late night blogging

Harbour Bar
Originally uploaded by I like

At last, the week of late shifts is over! Truth be told, it's not been too bad and I quite enjoyed having the days to potter, tidy, go swimming, meet friends, browse charity shops and make the embroideries people have been ordering. (Yes, people have been ordering embroideries! Plural! Woo hoo! You know that means two, right? Not fifty!) I've also been enjoying my post-work wind-down routine - a lovely whisky while I watch the evening's EastEnders on iplayer. This is the life, eh? Is it just me or are EastEnders' storylines more obvious/predictable when you watch them on iplayer? I feel like I know everything that's going to happen in EastEnders for the next month now! Mind you, the old pregnancy tests in the apron pocket was a bit of a classic plot device... As was the papered over love declaration. You've got to love any Syed related storyline though. He may be a bit of an over-actor (acter in this context?) but he is damn fine to look at while he does it! Sorry, but I think it's ok to share these things after the watershed.

I'm still mega excited about the forthcoming trip to Scarborough. I've been enjoying looking at people's Scarborough photos on flickr and have found a few definite places to visit. The Harbour Bar (pictured here) features pretty highly on the list! Our tickets have arrived and Graham has booked us into the very hotel I was longing to stay in. I am too much of a control freak to have the destination/accommodation/means of transport be a surprise, it turns out. Ha! I have quite a cheek since Graham let me surprise him and I ended up taking him to closed-for-January Oban! The hotel we are staying in is (according to others who've stayed) a very large and run-down version of Fawlty Towers. That sounds negative, but the people who described it as such all seemed to recommend it highly and I can't wait to get there. The hotel is built in the shape of V as a tribute to Queen Victoria. It has 365 windows (for the 365 days in a year), 52 bedrooms (for the 52 weeks in a year), 12 chimneys (I think it was chimneys...? for the 12 months of the year) and four floors (for the four seasons in a year). Oh, and it is one hotel for the one year in a year! I learned all this from an episode of Great British Railways I subtitled way back in December or something. The stairways are wide enough for two ladies in crinoline dresses to pass by. That is very wide! Apparently it caters mainly for coach parties of OAPs, so we should expect to wait a long time for breakfast etc. as we will be their least important customers. I think it is going to be the perfect place for us :)

suggestions on a seaside postcard, please!

Thank you to Marc for emailing me this great picture when I first started hatching my plan :)

At last! The feeling of dread surrounding my impending milestone birthday has disappeared and now I am mostly feeling mega excited because I will officially be spending said birthday in Scarborough. Yippee! We have booked our train tickets and think we have found a bargain on a good place to stay. I can't wait! I've been wanting to go ever since I subtitled an episode of Great British Railway Journeys where they went to it. (No, really.) I just know we are going to love it and I am so glad I'm going to be beside the sea for a few days.

Does anybody reading this have a top tip or recommendation of what we should see/do while we're there? We're going for a long weekend and I'm sure you can predict some of the things we'd enjoy (anything quirky/traditional, cafes, charity/antique shops, anything involving boat rides...) but please suggest anything at all that comes to mind. I am open to trying new things in my thirties, after all ;)

Oh, I do like to be beside the seaside...

Tiddly om pom pom!

what to do with myself now...?

I am here, but a weary shadow of my former self after two very busy markets this weekend. Here's how my stall looked at Say No To Plastic yesterday. Made In The Shade on Saturday was brilliant. Although it seemed a bit more quiet than usual, the people who were there were buying and I set a new personal best in market sales. Woo hoo! I also met lots of lovely people with lots of nice things to say about my work (I even had one person tell me I was their hero! That was a first!) and very much enjoyed the soundtrack, which didn't repeat a single song in the whole 6.5 hours. Impressive. I managed to have a quick browse round the other stalls when Graham came to help out at the end of the day and saw lots of lovely stuff, but resisted buying most of it. The market yesterday was super busy with so many people you could hardly move, but they were a bit less spendy than Saturday's crowd. It was still a worthwhile day though and my friend, Bernadette, came to help me sell stuff, drink wine and man the stall while I browsed the great vintage and handmade goodies.

If you live in Glasgow and are wondering why everybody except you is wearing a domino on their lapel, that is because domino brooches were by far my top seller of the weekend. I'm glad I made so many! One sweet couple even bought a his 'n' hers set - large for him and teeny for her. How cute?! Vintage button cards went really well too. It was back to their heyday/debut levels of enthusiasm and I think it was just because I displayed them in a cute miniature suitcase rather than on a plate. Makes me think I should invest in a few more display items... The handkerchiefs were oohed and aahed at a lot, but I only sold two. What?! Bernadette had a potentially good idea for them though, so they will be reappearing in a slightly different guise soon and I'm just happy that so many people liked them. I'm not giving up on them yet. I think it's definitely worth sticking with things. Case in point, I've lugged Big Daddy prints along to every market and given them valuable table space that could be used for... more dominos(!) but they have never had many (usually they have never had any) takers. I love them though, so have stuck with them. Well, I sold as many this weekend as I ever have previously and had lots of people commenting on them. I think Big Daddy's day may be coming, people! I'm glad I didn't give up on him before. And there go all my trade secrets. Ha!

