Weekend in Durham....

I had such a lovely weekend in Durham. Geordie wanted to go and look at a 1950's Ford Pop he wants to buy/restore so we decided to go for the weekend as it's a county we know and love very much.

He liked the car....

......we then drove to Barnard Castle and saw David Harper's Antique shop (the guy on Antique Road Trip and every other antique programme on T.V). Geordie wanted to have his photo taken with him but I get really really embarassed in situations like that so a photo of his shop had to do.

Another interesting shop......

Anyway we then went to Bowes Museum and had a walk around the grounds. It is a beautiful place and there were lots of hidden treasures amongst the trees....

We also found this, which we thought was fascinating as we've visited Bowes loads of times and never seen this before in the grounds.....



Another place we visited on our weekend was Egglestone Abbey....

This is looking up into the old spiral stairwell.....you can still see a few stone stairs remaining.

It's really wierd because it's not like any other ruins I've been too because it's just on it's own up a lane in a field next to a load of cows.....

Being a city girl, it's not often you'll see a picture of a cow on this blog!!

When I got home I decided to make my Sara Smith cleaning cloths bunting for my garden-nothing to do with the jubilee mind-I just like bunting. I paid £1.00 for 2 packs of these cloths and cut each cloth into 10 triangles and then hand stitched them onto some blue braid. The good thing about making bunting out of these cloths is I can leave them outside and they won't come to any harm as they are designed for cleaning and washing.

Outside where they will be left.....

Inside, so you can see the colours and size better. I'm really pleased with how they came out and they were so so simple to make. If I had a sewing machine they would have been made in minutes-no hemming, no pinning, just cut and sew.

I decided to have a go at Lucy's Attic 24 May Rose as well this weekend as someone at work gave me some wool in a colour and style I wouldn't normally buy and I was wondering what to do with it. I quite like how it came out......

I just crocheted the rose, two leaves and stitched a vintage button on the front and a brooch pin on the back-it was done in about half an hour. Me and my Mum are hoping to do a craft stall in the autumn so I might make some of these as brooches, I might stitch some onto hair bobbles or slides.....I'm just trying a few things out at the moment and trying to make things I would like to buy if I saw them on a stall. I'd like this pinned on a vintage tweed bag or on my furry jacket......we'll see anyway.

Hope everyone else had a lovely sun-filled, colourful, productive weekend!

xx

Want to get married now!

Well after spending a hideously hot day cooped up in my 7th floor office where the windows only open 2 inches due to Health and Safety, it was lovely to finally get home, make a lovely refreshing cup of earl grey tea and browse through the latest issue of Mollie Makes. If you haven't seen this magazine, you're missing a treat-it's brilliant. Normally there's a lovely free gift of vintage buttons, ribbon, crochet flower kits etc. The free gift this month is a magazine called 'Lets Get Hitched' and it's filled with gorgeous inspirational wedding themes and quirky, vintage stuff.

Look at these wedding invitations? I LOVE these so much.

The Bridesmaids......I really adore this idea, vintage dresses and coloured tights.

The Bride (on the right), I really love this dress and bouquet. This is Elsie Larson whose blog is here. I really love the idea of the birds in the bouquet.

Look at these beauties too....(sorry about the rubbish photo)....these would be perfect for bridesmaids wouldn't they?

Some more beautiful bouquets.

Honestly I really feel like getting married now. :-) xx



My Car Blanket is finished!

I have had a frantic week trying to get my blanket finished. When it actually came down to it, I felt a bit sad to be coming to the end because it's my first blanket and I started it in the winter on those dark evenings and imagined finishing it in time for summer picnics....well hello summer, I've finished!!!

So without further ado.......here it is.

It does look quite a lot brighter in real life and I am so happy with how it turned out! I do like all the random-ness of the different sized squares. I'd probably do things a bit differently colour-wise if I was starting it now but for my first big project, all in all, I'm pleased. Also as it's 100% acrylic, I was a bit worried how it would feel and drape but when it came out of the washer having been drowned in 'Comfort' fabric softener, it feels so soft and beautiful, I was really impressed. 

I realised today as well that as this blanket is intended for Tulip my car, it's quite apt that it is 2 years ago this week that I passed my driving test and got the lovely Tulip!

Here's Oliver giving his expert opinion on the unfinished version before I added the border. It was honestly on the floor for less than 30 seconds while I picked the camera up, and there he was trying it out!!

While I was having a 'big project' trauma, I decided to make myself something quick and satisfying that would only take an hour or two. Having looked at all the stuff in my handbag, I decided my car stereo needed a 'cosy'. Out came the scraps of wool and a couple of hours later........

I haven't had much time for shopping this week but I did have a quick charity shop browse today and got this lovely bright vase for £1.50.

Also these knee socks for £2 which I'm going to makeover (as planned in my previous post)

  

And lastly, my present from Geordie this week (as he did have a good week selling on ebay) was this lovely cool bag from Cath Kidston. I have wanted this for ages but they don't stock them anymore as they have a new one out now. I saw this on ebay and mentioned a few hundred times how much I love it. Anyway when my back was turned, a bid was put on and this morning it arrived in the post......

Oooh I can't wait to go back to work on Monday and take my dinner in this!

Hope everyone else has had a lovely week.

XX

I really love these.....

I absolutely love long socks and I almost swooned with delight when I saw these. The are from an Irish company called Avoca (who do beautiful soaps as well!!!) You can buy them from the internet but I found them in a lovely shop in Haworth and as the shop also stocks Cath Kidston, I spent a lovely half hour browsing and touching and day dreaming. 

I want all of these, I just need them all sooooo much. Geordie suggested I customise my Primark socks until I win the lottery and do you know what? Thats not a bad idea.......  ;-) xx