A Little Bird Told Me

February 2020, toothache, temporary filling, a crown would be needed [NHS cost £300]so I decided that proceeds from my Etsy Sales would now go to my Tooth Fund. I reluctantly realised I needed to downsize my collection of vintage table linens and put much of it up for sale. The Pandemic arrived in March, but in the following twelve months I raised the money. Then we moved in April - to discover the shortage of dentists [NHS and private] in East Anglia, and the realisation that if I ever did get a crown, it would be from a private practice and cost about £3000! I need another £2000+

I only a have a few tablecloths left, and most have damaged edges, holes or stains. They will not sell as they are. So I came up with an idea - why not cut the good bits of fabric out and make something with them? 

I have made some "Oiseaux des fêtes"

Here's their story...

"For centuries, people have celebrated by sharing meals together – birthdays, weddings, anniversaries, Christmas… Family and friends would gather to share food and love. Traditionally a special cloth was spread across the table, usually white, often trimmed with lace or embroidery. 

When it became old, stained or torn, it was replaced – and the old cloths were often discarded. 

These little oiseaux des fêtes [birds of the feasts] have been handmade using the salvaged parts of the fabric, where possible incorporating original stitching and trimmings, together with fresh embroidery and beading. 

The birds serve as a reminder to us of those happy times, and of our nearest and dearest who are far away.

Each bird is unique, decorated on both sides, with a ribbon hanging loop.

Every bird comes in a voile gift bag, along with an explanatory tag telling the story."

I have advertised them in my Etsy Shop this week. I have no idea whether or not they will sell. But I have really enjoyed making them.

I'm hoping people will send them to family members who they will be unable to visit this Christmas.

I have only made eighteen so far. Maybe if sales take off, I shall make a lot more.  There is plenty of fabric available. [My Etsy shop is here. This is shameless advertising!]

"Oiseaux des fêtes"

Newsflash!!!

I have a new website! For a few years now, I had an Etsy store - but that has been empty since the spring as I didn't have time to restock it with my craft items. Of late people have been complaining that Etsy's fees have gone up a lot and their repayments to sellers have got slower. So I investigated SumUp. I have a little SumUp card reader, which I can use to take credit card transactions - and they have been promoting their facility. Fees are way lower than Etsy, and they pay me on a regular basis. So, with Bob's help I have designed and launched my own website. 
thirtyonethirteen.net

Here's my logo. The 'about' page on the site explains a little about me, and why I have this name and this image on my logo

I have loved crafting all my life - sewing, knitting, papercrafts, embroidery and more. And I admit to being a hoarder- collecting the scraps that other people discard and turning them into beautiful and useful things.  

Now I'm retired, and living in a beautiful part of the country, I have more time to sit and stitch, and I want to share my creativity with others, at an affordable price.

My grandmother taught me crafting skills when I was a child, and she was a woman of faith. My shop is called 31:13 because there is a verse in the bible (Proverbs chapter 31 verse 13) , about a woman who "finds wool and fine linen and works with eager hands" My shop's logo is a play on those numbers - the butterfly reflects the idea of metamorphosis into a new, beautiful life.

At the moment, the shop has three categories of items - decorations, gifts and brooches. I am gradually adding handcrafted items to the shop - so please drop by and have a look. I am deliberately keeping my prices low, and there are lots of stockingfillers there. 

If you know anyone else who may be interested, please share the details with them. 

Thank you.

I'll never be a Domestic Goddess!

Feeling quite virtuous, having spent all day in manic domesticity - more manic than domestic, to be honest. Cleaned and tidied and washed curtains and baked [a bacon and egg flan, and banana bread] and unpacked and redistributed my Sainsbury's Grocery delivery. Things still are not straight, so definitely no photographs in this post.