I didn't buy an awful lot and resisted a lot of temptation. I would have bought a very lovely but slightly expensive vintage tin if the woman's hard sell approach hadn't frightened me off! Everything I did buy (except for an EastEnders item for a friend that a very nice customer tipped me off about) is in that bag above and it's all white! As well as lot of lovely white buttons, I got this little ice skates brooch.

I think it is adorable. It's one of those items that you can imagine someone from days of old wearing on their lapel as they skated round their local pond and watched a handsome boy... Well, maybe not, but I love it anyway :)

After weeks of squeezing in market preparations, I had so looked forward to a long lie today (and kind of needed it as I'm working late tonight) but the cats wouldn't allow it and I have been up but bleary eyed for hours. The flat looks like a post-market bombsite and I'm really quite excited about tidying up this week, especially after seeing Claire's tidiness here. Could my craft room really look like that? Time will tell... In other words, no, it couldn't, but it could certainly look a lot better than it does!

see you this weekend?

The Springtime Jamboree 2010 Flyer (Glasgow)

Originally uploaded by We Are Made In The Shade

Oh, good grief! My weekend of markets is here already. It arrived so fast and I'm not feeling very ready. That said, I have been working my socks off and my fingers (quite literally) to the bone. Now only 50% of my digits will function and it's the least useful 50% too. I type this with my pinkies and ring fingers :( I will have most of my old favourite products (some at excitingly reduced prices, bargain hunters) and lots of new stuff too. It sounds like there will be lots of exciting and talented stall holders to keep me company at both events too, so if you're anywhere near Glasgow, please come along to one (or both) of them and, if you see me, do say hi!

I'll be at the Made In The Shade Springtime Jamboree on Saturday (10.30-5, The Lighthouse, Mitchell Lane) and Say No To Plastic on Sunday (12-5, Oran Mor, Byres Road). No excuses will be accepted for non-attendance! Be there or be square/somewhere else etc... :)

bradley in the palm of your hand

I'm not really expecting to sell any commemorative Bradley pendants, but I could resist making a handful (boom boom!). They have been making me chuckle all morning. They're so bad, they're good. Well, I think so anyway! Right, back to the grindstone.
It's M-6* and counting...

Edit: "Oh, it's... Badley," said Graham. Tee hee!

* meaning six days until the first of my two forthcoming markets. Eep!

twit twoo!

Hi!

Originally uploaded by Pin Pals

In amongst crafting my socks off and getting into a crazy bidding war on Ebay (mega stressful as I was bidding for my sister who is without internet at the moment) I came across this owl on flickr and had to share. Just when I think I couldn't love the Pin Pals any more, I do!

bon anniversaire!

I can't believe my youngest niece, Ruth, is turning one today! Seems like only yesterday I was scratching my head over her Elizabeth Zimmerman baby surprise sweater and praying she would be a girl because the unisex colours I'd chosen were clearly not ideal for a boy!

This leopard-kitty is what I made for Ruth's birthday this year. Apologies that it is slightly out of focus - I was snapping its picture hurriedly before packaging it up and heading to the post office. It was very simple to make (although I still somehow managed to mess up completely and this was actually my second attempt - shh!) using the kitty/bunny/bear pattern by Hilary Lang of Wee Wonderfuls. All three creatures have the same body, but different heads. I made the bunny for Kim (Ruth's big sister) a couple of years ago, so I thought it would be nice to give Ruth something the same but different. I hope she likes it! I am the only one of my family not in France at the moment :( It probably explains why I'm feeling a bit nostalgic. Had you noticed? Ha!

I may be back later with a nice summery song - if I can find the one I'm looking for - to help you enjoy the sunshine or to imagine it if it's not this sunny where you are. I'm staying in and crafting like a crazy person today but am enjoying having the windows open and letting in a bit of light and fresh(ish) air. That said, the minute I opened the craft room window, a big bumble bee flew in and couldn't get out. It was not easy saving it from the cats and saving the cats from it, but it's back in the wild now. Poor Poppy got stung by a wasp when she was only little and her paw swelled up to the size of a golf ball. In the end though, I think she was more traumatised by the vinegar foot spa I forced on her!