Linen and Roses

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All Change

Hello. Anyone still there? Sorry for the unplanned break. I really didn't mean to go away from here but sometimes life just gets in the way. That's how it should be really. 

After much thought though I've decided to stop blogging for now. I just can't give it the time it deserves anymore. I've got two very busy and wonderful boys who take up a lot of my time and I'm trying to make a small business for myself with my sewing. I've been spending a lot of time on my facebook page and that is where I will continue to be if you would like to keep up with what I am doing. I find it easier to write there as I can write small snippets or just post a quick picture or two. I also feel that it is a more appropriate place to develop my business as that was the reason for starting the page over there. Somehow I have always felt awkward pushing my wares on here. So for now I will be concentrating on that and on enjoying life with my lovely boys and Husband. Maybe I'll be back on here at some point. We'll see. But for now I just wanted to bring it officially to a pause. I'll still be checking in on all of you and leaving a comment or two when I have a minute.

Bye for now. 

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52 Weeks of Happy (7/52)

 

Goodness I don't know where the time is going at the moment. Life is very full and I'm not doing at all well at taking photos of it as it happens. So apologies that two of the photos this week are of my work. It seems to be the thing that I am photographing at the moment mainly because I'm starting to get pretty busy with it. I always feel a little awkward sharing my work on here because I don't want to feel like I'm doing a sales pitch! Anyway, as well as lots of time spent in the garden, playing in the paddling pool and generally enjoying the gorgeous weather here are four other things making me happy this week ~

:: A hoop decoration made for my little H. I've been wanting to make something like this for ages and as I'm now selling these to order I decided to make one for H as an example. I'm so happy with how it turned out. Got to get it on the wall now. 

:: A gorgeous day out on Sunday with some good friends at Chartwell in Kent. I've been wanting to go here for ages and it was worth the wait. Unfortunately we had to slightly speed through the house as Little F wasn't especially interested but the grounds and gardens were beautiful. A lovely day out. 

::The yummy Christening cake made for my Niece's Christening. To be honest this just falls into the previous week so I'm cheating a little by sharing it here. It was delicious and looked as amazing on the inside as the outside as it had about 5 layers of sponge, each one a different colour. It was made for my Sis by a friend but she created the gorgeous bunting decorating the top. 

:: This is a little decoration I made for my Niece as part of her present. She's just had her bedroom done in lots of lovely bright colours so I made this to go in it. One of her walls is a fantastic pea green and she has deckchair stripe blinds in these sort of colours. My Sister also bought a sort of 1970s cabinet on ebay for 99p which she has painted with Annie Sloan paints to match. It looks fab. 

Sorry for the Linen & Roses creations heavy post. I am determined to take more photos in the coming week so I can share a little more of life on here. 

See you again soon. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

52 Weeks of Happy (6/52)

I'm being a very bad blogger just lately. Even deciding to join in with '52 Weeks of Happy' doesn't seem to be helping as I seem to have skipped a week. Naughty!

At the moment my happiness is all about spending time with my boys and my garden. I inspect it every morning and evening (not to mention numerous times inbetween!) to see how things are doing. So here are this weeks picture descriptions - 

:: Pretty clouds in a gorgeous blue sky 

:: My hostas and alchemilla  - don't look too closely  as the slugs and snails are having a feast most nights.

:: More blue sky, this time viewed while lying with my little munchkin in the half tent. 

:: one of my four new David Austin roses. My in-laws bought us four bare-rooted David Austins for Christmas last year. They arrived in November about a week before I gave birth to Little H so my poor Mum and Dad braved the cold and wet to plant them for us. They're all doing wonderfully and this is one of the first blooms. It's Princess Alexandra of Kent and looks and smells gorgeous. 

One of the main reasons for being such a bad blogger is that I'm finding my Facebook page to be so much easier to write on on a regular basis. It's quicker for me to post a quick picture or a few thoughts and I tend to do this at least once or twice a day whereas the thought of sitting down to write a blog post is more tricky with so much other stuff going on. I'll always be here at least once a week though.

I'll be drawing the winner of my little giveaway later on so I'll post the winner tomorrow. 

