Monday 31 December 2012

Forty


Yesterday I had a big birthday. It was quite possibly the best one ever. All day family, friends, food, treats, and the best thought out personal presents.


Emily, my lovely sister has recently discovered a flair for cake decorating and with each birthday she has made us beautiful personalised birthday cakes.  She arrived with the family in tow and one of her big white cake boxes. What would mine be? Something lamp related maybe? 

It was my big armchair and my cats! Absolute genius! 

My Mum made me a gorgeous quilt for Christmas and all I have been doing since Christmas is sitting under it and my cats, chilling and reading and recharging my batteries so it was perfectly fitting. 


And Emily recreated my quilt in ICING! Soooo clever.


Here's my Dad and the cat boys having the quilt experience...


...and here's my Dad forty years ago with his little newborn me!


Later on the evening Robert took 'pass the parcel' to a whole new level! Little did I know that for the last two months he has been tracking down my old far away friends, most of whom he hasn't even met. With every layer of the parcel one of them would leave a message or poem and perhaps a photo from years passed. 


There were tears and belly laughs as we passed the parcel, not knowing who would pop out next. There were sweets too, just like the ones I remember from all those childhood birthday parties. It was altogether brilliant. Robert my love you are so beautifully thoughtful and have such fantastic ideas!

I like 40 already. A nice round number and the beginning of a new decade for me. Nice to be setting out into it surrounded by such a tremendous bunch of people.

I feel so very loved. 

Monday 24 December 2012

Happy Christmas!

(I bought some Kirsty Elson house decorations for the tree)
Hooray it's Christmas and it's time for a big rest. This season has been busier than ever before (see, no blogging for weeks...how I have missed it) and me and the elves (Matt, my Dad and Bryoney) have been busying away in the studio making lots and lots of lamps for people Christmas presents. Nice to think how many there will be underneath Christmas trees all over the world right now!

This year has been awesome and I'm looking forward to putting my feet up for a couple of weeks, surrounded by friends, family and cats and dreaming about my new studio (moving in on 8th January) and all that is to come! I'll even be having a fortieth birthday in there too (bring it on, this nice round number)!

Look out for issue 5 of The Simple Things magazine, out on the 27th. I've got a lovely lovely feature in there so no doubt I will be back on the blog then to share it!

 Hope you have a wonderful, cosy, sparkly Christmas of lovliness!

Thursday 6 December 2012

Our new studio


I've been keeping this photo open on my desktop today to remind me of the wondrousness that is to come. Look how big it is (Sarah's wide angle lens does exaggerate the space but that's fine by me)! It is what's keeping me (just about) sane as we deal with the chaos that is December with a very busy shop/website and a teeny studio to make lamps and wrap lots of parcels. Honestly getting from side of the room to the other is an obstacle course!


It's coming on tremendously. Remember the carpet and the blown vinyl wallpaper? Well it's all gone gone GONE. 


 JP Renovations carried our 86 square metres of laminate floor up the stairs and laid it in three days. AND they took all the carpet away. You've got to love them for that!


And Emma stripped and steamed all the wallpaper off and and is working her magic with the roller (whilst dreaming of cycling..when she's not painting she is an awesome triathalete).

There is a sense of peace in there...and the light in the morning is golden. We can't wait to move in. New Year, new studio! :)

Sunday 2 December 2012

Winter sunrise


We've been blessed with some cold and frosty blue sky days this week and the other day we were out early enough to see the sun rise over the hill.


Such golden light.


The sun doesn't reach the bottom of the valley much at this time of year so it's nice to get up high and be in it.




A night of lights and celebration


There was a tangible buzz in the air as the night drew in on Thursday. People were coming to Hebden Bridge from far and wide to enjoy the Valley of Lights and it was really really EXCITING!


The parade was awesome, full of energy and celebration and kids proudly carrying the paper lanterns that they had made. The TV cameras were there to soak it all up. You can get a sense of the energy from this video on Look North.


There was a night market on the marina, the canal boats were all lit up 


and there were strange luminous shapes floating in the water..



I only got a far away view of the fire dancers on the old bridge but it looked amazing. There was music and entertainment all over town and such a great atmosphere. Everyone was blown away by the spectacle of it all.

The best bit was the brilliant sense of the community celebrating together how far we'd come since the floods in June. 

This town needed a party.

It was the most magical celebration.

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