Number 24 :: One Year Today

I am having such a bright and gorgeous day today, there is blue sky and sunshine yet again in my patch and I am glad. I am full of the joys, full of those little fluttery bubbles of happiness that make me want to skip down the street like a big kid. Today is a happy, bubbly day and I am so glad you have popped in to say hello and share it with me, you are so very welcome. H e l l o !!

As you may know, today happens to be a special day for me and my little family, because today is the day that we are celebrating one year living here at number 24. This exact day last year, we were arriving in this new town, this new street, this new house with all our possessions in the back of the removal lorry, accompanied by all the excitement and apprehension that a change of location/house/school/nursery brings to ones life. It was an exciting, scary time. And I still remember that day so well. Still remember that amongst the chaos and the upheaval, the boxes and the mess, there was an overwhelming feeling that we had finally arrived H O M E. That this house was the right house for us, and that our new life here would be good. 

And oh it is!! Good that is. Life is good. And I am celebrating today, celebrating the warmth and happiness and comfort and security and belonging that I have found in this house. I don't think I've ever felt so attached to a place before (and I have lived at 15 different addresses in my life so far, in seven different city's/towns/villages). Like I say, life is good.

So. Do you recall that on Wednesday, when I was rambling away about Parcels and Lovely Things, I promised a little G I V E A W A Y ?? In celebration of my first housey-versary?

Well I spent a fantabulous time yesterday up in the Attic, getting reacquainted with my sewing things. I had to crawl into the cupboards under the attic eaves on my hands and knees to get at some of it, had to re-arrange furniture to set up a little working space, but it was all good fun.

I have not accomplished a great deal of sewing this year, and it has been an age since I had to think about designing something. So it was exciting and challenging to do this little project. I knew I wanted it to be something housey, and so this little textile picture was imagined, drawn, cut, pieced and stitched.

I am nervous, can you tell?

Can you tell how much I am hoping you like this little housey picture?

Can you just imagine my fingers crossed behind my back, imagine my wishful thinking??

There is a lot of love and happiness in this picture. I had such FUN making it!! I had forgotten how hugely exciting it is to create with colour and fabric and thread in this way, yes, I truly enjoyed every second.

My little cotton fabric scraps were snippety snipped (fifty two individual pieces cut for this picture), and stitched with love by machine and hand.

I designed and made it a bit like a fabric postcard. It has the same dimensions as a  postcard :: it measure 15cm x 10cm, and fits nicely into this Ikea Ribba frame (it's the 18x24cm one).

And there's more. After the picture, I could not stop. I could not drag myself away from the fabric, threads, ribbons and beads in the Attic. So after the Little People were tucked up in bed, I sneaked back into the Attic to stitch this little cotton and wool felt house. Such fun!!

 

I've made it as a keyring, as I had made one for myself once before and love being able to use something small and handmade every day.
 

So :: this is what i am thinking :: if you would like to receive these handmade housey goodies as a gift from me to you, all you have to do is leave a comment at the end of today's post.

I'd like you to tell me a bit about the house where you live, maybe what it looks like, your home style, what's your favourite thing about living there. 

And I'll draw the winner in one weeks time, on Friday 5th December.

I can't wait to hear all about your houses and homes :: nothing pleases me more than talking House-and-Home (well possibly eating cake comes a close second).

And for the record, one of my favourite things about my home is, as you would expect, the Attic. That little room up two flights of stairs which has given me so very much. A room to create it in, a room that inspired me to start my blog, and that view across the town to the hills. Love it today, in the hazy winter sunshine, more than ever. You can read a little more about Number 24 here.

And just before I go, a view of my hyacinths, which seem to have reached their peak. They look and smell  just beautiful.

Have a wonderful weekend, whatever you are up to :: we are away tomorrow, on a little jolly to the Lake District. I love weekends away (we are Youth Hosteling again), and will no doubt be telling you all about it....
....see you next week
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

Comments

[Jen]

Trying to increase my odds.............another comment!

[Lindsey (ethel & edna)]

So why have I never found you before??
I've just popped over from katy ginger monkey's blog to take a peek. Her house pic is soooo lovely, and I'm in time for the giveaway to try and win my own. Yippeee! Your blog is lovely. Will be back again and again and again. :o)

[Leah]

Happy Housaversary.

I think I'm on my 23rd address and as we're having to relocate - soon (hopefully!!) to be 24. It never bothered me when I was growing up but now I have kids I WANT to be settled.

