Kiss Noises

I have moved along.

Seeing as I own two Typepad accounts, I only need one and will close this blog in the next month or so. Never fear though I have started another....where I can check my emails everyday off my other Typepad account...who knew I could do that...

Anyhoo now you can find out all about my ramblings over HERE at my new blog

I see the bridge!

I am not promising anything but am wanting to be posting often over there....do come and visit...

Kiss Noises Linda

Nov 9, 2009 12:25:55 PM

Oh how do you say Goodbye?

Of course that sentence is not quite as dramatic when you realise I am talking about inanimate objects.

We are moving house...part of the reason for the big break inbetween posts and the fact that I was in hospital for 5 weeks....we are having a Sea Change....to more sea than where we live now but the sad fact is the new house is a lot smaller and I am losing my studio.

Now I have taken great comfort in flitting around blogland and seeing everyone elses creative spaces...you girls will know what I mean....everything becomes a creative space and storage is always pushed to it's extremes.

I paint, I sew, I bead, I have draws full of ribbons, I collage and make cards and tags. I have canvases and sewing threads and vintage flowers and more fabric than I care to admit. I have coathangers and stuffing and crates full of paints and mediums and varnishes. I have vases full of paintbrushes that look like a bizarre flower arrangment. I have cake tins full of sewing threads and others full of rubber stamps.

I have sewing baskets full of embroidery threads and big glass biscuit jars full of buttons, I have coffee jars full of buttons, I have suitcases full of buttons....yes I have a lot of buttons it seems. I have little jars full of beads and sequins, one for each colour and I have jars full of glitter. I have old crystal bowls full of colourful beads.

I have baskets full of have finished items and vintage suitcases full of...stuff! I have all more favourite little trinkets and treasures that I have bought and been given by other talented artists and for some reason a huge assortment of old bears and bunnies whose faces just plead with me to keep them....so sad.

It's not easy and I am holding out to do my studio until the very last as I have lots to finish sewing and painting before then. I will have a new space at the new house but it it tiny tiny and there is no storage for my treasures.

I have stacks of vintage books and bookcases full of my beloved books but the saddest part of all is that I have bookshelves and floorspaces and magazine racks and books full of my biggest weakness and most inspiration....MAGAZINES! Now there is no way that I can take these with me, there is simply no room and I can not bear to throw them away nor can I bear to tear out my favourite pages because those favourites might change and I could throw away something that next month I really adore. I do need to go through them again ( I have already had a big cull earlier in the year), but that takes time, I need to sit for a good couple of hours and sort out my favourites.

I have an awful suspicion though that there is still going to be a huge amount. I don't know how to be ruthless!! I need need need those magazines!

(this would be my Mother is the middle of a very messy creative space, seewhat I mean)

I also NEED all my art supplies and if I did decide to take less with me, what do I do with those extra things? I can't throw them away and the thought of giving them to a charity shop or to the childrens school is a good one but what happens if they don't recognise their huge artistic worth and throw them away? I can't sell them ( at least not around here) at a garage sale ( have had two of them and don't wish to have anymore in the near future) and to package them up and put them on Etsy or Ebay or the like I would then have to keep track of them and put them in a safe place....like that is going to happen or be at all possible.

It isn't easy and although I will have a new sapce at the new house it is tiny tiny and there is no storage space and nowhere to display my treasures....Yet!

I am driving myself slightly mad with the thought of it all....my studio is not my only downsizing...the whole house is! It will be much better to move I know, if only I could fact forward a month or so...

Oh well back to the packing I go...I will endeavour to be more creative in the meantime and try to remember that it is good for the soul to clear away some clutter...

ttfn Kiss Noises Linda

p.s. Lilly Cottage http://lillycottage.typepad.com is still going strong if you want to pop over...at least that part of my life is the same..KN again!

Sep 28, 2009 10:34:35 AM

Mad Hatter photos I love, the out takes.

