Progress

It's a dreich Sunday afternoon, so I've spent a couple of hours downloading photos and catching up whilst sat next to the stove......and this is August weather??? So at last, here are some photos of the progress of the build, it's coming on but the rain hasn't helped over the last week.

Everyone keeps asking me if we'll be finished before the babe arrives, do you think we'll be finished in 8 weeks..........?

This is our bath for the main bathroom, salvaged from our friends garden, they rescued it from a flat in Edinburgh, but had 3 to choose from so we got this one for a box of beer!!!! The feet have to come off and be cleaned up and I'm planning on painting the underneath a nice Cornflower/Forget - me - not blue, another job to add to the list!

The windows arrived on Friday afternoon, after a little bit of humming and hawing I decided I liked them........good job eh!

Enjoy the week ahead, fingers crossed the weather is a bit better!

L x

I'm still here.....

just......and no more! Boy this project managing lark is a full time job! As you can imagine, between things being rather busy with the business and the start of the extension/renovation, there hasn't really been a minute lately. Plus of course the little bean growing away daily.......I'm getting rather large..........hmmm, the next few months are going to be fun!

Anyway, I'll hopefully be back with a full update of the job in hand as I really want to document it on here, so fingers crossed our paths will cross again later this week.

I'll leave you with some summer loveliness from the garden, there is the odd corner in amongst the building site!

L x

The joys of country life.

Just thought I'd quickly pop in and say hello, it's been a busy week, can't believe it's Friday already! In between the showers, I've been taking lots of photos of new products. Today Nicola (the elf!) and I set up a cute little photo shoot with the pottery, as the photos I had weren't the greatest. I'm really pleased with the results so I must get the website updated, another job to add to the list!

And the dreaded "C" word is being banded about here already........

We (Gregg) had a bit of a nasty deed to do this week, you'd better not read on if you're of a delicate nature..... The other day, while taking photos, I happened to look over to the chicken run and noticed one of our little bantam hens lying on the ground looking like she was having a fit. When I got over to her I knew exactly what had happened. Her feathers were wet and she was in a bit of a mess, the drakes (male ducks) had attacked her. I think they may have broken her neck. She was beyond saving, so for the first time ever I had to despatch one of our chickens, not the nicest job, but unfortunately one that goes hand in hand with chicken keeping.

So, the two drakes were despatched last night and will be slow cooked this weekend in a casserole. The four remaining ducks seemed a bit lost this morning, but there did appear to be a bit more harmony in the hen house. I think we've done the right thing.......

I let you know how the casserole tasted.........:)

Enjoy your weekend.

Lx

The view from my desk....

Glorious sunshine, sitting out on the deck outside the studio. Listening to the babbling burn, ducks quacking, and hens clucking away. The wonders of wireless broadband allows me to work on-line, what more could a girl want!

Even though it was a wet and miserable weekend the opening was fun, it's lovely to have the studio back in working order and looking very smart even if I do say so myself! The deck is almost finished, just the balastrade and rope to go around the edge and that's us, another project finished at last.

Photos of inside shall follow this week. Hope you're all having a lovely sunny one like us.

L x

The madness....

The deck is nearly finished, Gregg is still out there working at nearly 10pm......

The studio had a mass blitz on Friday, one half is tidy, the other half is like a bombsite.......

The list of stock I still have to make is rather large, hmmm.........

But, the tablet is made (I delegated that one!) and the lemons and sugar are ready to be made into old fashioned lemonade.........

Do you think we'll be ready by Friday at about 11am? Did I tell you we were opening for the season then? Come and join us if you're in the area.........

L xx

A lovely new blog to visit....

.....pop over and say hello to Rebecca at POLKADoT Farm, a fab blog about life on her and her husbands farm in rural Stirlingshire. I met Rebecca a couple of years ago at a Christmas Fair we were both selling at, it's lovely to see her here in blogland.

