Twittering about at Home

The plus side of not going away this weekend was that some things got done around the house!

Hubby made a start on the much needed painting of the outside of the house and managed to complete the sanding and undercoating. DIY is his least favourite pursuit of all, so I'm quite pleased that this job is now a work in progress! Of course, it probably means that it will rain every weekend so that it takes forever to finish the job, but at least it's a start!!

I finished a cushion for the sofa...I know, it has a button and a flower...sometimes I just can't help myself!!

I also listed a few more things in my Folksy and Etsy shops, and found time to explore Twitter! I have to say that I'm still a little unsure about the whole twittering thing...what should I tweet about? Obviously, I would like to use it to promote 'rebeccamaryjane's', but I don't want it to turn into a 'look what I made, buy it here' kind of thing. However, I do need to find a way to increase my sales and I'm finding that a lot of people have never even heard of Folksy and Etsy!! Any tips?

Poorly boy is feeling much better, thank you - indicated by the return of his favourtie words, "I'm hungry" and "What's for lunch?" So, I guess that my cue to go and butter some rolls...

Back soon,

Rebecca
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Lemony Cheer

I love the look of luscious lemons in a bowl...

and the taste of homemade, luscious lemon drizzle buns with a nice cup of tea!

We've all been feeling a little down in the dumps today as we should be have been in Norfolk this weekend to celebrate a friend's 40th birthday and my niece's 6th birthday, but we had to put off our visit due to my son not being well for the second time this holiday! Poor lad - terrible headache, raging temperature and generally feeling awful! My husband keeps asking if he's "craving truffles" in an attempt to make light of the possibility of it being swine flu! Needless to say, he's not impressed!

Thank heavens for lemons!

Rebecca

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Books at 10p each...

...well, I couldn't just leave them there, could I?
I love this one from 1975, which ties in nicely with my love of the Regency period and anything Jane Austenish!

Brigadier, Compagnie D'élite, French 2e Hussars 1808

Oooh, Officers....British Officer, 15th Light Dragoons (King's Hussars) 1813!

This one, from 1969, appealed to me because of its simple black and white/black and red/black and yellow pictures of folk costumes

This old Danish fisherwoman might be wearing her festival dress, but she certainly doesn't look too happy about it!

Meanwhile, it's good to know who's in charge around here...!

Bye for now,

Rebecca

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Butterflies, crochet & scarecrows!

What a lovely weekend it has been! The weather here was glorious, which meant that all those gardening jobs got done, washing dried nicely on the line and, best of all, we managed to have breakfast and lunch outside on both days!

The garden has been aflutter with butterflies (and not just Cabbage Whites, which have no doubt hatched from all the hungry caterpillars that have been eating my broccoli plants!).

As an alternative to one of the many buddleia flower spikes, this Peacock butterfly took a liking to a crochet flower on the shawl that was drying on the washing line!

My lovely neighbour, B, popped her head over the fence on Sunday morning to give us one of these:

A little something she had picked up during her visit to Kettlewell Scarecrow Festival on Saturday!

I managed to finish this cushion, which will go to the wool shop to promote the granny square workshop that I'm doing in September:

Here's the finished rag ruggy wall hanging piece, which will also go to the wool shop.

This is only a small (6" x 6") piece to demonstrate the technique but I'm really pleased with the finished result! I made it by prodding small strips of old t-shirt fabric into hessian, using a whittled down wooden peg, which is how I was taught to do it as a child growing up in Norfolk. It is so soft and plump- a bath mat made this way would be fabulous! It would be time consuming to make, but is a brilliant way of recycling old clothes and, with a bigger project, the design can be more detailed.

I also managed to complete one side of a circular crochet cushion cover for the living room, which I shall photograph when it's finished.

So, a good 'at home' kind of weekend was had...pottering about doing some of the things I love best...crocheting, gardening...oh, and a little bit of baking - blueberry muffin cake and lemon drizzle buns! Time for a cuppa I think.....

