Has it really been that long?

[Autumn fare: pigeon salad, with local Halloumi, local pigeon and roasted butternut squash from the garden, washed down with some delicious Apple juice from up the road]

Has it really been that long? I think this is probably the longest I have gone without blogging. I'm finding that there just aren't enough hours in the day at the moment. If I blog then it means even less time for Tim and I to spend together! In fact, I'm not really sure what happened between July and Oct, it's all been a blur. I just don't know how I do it sometimes - tomorrow I have to pack for going away to Amsterdam on Friday. It's the only time I have to do it as Monday and Tuesday I'll be working late no doubt (nothing changes) Wednesday I am busy in the afternoon/evening, Thursday night I have my course so I won't get home until 10pm and Friday morning I have to get up at 5am! My life is exhausting, but I've come to realise that I make it that way - there are people who do an average job (ie, they do what is required of them and nothing more) and leave work every day at 5.30, but I just can't let go enough to do that. I was officially awarded my promotion though this week. The first time in my life that all my hard work has been recognised! :-) It also means that some of the renovations that we simply couldn't afford before might become a reality.

You see the dining room here and our kitchen + utility room? Well we are thinking of knocking this all through into a big kitchen. I'm not usually a massive fan of this open plan kitchen/diner where mummy can watch darling child do homework whilst baking (does that even happen?!), but if it means we can have a nice free standing country kitchen with dressers instead of fitted cupboards, a belfast sink and an aga then I think it might be a good solution. Also, the reality is the dining room just doesn't get used as it should.

[Kitchen]

[Utility room]

[Dining room]

Some of these are nice:


[Farmhouse kitchen - this one is my favourite]
[Rustic chic]
[Pretty shaker style kitchen][This a bit different, but pretty]

I had some good news on Wednesday - my little sister had a beautiful baby girl called Sophie. Isn't she cute and she's such a good little baby! I am officially an aunty! I made her this little basket. You will probably vaguely recognise the owl - I pinched this idea from Hen (nowhere near as nice as Hen's!). My sister used to love owls when she was little, and her favourite soft owl toy was called Ollie the owl so this is my version of Ollie.

[Baby Sophie]


[Ollie the Owl]

I wanted to say a big thank you to Sharon over at Clover Cottage for sending me this cute tea towel (Rosie approved of the cat!). Sharon - I will send you the cushion covers by Christmas, promise! :-)


I also won Lemonade Kitty's giveaway (how lucky am I?). I posted pics of the lovely wrapping but foolishly forgot to take pictures of my winnings. I won some toastie slippers (much needed at the moment), a wooden button, 2 children's books (love these!) and a really pretty brooch! :-) Thank you both! :-)


Now, on to some bargains I got on ebay: this really pretty 50s picnic hamper was £15 and the Edwardian mirror was £12.


More bargains from ebay coming soon...

Sewing room makeover

My sewing room has always been a bit of a hotch potch of colours styles, different types of furniture etc so on Sunday I decided to get to work trying to make everything fit together. I decided to embrace the cottage style for this room rather than try and fight it with bright colours and union jacks etc.

Before



After


[very dull outside hence the poor light]

The main colours are now green and pink. I bought the really pretty curtains on ebay, aren't they gorgeous? I think they were £18 and came beautifully laundered and wrapped up - makes all the difference doesn't it? I made the 2 pictures - I grabbed a handful of lace, buttons and anything else to hand looked at what I had and then 10 minutes later I have these beauties. I made them by scanning in 2 old postcards, mounting them on card and then gluing them on to doilies. I then added lace, ribbon roses and anything else I could find that looked pretty.



The pretty wreath was another ebay purchase, one day I might embellish that too. I'm not sure about the CK paisley bed clothes, I bought them a while ago and I'm not sure I like them so they might get swapped for some embroidered cream cotton bed clothes. TK Maxx and department store sales are great places to find top quality bedding for less.

This bookcase was left by the previous owners and has come in really handy! We have the most eclectic mix of books you could possibly imagine.

There's the political/autobiography books. All my years worth of Country Living, Country Homes & Interiors (personal favourite of mine), Period Ideas, Period Living, The English Home etc. Then there are lots of gardening and cookery books. We have a lot of paperback books, largely because I used to get through a few of those a week traveling to and from London everyday on the train (one thing I miss about driving to work!).

The good, the bad and the damn right expensive!

The good - that's a stretch for me at the moment. I'm not feeling good about much really - Tim, the cat and my chooks are all that keep me going. I had an 'episode' at work in which I just had to leave early. It's suddenly hit me - I'm doing far too much and it's really taking its toll. The upshot of this has been that I am going to be promoted though so all the hard work hasn't gone unnoticed (that was the good bit).

