Wednesday 23 February 2011

A Goodbye and a Little Jaunt

 Yesterday Mr Carrad and I went down to Luton for the funeral of a friend of the family.  It was a bit sad, but more of a celebration of Ken's life.  He was 83 and had been very ill for a long time.  He had a good life, was surrounded by loving family at the end and leaves children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren to carry on his memory.  What more can anyone ask?
RIP Ken
We stayed over afterwards at a Travelodge near Cambridge and had a meal at the Little Chef,  Their Pesto and Mozarella Burgers are very yummy - sweet potato, soya bean, mozarella and pesto.  Nom Nom Nom.
Mr Sleep, the Travelodge Bear (didn't know he was called that before)
On the way home Mr C took a detour and visited one of his happy places - the Biggest Beer Shop in Europe in Setchley near Kings Lynn.  The photo below is his stash.  The one below that is mine - Elderberry Black Ale - more Nom Nom Nom.

Mr C's beer

Mrs C's beer
We were allowed to make one further stop at Louth so we could have lunch at Mr Chips and visit the antique market.  Now Mr C (Carrad, not Chips) is much of the opinion that browsing time in the Beer Shop is infinity and browsing time in the antique market is as soon as he's fed up, so we weren't too long in there!
It was nice to get home in the end as it never stopped raining and being foggy throughout the two days.  Back to work tomorrow *sigh*

Saturday 19 February 2011

Little Inspirations

It's been so horribly rainy and grey today that I stayed in and made things.  That's my excuse, anyway, for not doing anything important.  I did go out yesterday with Littlelegs to buy tissue paper and other fun things to play with.  We made paper flowers, cards with stickers and scribbles and cheesy caterpillars, worms, spiders and butterflies, as per photo below:
Remember the bundle of charity shop buys a few blogs ago?  I have started reinventing them into unique items.  The plain vases and buttony belt have taken on a new lease of life.  I also used the aforementioned buttons on the stems of the plastic flowers I deconstructed.  I bent the stems into a heart shape and secured with raffia and the buttons.
An old scarf, felted, became two more "Williams" and there is still plenty to make other stuff. 
Plate, £1 and cup, £2 have "kitsched" themselves into a cakestand.  It looks much better in real life as they're both porcelain china.  How much would Kirsty charge for this?


Tuesday 15 February 2011

Happy Today!

So much happier today.  Thankfully daughter's illness was a complicated migraine and not a mini-stroke.  She had a lovely relaxing day in bed today and is feeling weak but great.  I can now write a much cheerier blog!

I completed all the pretties for little Jasmine's bedroom, including a nice pillow cushion made from the cut-offs of the curtains and appliquéd butterflies cut from the ends of the bedding.  I photocopied butterflies onto stiff card, cut them out and attached them to a strip of flowery braid to make a cute dangly.  It's a real girly room.

The day before Sunday's drama I had a lovely time in Sheffield.  I found new charity shops and a craft fair as well as visiting the Millennium Gallery
I was pleased to see that the prices and quality of goods at the craft fair were suitably comparable with my own makes (in fact, some of mine are nicer!)

I also made the splendid purchase of a vintage sparkly dress for just £2.  It's too big and glittery for me but I hope there's a profit in it as a sale item.
I had a commission this week as well.  Emma from Cakewalk Vintage had a request from a customer which produced the young lady below.  Her smart, sober 50's suit is offset by a perky pillbox hat and lashings of fab red hair.

Monday 14 February 2011

Family Comes First

I've been meaning to sit down and do a proper blog now I have my pics of Jasmine's new bedroom and the things I made for it, but the family had a bit of a blow yesterday.

My daughter, Gaenor, was taken to hospital with a possible mini-stroke.  Thankfully she's out today as it appears to have been a complicated migraine, with speech disorder and tingly right hand.  She has to take it easy for a bit and have an MRI as an outpatient.  It was so frightening, especially for Gaenor herself and her husband, who was in pieces as they live for each other.  I had to keep my fears back and look positive, even though I wanted to cry and cry.  Anyway, fingers crossed for a good recovery.

I promise I'll do a real blog with nice pictures as soon as I can x

Wednesday 9 February 2011

A Strange Weekend

Indeed it was.  Some sad news and some very happy news.  Just the happy news, anyway - Mr Stork brought my friend a lovely new pink baby, Amelia!  I'm so busy that I'll have to rush out and buy (yes, buy not make!) a present for her and the new big sister.  I'm currently altering bedding and curtains for my granddaughter as she is a big girl now with a big bedroom.  I'm using the cut-offs for butterfly bunting and cushion-making.  Will post pics when I get everything finished.

I had a bit of a mad session in the charity shops this morning as I wanted some items to customise for selling on.  This is the selection (I love the pig cushion!).

Hopefully several of these things will look good repurposed.  Watch this space for the updates.