Thanks Stephanie

A great big thank you goes to  my friend Stephanie over at My Calico Heart for changing my blog template.  THANK YOU SO MUCH.  Why not pay her new website My Calico Heart a visit she has some beautiful things for sale.
I've been busy making some more aprons over the weekend.  A lot warmer and more satisfying than battling with the snow and ice we have again.  Roll on summer.

One of my favourites is this one in burgundy with a gingham pocket and frill.

This one is for Cath Kidston fans everywhere.

A pretty calico print to remind us of summer days filled with the scent of flowers.

I knew as soon as I spotted this piece of fabric that it would lend itself ideally to a 50's Retro apron.  I had socks this colour when I was a little girl and I couldn't resist setting it all of with an acid orange coloured border on the frill and pocket.

Driving myself mad

I'm slowly going round the bend here.  I just can't seem to get the hang of copying and pasting.  I keep on trying to change the look of my blog with one of those beautiful free templates that there are so many of but I'm getting nowhere fast.  If someone reading this can please explain to me in plain English just what I need to do I shall be eternally grateful.

New apron listed

Happy New Year to everyone.  I hope you all have a wonderful 2010 and that all of your hopes and dreams are fulfilled

.I'm really getting into Retro sewing at the moment and I've just listed a new apron on Ebay. 

I've closed my Ebay shop because it was ridiculously overpriced for the few bits and bobs that I had in there.  So, at the moment most things will be going on auction instead of buy it now because I think people really feel that they have got a bargain if they bid on something and win.

Where have the weeks gone to?

My goodess, I didn't realise that it had been so long since I wrote anything here on my blog.  What with being busy making Christmas sacks and stockings for all of the orders which came in so late this year and also making gifts for my friends and family I just seem to have lost track of time in blogland.  I shall try to be a little more organised in the new year and write regularly.
We've had some very cold weather recently in fact we were actually snowed in for a while.  I hate driving when the roads are bad and I had a couple of very scary experiences, both in the very same spot.  I was coming down a steep hill in the village and started to skid and my brakes locked and I lost control of my car completely.  Luckily I didn't hit anything (there were cars parked on both sides of the road) and I managed to stop just before I reached the crossroads.  I needed a large drink to stop my poor little heart going ten to the dozen.  To have it happen once was bad luck but twice within 5 days was just so freaky!  Luckily the snow has almost gone now but I won't be going anywhere near that hill again until the rest of the ice has melted.  I shall have to go the long way round to my daughters house but I figure it's better to be safe than sorry.  I certainly won't be trying out for the bobsled in the next winter olympics!
My daughter, a friend and I are opening a new business in the new year and so we are all busy trying to set things up and made in order to approach the local press to see if we can get them to give us some much needed publicity.  I shall say no more at the moment but we will be holding a party in a couple of weeks time in order to do some market research.  Don't worry if you don't live locally, I am working on a survey which you will be able to take online.

The Car is back

Well, the ongoing saga of the sick car is rather strange.  My lovely garage owner and his mechanic picked my car up yesterday and took it in to the garage.  Guess what, she must obviously like the manly touch because they could find nothing wrong with her.  I felt so silly when I rang this morning to find out how things were progressing to be told that everything was ok and that she might have been a little on the damp side!  They had tested her up hill and down dale and she ran as smooth as silk for them.  That guy is definately my knight in shining armour because he even delivered her back to me and charged me nothing.  I'm wondering if the reason that I had the problem was because I don't use my car a lot nowadays and I have vowed to go for a short drive every day to see if that stops the same thing happening again.  Fingers crossed that she behaves tomorrow because I've got my church Christmas fair.  I've just spent the last couple of hours getting everything ironed and packed ready to be put in the car first thing tomorrow morning.  It's only a couple of minutes drive to our church so I won't have to get up at the crack of dawn and can enjoy a leisurely cup of coffee or two before I go.  I just hope I've remembered everything I need to take.  Wish me luck.

All at sea!

This week hasn't got off to the best start.  I was busy all day yesterday making nappy cakes and other lovely baby gifts to take with me to a local nursery open evening last night.  I had the car packed and ready to go, all I had to do was wait for my daughters friend to call round as she was coming with me.  So far, so good.  She arrived on time and off we set, looking forward to a fun evening and making a bit of spare cash for Christmas.  We were half way there when suddenly, just out of the blue, the car refused to accelerate and as we were going up a steep hill it just got slower and slower.  I was crossing my fingers and everything else that it was  just that we had got quite a load on (we are both a little on the cuddly side now and I had the back of the car full to bursting) so I urged my darling little red KA on to the top of the hill to see if it would be any better once we were going down the other side.  No such luck so we had to turn around and try to get back home, which we did but it was not the quietest of journeys I've ever made.  Something under the bonnet was clunking and grinding and we got rather a lot of very strange looks from passers by.  We did manage to get home in one piece but now my car is waiting for it's trip to the car doctors and I'm stuck indoors as my trapped nerve in my spine is giving me hell at the moment.  But, as they say, "onwards and upwards" and looking on the bright side I now have a lot more things to sell at the Christmas Fair at our local methodist church on Saturday so it can't all be doom and gloom.  God works in mysterious ways me thinks and the church will benefit more than we would have so I am now praying for a good turnout and lots of sales. 

Isn't it silly, the way a little thing like a "dead" car can throw us all out of kilter.  I was worrying about all the usual stuff, how to get to the shops etc., post off my Ebay yet when I told my darling daughter about the car she immediately offered to do my shopping and posting until I get my wheels back.  She even volunteered her lovely partner to drive me to the garage to pick up my car when it's ready.  I feel truly blessed to have such wonderful children and their partners.  Mmm! I wonder how good they are at putting things together, I've got a new bed and sofa coming on Thursday from Ikea and their stuff always comes in lots of pieces.  According to the description even the sofa is flat pack.  I'll let you know how we get on and take pictures once we've managed to get everything put together.

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving to all of my friends in the US.  I hope you all have a wonderful day.

I haven't posted for a while because I seem to have been chasing my own tail as they say.  The pre-Christmas rush has started at last, much later than last year though.  I don't think that there is so much money to spend on presents for a lot of people this year.  I know that the recession started around this time last year but folk were still spending money like it was going out of fashion then but it has been a very slow start this year.  Maybe it will get better, I certainly hope so.

I've been working on some 50's Retro style aprons and this is the first one which I listed yesterday on Ebay.  I don't have so much time at the moment for sewing because I have so much fabric to sort out for listing and the fabric sales are what keeps my little ship afloat right now.  I've had a couple of orders for Santa sacks but not as many as I had hoped for this time of the year.  No doubt there will be a last minute rush around about the middle of December.  I certainly hope so.