Jun 28, 2009 9:39:32 PM

Don't you think these Owls are cute? New Wall hanging in progress

Admist the organisation and excitement of the Mad Hatters Tea Party tomorrow at Lilly Cottage I have also been trying to create up a storm for The Handmade Expo next Saturday at the Ipswich Showgrounds. As I must always have at least fourty seven million things on the go at the same time....something apparently I have to stop...geez specialists....back to my projects, I have created an owl wall hanging that is going to be kind of sweet I think. I haven't finished but here are a few sneaky peeks.

I have even started on some Happy Scrappy Hanging Owls...here are a few prototypes...

The Lovely Lan actually helped me stitch these little babies up...I fear she is cursing me as I type.

OK off to dye ones hair before THE PARTY!

ttfn Kiss Noises LInda LIlly Cottage

Jun 19, 2009 9:44:16 PM

Doesn't it make a Mother proud?

Do you remember digging through your Mothers or Grandmothers button stash? I do on frequent occassions I would tip out all the buttons, sort out the ones I like thread them onto string and then start all over again later. You had to be a bit careful in Mothers button jar as sh also kept little sewing notions like, hooks and eys, safety pins and razor blades....yes i still have no idea why but I know you had to be very very careful, that is why you tipped out the buttons instead of putting your hand in the jar.

I adore the feel of buttons as they slip through your fingers and I have several jars and plastic bags and crates of buttons now and yet still I can never find the exact one I want! I have encouraged my children over the years to play with buttons ( probably so I could too) and sort them out in size and in colour. I do think they bored of it before I did though.

Eldest daughter decided the other day she was going to make hairclips with buttons on them and was sitting with the jar of buttons going through them.....aaahhh my work here is complete, I have passed on button love!

ttfn Kiss Noises Linda Lilly Cottage

Jun 16, 2009 5:12:59 PM

Tea Party Teasers

As you may or may not know I am holding a Mad Hatters Tea Party at Lilly Cottage on Saturday 2oth June...hopefully I will be well enough...well of course I will be well enough what am I saying? I have all sorts of wonderful ideas and I won't tell any of my 'helpers' besides Darling Husband what I am planning as I want everyone to have a magical kind of morning.

However I can not keep totally quiet and thought I would share a few sneaky peeks of work in progress...not that you will be able to tell much but it will make sense in a week or so..

a couple of the girls waiting for their appearance, they are going for the soft slightly out of focus Doris Day vision at the moment....it is supposed to be fuzzy really it is..

Party blooms...

cupcakes for strength... it is hard work you know being secretive..

Now don't go telling anyone over at Lilly Cottage anything you have seen here...it's our secret and if you are good I shall share some more over the next week....sneak sneak sneakity sneak..

Kiss Noises Linda.

Jun 11, 2009 11:43:51 PM

Where I spend my time this week.

Having Lilly Cottage people always ask if my house looks as wonderful as the shop...um that would be no! Besides the fact I have three children, a gazillion pets and too much to do, home is a mix of works in progress and my favourite things as well as a bit of dust, OK a lot of dust. Where does that dust come from by the way, you can clean one minute and then turn around and there is another pile of dust...it is sneaky and mean I think...yes dust is mean...

Anyhoo I have favourite parts of my house and it is always lovely to have an event at home as then darling husband does all those jobs that have been half finished for ever....I do need some lights put up perhaps I should invite someone over for dinner?

My 'studio' (converted lounge room) is full of my favourite boxes and cupboards and suitcases and paints and threads and little trinkety things....all right if you are artistically minded but if you are my Father in law it looks like one big mess of junk....really he should talk, he has a shed full of bits and pieces of wood that he might need one day.

My sanctuary this week has been my bedroom and I am a bit reluctant to leave it as I feel so yeuk but I need to play in my studio as well ( I even have the heating on today..so naughty!). Our bedroom is huge...seriously huge and I love all that space but it can get a bit overrun with piles of magazines and baskets of folding and ironing...such a pain but at the moment it is like a huge relief to spend time in there, it is comfortable!

