Making and doing

A break from good intentions.  I have so many and clearly achieve relatively few, certainly not enough to sustain a blog.  But I do 'make and do'.

Sometimes I'm not very focused.  I've been told that I have Islands of Chaos but I prefer Pockets of Creativity.  I am a creative butterfly spending a little time on many things until they're complete, occasionally years (see The 5 Year Coat).  For some people that may seem like a nightmarish way to work, and the super organised studios of friends and people in magazines seem to support that.  For years I felt like an untidy, disorganised pariah who never finished anything, and people would say that when I had my own place I would realise how messy I am and change my ways.

Now in my second LWH I have realised that I'm not, I already knew,  and I haven't felt the need to.

Being in my own house means that I can have knitting by my arm chair, dressmaking on the plan chest, a To-Be-Done box for each area I'm interested in, and a bed surrounded, and sometimes covered, by other little bits and pieces that are on the go.  I know that I get things out and don't put them away again, so occasionally I have an Extreme Tidy Up.  It may look like chaos but I generally know where everything is and I swear that any burglar peeping through my windows would be deterred, and perhaps even give up a life of crime, just by viewing the interior.

Here are a few things I've done since I began blogging but have never posted.

The Knitting Roll for LSF
Everything the knitter of distinction needs, in one place.

  

   

  

The knitting roll was made from an old brushed cotton nighty, calico and leftovers.  It has a space for 2 pairs of each size of needle including Very Big Needles (L), crochet hooks, pins, scissors, tape measure and sewing needles.
It took blooming ages to make.
One day I will make one for myself.
One day.  


Purses


I needed a new purse so I made one.

Then I made a few more.

Mostly from old jeans, off cuts, lovely bits of fabric, reclaimed zips, buttons, self-covered buttons and ribbons.  So far I have sold two, which isn't going to make me a millionaire anytime soon but has been   nice none the less.

                                         

                      

                           

Velvet and silk, courtesy of a Laura Ashley pinafore.

Purses for sale can be found on my Folksy shop and also at the next W.A.V.E. Flea Market on Sunday 6th May 2012

The Winter of Good Intentions: The one where Miss Bertie and the Little Worcester House part company.

This is the penultimate post on good intentions as I'm almost fully up to date, and fully intend (ah ha ha) to   work and produce rather than intend and catch up.  So far, I'm up to October/November of 2011 and so many things change here....




So this is the month where the LWH and I part company.  I loved my little house because it was my space; it was quirky with winding stairs and hidden cupboards, a wood burning stove in the front room, it had a beautiful little garden, and a fantastic view of the cathedral from my workroom, and the spires and rooftops from the top bedroom.
I loved it dearly for all of these things, but it also had lethal stairs; what seemed to be a fridge-like micro climate interior; horribly depressing black, ex-office cord carpet all through the house from top to bottom including a 'patched' area which had clearly gone round a open plan column, no insulation, draughty windows, damp, an odd layout making the ground floor like a big corridor, and only one usable room during the coldest months.  I regularly went to bed wearing a hat, hoody,  thermal underwear, as well my pyjamas, and regular guests brought extra layers just to have a cup of tea in the front room.  The LWH needs care and attention to make it completely beautiful and lovely which my landlord was not willing to spend, and I was resenting paying for my love hate tenancy.  So I moved.

I knew that it was going to take a while to pack up everything.  I'm a 'one size fits all' kind of girl in that my belongings expand to fit.  Also, I swear I must have been a squirrel in a past life; anyone who knows me is amazed/appalled by how well I can pack things away.  It's the unpacking and moving that is troublesome, so I started packing and streamlining about 6 weeks before I knew I had to leave.  Bearing in mind that at this point I didn't actually have anywhere to move to, this is quite advanced planning for me.  However,  I still had a massive amount of stuff, I wasn't fully packed on the day of moving, transport didn't work out as expected, and it all took an exhausting amount of effort.  All pretty usual.

Before everything was packed I tidied the house to look beautiful and took photographs of every room.  I had loved living in the LWH and the idea of simply leaving with no record of somewhere so important seemed sad.  In an interview Michael Winner said that people don't take pictures of things that really matter, such as houses and rooms, but leave it to memory which often fails them later on.  So here are some glimpses of the LWH.

The time capsule parlour

The secret stairway illuminations and gallery.

The first room I ever owned for myself :-)