawrence. If you want to drop by, I can email you directions. Then what isn’t sold, I will stick on Etsy for Christmas.

Better go and do some work now – Thanks to Faye for passing on the Nice matters award – I hadn’t forgotten, and will get myself sorted out soon to nominate some more people!

Have a good weekend xoxo

• home , pinky and boo , thrifting
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