GOING INSIDE

Well as the wind howls outside and autumn turns itself into winter, all the apples have gone and the wood pile tumbles from the shed, I'm preparing for more time inside. I have made my bedroom more inviting and found myself sorting clothes going through those summer things I just won't wear for months. I always feel a kind of sadness saying good-bye to summer.

Today I have been creating my new jewellery range for the Christmas season, the best selling season for me, earrings and bracelets make such good presents, it is also surprising how many people treat themselves to a new necklace to wear at Christmas. I always think it is our gathering instinct that sets in, all part of the harvest festival celebrations, stocking up for the lean months of winter. I guess there are good things about winter after all.

Louise x

APPLES FALLING

Apples are falling, it is the abundant time of year when the apples fall, and there is so much fruit I can't keep up with all the cooking, there are still butterflies around as well, I was walking on the cliffs yesterday and caught sight of a red admiral on the blackberries, they always remind me of my childhood, my father is a naturalist and taught us all the names of the butterflies and birds as children.

It also feels like a very creative time of year and I have been painting and drawing this comes in waves and feels a bit like surfing there is a feeling of having to ride the waves when they come and making the most of them. I wonder why creativity is such an illusive thing, just when you think you have hold of it, the waves calm and the mist falls and there is a quietness uncannily like inertia , a tide ebbing and all goes quiet. I do not look forward to winter and have been lapping up this balmy autumn weather, long may it last.

Louise x

GIVE AWAY AGAIN

Apologies for not blogging for so long, summer is always filled with such abundance, I spend most of the time outside. But now I'm sitting at the computer the rain is falling like monsoon outside and the apples are falling from the tree, there are a few last roses bent double with the weight of the rain on their petals, and it look like summer is over.

I had no takers for my offer of a give away pair of earrings when ordering off my website (last entry in June) So, inspired by my sister, http://www.101birdtales.blogspot.com/ I'm giving away the earrings to the first person who comments on this entry. I love the idea of some one having a nice surprise when they receive them in the post. They are made with love and go out with abundance.

Louise x

Give away

I am at last doing my first give away, a beautiful pair of hand-made turquoise and silver earrings will be yours if you are the first person to purchase items worth £20 from the vintage inspiration website. This is in celebration of adding a new category to the website "Paintings" this has taken the place of chickens and is a mixture of my own work and others, it is an exciting new venture I have been planning for a while.

We have also had a revamp of the website and the way it works, in essence it is the same but it should be easier to use. please let me know what you think, it would be very helpful to get feedback from some of you. looking forward to hearing from you.

Louise x

Buttons

I was reaching for my sewing tin and my button box fell crashing to the floor, much to my dismay, buttons everywhere and as I reached for something to pick them up into I saw what a great site they were and couldn't help taking a picture.

APPLE BLOSSOM

Any-one who has not experienced apple blossom first hand is really missing one of Gods many gifts, I have a small apple tree in my garden and it is now covered in beautiful pink clusters of blossom, the forget-me-nots are also out underneath and I peer out of my window each morning and thank God for the beauty of spring.

Even though it is still so cold the spring flowers are here in abundance, the bluebells have begun to appear with campions and stitchwort and many hedge rows are a mass of colour. When I leave the house in the morning a cloud of heady lilac scent catches in the air and sends me off for the day feeling light hearted and glad.

When I return in the late afternoon I sit on the door step in the evening sun with a cup of tea and drink in the perfume of spring. Here is a poem I wrote one May.

SPIRIT OF MAY

She stepped into my garden

wet in her lush green mantle

Glistening dew dipped dancer

The morning light in her cheeks

Nut-brown bare stripped branches

Rise to her wakening whisper

Silence broken only by the cuckoo's call

Disguised in blossom and bluebell dusted

pink budded and beautiful breasted

For she will quicken earth spent muses

And bring away the frozen child

And the windfall day all warm and breathless

Gathered up and neatly nested

Garlands of grace from her extended

She lays the green fern feathered way

That heaven falls on earth.

