Blue Monday ...

Hello my lovelies, Happy Blue Monday to you! Today is supposed to be the most depressing day of the year ... it's the annual low-point ...  post-Christmas, failed resolutions, financial gloominess and to top it all, grey dismal weather! I hope you're not too down-in-the-dumps ... I'm not!

With grateful thanks to Google!

I quite like Mondays, because I have the house to myself after the weekend, and don't usually get dressed ** until I've cleaned the house from top to bottom.  I know I'm strange, but I quite like cleaning, once I've got started, and love the feeling of having a clean house. Get some cleaning tips here ... After breakfast, I'll set to ...

January always feels like a new start for me too ... planning the vegetable plot and rearranging the garden in my mind, are both pleasant 'January Jobs'.  I also have the urge to declutter and clean out cupboards in readiness for Spring and think it makes much more sense to 'Spring' clean in the dark, gloomy days of Winter than in the bright, mild days of March and April, when time could be more pleasantly spent outdoors.

Last summer seems so long ago! x

January also gives me more time to make ... I'm building up a stock for upcoming fairs, and making pictures for Valentine's Day, Mother's Day ... any kind of day! (perhaps a Blue Monday one?)

This one was made for a friend you may have met before ...

Today Harry is coming home for a few days as he's just finished his exams at Uni, and is bringing his new girlfriend to meet us.  I've been 'girlifying' Jacob's room for her ... I'd quite like to move in myself! It's amazing how just a few accessories can transform a room ... all I added were some lace curtains, a few floral cushions and a vase of daffodils (all of which are easily removed when Jacob comes home!) and the room is transformed from lad's pad to a cosy, feminine bedroom. This is how it looks now, but I didn't do a before ... not very aesthetically pleasing, I'm afraid!

I feel at a bit of a crossroads lately, but in an exciting sort of way ... do I take opportunities that present themselves, or do I trust in myself and build on what I have to offer? Decisions, decisions ... it's not always right to take the easy path, sometimes we need to make that leap into the unknown ... Halfway down the stairs, a bit like Ruby ...

This is just a short post today, my lovelies, as I need to get my cleaning cloths out and get scrubbing ... so I'll love you and leave you, but what are you getting on with to beat the Winter blues? I'd really love to know ...

Have a fabulously colourful Monday!

Love Claire xxx

** I'm not a 'naked cleaner' ... I do it in my pyjamas!

Ahhh, the sewing machine, the sewing machine ...

Gosh it's almost two weeks since I've been here ... doesn't time fly when you're having fun? ... I have, because I've started my sewing lessons at Suzie B's, and a great time is had by all.  My fellow seamstresses are three delightful American ladies, one is a beginner like me, and I'm really glad about that because I thought everyone would be very experienced. The other 2 ladies have sewn lots before, so it's a nice mix.

This is the lovely Suzie ... what she doesn't know about sewing really isn't worth knowing ...

Her shop is an oasis of sewing paraphernalia, mingled with vintage loveliness, intertwined with modern twists, so something for everyone, which is always good!

Suzie's is the sort of place you can just pop into for a browse, or you can book a single lesson, a group workshop, or a course where you can make a different item every week or bring your own project.

Bowls of threads in every colour of the rainbow ... and a fabric room that offers so much choice, I dither about for ages ... just give me the fabric, I'm no good at decision making ...

Sound advice!

Our first project was a draught excluder or a cushion ... more choices! I plumped (sorry!) for the cushion, and couldn't decide on the material ... with hindsight, I wish I'd veered from my vintage rosiness and opted for something modern, because it could have been a gift and the person in mind would have loved a retro design.

This is my very first, real sewing project! I have dabbled in the past, but due to my impatient, impetuous nature, I didn't prepare because I just wanted to get sewing, so the results weren't particularly pleasing.  Suzie taught us how to turn at the corners, and zigzag the seams, and I couldn't believe that I had made something that looked really well made and accurate.

This is our little group (one lady was missing last week) with our plumptious cushions ...

and this is today ... a tote bag was this week's project, and I already had a bag which I bought from Hettie Brown a couple of years ago, which I use all the time and just love the shape and style, so Suzie prepared a template for me and this is the result. That's me on the far right, grinning like a mad thing. I've pinched this photo from Marsha ... I hope she doesn't mind, and I'll apologise for my blurry ones, they are taken on my Ipad because it's so easy, but the quality is poor.

I don't know what we will be making next time ... perhaps a doll, some bunting or a rabbit maybe? Whatever it is, I know we'll have a great time ... I'm really liking this sewing lark! What have you all been making lately, I'd love to see ...

See you soon,

Love, Claire xxx

All is quiet ... on New Year's Day

Happy New Year, my lovelies, and I hope you've all had a lovely time? We don't really 'do' New Year's Eve here at Thriftwood, so after a festive bowl of ice-cream, laced with the last of the Bailey's off we went to bed at about 10.30.  Harry thoughtfully brought the New Year in noisily at about 4am, but thanks to my industrial strength earplugs, I slept through it ...

Looking back over the year, it's not been a bad one ... a lovely summer, with lots of sunshine and al fresco dining, one or two mishaps that are not worth dwelling on any longer, but best of all, my family were all safely gathered in for Christmas, and for this alone I feel very lucky.

It was Christmas Day in the Workhouse ...

Christmas has now almost completely been removed; although I love preparing for it, and enjoy the rituals that go with it, for me, once it's over ... it's over.  The trees are down, the baubles wrapped and packed away, but usually there is always a little something, lurking somewhere, that I've completely forgotten about, that will make itself known in the middle of January ...

I don't know about you, but this year I'm not going to make long lists of resolutions that are unachievable, and will just make me feel bad when they fail ... this year I am taking for myself one word ...

SIMPLIFY

I am going to try to simplify my life ... not in one great sweep but in small ways.  I am going to take each day as it comes, and try to simplify something each day.  For a start I want to stop making mountains out molehills, one of my major faults! Rome wasn't built in a day, but if I try to turn a negative into a positive, it will be a step in the right direction.

I am going to cut down on spending (even more!), simplify the way we shop, cook and eat. I want to simplify my surroundings and I want to rid myself of things that clutter up my head with unnecessary thoughts and not give them a moment of my time. If I need something new, I want to first make sure I haven't already got it, or something that will fit the purpose.

This year, when asked what I wanted for Christmas, instead of saying I didn't mind, I asked for things that I need and use all the time.  My favourite shower gel, moisturiser, make up etc, were all given to me and now I have drawersful of my favourite things which I won't have to go out and replace when I run low. 

From my lovely husband, among other things, I received a voucher for 6 sessions of sewing lessons at one of my favourite shops, Suzie B's ... I can't wait to start in the New Year and will keep you posted of my progress! Each session something different is made, a cushion, bag, doll ... I can't actually imagine being able to do this, but have wanted to for ages so this is my chance ...

Now the decorations are down, I'm filling the bare spaces with bowls of Spring bulbs, which brighten up the dullest corner with colour and scent.  It's just a tiny reminder that this bleak, wet and windy Winter weather won't last forever, and that Spring is in fact, just round the corner ... Not wanting to wish my life away though, I'm going to use this time to plan for the year ahead ... family time, finances, home, garden and Thriftwood Vintage ... although no longer contained in a shop, still my passion! I'm looking forward to this year's fairs, my second garden sale in the summer, and meeting lots of lovely people in the process. 

So how about you? Do you want to join me in simplifying our lives or are your lives as simple as can be? Maybe you love the hustle and bustle of a busy life and can't think of anything worse than living simply? 

I'd love to know ...

Love, Claire xxx