parting is such sweet sorrow...(courtesy of Mr W. Shakespeare)

the CLOSED sign hangs in my little shop window and the last of the custom slips are drying in the laundry room...and you find Tif at her little blue desk feeling a wee bit melancholy...as i look back over the past few months (thanking the man who invented archives on blog spot) i see we have come a long way together...

amongst the many laughs and tears we've shared we have...

1. mastered crock pot cooking (that is a bit debateable)

2. thrifted our hearts out

3. crafted till our fingers nearly bled

4. featured in the newspaper

5. went shopping in France

6. fought the dark side

7. avoided a whole load of things

8. found a multitude of 'angels in disguise' (there are so many more i haven't mentioned yet)

9. reached a hundred sales on Etsy

10. discovered that Chocolate Spread is far superior to Nutella (oh yes it is)

11. found out you require a zimmer frame when purchasing wedges

12. fake tanning lotion and hotel conditioners are not for the faint hearted

13. named a pretty sweet door Miss Josephina Lola

14. learnt that fairy tales can come true...

so as i pack up my bags and head across the pond it leaves me to tell you that i will miss our daily chats over the next few weeks...you have become a part of my life that i really enjoy. i'm not sure what i have given you, but you have all helped me find something that i lost a long time ago (and we are not talking cutting tools here...) it's a thing called CONFIDENCE and you have helped me start to believe in myself and my abilities again and for that i thank you kindly..

i shall not be too far away. if and when i get near internet access you can be sure i will be lurking on your blogs or checking emails...i will miss you all and if you miss me enough to wait for me, i'll be back at my little blue desk, blogging my heart out with a journal full of events from bonny England on

MONDAY 30TH JULY

wishing you hot summer days in the park or warm winter nights by the fire depending on where you live on our lovely planet ~ Tif

me, my natty little basket and the world...

dear readers i am typing this post while in a state of upset (probably not a clever thing to do)...i should have something stronger than a cup of tea by my side but alas we all know what that can lead to. so i shall take you back a few hours so you may see why my little body is in a crumpled heap and i am near exhaustion...

i foolishly (you always know when Tif starts with that word that things are not going to go as planned) woke this morning thinking it would be a wonderful carefree bonding day with my children. i dressed appropriately for the day i had in mind...very Boden i feel. my plan was to get tidied up around the house (which really meant shoving things in cupboards and drawers very quickly) and then we would head out for our 'pre vacation shop'...i had a very long list of things, like socks, flip flops for the boys, our #2 wanted skinny jeans (that alone was going to be torture in it's self) and the list goes on...i took along with me, my four kids, a boyfriend (sadly not mine but belonging to our #1) and the natty little basket...

in hindsight i feel the day would have started off on a better foot if i had left my natty little basket at home...the horror on their faces as i loaded it into the trunk of the car should have been enough of a hint of things to come...

when we got to the first port of call, i physically had to remove my children out of the way so i could retrieve my basket from the trunk...as we walked towards the mall my children and a boyfriend stayed way behind...i must admit when our#3 test drove the basket at the store i didn't realize quite what a noise the little wooden wheels would make, so it is true to say people do NOTICE you when wheeling this thing. i held my head up high (thinking of all your lovely comments) and carried on...in every shop i would announce "oh no thank you i do not need a bag i have my basket" and the cashiers would look at me with one of those smiles that means "she's a nutter"...

after a while, we hopped back in the car to drive to the next town..( i can never seem to get everything i need in one place, i am still trying to get use to it after seven years). the next place we stopped was worse, as we were nearer home territory and so very likely to meet "friends", god forbid my girls be seen with me and my basket!

after four hours of being stared at and having the kids commenting about it, not to mention the general bickering that always goes on, it started to rain, i gave up and returned home with the shopping list uncompleted.

