The Pop-Up Shop

Hello everyone!  Where does the time go?  I've been a bit off the radar lately ... but I have been up to something.  Since the summer I've been steadily making things in my spare time with a view to opening a Christmas Shop.  Think of it as a kind of  'Pop-Up' shop in my very own kitchen.  

I invited friends and work colleagues - and I'm pleased to say it was a success.  Mind you, I don't think I could have done it if my lovely Mum hadn't helped me and I was really nervous beforehand.  The fact that it went well then spurred me on to book a stall at a Christmas Street Fair near to where I live in the University area of the City.  That was today ... and it was awesome!  I pretty well sold out - it was so busy I didn't even have chance to look at any of the other stalls.  Luckily the snow has gone and the sun was shining - couldn't have been better.  I think I might have hit upon a way of satisfying my creative urges in a way that fits in well with my day job (which is very important to me - it pays the bills and besides, I like it and I like the people I work with so it will always take precedence).  This way I can pick and choose when and where I set up shop so that I have time to build up stock in my spare time without feeling pressured.  Could be a win-win situation!

I sold lots of these clown tree decorations - good job as I got a bit carried away and made a gazillion of them. 

Christmas Fairy Comes Early

This year I am thinking ahead for Christmas.  Do not be fooled by this.  I will still be running round like a headless chicken come the middle of December. I bought some wooden clothes pegs and spent this morning making a prototype Christmas Angel.  There are several things I will do differently if I make any more but I'm pleased that it worked out roughly how I thought it would.  I'd like to make some more but I don't know when.

Like a lot of others I was aghast to hear that Bloglines was closing - I've changed to Google Reader and what a revelation!  Turns out that Bloglines wasn't picking up feeds from some of the blogs on my list and hadn't been for a while.  The demise of Bloglines prompted Chooky Blue to write this interesting post about the different ways we access blogs - well worth a look.  I'm also pleased that Blogger seems to have sorted out the Spam issue and I'm no longer having to delete comments all the while.

I promised The Girl I would make some bunting for her to put up in her student house - bright fabrics this time.  Every week I send her a parcel with something in - maybe a sachet of hot chocolate mix or a face mask - something small that doesn't cost too much to post. I write a little note on a postcard and I try to send a different one each time.  If only I were so diligent about posting on my blog - sigh!

This and that

The summer has got away from me somehow, and we've done some fun things but there hasn't been  much time for creativity, what with the decorating, picking The Girl and all her belongings up from London and taking her back again and various other days out and family occasions.

We spent a week in Wales (all four of us, in the caravan, and no arguments) - here's The Husband on the sand dunes - the dog is not ours!  The weather wasn't brilliant but we had a good time nonetheless.

All I've really had chance to do is a bit of knitting - the teddy bear posse is getting bigger and I've started a Tea Cosy - goodness knows why because I only ever make tea in a cup with a teabag.

I haven't even read much - I have eventually finished The Seamstress and I read half of Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises but didn't manage to finish it by the time our Book Group met.  This is most disappointing as I was aiming for a book a week in 2010 - epic fail, as The Boy would say.

What next?

It's been a bit hectic round here - we're having all the interior walls stripped, repapered and painted.  This would be bad enough if we were a tidy, non-hoarding family.  But being as we are, giving the decorator room to move necessitates the movement of piles of stuff.  A fair amount of this has gone into bags to go to charity shops but my sewing room is also being used as a temporary home for boxes too - I can't get to the table with my sewing machine.

Meanwhile I'm planning what to do with these felt flowers.  I've been doing some knitting too - pictures next time.

World Cup (?) Bunting

In our house, you have to have an excuse for putting up bunting.  I have mentioned before that the husband does not 'get' the concept of house decorations, seasonal or otherwise.  I try my best, but even after nearly 21 years of marriage I haven't quite converted him.

So - World Cup Bunting! (We'll gloss over the fact that The Girl was heard to say, "Why have we got American flags up?". )  In truth, I just like the red, white and blue combo and it goes with my blue and white crockery. This was my first try at making bunting and it was really quick and easy - I used bias binding and attached it to the flags with a zig-zag instead of a straight stitch - I know my limitations and I would never have 'caught' in both sides of the bias binding and the flag with a straight stitch.

And ... I made cupcakes.  I was desperate to use my new cupcake wrapper die cutter - I bought some pretty wrapping paper from Paperchase and used that.  Think I should have used smaller cake tins but not bad results and the kids were impressed. 

Ooh er!

I had these 3 1/2 inch crumb blocks that had been maturing for about a year and a half so I decided to make a doll quilt with them.  Couldn't quite get the hang of the perfect on point setting but it'll have to do, even with the misaligned seams.  I don't aim for perfection on the grounds that your goals should always be achievable.

A day out and a finish

It's half term here in Leicester so on Wednesday The Husband, The Boy (a.k.a. DS) and me went to the Black Country Living History Museum.  We have been several times before and it is a great day out.  Despite all the modern attractions of the X-Box, Wii, Nintendo etc. the Boy really enjoyed going down the helter skelter on the fairground and was fascinated by hoop rolling which he went back to more than once.

I also finished my Dad's birthday quilt - a week late, but what's a week between family?  He was pleased with it anyway.