Image is a toadstool keyring, one of last years big sellers and making a return this year in many more products! x

Stuffing & handsewing

I'm a real Friday loving girl, the weekend is about to start, I deliver the eggs in the village, Fridays just buzz along nicely. Today, I decided to stuff and handsew some of this weeks production, seeing as there was a rather large pile of it mounting up.

We open up for the summer two weeks today, as usual I'm leaving it all to the last minute! The studio looks like a bomb has hit it and needs a major tidy and move around, there's still pine needles on the floor from the Christmas tree...........the next couple of weeks are going to be busy.

Seeing as I feel I know my customers quite well I decided to start making lots of what I know sells well, so lavender bags were the order of the day today in the handsewing. Next week I'll get making some other new pieces, which I'm rather looking forward to.

We're off for the weekend, back down the road to visit friends and family, we're both looking forward to it as it'll be our last weekend off for a while. For the next few weeks it'll be all hands on deck, literally......Gregg has started on the deck outside the studio and has promised me it'll be finished for us opening back up in May.......fingers crossed eh!

Happy weekend. I'm off to put eggs in boxes. xx

Bumblebees & Swallows

I've been watching out for them for the past couple of weeks, then they arrived on Sunday, one week earlier than last year. Don't you just love it when the swallows arrive? Although they do say one swallow doesn't make a summer......?

My Papa keeps a diary, he has done for as long as I can remember, but not the sort with Dentist and Doctors appointments, nope, he records nature and and it's goings on throughout the year. I must have taken it from him as I've become a bit of a recorder of dates too. We also have lots of House and Sand Martins too, they've been with us for about a month. I love sitting watching them all swooping and diving, filling the sky with their magical dance.



We've also had an abundance of bumblebees this year, has everyone else found that? There's been some huge bumbles bobbing about in the garden, they obviously survived the winter well.


The cherry blossom tree was buzzing with them when in flower over Easter weekend, such a lovely site. So it's not really surprising that they've began popping up in this years designs, don't you just love being inspired by nature? x



P.S. Thank you for all the congratulations on our news, we're both so excited, 2009 is going to be one heck of a year! xxx

Easter bunny a week late

On Friday morning I opened the porch door to find our ginger tom parading around a helpless little baby bunny cowering in the corner. After an initial squeek from me at the thought of having to put little bunny out of it's misery, I picked him up and checked him over for any gashes/bits missing, thankfully there were none and he seemed to be in good health other than being a bit stressed.

Thankfully Nicola works with me on a Friday so she kindly took some photos of me and little bunny before we returned him to the burrow where I thought he'd probably come from down the road. I was very tempted to keep him but Gregg said a firm "no", we have enough on our plate at the moment without adding to the menagerie!

And yes, for those of you wondering, I have a "bump" rather than a fat middle, we're due in October. Just to add more chaos to the madness.....x

Back to it

After a lovely Easter break it's back to the grindstone, sew, sew and a bit of sowing! We had a lovely time with family and friends over the last few days, lots of good fun and some really special moments. So it's back to it in the Studio, Nicola is back helping me again as we're opening for the season on Friday 8th May. This year, due the extension build, we're only opening 2 days a week, Fridays and Saturdays from 11am - 4pm. I'm terrible for biting off more than I can chew and this year I'm having to be a bit more sensible about things, so I think two days a week will be more than enough as I have a feeling builders and customers together could be a bit of a recipe for disaster!!!

So, over the next few weeks you'll get little sneak previews of the new collection for this year, and you never know I might even venture back into the world of wholesale seeing as we're only open two days a week........we'll see how it goes.

I'll leave you with some rather cute photos of the highland cows living up the road from us, they are so adorable.

Hope the sun is shining where ever you are.

L x

An impromtu break....

Sorry, a bit of a break in blogland there.....we had a lovely and much needed break up north a couple of weekends ago and then time just seemed to disappear. A bit of research for a rather important bit of kit for the extension was done here, and just general chilling out with lots of wonderful beach walks. Little Miss Moss was in her element splashing in and out of the sea.....

