Simple Reflections....

Hello my lovelies...

How are we all?

Did we have a beautiful yuletide celebration?

I hope you found some moments to treasure in there somewhere what ever

you were doing and who ever you may have shared it with....

I'd like to say that as I am writing this I am looking at a blanket of cold crisp snow because that is what we expect for this time of year...

Unfortunately I can only see the winter sunshine, so I've cheated with my opening picture to greet you all from my blogging window!

It seems so very strange that another year is behind me as I write.

2016 really hasn't been a fab year but despite the negative sides of life there are always positives to take forward with us.

My year spent working on the TV has bought such happiness for me which out ways the usual stress

of prepping for a show with a moments notice...

(that's just the nature of the beast!)

I have met so many of you and chatted with so many lovely peeps who have made me feel so very humble to be in a very lucky position of saying hello to you right in the middle 

of your craft rooms or lounges....

meeting two lovely middle-aged ladies who had driven all the way from Wales to Ally Pally just to say hello bought tears to my eyes....

So many people came and said hello from different areas of the country and it really makes all those hours of sewing by candlelight (not literally you understand as I have Daylight lamp remember!)

I know I say this many times but I really am no celebrity in any way..

just a textile artist living in the wild Cambs Fens, who has a passion for crafting 

and is lucky to get paid for doing something I love.

I believe we all have a gift to share with the world before we venture onto a different path 

and mine is sharing my passion for teaching crafts through my love of cloth and thread...

I try to walk a simple and gentle path of life collecting memories

of special moments along the way.

Mother Nature inspires me every day in some way or another and 

over this past year I have ventured into that unkown territory of Instagram

to capture those golden moments...

If you fancy saying hello you can find me 

HERE

I'm quite proud of this old fen bird working out how to do something technical

(on a new phone I might add!) without asking my son to show me!

So...what else has happened in 2016?

This time last year I decided to take a different direction with my work

and took a gamble of dipping my toe in the water of just being me. 

I spent the year doing several exhibitions, workshops and talks around the UK

which has made me immensely happy!

Having said that, I do have to say it was quite a challenge for several reasons and 

yet a breeze for others....

I was stepping into a world of..... 

- masters who have degrees coming out of their ears....

- professional tutors who have taught the world over...

AND....

- experts who consider their work to be the perfect way and mine to be the very unperfect way!

(that's my Fen expression of normal!)

So why did I wobble I ask myself a year later?

I can chat the hind leg off a donkey with anyone...

I am very proud to say I can teach the unteachable...

I can design and sew until the cows come home...

So why the worry?

I just don't have a piece of paper to tell me I can do so.

My degree is in Early Years and a lifetime of awkward experiences thrown at 

me from a very young age.

A year on from those initial thoughts tells me that in the grand scheme of things

I am very happy with my lot in life and my 'piece of paper' telling others I know what I am doing is simply non negotionable!

Going on TV for Create & Craft three years ago 

was one of the scariest moments in my life and yet the very best in many other ways...

 I looked at it that it couldn't be any worse than childbirth and I had survived that more than once before.... so what was there to worry about?

My lovely Nan had taught me from a teenager 'to simply be myself' and I have to say that at such a young age I really didn't understand what that meant!

Of course I do now...

I can't be any different...

My Fen roots won't allow me to even try.

So looking forward what will be on the agenda this year ahead I hear many of you ask?

Well, like you are probably doing at this time of year, 

I am busy writing plans.

I am SO excited!

I want to shout from the rooftops that one of my lifetime dreams has finally come true....

but sadly I've learnt to my cost of being open and 

honest that not everyone in this 'professional' world is the same.

There are sharks waiting to bite at all costs as there is in any walks of life.

So for that reason I will share with you when I can and things are safe to tell the world.

Am I bothered that not everyone has my honesty?

No....

I'm a firm believer in karma... what goes around comes around 

and one day that 'professional' person that I refer to will tumble eventually.

Sadly it's a lesson we all learn at school...that there are original designers and those that copy.