We currently have a double fronted Georgian house and hope that we'll get something similar. We love "character" but of course with modern conveniences included - my dream is for underfloor heating!!

Your picture reminds me of Tobermory and matches with my Scottish seaside heritage (I come from generations of Lighthouse Keepers).

[Natasha]

I love the house and the key ring. SO many little details.

We live in a house in Berlin which is right where the wall used to be. On one side of the street is old East Berlin and on the other old West Berlin. There is still such a difference

[Angela]

Happy Anniversary! What a beautiful picture. You are so talented and I enjoy visiting your blog so much. I live in British Columbia, Canada in a cosy log house in the mountains. It is so peaceful and my favorite place to be. Thank you for all you share with us on your wonderful blog.

[N]

Glad to see how No 24 has inspired you to get sewing - beautiful picture and adoreable keyring. We moved house 2 years ago this week. We'd been hunting for ever and dreamt of older properties but prices were rising then and in the end up we bought what I then called a 'buggly (ugly, ugly)bungalow'but with fab views. Little by little we've been extending, replacing and reviving this house. I don't have an attic to climb into but the beautiful view from my living room window of the Sperrin mountains goes a long way! As for my favorite thing - well that had to be the first time, my little lady (aged 18 months) said HOME as we drove up to the house!

Keep enjoying life at NO 24!

[BeBe]

I just discovered your blog(or whatever this is)sitting at work(I am a police dispatcher at least for now)and I just wanted you to know that I love all your stuff. I was looking for some crocheted leaves and flowers to embelish a fulled purse I am making for a friend for Christmas and I just sort of fell in love with your little flowers. Then I looked at this latest blog was interested in your fabric postcard. That is the cutest thing ever! So about my home. It is in North Central Florida and believe it or not, it is very cold here tonight. It is going to supposedly get down to 27 degrees F. Very cold for around here. Anyway, I live in what was supposed to be an agriculture building that my husband and I were going to raise tropical fish in, but misfortune stepped in and he got hurt rather badly and we lost our rental house all in the same week, so we just ended up putting an apartment in and moved in. It is very small with no closets(which I hate because I like to save things for the millions of projects I am working on or want to work on)but it is cute(now)and fairly cozy. My "decor" is sort of cottage/ethnic and traditional. I love fiber art and my favorite things I have decorating my living room are 2 very old quilts that my Great Great Aunts made sometime in the 1920's. They have faded a lot and are sort of soft earth tones. They make me feel loved and connected to my family. I don't actually quilt anymore being totally consumed with making jewelry and purses.(I just started and designer handbag company with a good friend and of course that hated day job(don't quit it now!)Anyway have a great holiday season over in England?? and greeting from mostly Sunny Florida...BeBe

[rhondi]

Hi Lucy
I'm glad I stopped by today. I LOVE houses and the picture you made is adorable. I'd love to win it. I also noticed the beautiful very colorful pillows behind the hyancinth. Did you make them? They are fabulous!
Rhondi

[gardenymph]

Happy one year homiversary, Lucy! You are indeed very fortunate to have such a lovely home. We have also been in our new home for one year, this Saturday past. This is not my dream home, and I struggle with feeling at home in it. I try to remind myself that it is a good home for a begining, a young family, etc., but it lacks the soul and charm of an older home. Anyway, I won't bog down this comment with the details.

Your little houses are so lovely and bright and cheerful. They invoke that feeling of homeyness. Just beautiful.

:~)

[Jeanette]

Hi Lucy! I just want to thank you for your bit of serenity that you and your home and surroundings give me each day. You have no idea what it means for me to read about you and your home and life each day. At the moment I live alone in a tiny 2 room basement apartment I call home but its quiet and peaceful and at this time in my life I desperately need quiet and peace. I don't expect to win anything although your work is absolutely beautiful and I would cherish it! I crochet and have found a lot of people do not love and cherish handmade items quite as much as people who make things themselves. I don't think they know the time and love that is put into everything a person makes. Thank you again so much and have a beautiful blessed day!

[jen]

The most charming place I have lived is in the attic of a Red house with White and Grey Trim on a Green Street. My attic window had a tiny balcony that had a far off ocean view. I could hear the sea lions barking on foggy days. Interesting houses, shops and alleys were steps away. At the bottom of the street a locomotive ferried tourists to the trees in the mountains in the summer and on the weekend. I had a little garden and parked my bike in the shed. i feel lucky to have lived in that house if only for 5 years.