i was beaten dear readers, i was left undone with the upset of knowing that i have brought kids up to actually care what people think of us and how we look ( is this a generation thing and do you think it is much worse in certain places? it is a struggle for me here and it does seem ridiclous that a little basket causes so much attention) i have plonked myself on a piece of the planet that really doesn't quite have a whole lot of 'flair' or 'individuality' for want of better words...and i apologize if a 'local' is reading this ( i'm not talking the city, but the suburbs i live in) but it's the truth...gosh i don't think i have ever been opinionated on my blog before, i promise to not to do it again...i don't want you to think my kids are not nice and they are certainly not unkind, they just don't like that feeling of not fitting in...and i guess that is true of a lot of us.

so as i sit in my crumpled heap wondering what it's all about, i must tell you i had set out to do a post on bias binding..if i continue it will make for a long old read, but i think you would like to know if i managed to make some with the little tool i purchased...so let's sum it up...

i read the instructions very briefly, ie. scanned over them fleetingly.

i learnt that cheap fabric might not give the best results.

i worked out after re reading the instructions when patching fabrics together, there is a right and wrong way to do it.

i would definitely next time make it much wider.

i do not need the tool especially if making wider bias binding...

however when all said and done, it looks pretty in a glass jar even if it's not good enough for general use.

i would definitely buy it, if i could, rather than make it...i don't do well with fiddle things

and lastly, i have a whole lot of respect for bias binding makers everywhere...

and just as i was at my all time low for the day while typing this, the mail man paid a visit and my whole day felt a little brighter because my 'invisible' friend Francesca thought of me when out and about in Brighton and sent me a little care package...perfect timing Francesca, thank you. you will never know how much this has helped me feel better about myself ~ Tif

as a footnote : i promise to be brighter tomorrow, my blog is supposed to be light reading not heavy...forgive me :)

'show and tell'...

as our #3 and i were amongst the pretty glass jars, tea bags and choccy biscuits on Saturday, we rounded the aisle and came across this natty little number.

"i have been looking for one of these all my life" i exclaimed "i just didn't know it until this fateful moment", our #3 looked at me for a few seconds with his mouth dropping a jar..."you are not serious are you, you'll look like a grandma". we then proceeded to have a small conversation on how i could in fact be a grandma in a few years...just the thought made me feel quite faint and so we decided to focus on the wheelie basket in front of us.

there were six available, our #3 test drove them around the store to find the one without a wobbly wheel and also when standing did not appear to have a tilt. out of the six we found one. "that's the one" i said

"why do we actually need this" he asked...i then spent at least a minute mumbling things like "let's save our planet from plastic bags", "great for the beach", "perfect to coordinate with my 'french market summer sac' when i am in France"...he then told me it was true to say he would be mildly embarrassed when seen with me and the trolley...

when i returned home i went through the same conversation with my man.

our #1 just rolled her eyes and said "yet another thing to help us stick out like a sore thumb in public"...it was quite obvious dear readers, that my family did not share my vision for this little basket on rickety wooden wheels...

and so the transformation began with some of this (hardly saving the planet, in fact i am ashamed to confess, as my original reason for buying the basket was to help the enviroment, which has now been completely cancelled out by me using spray paint). when finished painting i could not leave it at this, i decided to fashion a sweet little liner out of an old vintage tablecloth and so for 'show and tell' i give you my new "perfect for the farmer's market or when in France with Mr Depp on my arm" wheelie basket...

i must admit it's looking very Cath Kidston, i think it is the colors, but that's okay...so if you happen upon a woman in a slip, out shopping on her own with her natty little basket this summer you will know it's me and if you look far behind her, there will be a man and four kids trying to look invisible...

and as i had the paint out, i jazzed up a few tired things, so my studio chair and this little table now reside next to my tatty old sofa on my newly spruced up porch..

working out how she can get her natty little basket on the plane as hand luggage...

while hoping that blonde streaks and blue nostril hairs come into fashion for summer ~ Tif

edited: dear readers, if like me you need a natty little basket on wobbly wheels and you are stateside...i bought my new found friend at World Market :)