Frustration!

Our computer is ill, so ill it has gone to be repaired and I have a laptop that takes frequent breaks instead. This is bad - no comments to be left on blogs; no blogging as such and highly stressful business runnning to be had.



So, I am popping in to say I am here, sort of, but not in any real way until the darned thing is back. Apologies for lack of commenting though I am reading on and off.I will also post a lovely giveaway win when I can get some pics to show you (thank you Vivienne).



In the meantime, have fun and sorry for these ludicrously inappropriate photos which are pretty much all that's on the laptop...sigh.

Bye for now x

Paper, Packaging and post.

Well, so much for me blogging about a new make. I haven't had a chance to complete it let alone photograph it as the orders have been piling in since the Noths catalogue came out. Very good news indeed. The postman has brought me a few new things too: bolts of gorgeous linen/cotton fabric which provides the perfect background for most of my hand embroidered designs.



There is something very exciting about a whole roll of fabric, however large or small it may be. But then, I also find a stack of tissue paper really exciting,



particularly when combined with sparkly red ribbon.



Still it's not all work here. A very lovely friend visited today and brought treats. Yummy choc chip cookies



and equally yummy iced cupcakes. The icing had a hint of jasmine and was just so delicious.



There were more, but I have been rather hungry! Ah well, I'll show you one of the Cornish Aromatic apples from the garden instead (though I will heartily agree if you think there is no comparison in the yum stakes. Much as I love apples, those cakes were sooo delicious).



One last bit of good news before I go: a very lovely lady is soon opening a gallery close to the beautiful Cotehele House in Cornwall and has placed a (very large) order with me to stock my products. Hurrah! I am very excited about this and my lovely Lauren is coming home for the weekend to work for her Mum as my first employee! Thank heavens for a daughter who has her degree in textiles! More about the gallery in the near future.



But for now I must go. The children need feeding and I have an evening of sewing ahead.
Have fun whatever you are doing x

A Sunny Sunday.

Wasn't the weather just beautiful this Sunday afternoon? A soft light filled the air turning even the hot sunshine into a misty-edged gold. We went for a walk through the town looking at the boats in the harbour en-route before heading off to the beach for a chilled out couple of hours.



The waves crashed in as though they were in a hurry, white frothy tops curling and breaking onto the sandy shore in a manic rush



as the turbulent sea surged and swelled making ready for the next onslaught.



We searched for shells, but there were few of these pretty flat winkles in evidence for once.



Colours seemed to gleam in the misty light, even the bright, bright pink of Lucy's cardigan taking on a softer tone as she clambered over the rocks.



Isabella busied herself by bashing a rock against the limpet shells in a determined effort to reduce them to sand.



Fortunately they were already broken before she got hold of them!



The strong breeze was exhilarating and did away with the need to chat as we sat soaking up the day with our backs against the hot stone. So wonderful to just watch it all happening just in front of us, the noise of the waves overladen every so often with the peep-peeping of oyster catchers. These graceful birds are one of my favourites, the sound of their calling reminding me of watching them as a child on the beach at Bude in north Cornwall where I grew up.



Rock pools to investigate



Running with the wind in her hair, sea-soaked skirts billowing around her legs



And a thoughtful Mr Davey strolled across the sands.



In the distance we spotted some brave/mad souls wading through the swirling water to reach the larger rocks.



The waves grew higher and higher after they left, finally covering the rocks as the tide raced in.



Very beautiful to watch with sillhoueted rocks seeming forbidding in the haze.



The weekend didn't only consist of the beach however, not with a brand new cardboard box in the house. No, much sellotape and marker pen ink was used as they created a clubhouse;



one which I note I am not allowed to enter (despite being the one to clear it away at the end of the day!).



So, it was a good weekend in all, helped along by these scrumptious chocolate chip muffins courtesy of Dave and Isabella.



Back tomorrow hopefully with a new make for my website. Have fun x

A Catalogue and a Thought or Two.

The Notonthehighstreet winter catalogue is now out



and look what is appearing in it amongst many other gorgeous goodies.



Can you see it? Yes, that's right, it's my Garden Journal Notebook! Fortunately for me NOTHS have photographed it far better than I have photographed this catalogue. I am in a bit of a hurry and thus I have just aimed the camera and clicked with no consideration for light quality, camera focus, etc. Still, I hope you get the gist and can tell how pleased I am.



My little business is forging ahead and coming up to yet another Christmas. It seems strange to think back to when I began it; Isabella was a little - very little - baby and I often could have cried with the difficulties of working and feeding her and so on, BUT the upside was that I knew I loved what I did and knew that time moves on, that things would hopefully become easier. And they have.



Actually, honesty makes me think through that: while some things are easier, other difficulties have arisen. Isabella needs as much time as ever as she grows and while she is now at school in the mornings, it means my time is torn between sewing and racing to pick her up, the afternoons filled with a mix of working and playing with her all at once in the same way as I did when she was tiny. And of course, there are all the other 'children' who still need you sometimes whatever their age (thank goodness).



It is easy to feel guilty when Isabella wants me to stop and play, the orders piling up as she asks for another story, but somehow we manage and I consider myself lucky. I am doing what I want, running my own steadily growing business and working away on my designs, bringing up my children and hopefully instilling a little determination in them by example, for I truly do believe the world is your oyster if you work at it, even if the pearl inside isn't quite the pearl you thought it would be. With a little adapting of mindset it just may be an even better one than the one you started out searching for.



Golly, that really wasn't what I set out planning to put in this post, but I guess it was somewhere in the back of my mind. Perhaps I needed to remind myself that when the next weeks get manic there is such a good reason for it. Anyhoo, forgive my little ramble and look at what my sweet girl has been up to as I type...



A gift of some beads from a friend and she is in seventh heaven.



In fact, she has just told me she is a 'genius' as she held her new make up for me to see!



So, another weekend beckons and I have new wool to play with (though of course I must get The Dratted One finished first - nearly completed second sleeve Davey, but oh how you will owe me treats for this. Fourteen balls of wool indeed!)



And I had better let this poor chap out too before he buzzes himself to death.



Have a lovely weekend x

Look What the Postman Brought.

Good lord, it has been busy here. So busy that I have set up our son's bedroom as a another workroom so that I can continue working while Isabella plays. These days the postman brings not only the usual bills - yuk - but huge boxes like these



It made me laugh to see 'Heavy' written on it as I almost fell over under the weight! Inside there lay a pile of Liquorice Allsorts.



Though on closer inspection it appears they are notebooks, hundreds (literally) of them



all waiting to be turned into hand embroidered notebooks festooned with Lavender & Bees



or a Little House in russet



Piles of Winter Notebooks



and my new Garden Journal (still not uploaded yet...sigh) are filling boxes and shelves everywhere I look.



And don't get me started on the Christmas Hearts! No, you are safe; I won't put a picture up of those just yet, but the house already seems fairly festive. Oh, and extremely messy with boxes and threads trailing me wherever I step.

So, that is what the postman brings here and now I am off to take the children to school before cutting out the next pile.



Have a fun day x