Put the new eggs in the pretty basket with the few remaining older eggs. Marked the originals with a cross so I would know which to use up next. I first started doing that when the girls still lived at home, and realised they may wonder if the cross meant 'this one' or 'not this one' - so then I wrote "Use Me" underneath the crosses. It seems to me that if we are Christians, and prepared to bear the sign of the Cross, we have to be prepared to say "Use Me" as well. [see Luke ch9 v23]

Knitting group at Borders was good last night. We had three new members. Ellen, who is the Staff Member allocated to our group came along and belated received the Easter Egg we had for her. Ellen arranged for Danny, who organises the website to drop in, and we co-ordinated all the dates for the next few meetings. Thanks, you two, for the help and encouragement you're giving to our group. Ellen is a textiles student, when she isn't working in Borders. Do check out her Etsy shop, where she has some lovely stuff!

Maybe one day I shall be organised enough to sell stuff on Etsy. Maybe...

Death And Taxes

It is 235 years since Ben Franklin made this statement - most people only know the last seven words. It is not my place to comment on the US Constitution [but I can continue to pray for the upcoming elections] I have been seriously downsizing for 10 years since we left Leicester, and generally decluttering on and off for even longer.
Not quite ready for "Swedish Death Cleaning" yet! But taxes?
Having only worked part-time as a Supply Teacher for most of my career, averaging 2 days a week, there were hardly any years when I paid income tax. And I only get a small teaching pension. And due to a missing year of NI contributions, I don't quite get a full state pension. But it's just enough to tip me over the tax threshold. But it is all dealt with at source so that's fine, I don't do a self assessment.

But now I have my own  online shop.  I closed my Etsy shop - I was unhappy with their charges, and with the fact that many of their sellers now seem to be selling on stuff that they have clearly bought in, rather than made themselves.

The government has recently announced it is going to clamp down* on 'small traders' who might be omitting to pay their taxes. So I went online, The HMRC website is very helpful, with a simple questionnaire to fill in. As my turnover is well under the £1000 threshold, I neither need to register my business nor do a self assessment form. 
I thought it was worth mentioning this in a post because I know that quite a few of my blogfriends are crafters and make and sell their wares - and I would hate for any of you to get caught out with a fine.*They are apparently checking ads on social media etc. to see if there are people out there clearly doing a roaring trade but not acknowledging it.
My main issue at the moment is publicising 31:13 more effectively - because it isn't part of Etsy, it won't come up in searches. I need to get a review page set up on the site, and also explore other methods of publicity. 

If you have ever purchased from the site, and you blog or use Facebook, please can you give me a mention sometime? 

I will be very grateful [as will all the mice sitting patiently in the spare bedroom]

Thank you. 

Going, Going, Gone!

A whole box of Hornsea China - sold on Gumtree. I still have more than enough for everyday use- 

but the coffee pot and espresso set are surplus to requirements- as is the cruet set. They are going, via Gumtree, to a young woman who wants them for her newly decorated brown and cream kitchen. 

The theatrical palm tree -a gift from the Baptist Women of South Korea in 2005 ["we can't afford to airfreight it back to SK, you can have it, Angela"] has finally gone. It has appeared in dozens of Nativities plays, on Treasure Islands, dismantled on Palm Sundays - in churches and schools literally across the country. And now it has been given to a local Primary School, along with a box of thirty Nativity Costumes. 

They were really excited with that gift. I culled my wicker baskets and posted these on line - free to anyone who could collect them. Within 30 minutes someone contacted me- she makes up gift baskets for new babies - and came round next morning. [I added three pairs of bootees to the bag, knitted for a Craft Fair which never happened!]

My Christmas tins were given to a young Mum who is making Christmas Biscuits with her children, so they can give them to teachers and friends - in pretty eco friendly packaging.

A stack of DVDs for the CS. Another box of books sorted for Ziffit [£17] plus one for a CS, plus a few selected to be stockingfillers - and we still have far too many to take to Cornerstones. 

And I sadly parted with my ottoman/shoe store. In 1976 I paid £5 for it, forty years later I spent £1.50 on the striped ticking - and now I have sold it for £5 online. I'm very happy with that.

There's nowhere at Cornerstones to hang my "Blessings to all who come here" embroidery [bought for £2.50 in a CS 5 years ago] 

I put it on eBay and it went for £10. I hope it will hang in someone else's home now and greet their visitors. 

Today I have appointments with two charity shops to drop off boxes of stuff.

