Sorry I’ve been quiet! It’s been a busy but very fun weekend. Tom’s 30th, parties, cowboys, visiting friends, being visited by friends, drinking weird beer, late night fires, working at the cinema and then tidying and eating expensive ham and chocolate biscuits (not together)! mmmmm….

Here are some (very pink) snap shots of my doodle from this weekend’s “Raise the Roof” festival that was going on at Nottingham Contemporary. Sorry about the poor picture quality – I should be getting some better ones soon but I wanted to share a picture of my life size cat lady. I love doing these wall doodles!

A little D.I.Y project for the house. I’ve got enough fabric for a couple of chairs – I just need the chairs now.

Another little project I finished this morning is my mouse (it’s quite big so possibly a rat) tea cosy. I found the pattern for free here- there are some amazing patterns on that blog. I saw one during my last visit up to Orkney in someones window and wanted it. So it was a bit of a surprise when I came across a pattern so quickly – I didn’t even own a teapot when I started making it. Funny what knitting will make you do… I’m going to alter the eyes a little – bigger beads are needed I think.

An update on the make over mission! Finding comfortable and well fitting top layers are tricky and when you do find one a year or so down the line, when it’s beginning to look a little worse for wear, you start to wish you’d bought 1 or 2 spares. Well I’m prepared this time. I found a lovely lightweight, well fitting jumper with pretty button detail on the back – good for layering as the seasons cool down but I can imagine it’ll be quite comfortable when it heats up again too. Plenty of room to move about, sit and stand and still feel smart and relaxed in. So anyway, I bought 3 – different colours of course (black – basic requirement, teal, dark dusty pink) but essentially the same jumper 3 times round. Today I’m being brave and wearing the dusty pink one…

I’ve started wearing skirts again, which means I’ve been on the hunt for some new winter legs (and by this I mean tights). I found these pretty tights in New Look – somewhere I never thought to go for tights BUT they’re actually really affordable and they have a big selection too. I tend to wear block colours and the textured tights break up the outfit a little and add some well needed pattern and detail – win win!

I’m slowly getting my head round all this and I still have a couple of tatty things in the cupboard I need to pluck up the courage to part with. It was a nice feeling waking up today with 3 lovely new items of clothing to choose from instead of thinking “I’ll wear whatever’s clean and dark”. Progress? I think so.

We have a table! We wanted a double drop leaf table so we could use it as a breakfast bar most days but have the extra optional table space if anyone visits. Right now though we only have one chair so we have to take it in turns.

Our sofa is drowning under cushions and I refuse to get rid of any of them – no matter how much of a faff it can be sometimes to sit down.

And illya is loving her hideously pink and fluffy cushion cover. I cheap alternative to the expensive sheep skin rugs that were at the old house. I think she assumed they were siblings because they got cleaned and nibbled from time to time. I was going to get her one so she had a little bit of comfort during the move but when I saw the price tag I did a little shudder. Fortunately I found this tough pink monstrosity and it’s living up perfectly to it’s cat mat job.

Some new little accessories that will be making their way into the shop very very soon just in time for, dare I say it, Christmas 2011 (gulp!). I’ll also list some festive cards seeing as I’m getting into the Christmas spirit… during our mini heatwave…