Still here!

Well where did January go? and February seems to be slipping away at a rate of knots too. Not that I'm worried, that means that spring will be here before we know it and I LOVE spring.Signs of spring are everywhere here. The sun has been shining, although it is now cold again, and our daffodils are all coming out.

January was actually very hard for me. The illness I suffered over Christmas dragged on for 3 weeks and combined with my situation with my ex partner, it left me feeling down and despondant. It was hard just getting out of bed each morning. I felt like I was in a long dark tunnel with no light at the end. This came as a great shock to me because I am not normally a 'down' person and it took all my strength and the support of my mum and a few good friends to pull me through it. It's not somewhere I fancy going again, very scary.

On the upside work has been very busy with the New Year bringing new opportunities and lots of new customers who are always so excited to have found me. I am busy making preparations for an open house sale in Spring, 3 days, so that people can come and visit me here. I get daily requests from customers to know how to get to 'my shop'. They are disappointed to hear that the physical shop doesn't exist and that the business is primarily on-line. This will be a great chance for customers to come and visit and have a good rummage through my stock (of which I have masses!). I am hoping that the weather will be nice by then so that I can have it outdoors, using my Cath Kidston gazebo, as well as indoors. I will be serving teas and coffees as well as home made cakes and cream teas. It will be loads of fun. If any of you want to come please let me know and I will send you an invitation.

I have been househunting in Exeter. I have decided that this would be the area I would most like to move to and although we have not yet sold our house I have been using every weekend to do reconnaisance missions to check out various areas around Exeter to see which would be the nicest to live in. So far I only like Topsham which is just gorgeous, a small but pretty town just a few miles from Exeter. Nowhere else has grabbed me yet, If any of you have any knowledge of the area around Exeter and can help me please let me know. I can't decide whether I want to be right in the city so that I can walk everywhere, something I can't do here, being so remote means driving everywhere, or to look for a cottage in a village nearby. I have a yearning to still be in the countryside and a small rural town like Topsham seems to offer both options.

I have taken on the services of an independent marketing expert to help with the house sale. He can tell us if there is anything we are or are not doing that could help to market this house to the right sort of person. In my opinion we have not yet had the right person through the door. We had one lady on Thursday (our first viewing since before Christmas) who was the most likely candidate so far. She loved my house, loved all my things, but her husband wanted to be right on the coast. We are just a little too far from the sea for him. oh well. In the meantime we are taking the advice of the marketing chap and making a few changes to our details, new photos, and the interior, changing the room layouts in some rooms and reducing the price. Wish me luck!

I had a visit from my lovely friend Amanda. We managed to drink a few bottle of wine between us, stayed up 'til 2am putting the world to rights and then went for a long walk on the beach to blow away the cobwebs. Bleary eyed photos attached (at least Amanda had the good sense to wear shades!). I love the beach this time of the year. One thing I do know is that I don't want to be far from the sea.









Alfie has been having skateboard lessons from Jack. It's a real benefit for him to have a cool older brother figure to do things with. He really needs positive male role models at the moment.


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HAPPY NEW YEAR

I really don't know what happened to the rest of December. It seemed to fly by in a bit of a blur! Christmas was upon us before we knew it and now it is the New Year. I have had a house full of people, 10 to be precise, so it has been super busy with my sister and her family here from Denver, USA and mum staying too. We have had a lovely time together although I have been really very ill, probably more ill than I can ever remember being in my life. I am still suffering now and have resorted to antibiotics after putting up with the symptoms for over a week. The doctor said it's probably viral and the antibiotics won't make much difference but I may as well take them. I hate it and can't wait to feel better. One of the awful symptoms is that I cannot taste anything, all food tastes like cotton wool, so my appetite for all the beautiful meals we have had just hasn't been there. If you cannot taste your food there is absolutely no joy in eating, good for dieting maybe but not for having around Christmas. Everyone except Jazz and Jack got the bug to varying degrees so it has been a strange old time. The plus side of feeling this way is it gave me lots of snuggle time with my little ones as I could do little else.




We saw in the New Year last night ensconced in the bar, listening to great music and playing the Wii. Paul went out dressed as woman (as he does every New Year's Eve!) into Bideford and Jazz went out with her friends too. Bideford is one of the top places to be for New Year in the country. Everyone dresses up and plans their outfits months in advance. There are entertainers and bands playing on the quay and fireworks at midnight when everyone rushes over the old bridge to the East side of town. There is always a great atmosphere and is really friendly. Jazz went as a pussy cat while her boyfriend Jack went as Russell Brand. Paul looked like Ugly Betty but thought he was Amy Winehouse, hahaha! I shall leave you to make your own conclusion!