So yes, I am working very hard at decluttering. I am not finding it easy though. Sentimental items are difficult - Bob suggested I did not need to keep every book in which my Dad had written his name, or every card the girls have ever sent me. Or a cookbook which was my Mum's but I have never used. And the large brown glass fruit bowl, the first gift Bob's mum every gave me. But I don't use it and it is a difficult shape to store... 

My linen cupboard is next in line - lots of treasured vintage napkins, traycloths and tablecloths which I think are beautiful, but have no real use for are being advertised on Etsy*. If I am not using these things, they can go to others who will enjoy them. 

But why is it that the house doesn't seem much emptier, despite all the boxes and bags which are leaving on a regular basis?

[*my Etsy Shop is called Mistress Marchpane- word play on Mrs Almond]

Going Off The Boil

 At the end of the kettle debacle on Sunday, Bob said "We have a camping kettle in the garage" but I pointed out we had decluttered that over the summer, when we passed on all camping stuff to a friend at Church.
But I still have my huge church kettle. It holds 14 pints and will boil enough for 50 cups of tea. It appeared in the school play in 2018, when the Giant's wife carried it - but it is not really serving any useful purpose. It needs to go.
It has gone into my Etsy shop, along with my Big Brown Vicar's Wife Enamel Teapot [NB the teapot is big and brown, not the vicar or his wife]I am not sure if either of these will sell. 
There are similar ones there - and I have priced mine slightly lower. After the excitement of five sales in the first week, everything has 'gone off the boil' a bit. I hope things will pick up again soon.
Do you sell on eBay or Etsy? and are you making mega-bucks?

Its D-Day Today!

Two years after my filling came out, and the dentist put in a ‘temporary’ filling [They can last up to 6 months if you are careful, he said] we are actually going to see a New Dentist today. I hope it works out ok, but I am a little sad that we have been forced to use a private practice, after nearly 67 years with the NHS.

My Etsy shop has done really well, and I am pleased that there is a healthy balance in the Tooth Fairy Fund, to finance the appointments, X-rays, and most of the cost of the crown. I’m grateful to everybody who bought my oiseaux des fêtes before Christmas. People gave very kind reviews, and I had a lovely thank you letter* from one blogfriend. She didn’t have my address, so just sent it to me at Cornerstones, Swanton Morley – and it got here within a week [the joy of living in a small village] I don’t know if that would always happen, but well done Royal Mail!

Bob has closed his Etsy Shop, having sold all the prints we brought back from Essex- and sent a sizeable gift to St Francis’ Hospice in Gillian’s memory. My aunt was very pleased- although I don’t think she understands how he ‘has a shop on the computer’. I am reminded of the elderly lady back in Kirby Muxloe, who heard that a housebound friend ordered their groceries online- and thought that somehow if you typed in ‘milk’ a pint of the white stuff would come out of a tap on the side of the screen!

*the letter was on one of those clever “Pigeon Posted” sheets- one piece of card, folded origami style and sealed shut with a stamp. [watch the video here] I think I shall definitely treat myself to a pack of these, if I am going to do more Sunday Correspondence.

One side is decorated, with a space for the address, the other side is all plain for your letter. Do check out the website, and read the story behind the company.

 

Sales Pitch

Mags asked about my Etsy shop. It's here. People seem to choose bizarre names for their shop - so I decided that as much of my stuff is vintage/retro I'd go for Mistress Marchpane - which is a vintage version of Mrs Marzipan [i.e. Almond paste] Currently I am selling off vintage kitchenware and haberdashery. Thus far I have had fifteen sales, in seven weeks. I think this is not bad going. I'm trying to keep my prices low. It is alarming that items which I first had in the 70s when we got married automatically count as vintage now!

Taking the photos and writing the ads takes time - but I've had some good customer feedback. Yes there are fees for using Etsy - but on balance it is easier than carting a bootload of stuff to a cold wet field and standing around all day hoping for a customer.
Much of this stuff has 'sparked joy' for me, but I really cannot justify keeping it all. This seems a sensible  way to declutter.
The proceeds have gone into my savings account, which had a small amount in it already.

