a bonus to blogging...

luckily when typing i rest my hands and arms upon my little green desk,

"why is this lucky, Tif?" i hear you enquire.

well dearest readers, i am experiencing 'an experience' that happens to me on occassion, quite regularly actually and i do find it most inconvient when it appears at times such as 'shop updating'. a time when i should be super motivated, sweating it out with Miss Ethel and beavering away on vast quantities of 'lovelies'.

but alas i have been struck down in the worst way with 'pondering', 'procrastinating' and 'delaying'... causing my hands and arms to become heavy and slow.

i do not believe a little crocheted coaster should take the best part of the morning to produce... it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that is not time well spent when thinking about an item one wishes to sell.

i am thinking it may have something to do with the crappy weather... i declared yesterday it did not bother me, but today i appear to be affected by the lack of daylight. perhaps also, by not finding 'closure' with my missing slip and let's add on top, missing my soul sister and her lovely company...

i think the best thing is to 'walk away', leave Miss Ethel to gather a little dust, blot out my vanished slip, push Debbie to the back of my mind and spend some time with you lovely lot instead.

so for today's 'pick me up', i thought it quite nice to tell you about Gloria, how we met and the story so far...

when i first started blogging in march 2007, after the initial 'bravo' of getting my blog started and feeling most pleased with myself (due to little prior blogging knowledge), i set about adding a few links on my sidebar.

sites i found lovely to look at. there were so many out there in cyberland but i added links to a few, that on greater inspection seemed to be most pleasing to my eye and let's be truthful, made me a little envious.

for they were doing what i would like to be doing but had yet to figure out how...

and so it was that i placed a link to The Laundry upon my blog, thinking nothing of it.

to my surprise, a little while later, a letter appeared in my inbox from Gloria Nicol, the brains behind The Laundry. she thanked me for adding a link to her shop and was most supportive of myself and my wares.

i was positively speechless, little me sitting in my 'other' home at the time, just dipping my toes into the cyber waters and Gloria had stopped by to say hello.

over the past few years we have exchanged letters, just like pen pals... i have seen her name in print on many an occasion and smiled a smile to myself, most happy at her growing recognition.

i was delighted when her cyber shop was joined by a reality shop and often wish to be able to step through the door, have 'a little potter' around, before going up to the till and saying

"hi Gloria, it's me... Tif".

who knows, perhaps one day that it will happen.

but for now i must 'make do' knowing that Gloria will appear from time to time in my inbox, with a few words of encouragement for me. one such appearance happened a couple of weeks back... encouraging words came forth and then Gloria asked me if i would like to make her an apron wrap, so she may wear it when working in The Laundry...

of course i did a little dance,

of course i ran around the shed, yelling to anyone who would listen whilst pointing to her latest writing in Selvedge,

and of course i sat right back down and replied "why YES! i would love to"

even though i didn't have the foggiest idea of how to make a full apron wrap...

two vintage pillowcases and two weeks on, with some clever work by Miss Ethel, a full apron wrap is winging it's way to old blighty to live life in The Laundry, and i have to tell you i am most chuffed to know it's final destination and to know it's owner.

and so there we have it dearest readers, it really is quite extraordinary the people i have had the pleasure of 'meeting' over the past few years.

along with Gloria, i have got to know many talented, generous, creative people through my little blog and i have often marvelled to 'used dog' and now of course 'little olive', as to why i should have the good fortune...

whatever the reasons maybe, i shall continue to think myself most lucky to have you, dearest readers, stumble across 'me and my ramblings' in the blogging world.

her hands and arms are feeling lighter now, she is thinking a cup of tea is in order ~ Tif