For Florence

Thank you Florence for nominating me for this Blog award...

....and now you get to find out 7 weird things about me.

I feel, as i am sure most who have joined in this tag feel, that i am not at all weird .. i am just me... so with help from my beloved who says all of me is weird here are my offerings into weirdness.

1. According to my husband when i talk , the end of my nose wiggles in a ' cute bunny way' (his words!). When this is pointed out to me i feel very self conscious, so if you meet me .... please don't look at my nose!!


2. I have only ever had 2 cups of coffee in my entire life. The first one ... weak and milky, at age 16 at my school leavers do... yuk! ... and the second one when i brought an old boyfriend a small stove top two cup expresso maker.. so very strong and very yuk! I have a real aversion to coffee and can even taste it if my tea is sugared and stirred with a spoon which has just been used to make a coffee. When my mother in law used to come and visit (she is sadly no longer with us), she would always bring a cake. Her specialities were coffee and chocolate. How i prayed for it to be chocolate as i never could say i didn't like the coffee one for fear of offending her.

3. Kissing my girls on the cheek......One of my best feelings ever is giving my girls a big hug and kissing them on the cheek. It makes my heart soar... the only problem is that it has to be on the lovely baby soft fleshy part of their cheek. I hate it when their hair gets in the way or if they turn their head and you get a mouthful of ear. Is that weird? maybe?

4. Ahh ... the yellow cup. Well this one maybe is a weird one but i am sure some of you will understand. I cannot bring myself to drink out of a yellow cup. Yes this is completely irrational and i don't know where it stems from, although my grandmother had negative associations with the colour yellow to the extent of not having anything yellow in the house. As a result my poor grandad had to watch snooker on a black and white telly. I am happy to say that i am not that extreme. My issue is with the yellow cup. The fear is of something bad happening if i drink out of it. It makes me mad for i know that it is crazy for a cup to hold such power. I expect that one day i will forget and drink out of it and all will be ok but until then if you ever stop by for tea be prepared to be given the yellow cup for i am not allowed to get rid of it as my husband loves it. I shall stick to my blue cup.

5. When someone touches the back of my neck i shiver. This combined with the fact that when i was in my early teens my sister used to force cut my hair and then leave it half done because i moved slightly, means that I 'm not keen on going to the hairdressers. The last time i went was at least 7 months ago. I usually only have my hair cut twice a year. It does save a lot of money. The crazy thing is that i always feel so much better about myself when i have a good haircut. I am getting a birthday haircut in a few weeks... (hoping to cut a few years off).

6. I absoluetly can't spell.... yes i know ..... that dotted red spell check line and i are great friends. My girls are much better than me at spelling and now have realised that if they want to know how to spell something they need to ask daddy or use a dictionary as mummy is rubbish.

7. I am always cold. As a previous post admits i suffer from icy cold feet. I also more often than not, have a cold nose. My circulation is pretty bad and i really do feel the cold. I do not possess bed socks as such but invariably keep my socks on when i go to bed. Sorry Florence .. no bedsock picture i'm afraid. I also keep most of my clothes on too when i first get into bed until i get too hot and overheat as my husband is really a radiator in disguise. Improving my circulation in an ongoing challenge.


Well, that was hard to do.. so i won't nominate anyone else but please do partake if you would like to reveal your weirdness.

... and as Florence said of her weird reveal..... 'after that, i do hope that you will still want to be my friend!'

This post is also for my lovely friend Sarah who i know reads my blog. Hope this makes you smile!
x
g

Handmade Fabric Dolls

1. Vintage Isadora 2. Esther 3. Flora

4. Vintage Charity 5. Matilda Jade, Matilda Button 6. Rose

7. Retro Isadora 8. Raspberry Isadora 9. Charity


I have been playing with photoshop and have put together a few of the dolls we have made in the past. We love making the dolls and each one takes on its own personality. Once the face has been stitched we never change it. Some look wistful, whilst others look cheeky. All the dolls pictured, except the Retro Isadora have found new homes.
Other available dolls can be found on our website.


Tomorrow I will work at the college in the morning and then whizz down to the studio at lunchtime to meet Alice. Over the next month we will be sorting through our stock and fabrics and deciding what to keep, what to sell off and what to donate to local schools. We are sad to be leaving our Flour Loft Studio, but excited at what the freedom of not running the business will bring. We will also be putting our business name 'folkydokee handmade' to rest and will in the future collaborate under our own names of Alice and Ginny. Our website will eventually change it's name and any future work either together or individually will be linked from there.


My next job is to convert my outside garden building into an arty, crafty, sewing home studio for all the family. I am thinking that if i blog about the progress of this project that it'll give us a focus and a kick up the arse and hopefully we will get it done in the Spring.
Tomorrow is Monday, hope your weekend was good, enjoy the week.
g
x

More blue...

It does seem that i am drawn to the colour blue at the moment. I don't feel 'blue', but i do feel somewhat reflective lately. I suppose January always is a bit like this for me..... and this year things are changing. I have started my new job and after an intensive first week filled with a full on but extremely informative induction course, i can now gently ease myself in to the day to day practicalities of the job and get to know some of the new faces about on the campus.

Alice and i are still meeting up regularly at the studio and are into first layout stage of the book. We have just seen the mock up for the cover design, so all very very exciting. It really does seem real now, although i know i will still have to keep pinching myself when i see a finished copy!

Thank you for all the bed sock love.. a banal question i know but so happy i got your feedback. I do suffer from cold extremities and often try and warm my feet up on my husband' lovely toasty ones but i usually get kicked off (my feet are very icy). So socks in bed for me. The ones my grandmother used to knit were of the lacey variety with tie cords and pom poms, she probably had a matching bed jacket pattern too. So you see, if worn with a 60's style 'baby doll' nighty and matching bed jacket, i'm sure bed socks can be sexy after all.??

The above photo shows a little brooch i knitted for my sister. It is taken from a kids how to knit book (usbourne) which was a present to my youngest at Christmas. .. yes and i've knicked it! As i have said before i am the least knit one, in my family but i have recently found a renewed interest so any good knitting sites or book suggestions would be gratefully received.
Roll on the weekend.. nearly there. Enjoy.
g
x

More sky....

..... dramatic, wispy cloud filled sky on this beautiful bright sun-shiny day.
The cloud formations are constantly changing. I have been spending this afternoon gazing upwards, snapping away and appreciating their transient beauty.
Hope you are all having a lovely weekend.
g
x

sky watching

The weather of late has been so changeable.. one minute bright sunshine the next heavy dark downpours.

I have found myself looking at the sky.

g
x

Bed socks?

a banal question, i know, but i was just wondering... do folk wear bed socks nowadays?
My granny used to knit us all wonderful bed socks. ..... I still suffer from cold feet.
Any bed sock stories?