a few pics

just to keep the blog going a bit.  I'm a bit snowed under with a sewing project that I kept putting off and really need to finish this week so I'm unable to start anything new.

The pics aren't great I'm afraid.  Need to fiddle with the settings on the camera I think.

So first a looky at my bed at the moment.  I was lucky enough to get an eiderdown for Mothers Day a couple of weeks ago now.  It's not as pretty or lovely as some of the lovely patterns around, but it goes really nicely with my bedspread I got not too long ago.

I also made a couple of pillowcases using a candy stripe sheet that I got ages ago.

Some lovely daffodils in a little Grindley PetalWare jug I got from the charity shop the other week.  Another little addition to my utility china collection.

And finally a sneaky peek at my sewing project :OD

patchwork and crochet edging

I have an empty space in my kitchen that has in the past housed a dishwasher, but we got rid of it and now just use it as extra storage space for recycling and other bits and bobs.  It always makes it look so cluttered though that I 've always wanted a little curtain to put across it.  If I could inject some colour into the kitchen too, then all the better.  I decided to do a quite large patchwork curtain as I could never decide on the right fabric.  My DD and I spent an evening cutting the squares and arranging them in just the right way.  I'm really pleased with the final result.  The sewing was a bit sloppy, I think something had gone wrong with the machine or the thread wasn't playing nice, but I just wanted to get it finished.

 

I also have another patchwork blanket in progress, but shall do a photo once the recipient has it.  She doesn't read here, but you never know.

I got a lovely bedspread on ebay the other day, it was a Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady print.  I'd never seen the bedding range, but have her book which I love.  It was a rather brill bargain at less than £8 including postage.  You can just see it here on the bed.  I wanted to take a better pic, but OH is packing to go away with work next week so his side was messy!!

 

Did you notice the crochet edge to my pillowcase?  I was enjoying the difference the nice throw made to the bed and wished my pillowcases looked a bit better.  I need a nice stash of vintage ones!  Anyway, I was browsing how to embellish a pillowcase and came across this blog.  She has done some wonderful crochet edging on pilllowcases and I wanted to copy her.  

There is going to be a crochet - a - long on this blog where she is going to do a tutorial on how to do it and make a pillowcase too.  I was being a bit too impatient to wait so I got going straight away.  The hardest bit was blanket stitching the pillowcase, and if I'm honest I don't know yet how to do the nice scalloped edge that some others had, so I'm on the lookout for how to do those.  I just used a crochet edge pattern I had in a book at home, not quite as fancy, but I still like it.

 

I still need to do the matching one, but shall do it when hubby away next week.  Oh and I now have plans for more edging in different colours!!

Finally, a bit of thrifting went on yesterday.  Not much but I found a lovely little Johnson Bros Greydawn jug and sugar bowl to add to my collection.  Love that stuff.  I need more in different colours though!!

 

 

2010 - the year of the...

(ok I know we're in March already, but well...)

eiderdown

 

(pic from www.Ohsovintage.co.uk  - but sold!!!!)

Oh I soooooo, want an eiderdown!!! It's my birthday coming up and I'm very tempted to get one, but I'm also aware I really want a nice vintage one, I don't know if it will upset my hubbys allergies (he's had down jackets before so he says he'll be ok, but argh they are expensive!!!).  I could get the CK one, but it's not really as nice as some of the vintage ones.

 

What do you think???

What I need is to be able to find one at a car boot sale or charity shop, just so I know they will be safe to have with my hubby, and then I can save and buy the perfect one.  Or I could just go for it.... and make OH sleep on the couch???  lol!!

cornishware

I'd like to have my first item of cornishware - a jug perhaps??

a vintage roberts radio

I'm not going to pay the price of the new ones, I just want a cheap one that looks good!   

I don't want much this year do I????  Lol.

Hopefully a craft filled post to come, but have been a bit unwell this week and need to sleep!!!

keeping the momentum going

I'm not feeling well today so have spent the day snuggled on the couch. I thought I'd blog some more recent pics. I love blogs with lots of pictures in them :O)

Christmas was lovely and I managed a bit of craftyness with some new stockings for the kids. I left it very last minute but I was super pleased with the results.