Louise x

BEAUTIFUL FAIR

well I have to say the "Vintage and Hand-made Fair" was probably the most beautiful fair I have been to, all the stalls were made out in such good taste, they all looked fab, it was great to be part of it. My sister Amanda and I traveled up together the night before and stayed with friends in Glastonbury on Friday night, it was still an hour and a half's drive from there, but arriving in Chipping Sodbury was a lovely surprise, we found ourselves in a proper old market town with the widest streets and beautiful old architecture.

The fair was very successful and every one was very friendly, a big thank you to Jayne and Michelle for organising the whole thing and making it so easy to do, the organisation was excellent and the cakes fantastic, but what really stood out was the quality of the hand-made goods, they seemed to be outstanding to me perhaps I am bias? but all in all a fabulous do.

Louise x

MAKING HEARTS

The "Vintage and Hand-Made" fair is almost upon us (May 1st) and I am busy making up new bracelets and earrings in lovely spring and summer colours. Today it is so beautiful I just can't keep myself inside, so I'm sitting outside in my lovely spring garden stitching boiled wool hearts, ready to fill with french lavender.

I have to keep myself from gardening, there is such a strong impulse to pull up the dandelions as I pass them to the house, but they are saved by the hearts, until next week anyway.

I am looking forward to meeting new blogging friends on Saturday and seeing the beautiful hand made stuff that has been made by everyone.

I know my sister Amanda has been locked in her garden studio the last 2 weeks making up a multitude of her floral bags ready for Saturday too, everything from purses to huge holiday bags.

Must get on with the stitching.

Louise x

Sweet Peas

Here I am on a wednesday morning admiring the growth of my sweet peas, they really have grown into plants ready for going out into the garden, as it is now April I can't believe how time has gone, there are primroses abundance in the garden now and grape hyacinths, and the tulips have just come out this week end, colour beginning to come back into life.

Next they will have to be hardened off, which means acclimatising them to out side temperatures during the day, so today they will have their first peek out side, and bask in this beautiful weather we've been enjoying

Then as soon as I get a chance I will be digging in the dirt and planting my sweet pea filled toilet rolls in the ground, so easy to do, I won't have to disturb the roots and that will give them the best chance, as long as we don't get a very late frost, which of course is always possible, gardeners nightmare.

At Easter I went to visit my daughter in Wales, she lives near Carmarthen where they have a great car boot sale on at the week end, I must say I found some lovely new bits and pieces of china and things for the web-site, as well as enjoying seeing my Grandchildren with mountains of chocolate eggs.

Return to the Country

Hooray! I'm back to the mud and rain from the concrete jungle, damp air, forsythia blossom and muddy cat paw prints all over the clean washing. I did enjoy my city living for the week, but I am very happy to be home. The spring is in its happy creation all over the garden and I am in mine.

It was very nice to meet some blogging Friends and to put some faces to the inquiries I receive, we put on a good show and had many appreciative comments about the look of the stand, so thank you all our customers for supporting our venture. The china seemed to fly of the shelves and earrings were very popular too. Amanda's bags went down well and Amelia's glass cupboard much commented on, in fact we could have sold it 20 times over if we had a supply.

I feel the spring fair is generally much more of a creative fair than the Christmas one, where there is endless Christmas decorations made in China.

Janet Bolton had her stand with her awe inspiring hand stitched pictures, if you haven't seen her work I thoroughly recommend it.

Sadly this will probably be our last stand at Country Living Islington, costs have risen so much it is becoming unviable financially, however we will be doing small one day fairs across the country so stay in touch and news of where and when will be posted.

Louise x

COUNTRY LIVING WEEK

Well Country living week has arrived, ironically I will be living in London for a week selling Vintage Inspiration wares made in Devon, so for me it's City Living!

I do enjoy the contrast though, I will be driving up to London tonight to set up Tuesday, ready to begin on Wednesday morning, you wouldn't believe how much work goes into this, I have spent the whole week-end finishing, gathering, packing, painting and preparing and I still think there are things I have forgotten, there always is, there are always things I think I should have made/done and always more to do but at a certain point I just have to surrender, let go and trust that all will be well.

