A Magazine Feature... and an Ode to Autumn...

It's autumn! And my yellow Kindle sleeve, Trees, is featured in the October 2012 issue of Sewing World magazine. They contacted me some time ago, asking if they could include it in the Handmade For You section, which showcases handmade items that fit a particular theme - in this instance, autumn, a season so perfectly described by Keats in his famous poem (see below) and one I particularly love.

I haven't had a chance to buy the magazine yet (out yesterday, 21st September) but I was emailed a sneak peek on Thursday of what appears to be the second page of a 2-page spread.  I'm already salivating over some of the other featured items (cushions to die for!) so I can't wait to see the other gorgeous makes.

Trees is available from my website, and made to order for all Kindle models (including the Kindle Fire and Kindle Fire HD, both of which will be launched in the UK next month and can be reserved on Amazon now).  Also available for the Kobo Touch, the Nexus 7, and the Galaxy Tab.  

However, if you own a keyboardless Kindle 4 (the smallest model which measures 166 x 114 x 8.7 mm) or a Kobo Touch and need an eReader sleeve urgently, you'll find Trees ready-made and ready to ship in one working day from my Etsy store. 

ODE TO AUTUMN - John Keats

Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness,
        Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;
    Conspiring with him how to load and bless
        With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run;
    To bend with apples the moss'd cottage-trees,
        And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;
          To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells
        With a sweet kernel; to set budding more,
    And still more, later flowers for the bees,
  Until they think warm days will never cease,
          For Summer has o'er-brimm'd their clammy cells.

Who hath not seen thee oft amid thy store?
      Sometimes whoever seeks abroad may find
  Thee sitting careless on a granary floor,
      Thy hair soft-lifted by the winnowing wind;
  Or on a half-reap'd furrow sound asleep,
      Drows'd with the fume of poppies, while thy hook
          Spares the next swath and all its twined flowers:
  And sometimes like a gleaner thou dost keep
      Steady thy laden head across a brook;
      Or by a cyder-press, with patient look,
          Thou watchest the last oozings hours by hours.

 Where are the songs of Spring? Ay, where are they?
      Think not of them, thou hast thy music too,—
  While barred clouds bloom the soft-dying day,
      And touch the stubble-plains with rosy hue;
  Then in a wailful choir the small gnats mourn
      Among the river sallows, borne aloft
          Or sinking as the light wind lives or dies;
  And full-grown lambs loud bleat from hilly bourn;
      Hedge-crickets sing; and now with treble soft
      The red-breast whistles from a garden-croft;
          And gathering swallows twitter in the skies.

Our Kitchen Transformation

It's been a few years since we moved into this house and began (almost immediately) renovating the kitchen.  But, having just tidied up my photo files and been consequently reminded how horrible it was and how hard we worked, I thought I'd share.  I've got zillions of before-during-and-after pics, but I promise only to show a few, lol!

For financial reasons, we did most of the work ourselves, so it had to be done in two stages due to time (and health) constraints.  This pic was the first one taken, at the start of phase one, when the old units, worktop and tiles at this end of the kitchen had been removed. 

After phase-one electrics, plastering, sealing, painting and flooring had been done, we were ready to begin installing the cooking area:

The old cooking area (as you'll see in a sec) had been bizarrely placed at the other end of the kitchen by previous owners, right by doors leading into the lounge and hallway, so that had to be changed. As we have four doors leading off this small kitchen, and so not a lot of room for manoeuvre, we had no alternative but to site the new cooking area here.  Not ideal as it's fairly close to the back door, but a vast improvement and it works for us. ☺

That part of the kitchen (phase one) took almost four months to complete, but we managed it in time for Christmas.  We then took a much-needed break till the following spring.  This meant continuing to use the old sink with its badly-leaking tap, but at least we had a kitchen sink.  If we'd tried to renovate the whole kitchen in one go, we'd have been washing dishes upstairs in the bathroom for months!

Here's what the other part looked like before phase two got going, and before we sold the old cooker.  (Door to lounge is on the cooker wall, just out of shot, so I expect you can see why we did what we did in phase one.)
:

And here's how it looked after ripping out units and sink, and before tile removal. Eugh!

After tile removal (two layers!), sanding back old tile adhesive (what a mess!), plumbing, electrics, dealing with acres of mouldy wall, hole-filling, sealing, painting, flooring and tiling, and a new window (the old one fell out...!) we eventually ended up with a kitchen we both enjoy working in:

The only bit I'm not happy with is the radiator wall (opposite the window and out of shot).  Like the rest of the kitchen, we painted it (and the radiator) yellow and hung a large black-framed mirror to reflect the view of the garden.  For some reason, the yellow-and-black combo isn't doing it for me, and I feel there's too much yellow on view there anyway.  We're thinking of possibly painting that wall a shade of green to match the tiles, and maybe painting the rad and mirror-frame in off-white to break it up and to match the unit doors.  Or maybe paint the wall off-white and the rad and mirror green...?  As you can tell, we're horribly undecided, and in any case there's far too much else to do - we began work on our bedroom late last summer, and still haven't finished it.  In fact, that's where I should be right now instead of at my desk and blogging, so I'll bid you a fond farewell...!

 ©BaggieAggie