Books For Free

I am destashing my books. They are all free - you just pay postage via paypal. I've put the weight and UK postage next to each one. I'll post internationally if you would like me to. This PDF from Royal Mail tells you how much it will be to your country.

Campion Bundle 1 - 750g, £2.20. Campion is a detective unlike others who describes himself as a "universal uncle". More info on wikipedia.

Campion Bundle 2 - 850g, £3.50

Campion Bundle 3 - 800g, £3.50

Campion Bundle 4 - 950g, £3.50

Campion Bundle 5 - 850g, £3.50


Freakonomics and Superfreakonomics - gone!

Men - 750g, £2.20. Classic reads for women plus a body language manual by an FBI profiler.

Alain De Botton Bundle 1 (top 3 books) - 950g, £3.50.
Alain De Botton Bundle 2 (bottom 2 books) - gone!.
The modern philosopher. I adore his writing which is very easy to digest while also being thought provoking.


Calm Cats - gone!

Gervase Fen - 950g, £3.50. Another unusual detective - an english professor who is always interfering while driving dangerously and generally being bizarre. Classic mysteries. More info on wikipedia.


All books are in a reasonable condition except the very old ones where the state of the spine indicates the fragility of the book. All you need to do is paypal me the postage for the bundle you want, using the paypal address littlelixieathot maildotcom, with a note to say which bundle it is for. I'll update this post to say which have gone and if you do happen to send me money for one that has been taken I'll refund it straight away so you won't lose anything. I'm also happy to combine postage and if it over about 1kg I can send by 'standard parcel' post which is about £5.30.

If people are interested in these I've got lots of other books to come. I haven't stopped reading - I'm just becoming a bit of a kindle convert plus this leaves me more room for craft supplies!

Home from France Part 2

I said in my first post that the house was beautiful but it's the finishing details on top of the general decoration that make it a home. For instance, I was particularly taken with the terracotta tiles by one of the stoves.

My personal partiality for hexagons is well known (think Nancy Drew Quilt, Crocheted Cat Blanket and Hand Sewn Cushion {below} among other items)...

...but thinking of them inevitably leaves me thinking about english paper piecing and a visit to nearby Longres and these windows in particular got me thinking of a new project which would be an additional detail to an already delightful home.

A little fiddling in PowerPoint has given me a pattern and the paper pieces were cut out this afternoon while Doughty's got the all important fabric in the post to me. Expect progress soon on that and two other patchwork projects. 

Being away from London gave me a chance to think about how things are with me generally. Walks through this kind of scenery with forgotten train tracks leading who knows where would incline anyone to think about directions and destinations.

My Director has been unwell recently as the result of stress and it reminds me of my own breakdown which I suspect was pretty much 10 years ago exactly. Life seems to have been pretty active since then with boyfriends and a husband coming and going and then, in the case of the husband, coming back again. Things on that front are pretty good but there is still one thing missing from my life.

I've known many friends crave little people in their lives but it's always been the little people covered in fur with a tendency to meow which have been my focus. Sadly, one joining me still seems as far off as the idea of owning my own home which is not helped by being in London. Could it be that I'm finally ready to leave the capital? Wandering down tracks like this have left me with such thoughts.

Which just goes to show how dangerous it is to go on holiday. Especially not one filled up with gruelling sight seeing and endless 'experiences'. Not that I didn't have those too. For instance, tinned sprouts? Who saw that coming?

And who but a true tourist takes a photo in the supermarket?

With travel and including audiobooks I have an enormous nine books to review so that will be coming soon, along with an update on my miniature quilt and latest knitting.

Home from France

I am back after 5 blissful nights in Colmier Le Bas, about an hour's drive from Dijon. I was at my cousin's house, staying with her and her husband and their two cats, Sam and Maisie. This is the house from the back when I was on a meandering and aimless walk around the vicinity.

They are pretty isolated but the town is 15 mins drive or so and they have lots of friends in the area. There are no cars passing though and at night it is pitch black. Idyllic. I got a lot of knitting and patchwork done when I wasn't being distracted by these two...

Sam, the boy, was a slightly buffer version of Maisie and had lost most of his tail when a kitten. He was rather timid so I only got occasional strokes from him. Maisie however was not backward in coming forward.

That is her on my bed, as she was every evening and for which I was very grateful. She mixed affection with extreme playfulness and I spent a lot of time flinging toy mice and pieces of wool around for her to chase.

The house is like a feature from Country Living magazine - absolutely beautiful and modern despite being traditional and also extremely comfortable. I slept sooooo well and also ate the most amazing meals - my cousin is an amazing cook! Now why couldn't that run in my bit of the family? We spent some time discussing it though and how it relates to other crafts and I can understand where I am going wrong. For instance, as a new knitter you don't start a pattern and then immediately start free-styling. Or if you do you are highly likely to end with a mess. Baby steps is what is needed with the cooking. Although I feel I may be jumping into her cheese and ham pie and apple crumble with calvados fairly soon. Seriously divine.

I have lots more photos to share but will save those for another post so I can go and jump into a nice hot bath. I leave you with a group shot.

From left to right, yours truly, mumsy and cousin. It was Mum's birthday yesterday and Deb outdid herself with the meal so by this point we were all feeling rather lazy and sitting in front of a wood burning stove listening to vintage recordings on vinyl. It was - and I believe I may have already mentioned it but it's worth repeating - idyllic!