So, it's back to the grindstone with a rather busy and exciting week ahead.....and then family visiting for Easter.

See you soon,

L x

Sunny days

The last couple of days have been absolutely glorious, real spring sunshine with a warmth that gets the washing on the line perfectly dry!

Today I planted my garlic and red onion sets, a little bit late, but hopefully they'll produce something, it was just so good to get outside and working away in the garden again.

Yesterday two friends came round to organise our application for the Perthshire Open Studios event which we're taking part in again this year. Between the three of us we'll have a really varied selection of work, from painting and photography to textiles and ceramics, plus we've decided to do a produce table as we should all have spare cut flowers, veg and eggs, something for everyone hopefully!

What I really enjoyed yesterday was having the support of others and not the usual "having to do everything myself, therefore it gets done at the last minute in a bit of a panic". I think that's why I've enjoyed doing all of the fairs over the last couple of years with Katie, the company and the shared responsibility makes all the difference, even though we are both separate businesses yet working together.

I really hope this great weather continues, wouldn't it be wonderful.......

L x

The man with the chain saw

This year our big project (we've got to have something going on to take up our time!) is finally getting our shack of a cottage sorted out. We're knocking down part of the house and adding on a rather large extension, which will bring together the "sleeping" and "living" areas rather than it all being higglety pigglety as it is at the moment. We're hoping to start the exentension within the next month or so, with it hopefully being finished by Christmas......

So, a couple of weekends ago we made a start, there is much demolition to be done before the builders can come in......a bit that Gregg is thoroughly enjoying! Out came the chain saw and down came the trees at the back of the stables, as we didn't want any little birdies nesting in there.......

Next is the stables to come down and the kennels moved, a storage area which will be greatly missed until a replacement is built. Then there is the back porch and spare room to come down, then we'll be in a right guddle! The back porch is probably the most used room in the house and belongs to the pooches so goodness knows where they are going to sleep once it comes down......Ah the joys......it'll be worth it all in the end. We'll have fun recording it on here though!

Off out to the studio to do some long overdue sewing!

L xx

Hello there....

Ok, so hibernation lasted a bit longer this year.......but the sun has been out for the last couple of weeks, the snowdrops are out in full force, the birds are singing away and all of the snow has gone (although we had lots of flurries yesterday!). So all in all, I think I've eventually thrown off that duvet and joined the human race again...!

I haven't been sitting around doing nothing over the last couple of months though, there has been much planning, sourcing and decision making going on, but I'll tell you all about that later.

I just thought I'd pop back in and say hello, along with Lexie enjoying the sunshine last week.

It's nice to be back. I promise I won't leave it so long next time........

L x

Hibernation

I think I've gone into hibernation. Last week saw lots of drab, dreich days, I just wanted to curl up under the duvet and sleep.......

But this week has been all about crisp, hard frosts and Mr. Sunshine has come back out to play. It's amazing how a bit of sunshine can totally change your day :)

Some photos of the dazzling crystals in the garden.

Anyone else out there in hibernation?

L x

Back to work

Today we returned back to routine, the festivities over for another year. We both felt we'd had a good holiday and really enjoyed this Christmas especially. The house started to fill up on 23rd December, I was kept busy with sewing and orders right up until the day before, so it was a welcome break to start the holidays when the guests arrived! There were 6 of us in all, Gregg and myself, my Mum, my two sisters and my brother. We knew it would be strange, the first year without Dad, but somehow it has brought all so much closer together. Some tears and much laughter, but Dad certainly wasn't forgotten, we dragged everybody up Alyth Hill on Christmas Day to have a wee toast to Dad, I'm sure he was with us somewhere.

Lots of long walks were had with friends and dogs, a childrens reel with friends in the village hall, visitors coming and going, lots of good food, a little too much whisky but lots of fun was had over the last couple of weeks, it's just a shame it's all over for another year.