There is a certain excitement in anticipation of being able to wear my favourite dresses and jewellery, and not get mud on my shoes for a week, this may sound strange but its true, I seem to spend an inordinate amount of time with muddy footwear whatever I'm wearing on my feet. My hands are also a give away if I have not got all the grit out from beneath my fingernails, it doesn't look good selling jewellery with dirty fingernails. So I'll scrub up and be clean for a week, my version of the glam gardener, wonderful.

Louise x

P.S the sweet peas are doing well they have their first sets of leaves.

NEW CREATIONS

Firstly I want congratulate my ticket winner, "cross the pond" who has won herself the two free tickets to the gala evening at the country living spring fair next week, I'm looking forward to meeting you. I am in full swing making and preparing for this event, it is a very big show for us and means a week in London staying with family and working all hours, I'd like to say if it wasn't for my parents and sister who all live in London this show would be an impossibility so thank you to them. I look forward to seeing other family too, my brother and his family, you could say it really is a family affair!

Here are some things that have been made in preparation as a little taster I have been sewing and making jewellery, painting mirrors, cupboards, a child's bed and lots of other things have been collected, so it would be great to meet some fellow blogers.

Louise x

FREE TICKETS AVAILABLE

I have two free tickets available for the Gala evening of the Country Living Spring Fair, at the end of March in Islington London (running from the 24th of March to 28th, inclusive). The Gala evening is on Wednesday the 24th from 6.30 to 9pm in the evening for those people who are work during the day, this is a perfect opportunity to get to the event and enjoy a relaxed look around the fair with a glass of wine and a friend. All you have to do is leave a comment at the end of this with an email address and I will put all the names in a hat and send out to the lucky winner, so don't be shy and leave a comment, and you never know you may be the lucky one. We will be at Stand C30, so you can come and visit and say hi.

Sweet peas are showing.....I also just wanted to do an up-date on my sweet peas, there are a lot of little shoots now appearing out the top of my card board toilet roll planters, it is very exciting they really have come to life and are peeping out into the world. I'll just have to keep watering them.

Louise X

SPRING FLOWERS

Well here I am on a gloomy Sunday morning wondering what I'll blog about today, the best part of this is a purring cat on my lap, she really doesn't care. Hearts and flowers and spring is actually peeping its head into this new season, the snowdrops are fully here and I've seen the odd primrose, this gives me such joy, the breaking out of life from the depths of winter always fills me with new hope, expectation of more to come and excitement for what can be created. I have planted my sweet peas, they have pride of place on the window sill and all I have to do is remember to water them, then watch the miracle of life appear before my eyes. Actually I fully recommend it, I save the inside cardboard tube in a toilet roll, they are perfect for planting sweet peas as when you want to plant them out you don't have to disturb the roots you can just put the whole thing in the ground. Then the cardboard rots away and feeds the soil, very ecological too.

So see how many tubes you can save, buy a packet of seeds and try it.

Louise x

OLD CHAIR /NEW CHAIR

Last week I set myself the project of revamping an old chair I had picked up at the recycling center, it had been sitting in my house for too long waiting for it's transformation. I knew it had potential as it has some lovely detail in the original design. Firstly I had to strip it of the old rank cloth on its seat and take out old staples and nails in the wood, (the worst job ever, luckily I'm not allergic to house dust yuk! ) After sanding it down I then painted it duck egg blue/green, (already looking better) and left it to dry for 24 hours. Then I had to make the cushion for the seat and cover with wadding. Choosing the right cloth (Cath kidston) to cover the seat was important as it gives the final impact of "beautiful chair". This all took quite a few hours as you can imagine, but I am very pleased with the result and welcome any comments.

(This chair will be available to buy from the web site soon)

Louise x

VINTAGE AND HAND MADE FAIR

I'm pleased to say that we have been accepted to show at "The Vintage and Hand Made Fair" on the 1st May in Chipping Sodbury. I for one, am looking forward to meeting lots of the faces behind all this blogging, very exciting. This also means lots of creative activity needed, well winter is good for that. I woke to deep frost this morning, a field of tiny diamonds, so beautiful, I had to go out and appreciate it.