 

My DS, DD and I made some lovely orange pomanders which sat nicely next to a lovely Christmas scented pillow I got from Mary Poppins.

The tree was small but I liked it.  It needs to be in this house!!  We made popcorn tinsel and some saltdough decorations.  I also made a gingham present sack, as the lovely Mary P sent me some spare red gingham tea towels after I saw what she had done with them.  Easy peasy to make, even for me!

Christmas saw some lovely presents come my way.  I was very spoiled.  I got a radio I had wanted for ages, here it is in situ

 

It goes so well with my bargain of the decade (lucky we're into a new one, maybe I'll get another bargain!!), which is a Dualit toaster I picked up from the car boot sale for £2!!!!  Yes you read that right two pounds!!  Of course our scabby kettle packed up the same day so I had to go get a new one to match it all :O)

 

It would have been fab to be a colour other than cream, as you know I have a cream and beige *everything* but hey ho.   It still looks good when the kitchen is neat and tidy :oD

Well it took me till the day after I wrote this to sort all the pics out, but I've also found the camera charger so plans for more pic filled posts in the near future.

Blows the cobwebs away....

Gosh it's a bit dusty in here ;) I'm not sure if I even have any readers left! Although I did get an email from a Real Life Friend who stumbled across the blog, so big waves to S! So weird how different worlds collide in this age of the internet.

I've just realised I had some comments in moderation - thanks Mel / ShabbyChick for checking in on me. Must try and sort the comments to come to my e-mail (I think they must go to an old addy).

I'm not sure I have lots to catch up on. I've tried really hard lately to not spend too much money on frivolous things, and what with no car boot sales well the pickings haven't been too rich.

I thought I would show some pics of things I was lucky enough to be given and that I never managed to show off.

First of all was some fab decoupaged letters that I won from a giveaway over at Clover Cottage. I love them so much! OH attached them to the fireplace and, even though I was worried he would hate them , he didn't!!!



Then we have a lovely owl brooch that was part of a swap I had with Louise. I did take some photos of the whole swap but can I find them? Nope. Anyway, it was a lovely stash of goodies. I'll try and gather up the rest of the stuff and post a photo.



Then we have a lovely little hanging butterfly I got from Little Gem. She sent it as a thank you for sending some fabric for her to use in her crafting sessions. It's lovely and it hangs in my room and makes me smile!



I made a start on a little crafty-ness the other day, I made a patchwork cushion for my DD. It was using pre cut squares that I got from the Vintage Fabric Market. A lovely site and I especially love that it isn't hugely pricey and the prices include postage. Anyway, here's the finished article. It's my first ever patchwork and I have plans for lots more!!



I took some other photos of some things I'd like to share, so I'll try and come back tomorrow or soonish with some more things to show off!

Thanks for reading if anyone is still out there!!

Gone AWOL

but for a good reason. We've been on holiday to the Scottish borders and had a wonderful time. The kids were a bit scrappy with each other but I tried to ignore it and my hubby and I just felt so chilled out by the end of it. Was really what we both needed. The sea was just across a very quiet road, lots of rock pools and nature. Lovely.

I managed to avoid the Cath Kidston shop in Edinburgh but only as it was in the wrong end of town to where we were. Hmmm. Next time maybe!

Unfortunately I'm going to be off line for the next week as well as we're having a 1940's week at home with ration foods and not tv or computers. I'm hoping it will give me plenty of time to get back into being creative with the sewing machine and catch up on what I still need to do at home.

Well it seems I have one victim for my PIF. I think I may try and do a giveaway with 2 prizes if no-one else fancies it? I'll try and get going with my gift soon.

I've had a serious lack of mojo going on here. I have a whole host of things still to do. Thinking that if I blog I'll remotivate myself. Maybe I need to do some lists or something.

So what have we been up to lately? Lots of visiting friends and going out and about. We went to a fab historical reenactment last weekend. I adore WW2 and the forties so we hung round those bits lots! I've been buying some new books about the period too





and these 2 fab books



Such an amazing feast for the eyes and lots of history to discover. My favourite :O)

Pay It Forward

Last week I had the pleasure of receiving a Pay It Forward gift from Lorraine at The Balancing Kiwi. It was this most gorgeous owly


She is wonderful! And puts my sewing efforts to shame, have been studying closely to get some tips!! My daughter has named her Brenda :O) Thank you so much Lorraine!!

