I used to play tennis

The Scheepjes crochet-a-long is progressing well. We're up to week 4, I'm crocheting the latest motifs during my break for lunch and I've realised the colours are VERY Wimbledon! I wonder if that was by design or a happy coincidence. 

I'm going back to "work" in a minute but as I'm self-employed, I can choose what I do when. It's too hot for bead making so I'm indoors cleaning yesterday's beads while waiting for Heather Watson to come onto court no. 1 on the telly. The advantage of living in a stone house is the thick walls keep the interior nice and cool.

The tennis racket you see in the picture is one of three that my sisters and I used to play with out on the street when we were kids, so it's very old! I collected it from mum and dad's house when we were there for Father's Day, mum was going to chuck them out. I decided to save one of them for the happy memories it holds. Mum says she can remember me running back from school to watch Jimmy Connors, Bjorn Borg (swoon, yes of course I had a massive crush!) and Virginia Wade.

#scheepjeswol #scheepjes2015CAL

So what now?

Last Sunday was dreadful, awful and so we decided to just get away from everything and let the Landlord and his Agents spin.  We got a last minute booking at a self-catering cottage in our favouritest place - Bamburgh in Northumberland. We left on Monday and got back on Friday evening. Here's a picture of Missy next to the beach at White Sands just up the road

We also had a quick visit into Scotland (an hour's drive) to celebrate Andy Murray's achievement, he won his first Grand Slam tournament in the US Open whilst we were away. (I couldn't watch it on TV so I listened to it on 5Live). Here's a few pictures of the harbour and town at Dunbar (not Dunblane, I know but it was the furthest we wanted to go!) Very very lovely ladies public loos, I wish I'd taken a photograph - they're all decked out with fresh flowers, by far and away the nicest public lavatory I've ever visited!

There were TWO galleries in the town, this one Bass Rock Framing which does framing on the premises and sells mainly framed fine art artwork, they also stock bought in Scottish/seaside themed items. The second was called the Found Gallery, which was selling framed and unframed prints (don't think they do it themselves) and a wonderful mix of British made artisan created goods. If you combine the two businesses together, taking out any mass produced items, this is what we want to do with galleryRAUXA ... but oh, yes, I was forgetting, we have no premises!

We left it with our lawyer that he would e-mail DH if he heard anything but just to wait for the other side to get back to us (if ever). We were adamant we would not agree to any changes to the original Heads of Agreement.

DH can pick up e-mails on his Blueberry phone (it's a Blackberry really, he just calls it that). Reception is intermittent though so we only turned it on once a day when we were in areas where we knew we could receive e-mails

Thoughts of the disappointment were never too far away and we tried to formalise what we were going to do in the future, lots of ideas cropped up, the more wine we had, the crazier they got ...!

Checking his phone when we stopped for lunch on the way back on Friday, we heard that the Landlord had had a change of heart and decided that the Heads of Agreement could stay where they were, they signed the lease last Wednesday and want to complete as soon as possible now.

It's quite a big shift to go back into it, we've lost over a week and we have messed around our workmen to the point that I'm quite surprised they took our phone calls asking if they were free for yet another revised start date. As well as that, there's the issue of whether we trust the Landlords and their Agents.

The previous tenant tells us he never had any problems with the Landlords at all, pay the rent and they totally leave you to it until he told them he was vacating. A similar tale has been told to us by one of the neighbouring shops who has the same Landlord, pay the rent to the Agents and you never hear anything from them, she's only had one inspection in 10 years.

Apparently it's a religious holiday for the Landlord and their solicitors on Monday and Tuesday so we're aiming for a Wednesday completion ... we're both hoping all this fuss wasn't the universe hinting that we shouldn't go ahead with it! We've made the decision that we will carry on with our plans for a picture framing Gallery today and there's a new moon, so we're taking that as a sign that a new beginning will be kindly looked upon.

-o0o-

Thank you for the kind messages received here, e-mail, phone calls and on my Facebook page, it makes all the difference to be reminded that the majority of people are really really lovely!

Rainy afternoon in Cambridge

Most times, I have lots of lovely people to talk to on a Saturday but you know how SOME DAYS are just bad - bad - bad and you shouldn't get out of bed? I knew light rain was forecast for most of the afternoon which usually means showers. Quite often in Cambridge when we get that kind of forecast, we are often lucky and miss them altogether so I decided to go ahead and do my day on the Craft Market. I had a ton of new items I was excited to show off and with the prospect at least of a dry morning, I set off with happy thoughts.

