We're Moving - It's Official

At last we have exchanged contracts on the house we are buying and the house we are selling. To those unfamiliar with the English system this makes the deal legally binding on all parties. Friday was nerve wracking – our solicitor rang to say that everyone was ready to go with a date of 24th November for moving day. We’d already said we couldn’t make that date as we will be in Harrogate helping to set up the Wessex exhibition.
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So then there was a lot of to-ing and fro-ing before we settled on 18th November. By then it was past four o’clock and we thought it was too late to move the deposit money that has to accompany the contract, so we were very down. Suddenly, around 4.30 came the call to say that it had all gone through. Phew!
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It’s good that we have slightly longer than we thought to pack everything up. We should have finished the December version of Workshop on the Web and, more importantly, uploaded it to the site. In view of horror stories about broadband installation at new addresses, this is pretty vital. We are going to try the mi-fi system as a back-up. This is something like broadband on a dongle but, from a gizmo the size of a mobile phone, you can have internet access for several devices. So, not only my iphone, but also the laptops should run on it. As my free year of web access on the iphone is almost over, I hope that this will be the answer for that, too. It turns you into a mobile wi-fi hot spot, which has amused the grandchildren who will, no doubt, be pestering for the password.
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The longer gap means that I can do some new stuff for the Harrogate show. I made some ‘Sillybird’ brooch cards for Ally Pally which sold out very quickly, so I shall make more.
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They are ideal when you want something more than a card but not quite a present. I make them from silk carrier rods, which are quite stiff, and gives them a feeling of substance.
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By the time all the hand-stitching is done and the brooch back and silly legs are sewn on, they take quite a time to make, so at £10 a card, they are not particularly cost effective. I am in the process of leg-stitching with the ones shown below.

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However I love making them and I bought some more of Mulberry Silks (http://www.mulberrysilks-patriciawood.com/) lovely silk threads for the next lot. If only I could bring myself to open the amazing packing! Particia’s colours are so wonderful that I usually take a photo before I use them and keep it in my colour schemes notebook.


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I have not been good about answering comments lately – life has been rather hectic. So thanks for keeping the comments coming – they really do help in times of stress:
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It was interesting to hear how many of you have been in the same boat, moving wise. It’s a terrible system and we often think that the Scottish system – where an offer is binding- would be better. Friends say that this has its drawbacks as it is not so flexible when buying. I do love the description of limbo-land as that is just what it feels like.
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Su – I bet you were amazed at the show if it was your first visit – a fantastic experience.
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Heather, you are right about us needing recovery time and I do think that having the full four weeks will be a life saver. We will have to leave our new house to go to Harrogate but the house-sitter is looking forward to a change of scene – and she will love the nearby walks.
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Garnered Stitches – it was good to meet you. It was so funny at the show, when demo-ing the use of the pasta machine as a printing press, finding out how many people had redundant machines languishing in kitchen cupboards – it appears that most are only used once! These folk were so pleased to find an exciting new use for their pasta makers that we sold loads of books. In fact, so far, the book is going brilliantly. Thanks so much for all the lovely emails you’ve sent about it.
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julie, I keep trying for the small j but Word changes my capital at the beginning of a sentence. I’ll change this one in Blogger.
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I guess Robin has answered the question about staying in one house – in the end you can’t move anyway. I swear that I will never move again – there are only three people in our chain and most of the queries were sorted in the first few weeks. However I think the delay was meant to be. Had we moved earlier we would have had the whole of the WoW issue to prepare as well as all the work involved in the Harrogate show. At least we should be a little bit sorted by Christmas.