Sussex by the sea!

After struggling to find something to wear for the family wedding on Saturday I managed to find a suitable outfit and off we went.

The venue was a seafront hotel in Eastbourne, a fifteen minute drive a way. We were really lucky with the weather as the forecast wasn't looking so good. After the ceremony, (which was at the hotel) and the delicious meal, we sat outside drinking champagne and wine and watched the world go by. We had a thoroughly enjoyable day. Mr seagull and his mates hovvered over the tables where hotel guests had left unwanted food. I'm not a great fan of seagulls. We have lots of them around our house and our neighbour will insist on throwing bread out for them and they wait on his garage roof every morning making a terrible din! 

However, this chap looked quite friendly!

On Sunday we drove back to the hotel to retrieve our cars and a large group of us joined the bride and groom for a stroll along the prom.

Eastbourne Pier looking quite swish in the sun.

We stopped for some fish and chips and sat by the Pier to eat them. We must have looked liked tourists as a man stopped to tell us to watch out for the seagulls as they would grab our lunch if we weren't careful......been there, done that and got the seagull poo stained t shirt!

Looking at the weather here today, its hard to believe it was this glorious two days ago!

Waffle, waffle waffle....

I bet you can't guess what this little beauty makes?

Bought from Lakeland on Saturday I thought it may not do what it says on the box but it didn't dissapoint!

It uses quite a lot of different ingredients and wholemeal flour which I don't think i'd use again. I'm not keen on wholemeal flour unless it's in bread where it belongs.

 Just look at these little babies!

  Now...that jar of French goodness is just what was needed along with a dollop of Nutella.

My husband was snoozing in the lounge while my daughter and I were concocting these and we didn't think it was right to wake him from his sleep, so we ate the lot!

As they say......you snooze.....you lose!

I should point out that we have a wedding to go to on Saturday and I've still not found anything to wear. I seemed to have changed shape over the last week, can't think why!

The winner is......

Sorry I'm a day late with this but it was my daughters birthday yesterday and I ran out of time to do this.

As you can see the winner is 'Gillian'!

Please email me your details and I'll get your case in the post to you.

This is going to be very brief as I have a lot of work to catch up with but I'll be back soon with a lot of 'waffle'!

Enjoy the sunshine!

x

Sunshine giveaway!

There's still time to enter my sunglass case giveaway  that I'll be ending on Monday.

You could win this just in time for the sunshine that's due this week!

Leave me a comment and I'll add your name to the others.

Freebie Friday!

I know Fathers Day has been and gone but if you have a special daddy that deserves to win this glasses case then hop over to my Facebook page for a chance to win.

I'll be picking a winner on Tuesday 24th July.

Feel free to enter again if you've entered before!

Christmas anyone?

I know we've not had a summer yet and it has felt like winter for the past goodness knows how long, so would you mind if I mention Christmas? 

Blooming CHRISTMAS!! Arrghhhh!

These bolts of beautiful coloured fabrics are ready and waiting to be chopped up in preparation for what I hope will be another busy Christmas and this year, I'll be ready and waiting!

On another subject, I have someone to introduce to you.

Meet birthday sewing machine number 2!

After me going on about how impressed I was with the Singer 160 in my previous post, it didn't really live up to my expectations and after an evening of my daughter sewing with it, it jammed up and wouldn't sew again.

I ordered it on line and I now realise that we bought it on looks alone.  My daughter wanted to do freestyle embroidery and this machine isn't up to doing it. We have a fantastic sewing machine shop with very and knowledgeable staff a few miles away and when it broke down I wished and wished we'd gone there instead. 

It happened last Saturday evening at 10pm and I went online to where we bought it and the website said they were open 9am-11pm, 7 days a week. I gave them a ring and after explaining what had happened and that I wasn't happy with it a very nice man told me not to worry and that someone would ring me on Sunday. 

9am on Sunday the phone rang and another very nice man told me not to worry and that it would all be sorted. The only problem was that I had very stupidly broken up the polystyrene from inside the box and thrown it in the bin and it was now at the tip! Why do I do that? 

So, because I couldn't send it back, incase it got damaged in the post, I had to take it to their offices in Herfordshire yesterday to exchange it for this one, a Janome. 

So, the long and the short of it is this. 

If you are stupid like me and order something online that you think looks pretty and nice for goodness sake order it from here...Coopers Sewing Machines....(if it's a sewing machine that is!) because their customer service is amazing!

This sewing machine is MUCH, MUCH better and all is well now....phew!

Summer loving had me a blast!

This miserable weather today got me thinking about holidays, past and hopefully future and today seemed as good a time as any to design a new sunglasses case and that is exactly what I did!

I've been having a few giveaways over on my Facebook page (there is one going on now, which ends tomorrow) and I know some of you don't do Facebook so I thought we'd have a giveaway here too!

If you would like a chance to win this 'Summer Loving' sunglasses case then all you need to do is,

a) leave me a comment telling me why you'd like to win it. Are you going on holiday or would you give it to someone who is?

b) Follow my blog, if you don't already.

And I will choose a winner next Monday 23rd! July!

Rain

Yesterday my daughter and I went to our favourite fabric shop, The Eternal Maker in Chichester. It's about an hour and a half drive from here, but well worth the effort. It's full of lovely goodies from fabric and felt to bias binding, beads and buttons.

 Anyway, an hour or so was spent gathering bits and bobs and my daughter announced that as she is now the owner of her own sewing machine, she 'gets' my fabric addiction! Who wouldn't?

