Back Again..

I'm afraid I've been a little quiet this month, but I have had rather a lot going on outside of the computer. I've taken up my knitting needles again to finish a couple of projects, which I'll show you another time. I've been trying to get my Partylite business going, which has involved a fair bit of designing posters and going to events to start promoting. I'm also going to have to get back into sewing mode as I've decided to do a bit of a re-design for my Rose & Bird items. I have a lady next Saturday to have a look at my stuff and possibly offer me some dates for a stall at her fair. I want to up my game for that! On top of all that, I've been trying to keep the house in some sort of order, but it's much more tempting just to do another couple of rows!
The garden and allotment have also gone mad with all this sunshine and rain. We've had loads of strawberries, the black and redcurrants are laden even with the birds taking their share, and we have apples and plums growing as we speak. At the allotment, our lettuces have doubled in size almost overnight, the early potatoes are almost ready, and the french beans have nearly outgrown their canes!
Unfortunately, we have a naughty fox who likes to dig and tip over the containers in the garden. I'm thinking of putting chilli powder down to discourage him, but if anyone can suggest some other humane fox detterants, please let me know.

Would love to hear how all your gardens are doing.

Coming Up Roses

Just a few pictures from the garden, taken in last week's glorious sunshine. Some of the roses we've bought or brought from our previous house, which I can tell you the names of, the others were already here, so goodness knows what they are! They're still pretty though.

'Rhapsody In Blue', a purple shrub rose


'Ena Harkness', a deep red climber


'Golden Celebrations', a golden yellow shrub rose

'White Cloud', a shy white climber

A cream climber that covers the pergola


Another climber

A rather large pink rose, growing under the apple tree.

Don't forget to take time to smell the roses this week x

Motivational Speaking 101

(http://rattler-radio.blogspot.com/2008_01_01_archive.html)

Kind of appropriate for me at the moment. After 2 craft fairs in a row at which I failed to sell anything, part of me is ready to throw in the towel. But I'm trying to get in touch with my inner 2-year-old - the one that said no! loudly and repeatedly and refused to give up doing what she wanted to do. Or that tiny little part of me that kept going through countless lessons and 4 driving tests before finally passing at the fifth attempt, aged 23. Or the part that gets on a horse despite feeling sick at memories of a painful fall 12 years ago, the part that made me start jumping again.
The point is that this is something I don't want to give up on - I enjoy doing it and it makes me happy (most of the time). I don't know why I didn't sell anything - maybe it was the location, maybe people don't have the money, maybe I'm just not a saleswoman, but there's always next time.
I'm working on the look of the stall all the time - at the moment I'm trying to think of a good way to display my bags. They currently get laid on the table, but I need some kind of rack to hang them on. It needs to be small enough to stand on a 6ftx3ft table, so if anyone's got any ideas, I'd love to hear them.

French Fancies

Well, I promised I would show you my French Fabric Finds, and here they are:

These 3 are blue checks and stripes. The one on the left was just 99c, the dark stripe 1,99E, the pale gingham was also 1,99E

These two were a little more expensive, they were 4,99E a metre. I didn't buy 2 the same, by the way - the lower one has a pale check running across it.

These pretty cottons were 5,99E at metre. The last one has 3 photos because it was extra wide and the design gets more complex as you go across it. I wonder if it's meant for very light weight curtains?

Please Help a Fellow Blogger

Just wanted to let you know that Jayne over at Snapdragon's Garden is looking for people to take a photo of one of her lovely badges and send it to her for her catalogue - you get to keep the badge, provided you'll definitely take a photo.
Jayne is such a lovely person - she offfered to lend me a sewing machine when mine broke down even though we've never met and live at opposite ends of the country!

Devizes Craft Fair 23 May

Don't forget that tomorrow (sat 23rd May) the craft fair in the Corn Exchange, Devizes is on from 9am. I'll be there, along with many other craftspeople. Do pop in and say hello!

City of Light

I'm back from Paris!

I'm afraid there's no vintage pretties due to lack of funds and lack of confidence in my French skills! I also forgot that you're meant to barter in the flea markets, so I thought everything was too expensive. I did find a great fabric shop (Marche St Pierre) in Montmartre, 5 floors of fabric, at very reasonable prices, even with the poor exchange rate. In fact, Montmartre is the best area for fabric shops - there are loads around there. I did buy a few metres of fabric - I'll show those another time.

Meanwhile, enjoy some pictures of Paris.