[Megan]

Love the picture and the keychain! So happy and bright. And to tell you a little about my house, those two words are what I go for there, too. It's just me and my two kitties there. All the rooms are painted in pretty colors like green and blue and there are vintage bits and new bits and colorful furniture and doodads all around. And craft projects in all states of completeness everywhere, too. It's all kind of messy, but it's mine and my favorite thing is my bright red door :)

[emma whiston]

Hi Lucy

Lovely textile work! Clever thing. Hope you had a great time in the Lake District. Before children my husband and I used to go walking there every other weekend despite living in London.

My house story is that I have moved 30 times. I really love my current house and never want to leave it but due to the recession who knows. I think it is important to remember what really makes a home - it isnt the bricks and mortar it is who is inside it and what goes on. That could happen in a tent and it would still be a home (if not squashed and very noisy!). So I would just like to say that home is where the HEART is.......

Have a great week. Off to buy some more lemons to chop up!

Love Emma xxxxx

[Fiona]

Lucy you are so clever! You should open an etsy or folksy shop! I love my little house. It's not totally my style yet as it's where hubbie-to-be has been living on his own for four years before I moved in. But for the first time in my adult life the 'interior design' doesn't matter. I love it because it is cosy and warm and it is the place I share with my gorgeous man. It is where I feel safe and warm and loved.

[Brenda]

Ah, what lovely things for a giveaway, I'd also love it if you could "give away" just a tiny little bit of your wonderful and creative talent, I know I need some! Happy one year house-aversary, and hopefully many more to come. My house is a modern American "colonial", we've lived here from new, almost 10 years now!, most of the downstairs is very open in concept with the rooms flowing into each other (and a bugger to heat too!). My favourite part though is the lounge part of the lounge/dining room, especially at this time of the year. It has windows facing East and South and just glows with sunny warmth every morning that the sun shines. We love to have morning coffee in there in the winter, it's so warm and bright.... we've come to call it the Morning Room, which sounds way grander than it actually is!! In the summer, my favourite part is the huge deck that my husband built, especially with the wooden chairs, plants and the fountain turned on, very tranquil.

[JacquiMcR]

Lucy, happy one year "house-iversary". I too am celebrating a one year renovation anniversary. I live in a 150year old cottage, in North Lanarkshire in Scotland. We have been here for 13 years and when we moved in we had great plans to renovate and then start our family. Needless to say, fate intervened and I had two small children within two years. Working part-time relogated major work until this time last year, when, forced to extend or move(boy and girl in one bedroom) we bit the bullet and went for it. The back of the house(2 small extensions) was demolished and a large kitchen family room, family bathroom and new bedroom/ensuite added. We weren't allowed to add dormer windows, so the new extension has a staircase leading up to a further attic bedroom, tiny study and shower room (god bless velux windows !). All the structural work is now done, but we have lots of decorating and my garden is currently a bomb site. All the work has meant that we can stay within walking distance of my kids schools and their friends and our family. Most of the money is now gone, so there will be lots of recycling and " making do" but I feel very happy with what we have achieved. Christmas dinner this year will be very different from last when we had no heating, no hot water unless we boiled kettles and no bedroom (ten months sleeping on the couch bed in the living room).

[susan hall]

Hello Lucy, I'm another new reader to your inspiring blog and I just wanted to tell you how much I enjoy the read and admire your photographs.
I have lived in my house since 1976. I came as ahappily married mum of 3 and am still here with some of my 5 (now grown up) sons.
My darling husband died suddenly last year and reading your blog is very cheering and inspiring too. The house is a big old victorian with 2 attic rooms snaffled by son number 2. If you watch "Waterloo Eoad" on tv last year you'll have seen it as "Grantly's" home-though the fridge at the side of the bed and sundry other stuff I can't claim. Anyway thanks for sharing with all your fans.....Susan

[karan]

My house is very very empty! If u pick me then i would have something to make my house into a home. Do u know what it is like to fall in love with something so much that you are willing to lie through your back teeth to get it? I do ! please choose me!absolutely love your blog
happy anniversary
karan

[debra cooper]

Ooooh, I love your your stitched houses--so cute! I really love my house. From the outside, it is nothing much and we often have people over who say once they've walked in the door: Oh! Your house is nice inside! This year we've made some major changes to this old house. Mostly, I've come to see my home as my canvas. We've repainted in the same colors that keep showing up in my artwork--colors I've always loved but never thought would be 'appropriate' for my home: island blue, cherry red, orange, yellow and pink! I'm hanging my art in every room of the house and it has come alive. This has been an incredibly difficult year for our family and all these glorious changes in our home have become a symbol for the fresh start and authentic life we all long for. I highly recommend it. Thanks for the fun giveaway!