Anyway, Happy New Year lovely people. I hope 2008 is all that you wish for and more. I am glad to see the back of 2007, especially the last bit where I was so poorly, so bring on 2008 I am ready for ya. My New Years resolution is to stop making the same old mistakes. I am just going to make a whole bunch of new ones! Pin It

For your eyes only!

A sneak preview of the photo shoot so that you don't have to wait a whole year to see them, enjoy!

(click on photos to enlarge)









Oh yes, I forgot to mention but clever Tat spotted that I have indeed gained another son, the lovely blonde boy sat with me on the sofa. He is in fact my friend Dolly's son, Joe, who had been off school for the day. They came over on the first day to help out. My children were at school so he was roped in to be my son. It only came out later that evening as they were wrapping up the shoot that the photographer had assumed Joe was my son and had no idea he was Dolly's! It was such a nice shot that I said oh well, never mind, no one will notice and he is a really lovely boy I could happily adopt him! Pin It

Photo Shoot

Hoorah, finally got my header sorted out, thanks to Woo!

It has been another busy few weeks Chez Moi let me tell you. In between Christmas shopping, stocking the website and generally keeping the whole shebang ticking away, I have had a 2 day photo shoot for a couple of freelance photographers who came over from Ireland for a week to shoot a few nice houses in England. They were meant to be shooting the interior of my friends Andrew and David who own the beautiful shop Cool, Calm Collected but they weren't ready as they are still doing their house up. They asked me kindly if I wouldn't mind doing it instead which would save face for them and not waste the time of the photographers. It was a Christmas shoot and they told me that they would bring a truck load of stuff and just do it all for me. Wow, I thought, how nice, saves me decorating this year. I had decided not to do any more interior shoots as we are selling the house but I haven't sold the house yet, and I might as well exploit it while I still have it, so I agreed. I spoke to Marie the female styling side of the team who was delighted that I would be up for a shoot at my house. She then phoned me back a few hours later and told me that after seeing my press and website that she wouldn't need to bring anything as she loved my style. Pooh! Instead of being hands-off it was totally hands-on for me but, apart from it being utterly exhausting, I really enjoyed the whole experience and could quite happily become a stylist or photographers assistant if the vintage fabric business goes tits up! The team who shot it have to then find a magazine to sell it to. They have a good relationship with a lot of the editors of the glossy interiors magazines so were confident that it would be no problem finding my shoot a little slot somewhere. Last night I had an email congratulating me for getting into
25 Beautiful Homes where you will see me next Christmas!!! I of course should be long gone from here and hopefully restyling a new house.












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Adele

This girls going to be big. What a wonderful voice. I am loving strong femail voices right now. I think it's what I need to hear.

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Duffy - Warwick Avenue

This girl, with that voice, is my favourite at the moment. Enjoy!

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Ch ch ch ch changes

Sang a la Bowie of course!

Yes as you can see folks, mirroring my real life, I am going through changes to my blog design so don't be surprised to find that it may look different every time you visit as I am liable to make changes until I find a look I am happy with. I adored my last blog that was designed for me by a very talented fellow blogger but it had far too many photos on that I no longer wanted to see and I didn't know how to remove or change them. She has just had a baby and is probably far too busy with important Mummy stuff to be fiddling with my silly blog so I shall have to fuss and fiddle about myself until I get it right. If anyone knows how to make my header stretch to fit the outline I would be grateful.

I have a busy few days ahead, a little mention in the Guardian G2 Eco Christmas Shopping guide tomorrow so look out for me if you buy one and another photo shoot on Friday and Saturday, of which I will tell more soon. I have been busy adding more goodies to my website including this fabulous red and white twine which is all over this month's Country Living Magazine. I am selling two different types, perfect for those Christmas parcels wrapped up simply with brown paper or white tissue.





All together now, It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas, tra la la la la Pin It

Busy Week

Last week was such a busy week. I went to London for 3 days with my friend Amanda, taking my daughter Jazz and her boyfriend Jack. We stayed in Hoxton in a fabulous ubercool hotel called The Hoxton Lodge. I can highly recommend it, great place run by the same group that brought us Pret a Manger. It was such a tonic, I had a fantastic time. We did so much in those 3 days. We went shopping lots (of course), had several makeovers, met up with Lettuce for a drink in the hotel bar (she was lovely), went to see the Couture Exhibition at the V&A, had afternoon tea at Harvey Nicks, went to the Country Living Christmas Fair, ate lots of lovely food, drank like a couple of fish, laughed and laughed and laughed and talked loads. It was so nice to wake up next to someone who liked me. I didn't realise how sapping it can be to spend time with someone who no longer loves you and makes it quite obvious that he doesn't actually like you much either!