After assembling my stall and displaying my jewellery, my reward is my first cup of tea of the working day. I was called back to my stall from the man in the van with the tea (lovely guy called Julian if you're ever in Cambridge and want a beverage on a Saturday, go see him!) Anyway, there was a lady asking if she could buy a clasp from me (but not the jewellery). I sell JEWELLERY, not clasps, sorry and with that I try to get back to my cup of tea which I like weak; I'm eyeing it from afar as it gets stronger and stronger. She starts to explain about why she needs a clasp (I am NOT interested, I want my tea!) I say I don't bring just clasps with me to the stall, but perhaps (if she will go away SOON) I could make her one separately and bring one on another day but it will cost about £12 for the sterling silver one. She looks aghast at the price and so I have to explain why it costs this much (cost of silver plus the time it take me soldering the links together, filing away any excess solder, hammering, sanding and polishing). Julian, being an absolute sweetheart, and knowing I like weak tea, shouts over shall he take out the teabag? What a hero "Yes please" I smile at the lady and start walking back to the van. She then goes on to tell me that Sally, who sells knitted items in the market, doesn't charge that much for her time considering how long it takes her to make every item. I really want to get away before I lose the will to live, she isn't going to buy anything, and all I want is my tea. I don't want to be rude and so I continue to chat whilst making it perfectly clear that I won't make her a clasp for less than I think it is worth. My tea is cold by the time I get to it.

Two more customers arrive and are sighing over my jewellery, admiring and trying it on so I'm thinking I may get a sale here. When people are being so nice about my work, it's the real fun bit about my job, I love answering questions about how it's made etc. During the week, I only get to talk to DH and the dog so this is a part of my week I really enjoy. At the end of a really lovely twenty minutes, they both walk away saying "I could spend a fortune at your stall" ... without parting with a penny ...

Then I got someone who picks up three pendants as if she wanted them all, she proceeded to get the chains all knotted together as she examined them. Fine chains get tangled at the slightest provocation, it took a long time for me to sort them out which I attempted to do in good humour (in case she really did want them all). In the end she had the good grace to buy one but by then it was raining. She then decided to make it my problem that she didn't have an umbrella and wanted to know where she could get one. I wear hooded raincoats myself when there's rain forecast on my market days, I can't be bothered with fiddling around with brollies! Anyway, I just couldn't think of anywhere that sells them that's very close. If I had had one with me, I would've given it to her to get rid of her! My sister Sharon, whose stall is next to mine, on rainy days gives one away free with every purchase so I sent her there but then she came back to tell me she didn't like anything on Sharon's stall, Sharon wouldn't sell one to her (traitorous child!) and so she still didn't have an umbrella ... (sigh) Maybe she saw Sharon's sign and thought everyone in England gave away free umbrellas with a purchase - I . DON'T . HAVE . ONE!

A bit later, the guy who has a stall opposite, Ian, wasn't about when my VERY bestest spending regular customer was with me. Someone barged over from his stall, interrupted us without apology and in an irritated sounding voice demanded to know where he was. To be helpful to another stallholder (and fellow sufferer of bad weather) I ask my customer to hold a tick whilst I had a glance around to see if he was anywhere nearby. Not a trace of him anywhere "I'm sorry I don't know". A second customer joins her from across the way and also complains to me that there was no-one on his stall. So I politely say, "I'm with one of my customers at the moment, I don't know where he is, sorry". "Well can you take my money, I want to buy something." "NO, I can't I'm with one of my own customers, bog off!" OK, so I didn't say that exactly, I do have SOME manners, but I did have to be very assertive and make it clear that they needed to PLEASE ask someone who wasn't busy.

Then a couple of Italian language students were flicking through photographs on their i-phones in front of my stall, they weren't looking at the jewellery at all. There wasn't anyone else around (by then it was really chucking it down) so I didn't really mind, they weren't blocking any genuine customers from seeing my wares otherwise I might've asked them to have their show and tell session somewhere else. Bored, I listened in to their conversation "This is my cousin, this is my sister, my other cousin, this is my .... um ... cousin's mother .. how do you say that in English?" His companion shrugged and they both looked at me expectantly "Old Bat" ... I was tempted to say but no, I smiled sweetly and said "Auntie".

After they'd moved on a large group of their compatriots pile up at my stall, they picked up a heavy plastic star which I use to weigh down my business cards "Can you write on it?" They ask. I really don't understand why they want me to write on it. I look puzzled and say "Pardon?" "Can you write on it?" they repeat, I heard them right the first time. I just don't know how to answer them when I suddenly realise they think it's for sale and are wondering what it's for. "No, it's just a paperweight to stop my cards blowing away. It's not for sale." ... they wander off to annoy someone else.

