Never Judge a Book By Its Cover

When I first moved to Suffolk 21 years ago, and I was trying to find somewhere to live, everybody said things to me like 'avoid so and so it's really rough'  'so and so's not a nice place to live, you can do better than that' and 'you won't like it in so and so, it's not a good area'.  So I avoided so and so area and eventually bought a lovely 17th century grade 2 listed cottage in a tiny village.  No shop, a bus twice a week (on market days) but lots of big houses, a pub and a church (service only once every 4 weeks).  It was nice.  It was pretty.  It was very very quiet, apart from the lorries on the main road. We had a good social life.  We ate round friends houses.  We did a bit of walking and country sports. We had friends round to eat and socialise.  I enjoyed living there but I never really fitted in. I couldn't be me, often I had to pretend to enjoy things (or pretend to understand things!).  I wasn't posh like the other women, and unlike most of them, I worked!

(the plastic box contains surplus veg from my allotment, for sale)

Then, for various reasons, I sold the beautiful cottage to cries from my friends of 'how could you leave it?', 'you'll never find somewhere as pretty/characterful/unique as this again', and then the cries became 'you're moving WHERE?', 'you can't move there it's rough/not nice/a bad area'.  Yes, you've guessed, I was moving to THAT 'so and so' place where everyone had always told me not to live!

(County Park at the 'so and so' place)

And do you know what, the neighbourhood I moved to is the friendliest, happiest place I've lived, EVER.  On the day I moved in people I'd never met (my new neighbours) came round with flowers and cards to welcome me to the street.  People spoke to me in the street from day one. People are friendly in the corner shop.  When I'm gardening in the front garden people I've never seen before stop and chat.  Neighbours give me eggs, make cups of tea for each other when we're all gardening in the summer.  Impromptu lunches, evening drinks just happen.  And just recently I've started going to yoga at the local upper school and everyone is friendly there too.  We chat, we laugh, it's fun. 

(allotments by the Country Park - maybe one day I'll be able to have one again......)

Yes there are parts of this area that are rough, but I don't live in that part (although some of the lovely people at yoga do), I live in the old part, a part I never even knew existed because I'd judged the whole area by what other people said about it.  It's not perfect, (nowhere is, is it?),  but it's lovely and I can be ME and everyone just accepts that.  And I know I learnt a valuable lesson when I  moved here - never judge a book by its cover! 

Exciting News!

Well I'm excited anyway! As some of you may know I work with two other people in a small business - The Treasure Tree.  We create interactive stories/resources for children, up to about the age of 8 and 9, that are both safe and fun with bright, colourful illustrations.  Up until now these have just been available via our website, but today our first iOS app has gone live in the App Store!

I can't even begin to explain the hours of work, from all of us, that have gone into converting the website version into the app, (including adding a narrated option) but the words 'steep learning curve' are very very accurate!

If you have an iPad and your own children, or work with children, or are just interested, then please download it - it's FREE for a limited time.  If you like it and feel able to leave us a rating/review as well that would be fantastic.

This link will take you directly to it in the iOS App Store where it looks just like this.

Now I'm off to have another cup of tea to celebrate!

Five Little Makes

The first thing on my 2014 list of 'Nice Things for Me to Do' wasn't to go anywhere but was to have some sewing/making days at home.

First of all I made a pincushion.

I'd made Fran one for Christmas but couldn't blog about it before Christmas for obvious reasons! They involve a bottle lid (for the base), pretty cotton fabric, cotton velvet, ric-rac and emery grit.

This is the one I made for Fran.

Then I made a necklace from a glass tile, fabric and some velvet ribbon.

I think I'll make some more of these in different colours as they're really easy and effective.

Next I made a new case for my work phone as I managed to lose the previous one a few weeks ago during a muddle of phones ringing, loading the boot and getting into the car!

And finally, today, I made a new case for my glasses as the hinge had gone on the old one.

It has a stripy bottom, is slightly stiffened and has a co-ordinating lining, and I'm really pleased with how it turned out. 

I've had a lovely few days, even though I did make a bit of a mess!

A List of Nice Things

I have a note on my phone titled ‘Nice Things for Me to Do’.  About 18 months ago I decided to try and do something nice, just for me, each month.  They didn’t need to be big things, just nice things that weren’t work or business related (all work and no play etc etc). 
Looking back at the list I can see that I managed to do something most months; some were planned in advance and some just happened, some were with friends and some were by myself. 