My conscience is as clear as tinkerbells wings..

I know that I can lie in my bed at night and say that ALL my designs are my own work, my own

thought process and I remain true to myself with true integrity.

Enough said on that one.

~~~~~~~~~~

In the meantime let me tell you that I shall be attending several events this year again, doing loads of workshops which I will be sharing details of soon for you all to book onto if you wish

and appearing back on your Create & Craft TV screens again as soon as the new schedules are arranged.

I simply love the connection with people. 

I always have.

I am a people's person....

So...I will also be working more online offering you lovelies some snippets of inspiration

and more blog posts.

I just adore writing and have decided to sit and ramble much more ...so watch out folks!

Do I have any readers still with me?

I know I can ramble my way for a while so if you are still here...

thank you for staying a while!

Let's raise a toast to a beautiful 2017...

for more smiles...

more happiness and peace amongst our fellow beings

and share a little love for Mother Nature and all she provides us.

I wish you all a wonderful celebration with your loved ones.

I certainly will treasure having Mr T with me to see the New Year in.

I thought I had sadly lost him a few weeks a ago so to enjoy a snuggle on the sofa together

watching the festivities by the fire will seem like I've won the Lottery this New Year.

Blessings to you all...

much love

Tilly x

Festive Yuletide Treats...

Hello lovelies...

It's that special time of year when we all go and pretend we can fit a forest into our lounges...

We post cards and cards to people we perhaps in reality rarely touch base with..

We decorate every inch of our little homes with twinkly glitz to hide the dust...

Buy tons of pressies that will probably be recycled again next year...

And bake a mountain of pastry goodies resulting in adding three stone to our waistlines to be taken off again throughout Springtime.

Am I a cynic I hear you all say?

Am I as heck as like....

I LOVE the glitz. the glamour and the frivolity of it all just as much as the rest of you do!!!

I adore Christmas.

It's a very precious time of year that fits beautifully into our season of dark days,

foggy mornings and cold numb fingers.

Christmas evokes beautiful memories for us all in some way or another; albeit tiny snippets of smiles for some and oodles of surprises for others...

but for the past few years Christmas has meant worry, sadness and tough times in my little home for one reason or another for our family.

I'm sure I am no different to many out there.

Just because I appear on TV doesn't make me exempt to all the grumbly parts of life.

Losing members of your family so close to this festive period does obviously put a saddened dampner on the time of year and for some I'm sure it is tougher each year and yet you know in you heart that the person (s) you may have lost will have wanted you to still celebrate in style, still sing the same old silly carols and play the same old silly games with your loved ones.

Alot has happened in my family again this year and a few weeks ago I thought I would be facing the same prospect again and yet thankfully to the wonderful peeps of the NHS here in Pterborough, 

I am pleased to say that all my loved ones, near and far will be with me,

all cosied up in our little home doing all of the above....

So.....I consider myself the luckiest lady full of riches right now.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Can I please ask for you all reading this though, to take five mins out to think of all those who are not as lucky as myself in having a huge tree laden with sparkle, a home full of festive smiles and happiness?

Whilst at the hospital I read a notice asking for donations to be placed into Santa's sack

to be given out on Christmas Day to all those patients who will be unable to go home for some reason or another.

Some patients will not be as lucky as hubby with a waiting family eager to have him home.

Without this turning into a Tilly Rose soapbox sermon I'd like to ask you all to consider checking with your local hospital to see if buying a crossword puzzle book, bar of soap, magazine or even a shower gel would help bring a smile or two to someone staying in on a hospital ward this Christmas.....

It doesn't seem alot does it? a magazine?

and yet knowing how much my hubby welcomed such a simple thing, I can guarantee

it will help to bring a festive smile to someone.

So if pennies allow do please consider a little something extra in your basket when you are next at the checkout and pop it in Santa's sack.

Even if your hospital may not be offering the same scheme I am sure there will be something as worth while where you could  do the same for another community.

Thank you for your kindness my lovelies.

A smile is always worth much more than a million diamonds methinks....

Tilly 

x x x