And on Wednesday, I'd got to the point where I had enough money to consider making an appointment with the opticians for new glasses. This is wonderful, and I feel I have achieved what I set out to do. 
Except...following yesterday's visit to the dentist, the Spectacle Fund will be diverted to pay for the more urgent dental work [another crown] and I shall keep the shop going a little bit longer!

Having A Smashing Time

Here is a small glass dish – approximately 6” in diameter, divided into three equal sections.

On Monday I saw one like this in a charity shop in Hinckley for just £1. “I have one identical to that at home” I thought “Do I need a matching pair?” Now I use mine quite a bit – particularly for salad veg when I want to keep the radishes and tomatoes apart [well you never know…] But I decided in the ongoing spirit of Not Adding To Clutter that one was quite enough.

So I came home sans dish – and then accidentally dropped something onto the original dish and smashed it! Typical. [the picture above is one for sale on Etsy in the USA. Not buying that]

Tuesday's Treasures

Bob was going to Wymondham to do some mentoring, so I asked him to drop me at the Waitrose there. I did a tiny bit of shopping, grabbed my free coffee, then got the bus back intot he town centre. I walked round to the church carpark, left my shopping in the boot, and took out the large CS bag to deposit at the Children's Society Shop. 

Then back to the church, picking up a book from a 'help yourself' shelf en route. He'd just finished so we drove together to the Big C Craft Emporium. I love this place, everything is so carefully sorted into correct sections. I spent £1.25 on this lot [plus the free book]

The 50p calendar is 4 years old - but has 11 lovely little knitting patterns for bird ornaments. It was still in its cellophane wrap - so that was a £10 gift which sadly never even got opened!

Most of the models are between 4" and 7" tall/long, but the avocet is 11" and the raven has a whopping 13" wingspan. They are not toys, having pipe-cleaners/ wire supports in the legs, tails and bills. The instructions are clear

Yes I do have a couple of pairs of 4mm needles already, but  I'm just into a project which will entail having more than one set on the go at a time. 50p for this set seemed fair.

The Zoe Sugg book I have yet to look at - I suspect it will be read, and then go straight back to another charity shop!

And the Usborne Touchy Feely Nativity is to share with Jess and Jacob at Christmas. 

"Oh that's lovely" said the woman at the checkout [all children's books are 25p] I suggested they should have called it "That's not my Baby Jesus" to follow the pattern of the others.

But I guess it would have been more complex to tell the story. This one has fluffy sheep, sparkly angel wings, soft donkey ears, textured Magi Robes and more...

It would be a little strange to sit with my precious grandchildren and say That's not my Baby Jesus  and show them pages like

• his room is freshly painted [not an old stable]
• his bedding is softest cotton [not scratchy straw]
• his lights are dimmable LEDs [not an amazing star in the sky]
• his sleep music is a CD of ocean waves [not an angel chorus]
• his visitors are besotted grandparents [not grubby shepherds]
• his gifts are from Fisher Price and Etsy [not gold, frankincense and myrrh]
• his parents are looking forward to quality maternity/paternity leave[not dashing to Egypt as refugees]
• That's my Baby Jesus - born in squalor , Immanuel, God with Us.

No, I guess a touchy feely Nativity is a probably safer option for the under 3's!! 

Apologies for mentioning the C word whilst we are still in September - but it is less than 100days...

 

Tardis Tuesday [On A Wednesday!]

[This post was delayed, because yesterday was Jessie's birthday]

If you follow Kezzie's delightful Blog you will know that she is into "Dr Who Cosplay" - finding outfits to match the various characters in this long running TV series [It celebrates sixty years this year- way before K was even born!] Because I love sewing, and working on costumes, down the years I've tweaked quite a few garments for her, including these...

In 2015, I loved doing the ? on the collar, and the red collar band, for the shirt worn by the 5th Dr, and also Petronella Osgood

And then in 2019 there was the challenge of turning the green collarless dress into the screen accurate dress with collar and short sleeves for Clara.

This year I've had two challenges from Kezzie - to produce the logo on the back of an Ace jacket, and recreate Sarah-Janes 'Andy-Pandy style dungarees. Kezzie sent me a plain black jacket. I made the logo as a patch using fabric and bondaweb, edged with satin stitch on the machine, Then I stitched it in place by hand.

