I Love Lights!

In between all the cleaning, sorting and de-cluttering, I have found time to put as many lights as possible around the place. I decided not to have a real tree this year due to the fact that I am trying to clear rather than create more mess. I don't want a tree pretending to be real, so went for this bright pink one from Asda. It is battery operated and so far they have lasted ages. I also got the pink feather lights, and then later two more sets-mirror reindeers and crystals-all battery ones too so very easy. I already had the flower lights which sit in a big pink thermos flask which has a mirrored glass inside and is just beautiful. I can't remember where I found that-a charity shop on a day trip somewhere.

Andy booked a plumber to come and fix the gas fire on Saturday, so this involved me in cleaning the area he would be working in, which involved moving the settee out and cleaning underneath it-which led to me finding the Christmas lights I bought after Christmas last year in the Habitat in Canterbury (in the sale)

I was surprised to find them as I had totally forgotten about buying them. There is a great wire tree with red and white lights, a set of red and white ones and some very bright and cold looking blue ones. The cold and warm lights cause some arrangement problems, as do the plug positions and the huge adaptor plugs these lights have, which do not play ball with multiple plugs. So a bit of problem solving was involved in the arrangements. I love the result though. Our flat now looks like an Aladdin's cave or a fairy grotto.  

 As December has advanced I have found myself wavering towards a real tree, perhaps a small one, as I love them so much. Then, when out on Saturday for breakfast at the cafe, we walked past the florists and I noticed they were selling large fir tree branches. Perfect! I bought one which is now acting as a miniature tree in a vase on the computer table. It smells good and fits in perfectly. It is decorated simply with white lights, glass robots, and felty things from Linda Sue. A snowman, an elf, a mushroom and some strawberries. One of my angels is on the top. (Thanks for making my 'tree' look pretty Linda Sue!)  It is standing in a clay cooking pot rescued from the school skip in the summer, with a little water in the bottom to keep it fresh. Perfect!

 The blue lights on my changing picture frame.

 Tiger enjoying the return of the warmth.

Pets and Stuff

Literally stuff-not stuff as in other stuff. A little picture from my journal which is slowly getting back to some pictures and not just designs and obsessive list making.
A picture of Sadie my Dad's dog. I arrived at his on Sunday morning while she was out for her walk. I have never seen her so excited as when she arrived home and saw me sitting on the sofa! She is such a lovely dog and does my Dad and his wife such a lot of good.
The other pet today is lovely Lily, having some lap time last night. Love her!

Lille Lights

Lille 2

This is the exhibition in the Musee de L'Hospice, that was just my kind of thing. Beautiful taxidermy animals, in a paper ark, in a lovely old building. The animals are from the Maison Deyrolle in Paris, which had a bad fire in 2008. It is somewhere I didn't know about for years, and have been to Paris quite often. Maybe I wasn't interested in taxidermy then. Anyway, it lost 90% of its collection which is so sad. The artist visited the gallery after the fire and drew an ark in the guest book, which, according to the description below signifies that those animals which escaped the flood were then caught by the fire. (They are all stuffed so it is academic really.) Some of the animals in this ark are from the gallery, and are scorched or quite badly burned. The thing I liked about it the most was how the animals were positioned, a giraffe lying down in amongst them all, a tiger facing into the boat, a snake curled around a piece of wood at the back, and two polar bears who look as if a private conversation has been interupted, and they are not happy about that.

Lille

We went to Lille for the day on Saturday. It is very easy to go to the Eurostar station at Ebbsfleet. It only takes 20 minutes to get there and you pre-book parking so when you arrive at the carpark it welcomes you digitally by name! I love that.

We were going with the vague thought of Christmas shopping, but the Christmas market was disappointing. Lille however was not. It has some lovely old streets and buildings would be worth going to for at least a long weekend. We wandered around the streets looking and taking photos (well I take them and Andy kindly waits for me!) Here are a few (quite a lot) of them, and I have a few more to share too! There was a great art exhibition we visited in an old hospital-very old-13th century I think. It was just my kind of thing. Also the lights were very pretty. But here are some moments from the day.

 The sun illuminated the sun, and shone through the fountain too.

 A fish made from trailed paint caught my eye.

