I made one of these yesterday! It’s probably the first time I’ve made it my mission to hunt down the yarn recommended in a pattern. Same colour, same everything. And I’m so pleased with the result. The pattern is in the Simple Knitting book I mentioned in this post (about the cushion cover I was working on – which I also just finished, pictured below).

Sorry for the grainy picture – it’s quite a dark room.

I seem to be prepping for a winter that feels like it’ll never come – The suns shining and we’ve been forecast a warm start to October… sigh… I’m really not a big fan of summer – I’m in my comfort zone when it’s cold and fresh. I went out and bought a new winter coat yesterday too hoping in some way that might influence a sudden and dramatic change in the seasons. Nothing so far.

I’m also having a bit of a wardrobe crisis. It’s full… and I don’t like any of it anymore… . Nothing fits properly and there are very few things I can wear and say honestly that I feel comfortable and like me wearing them. Other than take the offending items to the charity shops I can’t really see how to get out of the rut. I think I need a bit of a makeover but I don’t know where to start. I’ve never found it easy replacing bad clothes with good ones. A lot of the time fashion and current trends are against me and my body shape – this is a battle I’m very familiar with. I’m going to make it my mission to introduce some changes and it’ll probably help to document and blog about what these changes are and how the makeover’s going… So fingers crossed this works and I keep my camera on me at all times…

I’ll keep you posted!

I’m back! Armed with some pictures of my new studio and our sleeping room. Looking back I wish I’d dug my camera out and taken some before and after photos because we’ve done a little decorating since we moved in last week. Our bedroom walls were a mixture of mid blue and “Almond” cream – It was like sleeping in a block of blue cheese. Below is an example of the previous colour scheme but in person the blue was stronger and darker… The whole back wall and the alcove (where the book case now stands) were that blue colour and the rest of the walls were the overly warm cream… *shudder* But this is a tale with a happy ending because as you can see from the pictures all those colours are gone and the room feels clean and spacious!

The room I’m using at the studio also had a strange colour combo going on. The walls were lilac and deep dark purple. Now for anyone who has visited the projection rooms where I work at Broadway will know they’re also dark and purple. Working at home would’ve felt too much like being at my other job and I don’t think that would’ve been good for the brain. We got rid of the darker purple and ideally I would’ve liked to remove the lilac too but we have a huge wardrobe in that spare room (which has come in handy because we have lots of stuff!) and it would’ve been too much of a mission to rattle everything about. I’ve come to terms with the lilac now and I have covered most of it in pictures and postcards.

It’s such a good feeling having so much space put aside for making and creating. I’ll take some snaps of the rest of the house to show you in my next post.

PS – my Etsy shop is now open!

I’m causing chaos to my work space by “organising” EVERYTHING. I’m moving house in 8 days (eeeek) and I’ve been covered in dust for 2. I think it’s going well :)

This does mean my shop will close its doors for a week or 2 until we arrange the broadband and work space at the other end. I’ll keep you up dated on here. The shop will close on WEDNESDAY 31ST – my last post office day will be THURSDAY 1ST.

This is just a quick post because the time has come to edit my shoes… sigh…

My drawings start off really scruffy and by the time I’m armed with a pen they look awful! I’ve mentioned in previous posts about how I try to be a perfectionist when it comes to doodling in sketchbooks and I find it really tricky to let my hair down, so to speak, and just draw. But it’s a really nice feeling when a picture you almost give up on  turns into something your’re really pleased with. I think what I’m trying to say is: Scruffy is good.

And now there is a new print in the shop :)

I’m busy getting all the work ready for the shows next week. Tomorrow my Nottingham Castle painting experience begins. I’ve planned a nice packed lunch to take with me to ease the nerves – so now I’m looking forward to tomorrow lunch time, which means by then I should be at least 3 or 4 hours into the piece. Cunning yes? I hope the distraction works!

Today I’ve been colouring in the smaller pieces and apart from the name tags I’m pretty close to the finishing line! That’s a really good feeling!

We’re off on an adventure! I’m keeping the shop open but just so you know I won’t be processing any orders until the 19th! I’ll try to keep everything up to date though while I’m away. Here is a picture of a pretty bunting house from our last mini adventure we went on :)

Speak soon! x