The patch can be easily removed if Kezzie wants just a plain jacket. I am glad she didn't want me to recreate all the badges from the front.

The dungarees were perhaps the most challenging. Kezzie supplied a pair of candy strip dungarees- but they had spaghetti straps, straight legs, and simple pockets. To be screen accurate, they needed wide straps and dungaree clips, ties at the waist, patch pockets outlined in red piping and red piping and stars on the bib, as well as gathered ankles.

I took off the thin straps and put them at the waist, piped 'faux' pockets, made straps from a similar fabric, piped a rectangle on the bib and then used my embroidery machine to create 2 stars which I handstitched in place. And threaded elastic through the ankle hems;

I am really happy with this one - everything I needed for the alterations to these two garments were already in my stash. The only thing I needed was the software for my embroidery machine to create the stars.For £3 in Etsy I got a great pattern which has 2 styles of 5 point stars, a 4 point [Star Trek style] star, and a 3 point star [as per Mercedes logo] - and these all come in 9 sizes. So I hope to get lots of use out of this star pattern.

I am looking forward to seeing pictures of Kezzie in her new outfits.

Top Tip if you are going round the edge of a patch in satin stitch, you may find that the machine does not stitch evenly and you get lumpy sections. Instead of using wide zigzag with shortest stitch length, use a slightly longer stitch length and just go round twice. 

In 1984 when I was pregnant with Steph, I made some red and white striped maternity dungarees just like this, and a mini matching pair for 2 year old Liz. Sadly we have no photos of these outfits!

Going Round In Circles

There was a beautiful little photo story in the paper at the weekend, about a young woman called Victoria Rose Richards [pretty name!] from Devon. She is 21, and has just graduated in biological science- hoping to work in ecology or environmental science. But in her spare time she stitches. She grew up in the Devonshire countryside, and gets her inspiration from the Google Earth images of her county. [pictures below from The Guardian]

She uses satin stitch and French knots to make 'colourful and optimistic' scenes

Look at these waves rolling in onto the beach, and the little wooded islands.

Fields, roads, rivers and crops meticulously recreated in these textural stitches. I think they are brilliant. The hoops vary in size- so some of this is truly 'minute detail'.

You can see more of her work on Instagram [here]- and if you want to own  a piece of Victoria's artwork, go to her Etsy shop [here]
Young artists, producing lovely works like this are deserving of our encouragement. Thanks VRR for brightening up these difficult days!

Goodbye To All The Simple Things

I finally bit the bullet - I bundled up fifty craft/homekeeping magazines [The Simple Things, Martha Stewart Living, Country Living and a vast assortment of crafty and Christmassy publications] and posted them on a local fb group as FREE to a good home. Within 5 minutes, I'd had a message from a woman who wanted them all.
There is nothing in these magazines which merits them taking up bookshelf space. I could have put them straight into recycling, but that seemed a bit wasteful. 
I have enjoyed reading them - but all those recipes and projects are never going to be created in this house. I did make the Mollie Makes Mug Cosy for my niece, but I'm never going to recreate Martha's Alpine Village in cardboard and glitter for my Christmas Mantlepiece. And I can always find recipes on the internet if I have a sudden urge to boil pierogi, or ice a bundt cake. 
And the whole activity took less than 40 minutes, and definitely sparked joy!

In other news, I have just sold my first item on Etsy - my lovely Welsh Wool Cape. I was very fond of it, but I'm on a mission to raise funds towards new spectacles. I haven't worn the cape in the past year, so it is on its way to a young lady in France who declared herself "obsessed with owning a welsh woool cape"

This Present Time

The past few weeks have been difficult -  many sad news stories [covid, the refugee crisis, the murder of little Arthur] family health issues, the deer-strike damaging the car - and most of all, losing Gillian. We got back from Essex both feeling quite drained, acknowledging the need to take it easy for a bit, maybe even spoil ourselves a little.

And there at 11pm on Wednesday night, we arrived to find a parcel waiting, addressed to me. i did not recognise the handwriting, I wasn't expecting anything. How intriguing! Bob made a pot of tea, and also filled two hot water bottles to warm the bed [with water that is, not tea] and I found a pair of scissors to open the packet carefully.

