Evenings

Evenings. Where to distinguish night from day in this gloom?

The sun barely scrapes the horizon, the zenith is mere inches off the ground and I'm finding that at about 2.30 the light is so bad it's time to switch lamps on and call it a day. I will never get used to this. I tread the waters of winter; I hardly thrive in it. But. If you're going to have to live with something for a while, might as well make it pretty and seek the beauty in it, right?

A cosy fire, some blankets, hot chocolate or elderflower cordial, some books to inspire and a quiet, q u i e t, evening with nothing to do except dream and plan.

I'll take it.

April Scenes

It's APRIL, people. And as much as I love a bit of cozy, some lamplight and family get togethers under handknit blankets as much as the next gal, I was kinda hoping these scenes would have been a distant memory by now, ya know??

Surviving November

I think you all know how much I hate Winter. I struggle to find the beauty in it, especially as it seems to come with so much illness attached. I'm completely in favour of decimalising the year and getting rid of November and February altogether.

I am determined, however, that I will learn to find a way to love Winter before I die. For with every disease there is a cure, right? There has to be a way of not only surviving but thriving in these bleak months.

So, starting today I am finding ways to love Winter - with maybe some 'winter wellness' posts thrown in here and there.

First up :: rearranging the furniture. Yep. I shift things round not only when I'm bored but when the seasons change. It's not a ritual, but a genuine attempt at keeping warm and cosy - I turn furniture away from the windows (which provides so much light and warmth the rest of the year), give the radiator room to breath and face the (fake) fire. I give the babes space in front of the fire to spread out and get cosy.

It's funny, but shifting the focus from the horizon outside the windows to the centre of the room seems to re-orientate the psyche too. The mental shift, the hibernation call, seems to settle down something in us that constantly wants to find the adventure outside into seeking the comfort inside.

Despite my hatred of winter, I do love me some cosy. It's a start.

These walls of ours...

A year or so ago I nailed these crates to our sitting room wall for somewhere to display nick-nacks. I really love them, they have a rustic charm and they have turned a large, boring flat space into something more engaging.

But still, there was something missing... Of course, a plethora of prints! And so with the help of arty friends, some of my own images and etsy finds I created our 'seasonal wall' - Images that keep us in tune with the outside when we are in the very heart of our home.







I think it works somehow. A hotch-potch of nick-nacks and granny things with a little modern tweek.


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The Blankets

I'm almost embarrassed about how many blankets I have stashed in my sitting room.









I've tried to squirrel them down into more sane proportions (can I just say that apart from these four large quilts and blankets, there four or five more behind the shots), and I know blankets are my thing, but still - can I really justify the instigating and making of TWO more, all in the name of cosy??!

Will there be a time when there will be 'enough' blankets in our house? In reality, yes, we're there already. In my head? Never.



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Trying to Find My Mojo :: Trying to Find The Cosy

You know how I said the Winter Blues hadn't got to me this year? Yeah, well, I think they were plotting behind my back and planning on ganging up on me when I wasn't looking. I am really, really done with Winter now. I need sunlight; I need the grey to stop already.

Luckily full spectrum daylight bulbs are saving my sanity and taking the urge to kill people from red alert down to soft amber. Valerian and skullcap are doing the rest. I try to occupy my little brain with fussing over corners of the house - easing slowly into our new space. Arranging, rearranging, finding new corners, needing new input. Trying to make this house a home.

New ideas brewing, old ideas put to bed. Already making plans for the allotment, seeds already ordered and bedside reading has returned to permaculture and homesteading.

But right now - right now I have the February Funk early.... oh lord...

Desperately Seeking Some Colour

Well, it's November - ever known a November that wasn't grey? Right.

For the past week we've had grey fog most days and nights. It's been cosy, though very dark. Photography is documenting the lack of light, and I'm in desperate need of a 50mm f/1.8D Lens for sure (not cheap and praying for thrifty/ebaying good fortune. Again), but for now, in the search for colour these are the only decent shots I could find.







I'm trying to find angles and shots that reflect the cosy nature of our days, rather than the grey and the dark.

Practice makes perfect, I guess.

{ This Moment }

From Old to New :: Repurposing Woollen Blankets

I don't like cutting up vintage woollen blankets. I don't know why, I just don't. I don't have any problem in repurposing other vintage fabrics, but I just can't do it with vintage wool blankets. In fact it makes me feel like an evil thrift witch, bringing home an old dear, only to dice her up.... I'm probably being over-sentimental about it.

But to give you some idea of how much I loathe to part with woollen blankets I will tell you that I have had a couple of Witney blankets in my cupboards since last winter, doing nothing, too shabby really to be any 'use' as a blanket, but too pretty to be chopped up!



Well, the other day I was a very brave girl and took a deep breathe and cut. It didn't hurt as much as I thought it would, and having a promise of a bit of cosiness as a reward on a grey November day was just the incentive I needed.





In less than half an hour two enormous covers for two enormous feather-filled cushions were ensconced in the sitting room, warming my babes as they did their important snuggling up with a good book.



Just as Witney would no doubt have intended.

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