Now to fulfill the conditions I have to offer to make something to 3 of my readers. So if anyone would like a little handmade something from me then put a comment at the bottom and I will get cracking. You do have to promise to do the same and make for 3 more people each. I think that's right anyway. I'll keep the comments hidden like Lorraine did aswell until I have 3 victims, er I mean friends ;o)

It's been a week already!!

Where did the week go??

We've been doing a bit of zipping about now that we have a car again. Nice to be mobile again. We went to Past Times on Friday having seen the website (Dh was after a union jack cushion) and although we didn't find one, we picked up some of those packs with replica war ephemera in it. Got a car one for my DS and a childrens war one for my DD. This is what is in the Childrens War pack (not the shoes!!) which I thought was loads!



Hubby picked up a guinness mug. He really loves guinness memorabilia and especially the Toucan stuff, so it goes well with what I'm trying to achieve everywhere. You can see it here (just!)with a Johnson Bros green dawn coffee pot I got at a new charity shop last weekend for £1 and a Tala measuring cone I'd been eyeing up and found for a quite reasonable £4 something in Dunelm.


Also managed to pick up some new crochet hooks in Dunelm as I keep losing mine. Think I need to make myself a crochet holder like I did for the swap, so little time though!! One day. So I've been getting on with my granny square cushion which has been ignored for ages as I couldn't find the hook. It'll be down the side of the sofa or something!

The library came up trumps with some good books


I really like this sewing book, lots of nice projects.


And I've been pouring over this book - love the forties, my fave era at the moment. I'm hoping my Lovefilm subscription will send me the dvd of it soon.

Some thanks are due from some lovely ladies on the Shabby Chic Cafe (or the sugababes cafe as my dd calls it!). First I had bought some fabric at auction from Lacey and she so very kindly sent some extra bubbles fabric and a lovely brooch too.



Then Dimity sent me this fab knitting booklet which I have loved looking through. Planning on knitting a golly at some point. Thanks so much ladies!!

Hallway makeover

I finished the hallway the other day. I hadn't intended to do anything here at all, but when I did up the chest of drawers and decided to put it at the bottom of the stairs instead of at the top as I had originally thought, it seemed the next logical step to give it a quick tart up!

It's only a small space, and I have a husband who has lots of shoes and jackets (ahould be the other way round surely?) so it gets cluttered really quickly. I also didn't have anywhere for scarves and gloves so every winter I'd have to buy new ones again. Not good.

Anyway, some pics.


This is pretty much it!! Haha, it is *very* small! We got a new doormat at the weekend. My hubby spotted it in Matalan and wanted it so I 'let' him!! Lolol, he does like the UJ thing. This isn't a great pic due to the light that comes into the door, but I also made some bunting for the door out of some stray Sarah Smith cloths, nice and easy. Unfortunately hubby doesn't like the bunting so not sure if it will stay or not. You can just see the drawers in the foreground and I've put the decoupaged Ikea drawers on it too to hold mail that comes in. To the right you can see some shelves that were a general dumping ground and every time I opened the door things fell off. Something needed to be done.



I decided to line the shelves with the Focus wallpaper and I painted up an old cork noticeboard. I realised that I actually don't have that many pretties to put on shelves, never been a thing I've bought much of. But I found one of my many camper van models which looks ok! I could still see the dark wood shelf underneath the paper though so decided to attach a bit of gingham ribbon to finish it off. Not sure if it will stay on though. We'll see. I laminated some of the wallpaper for the bottom shelf which has the shoes on so I won't need to worry about it all getting dirty.

I think that although it's not perfect, it's a huge improvement. If it helps me keep it tidy it's worth it too!

Note to self - buy more pretties!!!

Adorable Vintage Kids Books

I love books. There I said it. I have way too many, especially for our little house. I need a bigger house just to keep the books in!

I have started to collect Enid Blyton books, I'd actually got a couple in my collection already. My absolute favourite is the one without the dust jacket.


