New Beginnings

The trees in my garden can't decide if it's spring or autumn. Leaves are turning golden and falling off (job for the men of the house to rake up this weekend). But other leaves are hanging on for dear life as the sun has made a bit of a comeback. To be honest, I'm a spring and autumn kind of girl. I don't like being too hot and I hate being cold, so I'm really quite enjoying our strange weather just now.

I was sitting on the back step this morning, seriously considering taking a day off to go out and play but my sensible side took over and after a quick snap of the tree I went in and opened the shop.

Tomorrow is 1st October which is the official start date for my OU creative writing course. Thoughts of "Oh dear, what have I signed up for?" are running round my head and I am beginning to think I just might be mad. Please feel free to tell me that I'm not.

Anyway, I have a massive coursework book to get through which is really quite daunting. The first chapter is trying to encourage free thinking, and free writing by basically waffling in a random way. Now I have been known to waffle quite a bit in my time so this shouldn't really be too taxing should it ?

Mind you, waffling to order isn't as simple as it sounds and I have written a load of nonsense in my new "writer's notebook" this week. Looking at my tree this morning though, made me wonder if I might be getting the hang of  it. There I was in my little garden in Perthshire with my mind drifting off to Port Douglas in Queensland. We had a fantastic holiday there a few years ago and took a boat trip into the mangroves where we learned about special trees which can absorb sea water through their roots and still survive. I have no idea what these trees were called. I could google it of course but I'll leave that to anyone interested enough to do it themselves. However, these trees had special leaves which absorbed the salt from the water so that the other leaves could grow healthy and green. Our guide called them 'sacrificial leaves' which I think sounds so sad, yet totally amazing at the same time. Oh... and we saw sea eagles and crocodiles too x

Que Sera Sera ....

What ever will be will be...

And whatever doesn't turn out the way I planned will just have to be taken apart and started again.

It's been a funny couple of weeks around here.

After the rush and excitement of Open Studios it all felt a bit flat for a week or so.

I'm just about back in my stride again and looking ahead to what my customers might want for Christmas. We are being told by the weather forecasters that we are in for another harsh winter so I'm hooking up a storm and crocheting the days away. At the last count there were another dozen cosy hats waiting to keep out the winter chill. So how annoying do you think it is to find that the country is being treated to an "Indian Summer" ?

The "boys on the bridge" assure us that the snow will be coming early this year so maybe I should just stick to the original plan for hats, mits, ear warmers and cosy scarfs. Mind you I do have a cute pattern for a crocheted bikini.

Crochet and Crowds

I wouldn't really describe myself as an extrovert but I have been learning this week that I am  bit of a show off at heart.

We are now half way through Perthshire Open Studios and I'm having  a ball. It's so nice to have so many visitors to the shop who are genuinely interested in what I make, how I make it and where I get my ideas from.

I've been trying to have little projects on the go all week so that I can have something to demonstrate for my visitors. Crocheting bracelets has proved to be a crowd pleaser. Of course you can't keep doing the same thing over and over without getting just a little bit bored so I looked out a crochet book with a section on edging patterns and came across this one. It looks rather nice in gold and silver coloured wires with little glass pearls. I may be biased.... but I do rather like this one.

There are loads of creative people showing off all over Perthshire. Just look HERE and see.

And for the rest of the world just look HERE and visit Our Creative Spaces

Procrastinating..............???

Oooh ... It's not long now.

I think I discovered a new synonym today (just checked the dictionary to be sure that really means what I think it means. My English teacher would be proud of me)

I took some perfectly suitable posters for POS

Plugged in the laminator

...... and laminated them.

Dictionary entry for the day then is...

procrastinate - verb - to put off (an action) until later

see also.. laminate, crochet

And this is how I procrastinate over the last couple of days.

To be honest, the shop is looking really good.

Stocked full of handcrafted loveliness.

There are still a couple of little projects that I would like to finish off but I'm all ready for the big week and looking forward to meeting lots of new customers.

Eight days to go...

..... till the start of PERTHSHIRE OPEN STUDIOS

You know that feeling when you know that you are well organised ?

It's not a feeling that I often relate to but for once I am well prepared. One of the best bits about POS is that visitors and customers are going to be expecting to see me working in my space, so even if we are mega busy over the first few days I can replenish my stock and call it "in house entertainment." 

Since it's Thursday today it's time to show what I've been doing in My Creative Space.

But first I have a small confession to make..... I went to the Scottish Bead Fair in Perth last Sunday and spent a small fortune on stuff I don't really need but just couldn't resist.... Hopefully I'll be so busy over the open studios week that I will find that I really do need all the gorgeous beads that I bought.

You may remember that I dabbled with Chain Maille earlier this year. A lovely blogger called Ady told me about a great web site called Bead Sisters who supply all sorts of funky coloured jump rings and rubber 'O' rings for chain maille. I resisted the temptation to order anything from them despite being sorely tempted.

Now guess which supplier I spotted the minute I walked into the hall on Sunday.  Oh yes... Bead Sisters were right there in front of me.

So.. this week I have been trying out new chain maille patterns. What do you think ?

Join the Creative fun and pop over HERE

My Creative Space

Today is the day to share my creative space with other crafty and talented bloggers.

Now the question is... what have I been doing in my space today ?

I finished off this teeny tiny newborn baby hat. I was at a little craft fair on Saturday where I had a selection of hats for adults and children and was asked if I would make a little blue one for a new baby boy who is due very soon. Do you ever feel the urge to say " No, I'd rather sell the ones I've already made. "

I actually know someone who regularly says that to her customers and surprisingly they seem happy to accept her terms. I don't think I'm bold enough to do that though.

I've nearly finished my first crocheted rattle and just have to secure some loose ends. This is a really clever idea which I found in a recent crochet magazine. The rattle bit is made by putting a few beads into a little  sealable pot. I used a plastic egg which I had left over from Easter, surrounded it with toy stuffing and stitched in the loose ends. Now all I have to do is make a matching blanket and it will be ready for the baby gift corner.

I could have finished the rattle properly if only I could stick to one job at a time. I was easily distracted by some shiny buttons after lunch and decided to replenish my stock of button necklaces and bracelets. What had been a fairly healthy display of button jewellery, was looking a wee bit depleted after some recent sales. By this time tomorrow I'll be fully stocked again, unless, of course, I get distracted again.

Meanwhile, the idea of showing my Perthshire Open Studios brochures in the window along with Andy's rocking horse is proving to be a bit of a crowd puller and I've had lots of people popping in to get more info about the event. Oh, and I even remembered to send some copy to the local paper to promote the Open Studios week.

I think that's enough work for one day and it's now a good time to visit ourcreativespaces

Join in by clicking the link.



A fond farewell.

The problem with making something that you really really like, when you are making it to sell, is that you kind of hope that no one will want to buy it. I made this quite a few months ago and was particularly pleased with the hairy texture. It was the first time I had used my new texturing hammer. I was starting to think that maybe I could keep him....

Then.... I had a lovely new customer today who took one look at my little Scottie Dog necklace and decided to treat herself. I'm sure he will be really happy with his new owner but I did feel a little bit sad to see him go.

Of course it's possible that I could make another one for myself but then it wouldn't be unique.

Is it sad that I went looking for photos of him on the computer...?

Anyway, the only one I seem to have saved was taken before he was polished. How sad am I.. Maybe I should print this one off,  frame it, and keep it where sane people keep photos of their children.

Just kidding ( really...)