Have a lovely Monday. 

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A little gift

Hello. It's been a long while since a did a little giveaway on my blog. In fact I think the lasts time was actually on my previous blog. So as I recently reached over 100 posts here and over 200 likers over on my facebook page, I decided the time had come to give a little gift back to one of my lovely followers/likers.

All you have to do to be in with a chance of winning these the brooch, egg cosy and lavender sachet is leave me a comment here. If you'd like another couple of chances then pop over to my facebook page and comment on the giveaway post there too. I'll draw a winner at the beginning of next week.

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52 Weeks of Happy (5/52)

 

I've been pretty bad this week about photo taking. Partly it's been the weather and partly it's been me being a really scatter-brained Mummy forgetting to take my camera. For example we went on the loveliest walk on Sunday along a stretch of the Thames and I didn't take the camera. I was so annoyed with myself as it was a wonderful afternoon. So pretty and lots of memories to capture. It was a new walk to us so we're definitely going to be doing it later in the Summer and I promise to capture it next time. So yesterday afternoon when the sun finally came out I popped into the garden and captured a few images of how it's looking now. Problem is the camera doesn't really do justice to just how much better it's looking now than it did last year, hence all the fairly close up shots. So here in words are my happy things from the last week even though I don't have pictures to go with them all 

:: Making a Fathers Day gift for Lovely S with the boys. Little F painted a card and we also made hand prints of both of them which I put in a frame. ( I will take a photo to show you when it's on the wall as I'm really pleased with it)

:: An idyllic walk along the Thames. Sunshine, flowers, wildlife, fun, laughter and some seriously stunning riverside properties for Mummy to look at!

:: A day spent with my Mum and the boys. Dad was away sailing so we had a slightly more girly day together. Lots and lots of chatting and a lovely trip to the park plus window shopping in a lovely little town not far from here. 

:: Doing a lot of creating and getting my first sale via my Facebook page. I've been working really hard on Linen & Roses in the evenings and I'm loving it.

Hope you all had a good week. See you again soon. 

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52 Weeks of Happy (4/52)

My happy things this week :

:: Stitching some new brooches which are now available on my Facebook page.

:: A first peaceful cup of tea in the sunshine before the boys awake. 

:: My lovely garden coming into bloom. I am beginning to realise why people become obsessed with their garden. I'm loving mine as it slowly starts to take shape. I promise a full post soon to show you just how much it's changed since my last garden update. 

:: Working on a custom order of lavender filled linen hearts for a very lovely customer of mine. 

So many other things making me happy this last week. Lots of sunshine here in Buckinghamshire has seen us spending lots of time in the garden. Little H learning how to use his balance bike, digging in the soil, finding worms, lots of imaginary games. Little H discovering the garden, rolling and trying so hard to crawl, feeling the grass under his cute little fat feet, seeing the blue sky,  the fluffy clouds and birds for the first time. Lots of cuddles. A barbeque with neighbours. Yummy Sunday lunch with my in-laws. Lots of sewing and working on ideas for Linen & Roses. I love Summer. 

Have a lovely week. See you again soon. 

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52 Weeks of Happy (3/52)

 

 :: Doing a bit of a stock take of Linen & Roses Products and loving how everything looks together. 

:: A gorgeous package of 'happy post' won over at The Green Gables . A pack of cute note cards. A Birthday card. A Good Luck Card. A cute notebook. Really lovely stationary. You should definitely check it out.

:: Finding little people in funny places. Little F loves my old Fisherprice toys which I find so heart warming. 

:: Enjoying homemade scotch pancakes and a cup of tea on a rainy afternoon. 

I'm really loving this process joining in with 52 weeks of happy. It's making me focus on looking at the small things that make me happy every day that normally go by without really thinking about them. 

Have a good week and enjoy the sunshine

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52 Weeks of Happy (2/52)

 

:: Something rare, a Bank Holiday weekend filled with sunshine. 

:: Seeds to plant. The first time I've grown anything to eat from seed. Starting small. 

:: Drawing with Little F. The shapes are Mummy's creation. Not my best work but F is currently obsessed with shapes and I have to draw these simple shape people (Mr Maker inspired for those of you familiar with Cbeebies!) every time we get out the drawing things. 

