Post Christmas Burn-Out

After our Christmas tour of West London and two Sussex pit-stops it feels so good to be back home. We had a lovely Christmas made all the better by a perfectly behaved little baby and dog.

We were all thoroughly spoilt and feel very lucky to have a family that so want us to come and visit - all that being said, the idea that this time next year we should be in a house big enough to host Christmas ourselves does fill me with glee.

A very worn out puppy dog

Best Battersea Boy

This November, 4 years ago we made a purchase. This turned out to be one of the best things we've ever spent money on. For the bargain price of £85, we bought a Beasley.

 

We knew the time was right for us to add a dog to our little family. I work from home, and with no colleagues, life can get very lonely. Our first place to look was Battersea Dogs Home. We walked all around the different levels of the shelter, and none of the pups quite fit the bill. We needed a small dog - a dog that didn't molt would be perfect (not sure my shop customers would have been into free dog hairs on my work) Slightly disheartened, we thought we'd have to come back another day.

 

 

Luckily one of the staff informed us that they had a Yorkshire Terrier male cross breed that was just being booked onto the system that day. They were so friendly and helpful. I was unsure - I'd only had girl dogs, growing up. 

 

Just to see what he was like, we went to meet him. He had long straggly fur and was skinny and tiny, but Alex had such a good feeling about him. Completely trusting Alex's instincts, and after filling all the paperwork, "Trevor" came home with us that evening.

 

He was very timid and a real scaredy-cat at first. He quickly grew to trust us, and we quickly grew to love him. We named him Beasley - a name plucked out of the air, but as it turns out it suits him perfectly.

 

 

Beasley is a dream dog - he loves nothing more than just being with us. He sits on our laps, he sits on our shoulders like a parrot dog(!) He loves going out with us in the car. He loves to run around in big circles in the park barking. And best of all, when baby E came along, it turns out that Beasley loves him as much as we do.

 

 

Beasley was a stray, and we hardly know anything about him, but I like to think that he ran away to come and find us. We love him so much and hope for many more years of Beasley being in our lives.

 

 

Turning a pile of knots into crochet

I'm a creative person, and I love learning new crafts. I can turn my hand to pretty much anything and love to try new crafty methods whenever I can. There was one thing, my nemesis, that I just couldn't seem to crack and that was crochet. I lost count of the number of failed attempts, the number of balls of wool thrown across the room in a huff...the piles of knots that looked just like a pile of knots. I just could not get my head around it.

Finally, I found a series of videos on Instructables by russm313 and it all just fell into place. During my pregnancy I made a whole pile of blankets, toys, cardigans and booties for baby E. In fact, now if I don't have a little project on the go I feel quite lost.

One of the first things I made was a ripple blanket - it was really enjoyable. The free pattern is from Attic 24 and can be found here. Be warned though - it's a wool eater. I dread to think how much it cost in wool and trips to Hobbycraft

 

(E and Beasley love blankets and snoozing)

Happy Halloween!

I love Halloween - but as a Brit, I especially love how the Americans do it. I prefer their less spooky attitude to fancy dress where you can go dressed as anything, rather than having to be creepy or scary. We get a few Trick or Treaters on our street but not many. I've never seen any children in home made costumes either, which is a shame as they are the best! When I found this tee shirt and bib in Marks and Spencers I just couldn't resist.

We couldn't mark the occasion without including Beasley, too - Happy Halloween!

 

*I was inspired to cut happy smiley Pumpkins by Sarah Dyer on her blog here 

Wow

I'm surprising myself with the amount that has changed since my last post. I was just snooping around the internet looking to start up yet another blog before remembering this little creation from over a year ago.

For a start, business priorities shifted hugely - the market stall plan was very cute, but way too much like hard work. Mostly it just was one giant flash back to the many years of freezing my butt off at Spitalfields and Camden Lock with my old label Pink Kat. Weekends are too precious and after so many years of slogging my guts out working 100 hour weeks, I'm ready for a big change.

So, Big Change#1: Ditching the market stall / festival trading plan for a purely online vintage toy selling career. A profitable and ultimately more satisfying way of life with a much nicer and happier balance.

Massive Change#2: We now have a new and very exciting addition to the family - little baby E. A very planned for sweet chap that took 2 whole years of willing to finally come into our lives. As a result of this wonderful life-shift, work on the whole has been put on hold. He arrived in May of this year.

Huge Change#3: As if all of this wasn't enough to be getting on with, we have decided to put our lovely little starter flat on the market to find ourselves a much more suitable family size nest.

We're all getting used to these changes - but luckily Beasley has taken very well to becoming a big furry Brother