The bad is that I was due to go to Susan Ashman's lovely interior design course today, but unfortuntaley half way there the car decided it didn't like the rain and the wipers gave up the ghost. I can't complain too much as I've had nothing done with my car for 3 years, but still of all days this has to happen. Quick membership of the AA acquired (nearly £200 later mind you!) and I was back home - 12 hours after having set off so you can imagine how exhausted and stressed I am! The lovely AA man took me to the nearest BMW garage to see if they could fix the wiper issue and of course they said no and were not particularly helpful (why are BMW stealers so obnoxious?!) so god knows when my car will be sorted out. I'll have to get used to the Landy!

Anyway, pretty pics tomorrow hopefully of my craft room transformations - I just had to offload! :-)

Grand clear out

Hi all,

I hope it is sunny where you are. I've been cleaning the girlies out this morning, they are so cute! I gave them their favourite corn as a treat after they had their dust bathe.


I'm having a grand clear out over on my blog shop so please do have a look and let me know if there's anything you would like to buy. I have so much stuff and there's no sense in keeping it all tucked away. Some of the things are left over from craft fairs that I have done. There's all sorts of goodies up for grabs so don't miss out! More things will be added throughout the week so do check back.

TTFN

Sian x

Great day out

Well, the DSLR photography course was great! It was held by Phil and Rachel, a lovely couple who are professional photographers. The course took place here in Fletching at the Rose and Crown, although they do run courses all over the country.

There were 4 of us on the course in total - a 70 year-old man who was given the course for his birthday, a lady who wanted to learn to take pictures of her daughter, and Tim and I. I barely knew how to turn on my camera (I've only just started using it over my point and shoot) so I was a complete beginner.

They took us through all the settings then we went off and put it into practice around the beautiful location of Sheffield Park Gardens. Fortunately there were lots of ducks around so we were able to practice some wildlife shots. I think this was the best of my shots of the ducks. I also think this one worked well of the 'Private' sign and I liked the daisy.

I can honestly say that I have gone from complete newbie to someone who at least knows all the settings and has a rough idea of which ones to use when. A thoroughly good day was had by all and I highly recommend this course. So, if you know someone who is interested in photography and think this would make a good gift, then please do visit their website: www.photographymadesimple.co.uk

Game of 2 halves

It's been a mixed bag this week. I'm having trouble sleeping at the moment, probably work related (me worrying if everything is getting done). Oh well, maybe I'll get promoted on November 1st (D-day), maybe I won't. Will have to wait and see.

In stark contrast, the other half of my life - Interior Design and being at home doing fun things - is going rather well. This week we learnt about colour and different types of schemes. It was really interesting and really made me think about how I use colour. Arriving home at 10 pm from my course, I noticed the postie had dropped off 2 shabby chic/country home books (Perfect English Cottage as recommended by Hen) and Simply Country. Looking through I realised how 'dull' some shabby chic/country cottage schemes can be with no focal points (I don't mean fireplaces, I mean colour) or features (with the exception of Hen and Happy who use colour in the best possible way). I've realised that I do like a bit of colour even if it's introduced by some bright cut flowers.

I am slowly trying to introduce a bit of fun into our house with these candy striped cafe curtains in our kitchen and the bright tea cosy.

Also, do you like my bright college bag (not usually a lover of pastel pink, but I do like bright pink)? It was that or grey or black so I thought what the hell!



I aso ordered this shoe organiser this week to try and tidy up the utility room.

Autumn has finally arrived - I love this time of year with roasted chestnuts, open fires, raised game pie, butternut squash soup and duck salads. Autumn food is the best.

Here are some home-grown potatoes and onions, we've also got sweetcorns, aubergines (one shop size and several small ones) lots of chillies (the one I'm holding is a bird's eye chilli).

I'm just off now to my grandparents' house. They have an old clock for me so I'm going to pick that up. It's good having an old house because all the family treasures end up coming to me for safe keeping!

Tomorrow I have a much-needed day off. Tim and I are going on a photography course around the Sheffield Park Gardens. It's about time I started to learn how to use my camera properly. I'm sure it will come in very useful once I have set myself up as an interior designer. :-)

Ooh, before I forget did you all catch Strictly last night? I watched most of it, but the power went off about 15 times last night!! Our power goes off practically every day - one of the down sides of living in a rural area (boohoo I hear you cry! ;-)).

Anyway, much dash!

TTFN

Sian x

Courses

Sorry I haven't been around much lately. I've been busy this week (what's new I hear you say!). My course started this week and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It's a proper course and I feel as though I'm back in school again (not that it's really been that long since I was in education!). It's a City and Guilds in Interior Design so I'll be assessed on 2 projects - a home office, and a bedroom and ensuite bathroom. I have a taker for the home office already would you believe. I'm looking forward to creating a really contemporary space for a colleague of mine who will officially be working from home 1 day a week. Looking at the syllabus for the course we will go through the whole process and there are 3 trips too. One of them will be next week: I'll be going to '100% Design' at Earl's court. It' all very exciting indeed. I also have the Interior Design residential course at Brimpton in October (I'll be a pro at this rate) and a photography course next week just down the road from me here.

I'm hoping that I can set up an Interior Design business next year and I'm already building my website! If you're thinking of changing your life and going for something then why not have a go and sign up for a course this year? You never know, you might like it! :-)