elfie & Me

A bit of this and a bit of that.

My latest project, a tatty Lloyd Loom table transformed by car paint. The man in the paint shop matched it to a Farrow & Ball egg shell finish and then all I had to do was spray it on. The fabric under the glass is from Donna at Country House Textiles. Isn't it lovely? I love vintage spriggy prints but I had no idea what I was going to do with it. Then I just happened upon this table while walking down Rochester High Street. I am terrible for buying treasures and stashing them in the cellar and then forgetting about them.
Roland groaned at the sight of more tatty furniture awaiting transformation but later admitted that it did look quite nice. As you can see one of the furry members of the family has claimed it as his. I was just about to set up a nice little still life but along came Percy scattering objects and posing shamelessly.

Yesterday I went to Whitstable with my friend Nicole. The plan was to do the shops and eat cake in cafes with NO CHILDREN. (That is none of OUR children, other people's children are fine! Don't want to sound like a grumpy old bag!) The no children plan worked nicely but we were nearly scuppered by the weather. It was tipping down and the town was full of hunky firefighters pumping water. However, flooding was not going to deter us from the task in hand, we had to explore all the little shops. Annoyingly, I forgot my camera and even more annoyingly, some of the shops were closed. This happens to me every time I visit Whitstable but I refuse to go at the weekend. Too busy for me! I love all the new little shops but I'm sad when a landmark goes, like the gentlemen's outfitters which had that yellow "lucozade" type paper over the windows to stop the clothes fading. In the window, there used to be a tatty old mannequin head with a pencil moustache like David Niven. I do hope he wasn't dumped on a skip.
And this fish was from one of the bakeries. Don't you just love the teeth? He got a bit broken on the way home and Alexei said he didn't taste fishy at all!

My new website is now under construction. Not by me, I hasten to add. How I ever thought I could do it myself, I don't know. I've had to get my professional head on fast, not the summer-holiday-I-don't-even-know-what-day-it-is head which I've been wearing a lot of at the moment. What I've seen so far looks fab despite me being spectaculary unprepared!
I wish I really thought about my business as a whole and realised that August is probably always going to be my worse month in productivity and not taken on such a huge project right now. We've been having lots of days out to make up for not going away this summer. Still, you live and learn. Next year I will be much more organised . . .

Bargain hunting

It's the butt end of the sales right now and I wouldn't normally frequenting shopping centres at this time of year, but Alexei had some pocket money saved up (and the tooth fairy is a regular vistor at the moment!) He just had to go to the Lego shop at Bluewater. Once he had made his purchase I happened upon this bargain in John Lewis . . .a garden parasol complete with stand for £25. It is a bit enormous for our tiny garden. You can see the washing line colliding with it and it is crooked because the garden is on the brow of the hill. But such minor details do not worry me, we're used to everything being a bit "tipsy" in our house. If you leave marbles on the floor in the dining room, by the morning, they have all rolled into one sloping corner!
We are fast growing out of this house. We have got too much stuff! I can't be a minimalist however much I try to wittle down our possessions. Naturally, mine are all prized vintage finds but Roland keeps such crap as computer manuals from the 1980's (actually, darling, if you are reading this, I took them to the dump!) and Alexei won't let me throw away any empty box (potential spaceship).
I really love our home and feel very disloyal to the house saying this, but we do hope to move to a more rural location next year, all being well! But meanwhile I'm happy sitting in the shade with a glass of Sparkling Elderflower by my side. Hope you're all enjoying good weather too!

Summer Days (at last!)

Well as expected, my stall wasn't a sell out on Saturday but I did really enjoy meeting people and a lot of people said lots of positive things. And a big "hello" to Catherine from Mollycupcakes who introduced herself. It was nice to meet you Catherine! I really think the Craft Market scene is a tough nut to crack which is a shame as was really enjoyable. I think I will continue to do the odd one that takes my fancy as it is nice getting out and talking to people instead of being that sad person who sits working in a little room all summer.

But yesterday I enjoyed the a sunny day in Whitstable at my friend Jackie's beach hut. It is gorgeous in any weather.

In this picture Jackie is showing her authentic Whitstable roots by mending nets on the sea wall. Of course I found this scene highly amusing but endearing all the same. Look at this monster crab Caitlin caught . . . she was the only one that didn't run screaming from it when she landed this one.

We swam too. It was rather, er -bracing and my skin was still tingling nicely by the time I got home. I rather like to think if I lived by the sea, that I'd be one of those old ladies that swam even in the depths of the winter. (Hang on a minute, I was brought up by the sea and I never did so it's obviously not my destiny. Just another pipe dream!)

Also this week, Alexei's cat, Percy was 3. Here he is looking at his cat birthday cake, a bit frightened of the candles. Last year, he singed his whiskers on them. Poor Percy.

Of course all the cats had cake (posh cat food) too! We bought Percy a cat lazer toy and he goes crazy trying to catch the little red dot. The other two just look at him with disdain. He seems very young and foolish to the more elderly felines.