New Look, new start.

I am getting very excited about the move to our new shop. On the 29th of May we are closing the Gillingham shop and moving it to 59 High Street Wincanton. It will have a new look and new direction.  With the emphasis on Recycle, reuse and reinvent. I will be mixing vintage with Handmade (which I have been doing gradually in Gillingham over the last year or so), but there will not be the bought in products from India ,  I will be buying off  British crafts people, locally and across the country.

Kate from Magpie (often seen at the Anonymous Travelling Market) is going to put her gorgeous work in the shop and also help out on a Friday.  Kate makes beautiful things from vintage fabrics and reworks linen tablecloths etc into egg cosies and bags.  She also has a 'magpies' eye for china and little vintage finds.

Maria from 'Just Sew' will be supplying the shop with bunting and appliqued pictures.

There will also be the lovely pottery from Karen Harrison, often seen exhibiting across the country.
Mixed in with fabrics, vintage and new, vintage making books (if I can manage to part with 

them. ), ribbons, 


Vintage buttons as well as ceramic and modern (as you know I am a buttonholic.) Vintage haberdashery,
Little vintage luckydip packs,
and I am going to rework these fantastic vintage knitting patterns, for the shop and the website.
Don't you just love them :)...or is it just me???
There will also be a large amount of my handmade bits, made from recycling jumpers and buttons. As well as my paintings and photography.

The website will get a lot more of my attention and I will gradually get all of the stock on there.
Just a few of my handmade brooches and necklaces.


So quite a packed shop really!!!

We are only going to open 3 days a week, Wed, Thurs, and Friday.

When sitting down with Tony to discuss the new venture we realised we had not had a weekend together for 6 years!, and also George and Harry will be leaving school from July , George will be going to Falmouth Art college in September and Harry may be joining the army ( he has to have a medical in June and then we'l know more.) So it will be amazing for me to be at home more and around for all the boys through the summer. (I may spend a bit of time making in the sunshine..but I will be around!)

From September when Arthur starts school I am looking forward to going back to supplying Galleries and having the excuse to visit different towns (some of which may be by the sea lol)

It all sounds great doesn't it, I am very lucky that I have Tony to support and encourage me, We all are actually!  ( more than words can say) I am hoping that I can give the same back over the next few years as he embarks on putting all his ideas into action.

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.