2009 will hopefully be a special year for us, I really do hope so. Plans are afoot for lots of exciting things, so fingers crossed that it all works out.

Wishing a very happy & prosperous 2009 to everyone who reads our little blog and supports our adventures in the country, I hope you all continue to enjoy it as much I enjoy writing it!

Love to all,

L xx

Little mice

Today I have been mostly making these little cuties. We were lucky enough to have a product feature in the Christmas Gift Guide of The Scottish Field, so the orders have been coming in thick and fast for these little guys.

The Studio is looking particularly fetching at the moment, adorned in all it's Christmas finery, especially last week in all the snow we had.

Chrissie was loving her snowy walks, she loves to poke her nose in the snow and throw it about the place. Even though she's a lady in years she loves to act like a pup every now and then!

L x

P.S. Thank you for all the get well soon wishes, I'm feeling a lot better. The last Christmas Fair was over the weekend, it went well, but I was glad to be home!

A sick day...?

In the world of self-employment there doesn't appear to be a clause for compassionate leave or sick leave, it's crap! You've probably guessed, after a couple of tough weeks lately, we are now experiencing the dreaded lurgy in this house, do things ever get any easier....nope, I guessed not.

After a really lovely day listening to the seriously talented Sarah Raven last Wednesday, I came home a shivering wreck and went straight to bed, flu had hit big time. By the end of the week Gregg had it too, fair cancelled on Saturday, but it was our annual Christmas Open Day yesterday and the show just had to go on. Thank you to Nicola and my family for saving our bacon, you're all stars. xxx

So, orders are now being processed again (will I ever catch up with myself again or should I just throw the towel in now...!) and hopefully the nice doctor is going to give me something to fix my throat and horendous cough tomorrow.

I'll hopefully be back in a couple of days feeling a lot better (fingers crossed). Off to have a hot bath and a bottle of whisky to help me sleep ;)

L x

The candles have arrived at last!

You may remember some time ago that I mentioned we were doing a trial run with our own range of scented candles. Well, at last I have them made up and ready to sell, which had been planned for the Country Living Fair, but never mind, now is as good a time as any.

The candle pots are hand thrown with our heart motif hand painted on the front, each one being slightly different as no two pots are ever the same! Filled with Elderflower & Wild Nettle scented soy candle, they have a burn time of approx. 30 hours and then the pot can obviously be used after, I think it would make a lovely little sugar bowl. They are £20 plus £4 P&P.

I have only had a limited number made up and will be selling them at the fairs we're attending over the next couple of weeks and in the shop. If you would like one please e-mail me at info@primrosehillinteriors.com

I'm just home from a great evening at the CRUK Christmas Fair in Perth. It was reasonably busy (good sales, needle cases seemed to be the thing of this evening!) so lets hope tomorrow brings a good day.

L x

Christmas door wreaths

I'm getting there with the gearing up for Christmas in the Studio, it has certainly cheered me up as it's a time of year that I absolutely love. Nicola, my trusty little elf, delivered me a couple of door wreaths this week, one for on the Studio door and one for inside. Given that she was a florist in her previous life, she has taken over the task of making our door wreaths this year! And they are just gorgeous, made traditionally with a mossed ring, they are made up with lots of hedgerow finds and other natural bits and bobs. Just perfect for any discerning front door, and what better way to welcome friends in to your home over the festive period.

In previous years I have done the whole running around like a blue ar**d flee delivering everyones wreaths, this year we are asking that you come and pick them up from the studio, you will be welcomed with mince pies and maybe even some mulled wine, who could refuse an offer like that! Obviously we're only expecting locals to order them...........

They can be made up with a natural hessian ribbon or a red satin ribbon, the choice is yours, and all for just £20. Bit of a bargain really.

L x

P.S. I'm off to a Sarah Raven Christmas Flower arranging day next week so no doubt I'll be helping out with the wreath making over the next couple of weeks!