The sun was shining when we left so we decided that a visit to Chichester, a five minute drive away, was necessary. As we parked the car, and I walked to get a parking ticket from the machine, it started to rain. The time it took for me to put the money in, for it all to be rejected and put back in again, it was absolutely pouring with rain. Looking at the huge black clouds overhead and no umbrella, we thought we'd run for it.......well in my case walk fast for it! By the time we arrived at our destination, Cath Kidston, we we're both drenched. I can honestly say, I have never been so wet through rain, in my life! We looked like we'd both just stepped out of the shower with water dripping off our noses. My hair when wet, has a bit of a wave in it (thank goodness for straighteners) and by the time it dried I looked like Crystal Tipps and Alistair. My daughter spent most of the journey home laughing at my expense and taking photos of my hair! 

While in 'Cath" I took a photo of a lovely little sewing machine. Oh how I wish 'Little Betty' was mine!

I did buy yet another bag that was in the sale ( like I needed another 'Cath' bag!)

Next stop, 'John Lewis @ Home'. If I could choose a shop to be looked in over night it would definitely be John Lewis. I love everything about it. I also loved the look and name of this chocolate, just wish I knew a 'Nanny Goat' to give it to!

This Hope and Greenwood umbrella bonbon dish seemed quite appropriate for the weather on the day.

Today I've been busy making bunting, paper bunting to be exact.....well thin cardboard actually.

I wanted to make some for the workshop and my niece had the bright idea of using some pages from the notonthehighstreet.com brochures that I've featured in. So, along with a few sheets of card and pages of the brochures I made this. I'm really pleased with how it turned out.

I recently invested in some lovely pink blinds.

 I thought I'd need some to help block the sun out.......sun? What sun?

I hope you've had a lovely weekend and managed to dodge the rain!

'Tweet'

Friday 13th............unlucky for some, but someone could be lucky and win this new phone case!

I'm having another giveaway over on my Facebook page (link on side bar)

Feel free to enter.......the more the merrier!

Tea and biscuits

Costa coffee have a new range of biscuits and after spying them in the cabinet on Sunday afternoon we thought it would be rude not to try one..or two!

I should have put my hand by the side of the plate so that you can get some idea of the size of these gems, but let me tell you, they're huge compared with the shop bought variety of Custard Creams!

They also do a Ginger Crunch, pictured here and a Bourbon which I've yet to try and that was only because they'd sold out!

Yum-meeee!

New baby

It's my daughters 24th birthday in a couple of weeks and she has asked for a sewing machine. I've no idea where she got the idea for that from but all I can say is it's about time!

Now, we are already a three sewing machine family but she wanted one of her very own. One that she could use whenever she wanted and not have to feel in the way if she used one of mine in the workshop.

I have three Bernina's and I love them all. They are real work horses, they are reliable ( leaning over to touch wood!) and despite two of them being over 40 years old, they just  keep on going.

My mum always had Singer's and my first and second were too but then I moved on up to Bernina's. 

I'd love a vintage Singer and have been looking recently on ebay for one and when the right one comes along I'll buy one to join the sewing machine family!

While looking for the right one for my daughter I came across the Singer 160 Limited Edition. It looks like a vintage one but is electronic and gorgeous! It was love at first sight when I showed her a photo of it online. 

Yesterday a nice man in a van delivered it and here it is!

Not the best of photos I know but you get the idea.

It came straight out of the box when she got home from work and out came fabric and thread and off she went.

I have to say, it sews beautifully and I'm very impressed.

Welcome to the family!

Sunday treats

Yummy chocolate bread with lashings of Nutella!

Beautiful flowers bought for £1 from outside a house in the same village as the dog in the van yesterday.

How I LOVE flowers bought from the roadside

to display in mini milk bottles to brighten up the dullest of days!

Edited to add; I'm having a Teacher present giveaway over on my Facebook page (link on right hand side) where you are more than welcome to join in on!

Bonjour!

I have just taken my son to work and driving back I stopped in a little village down the road to buy some chocolate bread (!) and sitting on the other side of the road was this.......

How it made me laugh!

I had to get out of my car again and take a couple of photos.

Luckily I managed to get out of the way before he drove off!

Enjoy your weekend.

P.S ....The chocolate bread is delicious but at £3.40 a loaf I guess it ought to be!

Name in print!

Holly Tucker and Sophie Cornish, founders of notonthehighstreet.com have launched their book 'Build a business from your kitchen table' today. You may have seen them on BBC's Breakfast programme this morning.

Those of you that have been reading my blog for the past couple of years will know that my business took off very, very quickly and mainly due to these two lovely ladies. I started selling on their website back in April 2010 and it was only in November that year after being invited to have a slot in the Winter/Christmas catalogue that my working life changed forever. So much so, that I handed my notice in at my day job ( a teaching assistant of 15 years) after 11 days of the catalogue being distributed, to work full-time for myself.

Over the past two years I have won an award with them, Start Up Success 2011, have had my designs in various magazines and newspapers, have been to business meetings at their head offices and have generally had the time of my life!

A couple of months ago I was asked for my permission for them to use one of my quotes in an upcoming publication. I had no idea at the time what it was being used for but over the past few weeks it came to light about the book.

So...........two and a bit years on and there I am Gina Axell, rosiebull designs in a book!

I know I've said it a million times before and I'll say it again......If someone had told me this would happen I'd never have believed it!

There is only one person I wish could see it, the real Rosie Bull.........my wonderful mum x