It's very odd and unusual to get such an annoying succession of people all in one day! Most days, I get really lovely people coming to my stall and it's the exception to get anyone at all who is in the slightest bit irritating. But maybe it was just the weather affecting my mood and I misinterpreted them, you can see from the state of my trousers how wet everything got! The spattering is the result of poking the puddles of water that gather on my roof tarpaulin which then (if it doesn't go down your arm) runs down the outside onto the gravelled ground and forms a series of small lakes ... the life of an outdoor craft marketeer - what fun! The spotty pattern looks quite cool now it's dried, I'm thinking of selling the design ... they'll all be wearing trousers like mine in Milan next Spring!

All that aside and behind me now, I'm looking forward to watching the tennis this afternoon - come on Andy!

Come on Andy!

I'm ready, got my coathangers all untangled; I don't think there's anything more aggrannoying than the way they get themselves in a mess and then you can't just pick one out when you need one.


My iron is primed with water ready to go at my usual full steam, full pelt, red-hot-maximum pace. All that's needed is for Andy to do the business at Wimbledon.

Are athletes as superstitious as actors about being wished good luck? The traditional "break a le-" doesn't seem appropriate for a tennis player so I'm just going to say "break a fingernail (very slightly)" as I don't want to jinx him. I can't wait (but I have a lot to do before the match so I hope the quarter final before his goes to a five-setter!)

Edit after the match
Ah well, he gave it a very good try, maybe next year. He played much better than the straight sets defeat might suggest. At least he tried very hard and put a lot of effort in, which is far more than I could say about the England footballers.

Seed heads

I picked these seed heads on a walk yesterday evening. I thought they looked interesting and might make an organic base for PMC paste. Painted over the top in many layers, after drying and firing, the PMC turns into silver and the seed head burns away to leave behind a hollow form which might make an interesting pendant. I have no idea what plant the seed pods are, but all of them were closed when I put them on the table last night. This morning, the largest one had exploded! The exploded one looks like a dandelion clock but it's much bigger than one of those. Anyway, I'd better get busy with the PMC paste before the other two go the same way; I've never done this before so I have no idea whether it'll work well for me.

Very disappointed with the football yesterday, let's hope Andy Murray can do something for British sport this afternoon. I am poised with my ironing basket to watch as soon as the Williams -v- Sharapova game finishes! I am never on top of my ironing pile except during Wimbledon. I do not allow myself to watch television in the middle of the day but when it's a British player at Wimbledon, I do my ironing inbetween points and kid myself that I am doing something productive rather than being a couch potato!

Another Pandora bracelet

It was Sandy's birthday this week. She absolutely loved the Pandora bracelet that DH bought for my birthday that I featured in my blog last month and the beads that I made to adorn it. Sandy's long term partner, Chris, picked up on the hint and got her a Pandora bracelet and enlisted my help in putting together some beads to go onto it.

Sandy's colours are pink, blues and purples. I had already started knitting a pair of pink bedsocks as one of her presents and so we went with blues and purples for the bracelet. Chris paid for the bracelet, mum and dad bought the sterling silver clips to stop the beads moving about, Sharon bought the silver flower charm spacer and I made the glass beads and sterling silver PMC spacers. I'm glad to say that she was really pleased with it (and the socks!)

The photograph of her bracelet has given me an idea for presenting the large hole Pandora-style beads that I make on my website (which as you know, I am currently going through the machinations of changing the structure of in order to make it easier to maintain). More on that soon, though.

In the meantime, being self-employed this week has given me far too much freedom to watch Wimbledon and football instead of doing work!! However, Andy Murray isn't playing til Saturday (have to miss that one), there are no historically long matches on the cards, England don't play til Sunday so I am hoping to get plenty done on Friday - including the jewellery photographs promised earlier in the week. I hope I can have a productive day :-)

Not getting much done

It's too hot to make any beads (though I did a few first thing when it was cooler).

It's too hot to photograph my Pandora-style beads for the website (though I did photograph some sample threads and send the results to Fiona for her commission and she's really pleased with them so that was definitely worth the effort!)

It's too hot to cut the grass (though I did pat the edge of the lawn and said that it's time will come).

It's too hot to stay upstairs very much longer on my comuter putting photographs of jewellery from last week on the website - maybe later if it cools down in the evening.

It's NOT too hot to watch tennis though - downstairs is much cooler! I had a list of things I needed to get done without fail today and I finished them at 3pm, Andy Murray came on court at 3.15pm so that was well timed (most considerate of him). Additionally, I did some ironing whilst watching inbetween points and Andy again obliged by winning in three sets so I could put the rest of the ironing away at the earliest opportunity! I'm so glad he's in the semi-finals.