[rosepetaljam]

I bought my house on the strength of a stained glass window - well two actually, one in the hallway and one in the door to the living room. I had seen the house in the paper and me and the then BF now DH went round and peered through the windows (it was empty! we weren't being rude :-) ) and OH! I was in love. Even the smaller than desired kitchen did not put me off. I was just so happy to find a house with original features like the stained glass that we could afford - we had thought we might have to buy a flat as our budget wasn't massive. Other features we discovered on viewing were a very sweet banister/ stair rail with cut out heart pattern and a fireplace which someone had painted over the tiles - sacrilege - but which with time, scrapping and a bottle of nitromorse revealed beautiful pale blue tiles which you can see here http://rosepetaljam.typepad.com/my_weblog/2007/11/ching-ching-chi.html in an old blog entry.

And speaking of Christmas, sorry, the C word, we viewed the house and put an offer in on CHRISTMAS EVE 1997. The Estate Agent said we were mad and no-one ever buys a house of Christmas Eve :-). Well we did :-) Best Christmas gift EVER. 11 years on we still love our little home and can't bear to leave it, even though we would like to be more rural. Perhaps my favourite bit that we have added is the little fireplace in the bedroom with it's iridescent mosaic tiles, it is just so pretty and twinkly.

ooh that was lovely! thanks for that trip down memory lane and making me think how special our home is. S x

[Debbie]

Lucy

I found your blog through my sister who said "you have to see this blog! Lucy who writes it is just like you and me about her house! Loves it" and sure enough I found you love your house like I do.

I live in Idaho (USA)in a smallish town in a 1920s bungalow that we love. We have raised our kids here and they love being home too.

I started a blog too so you can see parts of my house in it.

Thanks for writing your blog---it is a daily pleasure for me!

Debbie

[Sarah]

Is it acceptable to de-lurk for a giveaway?! I just have to be in with a chance of winning your beautiful handiwork. I really enjoy your blog and drop by most days for inspiration and to see what you've been up to! Have you considered opening an etsy shop? I'd love to be able to buy your crochet jar covers. Ooh and some crochet flowers bunting! i love my house because it's the house I grew up in. We bought it from my folks 5 years ago when we moved back to the area. I love the facct that my daughter is growing up in my old bedroom. The best thing about it is the view of the cathedral from the lounge window, I can never bring myself to close the curtains tight!! Best wishes to you for the next year in your lovely home.
Sarah

[Amy]

Hi Lucy your picture is beautiful.

We have lived in our house for about 4 years and it could be beautiful house if a bit of money was spent on it, but unfortunatly we only rent it so it won't be us spending the money on it!! It is down a lane in a valley and the views are lovely, our garden backs onto fields and we have alsorts of wildlife venture in to our garden including foxes, badgers, pheasents and various birds of prey, we love it! Althoogh we are looking buy our first house and unfortunatly will not be able to buy something as lovely as this. I am looking forward to doing bits to our house when we eventually buy one!

Happy house-versary

[Mariana]

Felicidades (Congrats) for your 1st year!
As for my house, you have to move yourself to Barcelona. Then go near the city centre, but not to the crowded part. I live in a quiet street with some trees where you can often see little sparrows.
My place is an old and spacious flat, with two balconies on each side where my sweet&terrific little Rita likes to sunbathing and eating the plants. I have my own room for crafting, but I don't have an amazing vue like you. I wish I could have a chimney and live in the countryside, but anyway it's a nice place to live.

[Jill Walker]

Hi Lucy,
I gave up my 'proper' job in July to do something creative and have been collecting and painting driftwood to sell at craft fairs. Since I discovered your blog I 'tune in, every day and love it. My little cottage is in The Eden Valley, Cumbria. It is a railway cottage built around 1870. What I love most is the view of the pennines and the red squirrels in the garden. Thanks for keeping me company every day.
Love Jill