It's called Enid Blyton's Book of the Year. I can't remember who recommended it to me first but as soon as I got it I loved it, it felt twee and old fashioned but I actually liked that. It has stories, poems, music, a part work story all based around each month and the nature around us then. I've read bits lots to my kids and they really like it too.

I was looking at it the other day and realised that it is over 60 years old! That is just mind blowing.

Here's the inscription

It was given at Christmas 1948.


I don't know if you can see but it has a bit on the bottom about it being printed in the authorized economy standars which is to do with the rationing that was still around. I only spotted this as I was reading a book about wartime britain and wondered if this book had it printed in and it did.

The book that was on the top of the pile was my latest book and a very special one as it had been kindly sent to me by Simone at Little Pink Lady. It's a lovely book and just right for my youngest to read, she's just getting fluency and I think she'll love it. Simone was overly kind and sent me some lovely Sarah Smith cloths too - I love these cloths and shall add to my growing collection (might have to clean at this rate!). Thank you so much!

I thought I'd share a couple of other old fashioned type books that we love in this house.

First off are these Little Bear books

There's a cartoon based on the books, not sure if it is still on NickJr. It was when mine were much littler and I used to love watching them with the kids. Most cartoons are awful, and this was too to some extent, but I loved the old fashionedness of it all. Always sucks me in!

And these are my favourites. I think they were originally published in the 30's but are still in print now. They are american, but really I have some lovely picture books from America. I could list so many more, but I won't I'll just share these by the same author. If you like scotty dogs as much as I do then you'll adore the Angus one. I have another, called Angus and Wagtail Bess (with an Airedale terrier) but couldn't find it in time to take a picture


If you ever come across books by this author they are just lovely, timeless books. Here's a picture from inside the Angus Lost book:



How cute??

All I can say is it's a shame children have to grow up, I could buy kids books forever!!

Cupcake swap - sent

I'm still very new to this swapping lark, but here's what I sent Louise at SnuggleShack for the cupcake swap at the ShabbyChic Cafe. I know she's recieved it now so I can show you all. I only took one picture, and well you're lucky you got that as I'm good at forgetting!


This was also the first time I'd sent any of my sewing for use by anyone other than me (oh except my mum's cushions, but she's my mum, she'll not think bad of me!!). I made a crochet hook roll out of some cupcake fabric, and a tissue holder out of the same stuff with some nice CK tissues inside.

I knitted a dishcloth with a cupcake on and crocheted a little cupcake. Now I was gonna stuff this but my daughter thought it looked better open so you could put little bits inside so I went with what the boss said ;o)

There was some pretty cupcake cases and sprinkles, a cupcake coaster I picked up in York and finally I tried my hand at making some little cupcake buttons out of Fimo. I think they turned out ok, although not sure how strong they would be.

I struggled a bit with this swap, I searched and searched loads for nice stuff to add but couldn't find much and my crafting is only so so (and I'm very slow at it too!). Of course going round TKMaxx yesterday I saw loads!! It never seems very much when I send stuff, I look at other swaps sometimes and think - oh that looks lovely, and then there's another 5 photos of more stuff!!

Been fixing up my hallway today and adding some pretty bits to it, I'll take some photos tomorrow and show you once it's done.

And another!

makeover that is :O)

This chest of drawers has been sat in our garage for so long now, it was falling apart and I was going to freecycle it, but then didn't. I have so much furniture that doesn't really have a place in this house. We've been here 3 years nearly but it's still got furniture from a much bigger house in it. I want to move again so don't want to spend lots on getting smaller bits that fit better, only to move as soon as I bought it. But maybe I should have done it ages ago! Oh well.

Anyway, I have no before pic, but I'm sure you can imagine what it would be like before! Really this is an inbetween picture as I still need to sand the top properly and I need to wax it all. I didn't distress the paint as I have a feeling it won't take long to get naturally distressed in this house!


I also need to find some nice handles for it. Or I may paint these if I can't find anything I like soon enough. I'm going to add some hooks on one side so that the kids can hang their coats on it (it's in the hallway). Hopefully it will hold all our scarves and gumpf that lands in the hallway and makes it look a mess.