So today "paint chair" is at the top of my list, I found a lovely old chair in the market, it needs a new seat and a coat of paint. I love finding old things that can be given a new lease of life, one of my favourite haunts is the recycling centre, where this chair came from. (pictures to follow) the before and afters will be posted soon. I'm off to paint.

Louise x

Discovery journal

A discovery journal, I'm sitting in a warm cafe enjoying the background chatter of happy people, drinking tea and mulling over the idea of my discovery journal, I have been reading my book "simple abundance" again, a years worth of a journey into self discovery, fantastic.

Why is it today I am discovering how hard it is to write this blog some days nothing seems to come easily I'm struggling, or was it mulling? I must have written this so many times now it will have to stay as it is. That's all for today.

Louise x

GRATITUDE

Well I found myself walking in the woods this morning, a dog walker without a dog, I was so excited to be able to go out and enjoy the winter sun, smell the damp moss, get mud on my boots (the snow has melted) and listen to the birds. My knee is not completely better, but able to to take me walking again, although it is still quite stiff after not being used properly for three weeks. I was beginning to get terrible cabin fever, as much as I like being holed up beside my fire against the snow, a couple of days is plenty.

At least I have been quite productive during my hibernation and made up some nice new jewellery, amongst other things, some turquoise earrings which can now be seen in the jewellery section of the website, I have decided to have a winter sale of a selection of items in each category, well worth a quick browse.

The sun is pouring through the window as I sit here in my virtual reality wanting to pass on my excitement at finding a book called "simple abundance" by Sarah Ban Breathnach a totally inspiring book, with a page for every day of the year, I have just been reading about gratitude and the book suggests I make a gratitude journal, a beautiful book covered in my favourite cloth to write down all that I am grateful for in my life, and you know what as soon as I do that I feel like the luckiest person in the world.

"Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and
more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It
can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a Friend. Gratitude makes
sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow"

- Melody Beattie

Louise x

New Year Wishes

I have had so much time to wish and create this last week, I am hibernating in my cosy little house beside the fire nursing a sprained knee, that I got because I seem to think I'm still a big kid and went sledging in the snow...I have to say it was great fun and so beautiful, my kids love it. I'm paying for all that fun now as I can't work, not that I could get a fork into the frozen ground anyway, so I'm forced to believe and dream all I can. It is amazing how an injury can cause so many emotions to come up, not all positive, I have had days of deep despair when its hard to believe I will heal, feeling useless and stuck, and realising how much I take my physical health for granted, being such an active person usually it is a stark contrast for me to be still for so long, I have to force myself to move my knee and push through the pain threshold ouch.

The 6ft" scarf I'm knitting just gets longer and longer, not quite finished yet, but close, I will be happy when it's done then I can begin my next project. One of my wishes for 2010 is to give myself a new front door, the one I inherited with the house is really on it's last legs, it really is very tired with many young children slamming and banging kicking and generally abusing it. So I look forward to showing it off when it's there.

Enjoy the snow Louise x

White Christmas

Well I have returned from a white Christmas in the French Alps to a white new year in Devon, snow, snow, everywhere how beautiful, if not treacherous, it has been, lots of skiing, tobogganing and eating, I even ate my first snail, which seemed to taste very much like garlic and butter to me, not at all slimy as I'd feared, plenty of wine to wash it down and yes I can actually say it was delicious.

All was going well until I injured my left knee and had to spend the next three days confined to bed. That's when my knitting came into its own and the scarf I was making for my son suddenly doubled in length. Thank goodness for knitting it stopped me going mad.

I am now concentrating on creating new year wishes rather than resolutions, wishes are so much more positive than resolutions, which always seem to mean giving up something. It feels very good to think ahead and put some thought into what I want to create in my life, rather than seeing what happens, this is with great thanks to my sister. Wishing everyone a very creative and inspiring new year.

Louise x