:: My ever developing garden. I'm loving my hostas and alchemilla. Unfortunately everything is still a bit green and there is a lot of bare soil but there are flowers not far away. We're definitely making progress and I'm loving it. 

:: Picnics in the garden with my boys. 

Have a good week. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

52 Weeks of Happy (1/52)

Hello, I'm back. Well sort of. I think all I can manage at the moment is one post a week so I've decided to finally join in with 52 Weeks of Happy as I way of encouraging me to write. Yes, I know I'm very late to this particular project but better late than never.

So here are some happy moments from the past week -

:: My lovely friend Maggie and her sweet boy popped over for a cuppa last Thursday and arrived baring a gorgeous bunch of larkspur. The smell is fab.
:: Finally picking some flowers from the garden. I couldn't have imagined that last year. We have a small lilac which is an off-shoot of one growing next door. I love lilac so I'm encouraging it. It managed just one bloom this year so I decided to pick it and enjoy it inside along with forget-me-knots which we have a lot of.
:: Enjoying lots of time in the garden pottering and playing

I need to get much better at capturing the happy times. There are many but sometimes they get lost amongst the hum-drum of everyday life. I'm hoping this project is going to give me some focus.

I hope you're having a happy week. See you again next week.

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PS I'm still sharing odd snippets over on Facebook in the mean time.

A bit of stitching and a little break

Over the last few weeks I've managed to find an odd moment here and there to do a bit of 'proper' sewing. I've opened up a second Etsy Shop to sell larger Home items. There will be lots of lovely cushions, bunting and table linen eventually with the odd vintage item as well. I decided to open the second shop so that I can keep my home items separate from all the little felt things I've been making lately and which I intend to keep on with.

 

I really loved doing some patchwork again after so long and I'm really happy with how the cushion turned out. I'm selling it as a cover only so that I can keep the postage costs down and make the item more affordable. 

 

I've decided to take a mini break here. To be honest I'm finding it really hard to keep on top of everything at the moment. My boys are adorable but such hard work. Little H is still waking a lot during the night and it is making me exhausted! I need to find a bit of time for sewing as to be perfectly honest I need the money I make from selling my work. So something has to go for the time being and unfortunately that's the blog. I intend instead to post more regularly on my Linen and Roses Facebook page as I can do short quick pieces over there. If you're a facebook user please come and say hi. Hopefully I'll be back here in a few weeks when my littlest boy lets me have a full nights sleep. 

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In bloom

 Sorry for the unexpected mini break. I didn't mean to be away quite so long. We had a lovely weekend. Saturday was spent catching up with old friends in London. It had been a while since I'd headed into the City. Having lived there for so long I had a bit of an anti-London thing going on for a while. I think I'm over that though now and am longing for another visit. We're actually so close, just half an hour on the train but with two little ones in tow it's not always so easy. In fact on Saturday we didn't go right to the centre but to West Hampstead. It was still lovely to feel that different buzzy atmosphere you get in London. My friend who was hosting the get together lives in a lovely flat down a pretty leafy street. She has no kids of her own but was brave enough to welcome 10 children ranging from 3 months to 7 years, plus 11 adults! It was such great fun and so good to all be together again. I've missed a few meet-ups recently due to baby producing but I hope to see them more often in future. 

Sunday was a chilly day but after the usual delicious roast cooked by lovely S we decided we all needed some fresh air. We're very lucky to have a beautiful park just a few minutes drive away. It is actually walkable but it's down a very steep hill and the walk back is hard work with a pram in tow. So we naughtily took the car and walked lots when we got there. The park eventually joins up with National Trust land so it's possible to walk for miles. 

The park is particularly lovely at the moment as all the daffodils are out. They look really stunning. 

There's also a great playground so little F had fun on the swings and slides watched with amusement and longing by Little H. 

 

Something that's been occupying me a lot at the moment is the garden. 

 

My father-in-law came over with his jet wash to clean the patio and I've been re-arranging pots. Just need to get them filled now!