It was so lovely to spend 3 whole days with one of my oldest (actually youngest), friends. We never get to spend enough time having 6 children between us and living so far apart. Jazz and Jack did their own thing meeting up with us for meals. They loved exploring London on their own.

Liberty makeover (taken by charming gentleman passer by who said we didn't need makeovers!)

Amanda in opulent dining room at the V&A

Beautiful bauble-like lights in V&A dining hall

Harvey Nicks for afternoon tea. Me with 'Emo' style eye makeup courtesy of Mac!

Jazz and Jack with afternoon tea (very yummy)

Going out for dinner

Country Living Christmas Fair

It was hard to come home again after all that fun, but I missed my little ones so much that I was looking forward to seeing them. I got home around midnight and after a quick cuddle before packing them off to school the next morning, I packed up my car with the stock for my craft fair stall at the Cowslip in Launceston. I spent 4 hours setting it up ready for the next 3 days. Here it is just before I left to drive home.














It was a great fair, very well attended and lots of the right sort of people who really like vintage stuff. I arrived the next morning at 10.30am ready for the opening at 11am to find a whole load of early birds standing in my stall clutching items to their chests waiting for me to arrive!!!! It was mad and busy for the first few hours and then settled into a comfortable, steady stream for the next few days. I met some great people, both customers and other stall holders. I was kept entertained and fed with pieces of home made cake by the couple opposite me, William and Joanna Agur. They sell gorgeous vintage gardening items and country home furniture at very reasonable prices. They were just the loveliest couple.



Next to me stood Alan who was a brilliant upholsterer. His workmanship was flawless. He used to be a farmer before taking up upholstery and now lives on one of the cottages on his family's old farm with a barn converted for a workshop. He was so sweet when I was packing up and took all my bags and loaded up my car. 4 hours to put the stall up and only 30 minutes to take it all down!






I had some nice visitors to my stall too. Friends I had met on courses I had done at the Cowslip, people I had met at other textile fairs who had travelled down just to see me and people who found me for the first time. Amanda (shabby chick) from Totnes came and I managed to remember to whip out the camera to persuade her to have a photo with me seeing as she is often mentioned on my blog. she is camera shy and hates having her photo taken but when you're as gorgeous as she is I can't understand why can you?



I sold so much that the car was a little lighter on the way home. If there is anything that catches your eye that you like the look of do drop me an email as I might still have it and not everything will be making its way onto the website.

So, now I am back home, getting on with life as normal (whatever that is), updating the website, adding new items for sale and getting ready for Christmas. My decorations may be up earlier this year. I'll tell you why next week! Talking of decorations take a look at these beautiful Christmas baubles made by two very clever customers of mine. They are called Gorgeous and sell their things on Not on the High Street. They have made these delicious baubles using 1940's and 50's fabrics that they bought from me. Aren't they clever? I am now the proud owner of 3 of them and they are even prettier in real life than in the photo let me tell you!



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Crafty

I have been preparing for a 3 day craft fair to be held in Launceston at the Cowslip Workshops next weekend. I am mostly selling fabrics, buttons, quilts, ribbons etc., this year. Since my partner and I decided to separate after 19 years together my creative urge has all but dried up. This really upsets me, I regularly get the sewing machine and fabrics out, look at them blankly before sadly putting them all away again. It just isn't happening for me right now. I decided to give myself a break, it will come back once we sell this house and I am able to move on with my life. In the meantime I am just holding myself together and pouring my creative energies into my children, work and home. Luckily for me there are some cool crafty chicks out there who have made some wonderful things for me to sell on my stall alongside the fabrics. Firstly Allison, of Lark fame, who made me some beautiful bits using vintage fabrics that I sent to her as well as a few she has. How gorgeous are these?









Then Alison from So Tread Softly who made me a whole batch of corsages made of vintage Suffolk Puffs (yo-yo's). I had admired the ones on Tanya's website and asked Alison if she would like to make some for me. They have been expertly made and arrived so quickly from New Zealand. She also included a gift of a felt corsage (see bottom right of photo) that she made especially for me. It's stunning and makes me smile every time I wear it.



My friend Gail has also been making some little smocks and cushions for me but these haven't arrived yet due to her being ill all last week. Thank you girls, my stall will look lovely thanks to you.

I am off to London for 3 days on Monday to visit the Country Living Xmas Fair amongst other jolly things. The day after I get back I will be travelling down to the Cowslip Workshops to set up my stall so I will post lots of lovely pictures when I get back. If any of you can come, please do, it's a gorgeous little fair in a beautiful venue, and it will be so lovely to see you. Pin It