Back soon,

Rebecca

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Home again

We've just returned from a trip 'down South', where we enjoyed this:

One of many trips to Birling Gap, our favourite beach, with its amazing white chalk cliffs, pebbles, rocks, waves and, when we were there, glorious blue skies!

The Seven Sisters (the chalk cliffs in the distance) - you can find out a little bit more about them here .

We only had one afternoon of this:

...but we went prepared!



Lovely views of the South Downs, including this one from a little side street in Alfriston (home of Much Ado Books)

I wish my Post Office looked like this one!!

We caught up with family and friends that we don't get to see very often and it just felt so good to be by the sea. We had such a lovely time and were thoroughly spoilt - good weather, good company, good food and wine - who could ask for more!

Now we are home again...time to catch up with gardening, washing, ironing......and all the blog posts I've missed!

Hope you're enjoying a sunny weekend where you are.

Back soon,

Rebecca
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Look what arrived with the weekend's paper...

My lovely neighbour, B, always pops the weekend's Yorkshire Post through our letter box when she has finished with it so that we can take a look and then I can use it to cover tables when I'm running children's art and craft workshops. This morning it arrived with this lovely bundle - a large piece of pretty, floral cotton tana lawn fabric and some bright, flowery, silky remnants!

Quite often the paper arrives with little extras, and it's not unusual for me to come home to find that B has left goodies by the front door! It really is a treat! I have had some lovely fabrics, vouchers for schools, cat food, fresh fruit and veg...and if I'm collecting bits and pieces, like jars and plastic milk bottle tops to use at workshops, I only have to mention it to B and it is sorted!

Thank you, B, for being such a lovely neighbour...not to mention putting up with naughty cat no.1, who just pops next door whenever he feels like it to eat, sleep and make a nuisance of himself! Thankfully, B adores cats!

Back soon,

Rebecca x

Buttons and Flowers

When I'm busy making and creating I do tend to make rather a mess and spread myself far and wide all over the house!! So this week, as we're taking it easy, I've started sorting out my work space - no room of one's own here, I'm afraid, just an area of the dining room!!

My son says that his bedroom and the bathroom are the only rooms without any of "mum's stuff" in them! The sewing machine and badge making machine are set up and ready for action on the kitchen table, there are knitting needles, crochet hooks and baskets of wool in the lounge (well, I can't have idle hands when my legs stop moving, can I?), boxes of stock and materials are stored in our bedroom, lots of bits and bobs are stored in the top cupboards in my daughter's bedroom (well, she wouldn't have been able to reach them when I started using them!), I keep all my materials for children's craft workshops in the cellar, and...I can't even begin to say what I might have stashed away in the loft over the years!! So, hang on...that means the hall and the upstairs landing are free from my "stuff" too!

I'd love to hear where you work at home? Messy or tidy?

When I was tidying my boxes and tins, I came across...

these pretty terracotta buttons (with flowers on!) that I bought from the V&A Museum shop on a trip to London with my daughter just before Christmas! These are"for me" buttons, not to be used on bits and pieces to sell! Now I just need to think how I shall use them. I've decided that, during the summer holidays, I am going to try to do a bit of making and creating for just for me and for my home, which is something that I hardly ever get around to doing, always being too busy preparing for workshops, fairs, and making for other people and my little online shops.

I am working on a small wall hanging piece (a flower) using rag rugging techniques, which will be used to promote a rag rugging workshop that I'm doing later in the year. I'd not done any rag rugging for a while and had forgotten how much fabric it uses - this small piece, which measures 6" x 6" has used almost two t-shirts!! I put it down by this month's Country Living magazine...the colours are perfect!

Today is wet and miserable...quite cool too!... but I took this yesterday...

The gorgeous white buddleia with its enormous flower spikes is attracting all kinds of insects and quite a few butterflies - unfortunately, they always seem to flutter off before I've managed to capture them on camera!
Buttons and flowers...see...I just can't get away from them! And that's just how I like it!

Bye for now,

Rebecca
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