I need to get making some pretty things to hang off the drawers don't I? Argh! Need more time!!!!

I've also lined the drawers with some gorgeous wallpaper I picked up from Focus today which lots of bloggers have been raving about. It's reduced to £5 a roll and very CK'ish. I foresee lots of rooms being decked out in it. Not ours sadly though :O( Hate renting houses!! Although I know I should be grateful I have one :O)

Makeover madness

Been getting the paintbrushes out here lots :O)

We've had a little side table that sits at the side of our couch for years. I think it's supposed to be a plant stand but we cought it ages ago from Ikea when we got our first (and only brand new) sofa, which was a really low futon, so it was ok that it was so little. Now we live in a shoebox and it's useful in that it just fits this tiny space. However, as usual, it was getting a little grubby. I only just remembered the before pic!


A couple of coats of a nice bright blue (get your sunglasses on!!) and it's looking much fresher!



I've already made a start on 2 other things which I'll get photos of once I'm done. It's a bit addictive this painting furniture isn't it?

I completely nabbed Little Gem's idea of covering a boiler with some nice retro stuff. I need some more nice magnets and a few more bits to cover it, but hubby really liked it when he saw it, so must have been a good idea!! Pity I didn't think of it myself!!


And a couple of more pretties to add:


I can't say I made this, although I had though of making one for a while. I had nothing suitable at home to make it with and I figured that by the time I 'd faffed around and bought stuff, left it hanging round for a while and eventually got round to it it would be next year before I got onto it! And this one was really reasonable from Ebay so I went for it. It's CK Rosali as far as I'm aware and is a perfect place to put all my nice little cards I've been lucky enough to get recently :O)

And finally my first 2 bits in my new collection of Utility China. I'd seen this stuff on various blogs and really liked the pastel shades so decided I'd like to collect it. I got the green Beryl Woods Ware plate from a car boot a couple of weeks ago now and saw the blue Johnson Bros teapot at the charity shop last weekend. Oh well, you've got to start a collection off somewhere!

Serviette decoupage and Union Jack love

I've been trying out a new craft these past couple of nights, serviette decoupage which someone on the Shabby Chic Cafe had been talking about. I'd bought some serviettes and tissues from Cath Kidston specifically to do this, but the thread on SCC gave me the push to get on with it.

Here's what I started with:


As you can see it was just a basic Ikea storage drawer thing that has been hanging around for years and has held crud for a while!! It was looking really scabby so I would have been pleased with any improvement really. Here's what it ended up like:


I just painted the main bit with a sample of paint I got from Wilkinsons and decoupaged the front of the drawers. I'm really pleased with how it turned out.

I wasn't so pleased with a picture frame I decorated, it turned out a bit wrinkly. It might look better once it's on the wall!



In other news, my son was busy yesterday morning with making some paper chains. They were from East of India and I had been drooling over them for a bit, and eventually succumbed as they'll look so good in my son's vintage aeroplane room won't they?



And here they are in situ - this is half a pack btw, my daughter has the rest in her room. Even the teddies are saluting it ;o)

Go Granny Go

Been for a walk down to the supermarket today with my granny trolley *grin*. Managed to dodge the showers pretty much and the kids were happy enough too which was a bonus. Trying to time it right is hard when you don't have a car but are used to having one (ours is broken, looking for a newer one soon).

Here's a picture of the tea cosy that I mentioned in my last post and thank you to Lala for telling me that it would have been put on top of a thicker padded cosy and so would be interchangeable. It's so pretty, I wondered at first if it would have been machine done as it is so well embroidered but I don't think so. I think I'll try and make a mini cushion with it :O)


Also been crocheting some more of the granny squares that I started ages ago. I wasn't quite sure about how the colours were turning out but friends said that it looked fine. I kept thinking it needed another colour, maybe a yellow or something. Anyway I'd left it for a while because of that and then decided to have another go last night. I decided I definitely didn't like it, but didn't want to waste what I'd done already so I decided to make it up into a cushion cover. It's not all done yet, I still need to do the back but I am going to do just one big granny on the back and take out the dark pink as I think that is what I'm not liking. We'll see how it goes anyway. So, not the blanket I was hoping for, but I'll get there one day!