Being an Auntie

Things have changed a bit again round here recently. There must be something in the wind or the water that makes the world spin in a strange and eventful way once in a while, as over the last three months there have been major changes, tiny changes, hoped-for changes, unexpected, tricky changes and the planned and excuted change of a pregnancy and birth.

My big sister is a natural mummy, and she has produced the most extraordinary little thing I have ever seen - who looks just like her! I am so excited about getting to know this little girl - the first of many grandchildren for Granny and Grandfather - roll on Christmas hols so I can sit and hold her and know her.

Life in Somerset

I am settling, slowly, in my new neck of the woods. Life around Bath is wet and windy, and work is very nearly all-consuming, but bit by bit I am gathering the necessities for a content life here. I moved at the beginning of September to Bath, where I waited for a month while before moving into my cottage. I have taken the leap of faith and moved into a small village, only 8 miles from the Georgian delights of Bath, but it feels miles from the hustle, the shops, the nightlife... in fact the only night life I have seen thus far involves a pint or two in the local ex-miners pub. It's enough for now.

The move allows a time to contemplate and be still. I am still. When I am not at work at least...I haven't yet decided how long my country life will continue. A year or so at least, but while I feel the pull of city lights once in a while, I know that my heart is here for now. Besides. I have Wilfred now. He is a little bundle of joy, who happened to arrive with me the same week as my niece arrived with my sister, and while I am sure the comparison wouldn't sit favourably with all... it feels as joyful!



There are some wonderful characters to meet round here... I am beginning to get to grips with the local life... no doubt many adventures are to be had.

Just about ready....

...to face the world again.

I have been stuck in a hole of post-PGCE exhaustion, and now two weeks have passed since the end of term, and over two MONTHS since my last post, I feel just about ready to remember my blog and have a proper think about the little creative things in life.

It is no coincidence that I happen to feel in the mood for creativity whilst I am up in the wilds of Northumberland. I am surrounded by the hills, as well as the cast-offs from my (now pregnant) sister's potter's wheel, which are as beautiful as anything that she sells, just by being pale, delicate and hand-crafted. My excuses have run out, and now, despite the packing that needs to be done (oh, yes! I finally have the house that I have been waiting for!) I am finding the time for creativity.

I have missed you, creative spirit, you, who has been slowly ebbing away over the last nine months, as I have been swamped with deadlines and lesson plans, and the paperwork that teaching demands. I have missed the frivolity of playing with paints, and the handiwork involved in stripping paint from furniture and painstakingly restoring neglected objects to a loved possession. I look forward to the move because it will give me a new, blank, optimistic canvas, but now, while I wait, I am warming up again. Finding inspiration wherever I can and looking up with expectation and hope.

May Day comes to Oxford

But I must gather knots of flowers,
And buds and garlands gay,
For I'm to be the Queen o' the May, mother,
I'm to be Queen o' the May

Alfred Lord Tennyson

Coming up for air

My oh my. oh my. What a month or so since I last had a moment to sit and contemplate...
Teaching is a monopolising occupation, which I knew in theory before I started, but I know in actuality now... I love it, I do, and I am so thrilled that I am on a path which, without a doubt, is creative, productive and meaningful. What I didn't stop to consider however is the utter exhaustion that I would feel most evenings and weekends, and how term time doesn't allow you to recover fully from anything that is thrown at you at school.

Now, however, I am slowly recovering. I have come up for air, and have begun to recuperate. But I have lost track of the projects which I had started, the dreams that I had set in motion and the light of all the creativity which I had discovered in my home life... thee are two weeks before I go back to school and I am determined to find it all again. I have just picked up my knitting needles to cast on with the wool that my love gave to me for valentines day (yes, he knows me well) and so hope that two weeks will allow me to find my way again. I then need to expand this little blog to my next project... Which will become clear in time, and finally to take stock, look forward to the Easter weekend and relaaaax....

And then the sun shone once more

I have made it oop north, after one false-start, and a rather long journey on the M6, but it was well worth it. The moors, the house, the open fire and the beginnings of a little artists' colony at my sisters house have been all the inspiration I needed to get back on track after a busy half of term. Today we worked at the Gibside Farmers' Market, where I was a little distracted by the wonderfully landscaped estate - and took a walk through the grounds. It is now a National Trust property and beautifully cared for and complemented by the family-friendly approach to days out. I felt as if I had been transported back to the 1890s when the house had only just begun to fall into disrepair. Woodsmoke floated around the stable block, and the sun made an appearance once more to light up the spring morning.



The highlight of the day was most definitely the trip to RE in Corbridge. I have been dying to visit this emporium of fabrics, interiors and vintage finds since the aforementioned sister gave me a stoneware jug and pressed glass goblets (with bees on) for my birthday last year. It was a trip worth waiting for. Tucked behind the garage in an old warehouse-like building, the outside felt unassuming... but walking in was a dream! I am a total sucker for anthing vaguely French-interiorsy, and anything that mixes a little glitter with the softness of indian quilts and crispness of starched linen...



As I move ever closer to my dream home, this was a gooood place to add to my address book. While I struggle for space, I will have to make do with the crab-shaped cookie cutter that I treated myself to.

Out in the Snow

Who can believe it?! What a difference a week makes. The soft blanket of snow that fell around our way was beautiful enough to hide all the cracks and make our corner of Oxford feel like a winter wonderland. We stomped accross the meadow and stopped for hot chocolate, loving every minute of our 'snow day' off from school... what a treat!

Out in the sunshine

This weekend, it could have been Easter. The sun shone and the clouds stayed away, and we spent a blissful weekend in Cornwall for a birthday party. It was so lovely to be surrounded by children and out in the sea air... I feel fully refreshed and ready to tackle the shortened week ahead. Who wouldn't after this?

Project : : 1

Well, strictly not 1, but the first to finally make it here. There is a wonderful interiors shop in Oxford called North Light, which stocks scandinavian design products and fabric and about which I have developed a slight obsession! Luckily, I have a boyfriend who pays attention and filled my Christmas stocking with delights from its shelves.

My latest purchase was fabric to make these cushions for my sister, and an as yet un-photographed yoga mat bag for my mum for Christmas.



There is something a little 80s about this fabric, and yet they look perfect on against her Farrow and Ball walls, sitting on the window seat in her kitchen. Definitely a look that works for me.