There's still not a lot of colour but we're really winning the war on all the weeds so it's all looking very neat and tidy. But there is one area that is starting to look pretty and colourful. There were already dafs here and a pale pink primula so I decided to turn it into a little Spring area. My Mum bought me another deeper primula and some cowslips last week and I've moved some forget-me-knots that I found in the soon to be veg plot. 

I'm pleased with how it's looking so far but plan to have a lot more in here next Spring.

 

Throughout the rest of the garden there are definitely signs of life. The roses we were bought by my in-laws for Christmas from David Austin at starting to come into leaf and grow. I'm hoping for a splash of colour with these. Bit by bit we'll get there. It's a slow process this gardening lark(unless you've got pots of money to throw at it!) but I'm loving starting to see the small changes every day.

There's been a little bit of sewing going on lately in odd spare moments so hopefully I'll be back again soon to share that with you.

Have a lovely week.

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The last day of the holidays

It's been a funny Easter holiday. Hoping so much for lots of sunshine and warmth to get out into the garden and out and about. But instead getting quite a bit of rain and a LOT of cold!

We did have Little H's Christening which was a lovely family occasion, and the sun shone weakly. He was a very good boy and only cried for a moment or two when his Great Aunty splashed his head with water.(Lovely S's Aunty is a Vicar so was supposed to be splashing him with water!) 

We had a couple of afternoons pottering in the garden and started to do a good bit of clearing and planning but it was sooooo cold and not the most fun in the World. 

So yesterday, with the promise of higher temperatures and a little more sun in the forecast we decided that we had to get one great fun day out of the holidays so headed off to lovely Dorset, one of our favourite places in the World. Luckily it was a great deal warmer than of late but unfortunately the sun only peeped out for a few short spells. Still, it was lovely to be out and about in the fresh air. We walked along the sea front at Swanage then hopped on a steam train to Corfe Castle. I did take photos but due to the lack of sun they really do look a little drab. The ride on the train had been a much looked forward to treat as little F is a huge Thomas fan but it nearly turned into a disaster as the sight of the huge engine coming into the platform was rather too scary for him. Luckily we managed to calm him down and once the train got going all was well and he loved it.

We had a lovely potter around the village of Corfe Castle and ate yummy pasties while being rained on for just a moment or two! Then it was back on the train to Swanage and into the car again to drive up to the lovely village of Worth Matravers. We normally camp just a mile or two from this pretty village so it's one of our favourite spots. We had a little drink in a favourite pub which has stunning sea views then wandered down the village green which was looking lovely despite the dullness of the day. Don't you just love the red phone box and the cute duck house. There was no sign of the ducks so either they were tucked away inside or have gone away to nest elsewhere. 

At the bottom of the green just behind the phone box there is a sweet little memorial garden that was bursting with spring colour. I couldn't stop snapping away at the pretty things that gave me hope the Spring is just about here. 

Finally we headed back to Swanage and went for the obligatory fish and chips. Unfortunately by this time it really was rather chilly so we sat on one of the little tables inside the chippy to eat, although still out of the paper of course. Poor Little H sat in his buggy looking longingly at the three of us tucking into our yummy fish and chips. I can't believe he will be five months at the end of this week and I think the time has nearly come to try some solids as he constantly looks longingly at what we're eating!

Finally it was back into the car for the ride back home. Little H was a little unsettled so in order to save Lovely S's sanity by not having to drive with a screaming child in the back, I squeezed in the middle at the back between my two lovely boys. It wasn't long before the sea air worked it's magic and I had two sleepy heads either side of me. 

So with the holidays behind us I'm feeling refreshed and ready to get back into our normal routine. Often I feel a little down when Lovely S goes back to work after the holidays but with the promise of Spring and Summer I don't feel so bad. I don't mind admitting that these last few months did at times make me feel very down in the dumps. Terrible winters and new babies do not mix well! But as I sit here now, I have windows and the back door thrown open and I can hear birds singing. I've had a row of washing on the line this morning and without getting boring on the subject(or getting into too much yucky detail) it has done wonders for all the baby washing. Washing dried on the line smells so wonderful don't you think?

Hope the Spring has arrived where you are. 

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