Every part of my house has a different sort of theme I think but this room seems to have all my styles together and it works for me...here have a little look see.

So now you can see what I am looking at...not too bad, far better than a hospital room however nice it is!

Have a lovely day, it is very cold and windy here today but Sunny! Sunshine makes everything better!

Kiss Noises Linda http://lillycottage.typepad.com

Jun 10, 2009 12:11:20 PM

I need to slow down!

The fact that I haven't posted anything on this blog for a while would suggest that I haven't got much to say or am a little slack...I think the opposite is true and I am writing this post sitting in my hospital room where I have been for the last four days and probably will be for another two?

I try on the whole to ignore my MS and work at everything as hard as I can, I also tend to sweep everyone else up in my desire to move things around or go to new places and get the house cleaned NOW! The problem is I don't slow down and my MS doesn't like it! I have been feeling more than a little off in the last few weeks but have pushed on through as one does, determined to finish something today in case I can't finish it tomorrow, when in actual fact that is working against me...soo hard to get my head around sometimes.

I have spent my time in hospital not doing too much and had to lie flat for 12 hours following a lumbar puncture and I so feel for Kerryanne!

I feel like a slob, have my oldest baggiest t-shirts on and haven't done my hair or my make-up, though I did put my earrings back on today.

The strange thing is I think I need to do this so often but preferrably before I need to be hospitalised for steroids as the world starts spinning and my legs start wobbling...It is a fine line...hmm funny that is a line from Chrisie Amplett who also has MS, I wonder what she was thinking then?

Today is also Sunday, which is the biggest day at Lilly Cottage and I can see the big rain clouds sweeping in, not so good for a Sunday at the markets. Darling Husband and Mother are manning the fort today and I sort of feel a bit weird about it, I love doing what I do but I simply can not keep up physically....it is a bit of a pain in the backside when your mind is willing and the rest is a bit ho hum.

Well I am writing the second part of this post from home now, in the luxury of my bedroom without the ding dong of buzzers going off up the corridor...now I have children, dogs barking and purring pussycats to entertain me.

Before I left hospital today, I made a long list of things I want to spend more time doing, the preparation and ideas I have for the Tea Party and ways that I can re-arrange the shop and the shop hours to be able to fit it all in without exhausting myself.

I will also need to schedule in some, sunshine, exercise and lots of fresh fruit and veges into the schedule too. I am not used to having to make a plan and stick to it, I like to be able to throw new challenges in at the last minute, it helps me to be a bit more creative or something....slowing down is not easy.

Being that I have to spend the next few days lying low and have to go back to the hospital for my infusion on Friday I shall try and work on my list of things to do everyday and things that don't really matter that much in the big scheme of things, things that are going to make me happy and relaxed and will helpfully keep that nasty MS at bay.

Lets see how I do...now pop that kettle on I am coming over to visit.

Kiss Noises Linda ( I do look like I am keeping up appearances at Lilly Cottage blog though....that makes me happy... http://lillycottage.typepad.com )

Jun 8, 2009 7:57:05 PM

Finally something happening.

I have written a really whingey post and left it in drafts but finally I can show you somethings I have been working on...how I long for some long quiet days to potter around in...I suppose then I will be wanting some activity instead of quiet...here are some things that are happening around the home front.

Changing this to this...

it might not look like it but boy has this room been changed around and boy was it dusty!!!

I went out to lunch just down the road and over the bridge and had this view to look at.

Of course I didn't lunch alone, the lovely Lan of the fair skin joined me...look Lan you are famous in your own lunchtime...oh my goodness I am so funny.....not.

Of course that was the other week when it was lovely and sunny, today is very wet and soggy and I have been working on some bits and pieces....am liking the start of these things, things might be looking up..