time spent with my book writing buddy...

when me and Rachelle started plotting and planning her trip from across the pond to mossy shed, we did not know at the time we would be writing a book together, nor we would be running crafty workshops together and many other things we did not know which have come our way since our early days of plotting and planning a week spent together. its funny how things go like that, the besty best things in life never appear to be ones you plan for but ones which appear without ever really looking for them. i am quite sure i have said that before, i am more than sure i only said it a few posts back, but the way my little foggy cogs are running these days i am none the wiser and i hope therefore, those of you with unfoggy cogs will forgive and forget any such faux pas on my behalf.

Rachelle weaving her 'ted & agnes' magic on a granny chair in mossy shed

and so it came to be, after our happy week was planned, a book came our way, a book which required every minute of our waking thoughts for the deadline was 'pie in the sky' but together we embraced it, we ran with it and we loved every single minute of it... the days when we were riding high with our crafty cogs in full gear and the days when we could not get round the next bend, having spun off the track and landed in a ditch. we picked each other up, we dusted ourselves down, adjusted our rose coloured specs and pulled up our granny chic knee socks and got back in the driving seat. now looking back over the madness of a month and a half i know without a doubt i could not have done what i have without my besty book writing buddy by my side. holding hands across the pond until the time came for her to step onto a plane and wing her way to spend time with me and my clan at mossy shed.

found out and about pottling with my 'lucky thrifty shiny penny' called Rachelle

a vintage decal or two doing a peachy job

most of our dandy week spent together was deep in book stuff, with Cath our photographer spending 3 days and 3 nights with us, it was full on book thinking mode for all of us. so the first day of Rachelle being ensconced in mossy shed we worked on book nitty gritty, for this was our first opportunity to really discuss and understand what we were doing photo-wise. the unknown of what we were about to do, both of us being new to the whole photo-shooting and styling side of things, had us wondering what we had got ourselves into... however i am going to save that for another day, for i fear the ramble will be so long, folks will have been able to have left their homes, gone grocery shopping, got back home, unpacked and put it all away, made a cup of tea, seen the news headlines and patted their dog in the time it would take to read such a ramble.

Rachelle's hand luggage found at the thrift store

another peachy find by Rachelle,  alas and alack, she had to leave it behind, i promised to take care of it on her behalf

in-between all the 'must dos' for the book, i felt it most important to show Rachelle a bit of my world outside of mossy shed. so that is what we did. in 2 days, 1 before Cath arrived and 1 after she left, i took Rachelle out and about to see the delights of our area and when i say delights, i mean second hand and crafty delights!

in a radius trip of 80 miles we covered, 2 huge thrift stores (my favs), 1 large vintage mall, 1 adopted auntie, 1 fleamarket, 1 extraordinary fabric store and a fly by viewing of the space needle. in our 80 mile round trip we put the world to rights, we plotted and planned our next adventures, we laughed and we were both each others 'lucky thrifty shiny penny'. 

after many years of looking for a vintage postcard rack, we stumbled upon one, once again marveling at the chances

on returning home Rachelle required extra luggage for all the treasures found on the shelves of despair and the racks of fabric delights. now both in our abodes, once again with a large pond between us, we are surrounded by memories and keepsakes of the most spiffiest week ever. it is not possible to put into words sometimes just how much a time, or a place or a person has meaning to you, the words just can't be found to describe the wonder of it all. when i tried to explain to my man just how it all was for me, words failed me and all i could say was "what Rachelle and i have is so extra ordinary, the friendship found through the online crafting community and what it has led to is a once in a lifetime kind of thing, the sort of thing to be treasured and to be thankful for... for the rest of one's days"

Tif