Planning and Plotting

With all the rain recently, I have been planning and plotting J

Our post box is next to the gate. If you read my previous post, you will know that there used to be a letterbox in the front door, but at some time in the past, it was blocked off and a brick ‘thing’ was built onto the back of the wall near the gate. From the outside (the bit the postman sees), it just looks like a slot and a gap in the wall (the gap was so the milkman could leave a crate with the milk in it – in the days when we used to get milk delivered).

From the inside (ie, the garden side), it has a simple door on it, with a bolt that can be locked with a padlock

Open the door and, voilà, you can access the mail

So what am I planning? The door frame is rotten and needs replacing; then the door needs a lick of paint. R made it some while ago and somehow it never got painted. It will of course, be olive green with a cream frame J

I have also had a close look at our finances and realised that we are overspending. Renovating a place the size of this takes a fair bit of cash! So I have been plotting and planning to have a ‘home grown’ business to help pay for it all. There are several ideas that I have started researching, though I have no hard and fast plans on this as yet. So as food for thought, here is am list of potential ideas, any one of which (or more than one) could eventually become my new ‘job’.

Creating themed gift baskets/boxes

Knitting string bags for shopping

Rag dolls (I have some lovely Amish doll patterns I could use – and they are free to use for sale, unlike some commercial patterns)

Aprons – gardening, cooking etc

Plants – herbs, wild flowers, cottage garden plants grown for sale

Sewing dresses for children – and maybe make a matching doll’s dress

Wooden key holders to screw to the wall

Cot duvets/patchwork quilts (small size so less time making them)

Papier mache bowls, perhaps decorated with autumn leaves and varnished

Making bags from fabric

Making cushions and other small household soft furnishings

Upcycle old furniture (done this kind of thing before)

Writing – articles, or write that book I’ve always wanted to write

And last but not least – photography – I love taking photos; just not sure if they will be good enough, so here’s a couple to show to see what you think

A couple taken in Yorkshire last weekend:

 And a couple taken in Italy, last year