They included 3 theatre visits (I also saw Billy Elliot but didn't have a photo), 2 exhibitions, finding a dragon, the Sudbury Light Night, walking in a blue bell wood, discovering a lovely new garden, trips to Snape and the seaside, our annual trip to the Knitting & Stitching Show and a lovely evening in London meeting up with my cousin and his family over from America who I hadn't seen for 10 years. (I also did a wonderful 'bat walk' one evening with a friend but didn't take any pictures!)

I already have some things planned for 2014, including 2 trips to the theatre in London (going last year reminded me how much I love this), going to the Textile in Focus exhibition in Cottenham (I couldn’t go last year as it was during a work week) and a possible visit to the fashion museum. I also know that we’ll go to K and S again and that many other things will just happen spontaneously throughout the year.

Writing them down has made me realise what a lovely year I’ve had - here’s to another lovely one next year, for all of you as well as me.

What No Christmas tree?

Shock, horror - no christmas tree?  "But you must have a tree!" said many of my work colleagues when I said I was planning on doing things differently this year.  I'm not a huge fan of Christmas decorations but I did want something, so I decided to keep things much simpler this year and this is what I've done.

I picked the red stems of cornus elegantisma from the garden, wrapped some lights around them and hung a few small gold or wooden decorations from them, including some gold skeleton leaves.

The table candles have been given a wrap of ivy (my garden has loads!),

and the stairs have their usual garland.

I sprayed some agapanthus seed heads (again from the garden) and put them in a vase with lights and gold chains (next to Mrs Bovver Boots Angel),

added some more ivy above some pictures and mirrors and put some of the unused baubles onto a platter.

It's simpler, it's more me, and I'm happy!  Now I still need to tackle wrapping presents and doing some cooking, oh and watch the Strictly final too :-)

Happy Christmas everyone - have a wonderful time whatever you're doing.

Wrap Me Up!

Hello, it's me, I'm still here! I'd like to tell you that I've been really busy making lots of wonderful Christmas presents and decorating the house beautifully - but I haven't. I've been really busy at work (with the day job) and really busy with our business, The Treasure Tree (hope to have some news about exciting new developments to share with you in the new year).

So what would any sane person, who has done very little so far for Christmas do on a free evening?  Probably not block their knitting which was what I did!

This blocking called for wires, but I don't have any proper blocking wires so I made some from this:

Garden wire!  It was a bit bendy and difficult to control but I got there in the end.  And after leaving it to block overnight this is what I've got.

Blocking it so severely has given it a lovely drape and it's going to be just the thing to wrap up in during the cold weather.  The pattern is Guernsey Wrap by Brooklyn Tweed, and I treated myself and used their yarn which I bought from Loop.  I've never been to the Loop shop, but intend to change that during 2014!

Now I really must go and do some Christmas bits - there's still loads of time isn't there?!

It Started With A .......

Tweet.  This tweet actually.

I'd spied two key words - 'free' and 'multiyork'.  I had a multiyork sofa in my previous house and I loved it. Sadly it wouldn't fit in this house so I had to get rid of it.  I still miss it and in a few years time I plan to buy another, but having owned it I knew that multiyork are a:  built to last, and b: have removable and replaceable covers. So after a few more tweets I set off to Nicola's (only about 40 mins away) and returned home with the chair.

After a run through the washing machine (yes they said 'dry clean only' but I took a risk) and a few days drying, the chair was given the feline seal of approval before it had even got into the lounge!

It's now in residence in the lounge, covered in a throw whilst I decide what fabric to get new covers in, and looking very 'right' for the room :-)

But this meant that I had to find a home for the other (cheap, temporary) chair that had been there in the lounge for the last 5 years.  In my brain a plan was hatching - in the dining room there's a space under the stairs,  which had always been home to the stereo (rarely used now thanks to itunes) and the shoe basket etc.

After a little re-arranging of the dining room furniture the oak coffer is now in situ on the other side of the room and this is what the space under the stairs now looks like

Somewhere snuggly to sit and read.

Thanks Nicola for the chair - and good luck with the shop move in the new year.