How does your garden grow..

Above is the view of our garden from the top bedroom. These pics were taken 2 weeks ago when we had a break in the storms, we had been planning to start tackling the garden on the Sunday and were amazed to get a gorgeous sunny day to start. Take a walk with me to see the very exciting but daunting project. The garden has been neglected for many years so we aim to clear it and cut back the shrubs to see what there is to work with. I am sure it will be a fairly slow process one little bit at a time until next spring.
I have been clearing the patio area and the terraces below.
With the aim of planting herbs in pots and covering the different levels of terrace. I love to use fresh herbs in cooking and just go outside the kitchen door and grab what I need will be a dream come true :) I also have the book 'grow your own drugs'..medicinal ones! and would love to test out some of the recipes.
I think I may clear a bit more ivy first.  It would cost a fortune to fill the garden using garden centres so I intend to do some swaps with friends for plants and cuttings, possibly some gardening in return for raiding there gardens ;)

Above is the view back up to the house from the first grassy patch.
This section we have already discovered little paths through and I would like it to be full of cottage flowers and roses, honeysuckle with a small bench. mmmm I can just smell the summer:)
Getting further down the garden now..
possibly a veg garden ?? not sure we have the time, but eventually i would love to grow all our veg.
Tony's potting shed..needs a little tlc and electric! with kettle and cups..it's a long walk back up for a cup of tea ;)
lots of hidden paths.
lots over grown..

This is the teenage bit, right at the bottom of the garden where next summer they will be able to have camp outs, though Harry is imagining a nice shed..free cycle I think :)
A small amount of clearing to do first!! It's going to be a great family project and we are hoping for a few more sunny sundays :)
Tony and harry playing with the new toys! They did clear quite a long way down and it already looks better.

Shop refit

On Sunday and Monday (actually i started Saturday night!) we had a huge shop reshuffle, we moved all the yarn from the back room above into the front of the shop, I had made a plan the saturday before and even measured it up to make sure my plan would work.  It was much easier for Tony to just come in and do the moving the furniture bit and go back out again. The first job was moving everything out of the corner below to make room for the wool shelves, quite a bit of shuffling went on! and the house filled with yarn when we moved the shelves in place.
It had to be ready for Tuesday Morning so we had to work quite fast...while packing the house inbetween.
I think the shop looks great now and it has really given it a revamp, there is still a bit of a way to go unpacking my bits into the back room which will be my office and workspace (the buttons have there very own display cabinet and shelves) actually I'd forgotton how much we actually moved...all of my stash and the shelving, I will put a photo of the finished room on my blog next week.
I really l;ike where the jewellery cabinets are it all seemed to go to plan!

I am hoping that the house move will go as smoothly, I have loaded the van with the first lot of boxes and Tony's new chair especially for relaxing with a cup of tea.

ooooooooo moving tommorow whoo hoo, I may not be able to walk much after the move my legs are aching already!

Moving House

Well the move is well under way, and I am feeling amazingly calm. I have been slowly clearing since July, though there is still masses left to do I think it is achievable by Friday 23rd Oct.

We are having a major shop refit today, clearing the back room in the shop at the moment full of wool and clothes, andf putting it in the front of the shop..I have a good plan and think the shop will look fab when it is finished. 

My major stash of fabrics, buttons,beads and vintage books are being moved into the back room which will become my workspace and a place Arthur can relax after Nursery. A whole little room will be fab, I will be able to see the fabrics rather than having them in boxes and customers will be able to go through the buttons and beads. I have had a corner of the dining room for the last year as my workspace which has gradually filled up and spread into the rest of the room.

I am so excited about the move, and everytime I start to feel exhausted or cross with the mess I just look at this pic, and calm right down.

This is just such an amazing house :) It is the black painted one.An Edwarian house over  4 floors, our room being right at the top. (will need tea stuff and a little fridge,or i will not be making tea and taking it back to bed!)
A very long garden which needs a bit of tlc, we're hoping to have a section each, I am imaging a little blue painted wooden studio surrounded by herbs and cottage flowers, Tony will have a potting shed, Arthur a little house, and the teenagers are having the bottom end and thinking about a skateboard ramp...not sure about that one. Obviously this will be over time ..
This is the sitting room, and down the next floor is the dining room, both with balcony's.
OOOoo I can't wait to sit here, will not care about opening boxes! I have ordered cakes from Dee incase any one drops in over the weekend. It will be amazing to have our own place and be sociable again and though having the shop attatched to the house was great while Arthur was a baby. Locking the door and going home will be priceless :) The new shop and Tony's office are only 200 yards from the new house. 
Right I am off to sort the shop and move my stash, leaving loads of space to pile boxes.