Look at this lot...

A lovely selection of crafty bits and pieces from Anne, a longstanding blogging friend in Scotland. How did she know my address, I wondered. Then I worked it out - she'd have found it on the Postman Pat package, as she was the next hostess on his journey...

I am utterly thrilled with the contents

• a McCalls pj/nightie/dressing gown pattern - I can certainly see myself using this for Rosie. If not for nightwear, these are good basic shapes for dressing up clothes. It's age 7+, and she is almost 6.
• A crochet magazine and a macramé pattern book

• five knitting booklets with all sorts of patterns I'm itching to try out
• A pretty floaty scarf printed with butterflies [Gillian adored butterflies, how poignant to have received this on the day of her Thanksgiving]

and finally a card with a beautiful message on the back, and a picture of a songbird in the snow on the front.

This present was such an unexpected delight - and Anne's timing was perfect. It really lifted my spirits at the end of a long hard week. I think we've been blogfriends for more than ten years, and this little gift is an indication of her continuing kindness, she knows how I love crafty stuff. I will never be as good as crochet as she is though! I still get compliments when I wear the crochet flower brooch she sent me many years ago.

I shall really enjoy sitting down with a cuppa and going through these carefully. My stash of baby knits is zero right now, and I do like to have a few bits and pieces on hand in case I hear of another precious little one arriving. [It will make a change from sewing birds for Etsy - they have been flying down to the village post office frequently since I posted the ad] 

Thank you Anne for your thoughtfulness, and brilliant timing. Such friendship is precious.

Super Chunky, Super Swift

This has to be one of the fastest jumpers I've ever knitted! Twelve hours from start to finish. This the the super chunky yarn Marion gave me. It's Swiftknit by Stylecraft. I bought the pattern from Etsy and downloaded it Saturday afternoon. It was really easy to knit up. I like the Moss stitch hem, cuffs and collar. I hope Rosie likes it too... 

Handsome Prints!

When we were in Essex the other week, Bob was helping sort through some stuff stored upstairs. He found an amazing collection of beautiful prints, which had belonged to Gillian's grandfather [who died half a century ago] Bob offered to sell these for Auntie Peggy, and add the money raised to the charity giving in memory of Gill. 

So now he has set up his own Etsy Shop [HandsomePrintsUK] and is selling them there.

It's a cool shop name, isn't it? 

Do take a look - they are from a set of teaching materials for apprentice builders.

All monies raised will go to the brilliant St Francis Hospice, Havering-atte-bower, Romford - where Gill received such wonderful care in her final days

I'm Using All Five Senses!

It is so easy to take our five senses for granted. But I have been trying, as I work on re-training my nose, to be more conscious of the other four. So here are five things from this week

SIGHT - this fell out of a poetry book. I looked at it and looked at it. I have no idea why I marked my place in Emily Dickinson's book with a heart bearing the words "Archimedes and ½ a cup of butter". I see the words, but they make no sense!

TOUCH - instead of wrapping my Etsy package in plain paper, I've used a mismatched white cotton napkin and tied it with a plaid bow. Inside there is a sheet of tissue. I hope the recipient enjoys these as she unwraps them. 

TASTE  - on the packet, it said "Why not try apple crisps? Preheat your oven to 100°. Slice apples into fine slices, take out pips. Arrange on lined baking sheet [optional, sprinkle with icing sugar and cinnamon] Bake 45-60 minutes till dry. Transfer to cooling rack."  So I did. They are quite delicious and a healthy snack [no added sugar needed]

SCENT - how lovely to receive the gift of fresh flowers at Christmas. From a friend who hoped they'd help my nose-training. Yes! They do! I can smell the lovely perfume of the white blooms quite clearly, the yellow narcissi not so much. But I'm bunny-sniffing them daily. Thank you dear friend!

Finally SOUND - this one is quite, quite crazy. Knowing our fondness for Rend Collective, one of our deacons sent us a link to a Russian folk group called Otava Yo. Read the translation of the lyrics as you listen to this cheerful band - I hope this brings a smile to your day.