 I loved the graffiti covered models in this shop window. The shop sold spray paint. I always thought that paint for graffiti was got by less legitimate means. 

 \Lille is filled with pattern.

This is in the Musee de L'Hospice. The combination of shadows on the stairs and the blue and white tiles looked most attractive.

 Tile detail

 Santa was there, overlooking the market and despairing. I suppose it was not that bad, and we did buy a tiny Jesus and Mary and some quite strong mulled wine, which caused us to need to sit on a bench for some time to recover. It is just that they advertise it as a reason to go there and there are so many other great things to do instead. I want to go on the weekend where everyone, or nearly, sells things from their houses on the streets. It sounds totally mad and eccentric.

 Glitter ball on the big wheel. We didn't go on it, as it was scarily high and probably very cold.

 Cute sign. I am not sure what it means though. Maybe that it is safe not to hold the adult's hand here as it is a big square? Or maybe it is a lesson in perspective.

Jazz cat.

Firsts and Button Angels

First day of winter. First day of December. First trip to somewhere new-more later!

 To make button angels, first make your table look like this.

Once it is a chaotic mess, start to assemble your dolls.

 I used flat clothes pegs-super cheap from Hobbycraft and also have been hanging around for ages. I drew little faces with a fine sharpie, added a little colour with pencils, then used scraps of fabric and yarn to make their clothes and hair. The yarn is all the ends I have been saving from crocheting and the fabric is all the off-cuts from the dolls. I used other little bits and pieces too. The wings of some are made from beautiful wired tissue I have had for ages, and some are ribbon. Their halos are made from pearly looking plastic buttons. I started with white but had to move on to other colours as the collection grew.

 Some angels are snow angels, with felt clothes and little pom poms.

 Glue guns are great inventions!

They are all coming with me to Kent tomorrow for the fair. Apart from the three I have kept! 

The Craft Fair

I have not stopped since the fair and also have been mulling it all over in my mind before I wrote about it. I only sold three things ( a brooch and two dolls) so I at least made the table cost. I was a bit disappointed but I enjoyed the experience and felt quite positive afterwards. I got mostly lovely comments and gave out lots of cards so you never know where things may lead. It was lovely to see my friends and their little girl who is so funny. I had good conversations with quite a few people. One with a woman who makes cloth dolls too, to raise money for cancer charities. Hers are bald because of this and have little hats. She happened to have one with her. She uses that expandable scarf yarn very cleverly to make the skirts. Another conversation was with a woman who had recently visited Greenwich and really liked it. The other stall holders were very friendly and Jemma, who was next to me selling her pretty jewellery, helped me set up. We watched each other's stalls for breaks. My friend did a brilliant job of organising the fair, and worked really hard on the day. The gallery owner gave her good feedback and wants her to arrange another one. He also was complementary about my dolls she tells me. I had my photo taken for the local paper which made me laugh. A taste of another life perhaps!

 Here is the lady with the doll. I just love her little feet and the skirt.

 This is the delicious lemon meringue cupcake which my friend's sister in law made. Mmmm!

 I had a quick wander to find lunch. Newark market looked tempting. It was a lovely crisp day-eventually-after the rain in the morning.

 The week after the fair I took a break and crocheted some rainbow things with some vintage yarn I bought from one of the stalls.

 I have recently invested in some pom-pom makers after having them demonstrated to me by my friend a while ago. Pom-poms are a bit addictive!

A first attempt at following a snowflake pattern. It worked ok until the last little bit when something had gone wrong, but I just finished it anyway as I didn't want to undo it all again!
I talked to my Mum when I got back, and was telling her about how I felt-disappointed but excited to try and do it again. Then a few days later my Dad rang. I knew he was doing a craft fair soon, selling his lovely wood turned objects. He said he had talked to Mum and to the lady who organises his fair. He has got me a stall for two days this weekend. We are out on Saturday-a day trip to Lisle, but he is going to set my stall up and look after it for the day and I will go down on Sunday morning. I went down on Monday night to take the stuff and have dinner there which was very nice. I realised that Sadie, their cute little dog, is an even bigger and more accomplished cadger than Cassie!
I am really looking forward to the weekend. Day trip to France and craft fair! Just wish I could have a day off to recover afterwards! Thanks for all the lovely comments and good wishes about all my recent ramblings, they are much appreciated!