Travelling Anonymous Market Bison Farm.

On Saturday I took my little shop to the Bison Farm at West Knoyle in Wiltshire. I aimed to get there early so I could drive in and drop off my bits instead of walking it all in, got there just in time..5 minutes after Kate and I unloaded our cars everyone else arrived.  That gave me an extra half hour to set up, I was not so stressed this time and everything seemed to fall into place. Putting the wool in the boxes worked really well.


Kate has been collecting lovely vintage bits and upcycling them as well as mixing with more modern fabrics and selling gorgeous bits of china, love the coffee and tea flowery pots.
The Lavender Russian dolls make a great use of the fabric I have in my shop, I imagined doing something like that when I originally saw the fabric so its really nice to see them made up, backed with vintage fabrics. I have asked kate if I can have some for my shop so hoping she hasn't sold out ;)
There was a great feel to the market, the sun was shining and everyones stalls looked fab! The bus above was a cafe inside and sold delicious coffee.
Dee has just started a cake business and sells to offices in and around Gillingham and Shaftesbury, her cakes are yummy :)
A que formed immediately hee hee :)... who let the goats out!
I loved Rose Hatchers felt, she has not been felting that long but has done some amazing work. I can see her work selling well in Galleries. I have got some of her cards in my shop which look fab and I really like to stock local artists work especially when people are just starting out.
and I really really want this coat!!! but would have to win the lottery or maybe sell one of my original paintings. Will have to have a go at wet felting it looks great fun.
some more lovely stalls :)

There was lots of fab food too, the most delicious salads and Olives.
and of course the bison..who luckily didn't get out..you would have seen me abandoning my stall if they did!
It was a great day in the sun, and Arthur went off with his best friend Ted to a little theme park..so I had a lovely break, could have done with lots more customers though!! think people went off to the beach instead :)

Tony went off to The Goodwood Revival and texted me what a fab time he was having and how it was vintage heaven..mmm he originally told me it was  a car thing!  I will be booking my tickets for next year i think!

Lots Going On

I have not blogged for a couple of weeks, I seem to spend lots of time on twitter as it is more instant and you can also chat to other crafters while you work :)

I was embellishing these little hats last week. After teaching lots of teenagers how to do blanket stitch over the summer holidays while making mobile phone socks, I realised I could do it myself, I had not been able to do it neatly before, its still not perfect but I am pleased with the results.  I have used found bits of fabric and embroidery to add onto the hats a great way of recycling little bits of fabric.  I have cheated and not knitted the hats first, the credit for those goes to Bridgette my knitting angel :) using the Adriafil Mirage yarn. I have just realised i have not put those on my website..lots of updating to do next week :)

On Saturday I ran a Needlefelting workshop, always great fun. I cover the table with all the lovely Merino wools, a mixture of the embellishing yarns I have in the shop as well as beads, buttons and findings so everyone can take home finished items.

This is what every body made Tina aka Mollimoo has blogged about the workshop :)

One of the ladies went home wearing her cupcake and leek brooches she made during the class and was also armed with enough knowledge to go and teach needlefelting at a craft workshop in the school where she works.

I am getting ready to have a stand with The Travelling Anonymous Market at the Bison Centre East knoyle On Saturday.

Arthur helped me to paint these lovely old potato trugs, he loves doing little jobs like this,

and cocentrates very hard :)
I chose some colours I thought looked a little bit vintage and would look great sanded down to give an aged feel.
Then I realised that I had been influenced by the colours in the car museum..inspiration can come from anywhere, it is funny that I took the picture above while we were at the car museum, it obviously was ingrained in my brain. As I took the picture below I had a feeling I had seen it before and had to search back through my photos for the one above ;)
They have come out quite well considering they were covered in mud and looking very shabby.
Now I can put my yarns in them and they will stack on top of each other (easier to use sack trucks to get to pitch) and then go straight on the shelves saving me some setting up time.
George said they look like 'farmers market' but with yarn instead of veg, well that about sums it up I think?