Catching Up.

I haven't posted on here for a couple of weeks due to my poor Geordie being quite ill. He had to go into hospital for some unpleasant tests and although some things have been ruled out, it still hasn't been resolved. I've felt so stressed and worried that I haven't really done much to post about. What I have done is crocheted like a mad 'hooky' person and I've found it quite relaxing and distracting. I was very excited to finsh my Vintage Stripe Blanket.....

Oliver is carrying out a rigorous quality control check on it, making sure there are no missed stitches or loose ends.

 

It's like a big stick of rock!!

Here it is with my Little Squares Cushion.

I have also made another cushion, this one is just 2 big Granny Squares and literally took a couple of days to make and I used up all the bits I had left from the blanket.

I love the bright colours and they really cheer the room up. I bought the actual cushions for £1.49 each from B&M Bargains and then because you could see the white cheap material they are made out of through the gaps in the crochet, I cut up 2 T-shirts, one in pale blue and one in pink to make a cover for the cushions first before I put them in the crochet covers.

I've also been trying out some hexagons as well.....

I don't know what to do with them yet, they are all seperate so I might just use them as coasters on my coffee table or I might sew them together into a scarf or something.

Remember my post about Avoca socks? These are gorgeous knee high socks with lovely little trimmings but they are quite expensive and I had a real yearning for them. Well in the end I bought some socks in the sale from Tesco for £2 and raided my trimmings box. It has actually been cold enough to wear these recently under my knee boots (I know, I can't believe it's Summer!!!)

They are so cute and practical too. I've still got an oatmeal pair to do and Tesco still has some chocolate brown socks left which I might buy because I've got some cute little red roses and ribbons which would look sweet sewn on them. 

I haven't had much time for charity shop bargain hunting, so no vintage finds but I did find this gorgeous Boden cardigan for £3.99. I was ecstatic to find this because Boden (like Monsoon) is right up my street for quirky, colourful, embroidered vintage-style clothes, but it's just too expensive for me! This cardigan was probably around £60 new (at least) and it looks like it's never been worn-BARGAIN!!!

I also had a little trip to the Cath Kidston shop to browse in the sale. It was for therepeutic health reasons only you understand and it was practically on my way home and it would have been rude not too. Anyway I got a little present for the lovely Ms E, who sits beside me at work, and has very very kindly given me her Blackberry as she has got a new phone. She is so lovely and she knows I have wanted a Blackberry for ages and I was really touched when she said I could have hers. Anyway I got her this......

and I'm going to crochet her an Attic 24 Bauble, with some essential oils on the stuffing to hang in her car as she has always liked mine.

I haven't been doing much else these last 2 weeks apart from having a free listen to the Stone Roses gigs as I only live about 10 minutes from Heaton Park. I had the back door open so I could hear the music without the trauma of standing in the rain and mud. Our whole area was totally swamped with Roses fans and it was quite exciting really seeing people who had travelled from all over the world queuing for beer in our Sainsburys!! I saw one enterprising neighbour cooking burgers in his front garden on a barbecue and selling them to the fans! I'm sure he had all the necessary permits and risk assessments done beforehand-lol.

I'm off work now for 2 weeks and will be having a few trips out sight seeing and bargain hunting. Happy July everyone. xxx

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 

Update-Tilly wearing her jumper.....

Awwwwwwwww............

Puggle jumper is finished.

Phew....I finally finished the little Pug jumper I was making for my friends Pug puppy. The jumper is knitted and I added crocheted teeny tiny flowers round the neckline from Lucy at Attic24 . I've just kind of made this up as I went along based on a really simple pattern I found on Ravelry.

Can you see how it fits? This is the side view so her head comes out at the end where the flowers are, the short bit is the front, you can see the gaps where her legs go, and the longer bit goes down her back.

The picture below is the back.......

This picture is the front...... 

And here it is, all ready to be delivered to the gorgeous Tilly Puggles.



I'll try and post a picture of her wearing it if possible, although it's really hot here and I wouldn't want her to boil over in a jumper on the hottest days we've had this year!!!

Been soooo ill.... :-(

I've been suffering since last Sunday with a viral throat infection-oh my, have I felt sorry for myself! I've not been in work, I couldn't eat anything, I've been aching, hot and cold, totally miserable and full of self pity. My lovely Geordie has been looking after me, cooking me soft food and bringing me presents. I've been sitting in bed, watching TV and crocheting away on my Vintage Stripe Blanket

As you can see I've still got a fair way to go, but it is about 4 foot wide so I'm quite proud of how much I've done in a week. I think this blanket is going to be kept on the back of the sofa to add colour and for snuggling.

Anyway yesterday I started to feel a bit of the 'old' me coming back. The sun was shining, my throat was feeling better and I had an urge.......

........an urge......

........to go shopping.

Woohoo, I'm on the road to recovery. It's a week before payday though so my shopping was restricted to cheap shops and charity shops. Here's what I got.....

Total spend? £4.99. The canisters were £2.99 from B&M Bargains, the 3 tea towels £1.49 and the Royal Worcester Evesham porcelain Olive dish, 50p from the charity shop. I think the lady in the charity shop didn't want to let me have it! She kept saying I had a bargain and was a bit reluctant to hand it over. 

 Then I noticed I had a text from Miss M, my lovely antique lady friend. She had come by a little cupboard she thought I might be interested in. I drove to hers, loaded it into Tulip, and here it is....

I went straight to B&Q and bought sandpaper, and a lovely tin of duck egg blue paint. It isn't a priceless antique, it's a very shaky, very scratched cupboard and it was going on a skip if I didn't take it so I don't feel guilty painting it. Also my house does not suit dark furniture, so it's getting painted.

When I got home, Geordie had just finished putting a clutch in someone's car so he came home to join me for lunch in the garden.....

I then spent the rest of the day sanding and cleaning the aforementioned cupboard and when the sun went down I got another urge......

.....an urge....

......to make an Attic24 Birdie

Sooooo cute! I put a couple of drops of patchouli oil on the stuffing too so it's scented as well as being sweet. I think I might hang it in my car actually and make some more for the house. I might make some in yellow for my nephew and niece for Easter too maybe with some mini eggs........

I think I'm going to be busy. :-) xx

Antiquing in Hebden Bridge.

On Friday I had a lovely day out with my friend Miss M who has just started a little business in antiques. She has been collecting for years and is great at hunting out fab bargains. We drove to Todmorden first and went to Picture House Antiques where I got this.....

It's from the 1950's from Egersund, Norway and yes it should have a lid but I'm always attracted to things that might get rejected for not being perfect. I fell in love with it and my friend got me some money off (I'm too shy to ask for their best price!!)-it only cost me £4. I was overjoyed and it's going to go on my new kitchen shelf when it gets put up. They had a whole corner in the shop full of casserole dishes, coffee pots, tea sets etc etc. I also saw a snail dish! Never seen one of those before and hopefully I'll never see one again-lol.

We then drove on to Hebden Bridge a place I love and have been coming to for years. We went in some lovely vintage clothes shops and craft shops and were really spoilt for choice. I was on a very tight budget but I'll definitely go back on payday! Anyway Miss M got some lovely things to sell on, a lovely TG Green mixing bowl (that I hankered after,) a 'boudoir' sign and a vintage soap dish. I found this for my Dad's fittingroom....

My Dad is a bespoke tailor who has a lovely fitting room for his customers, which is decorated with lovely vintage things. I've bought him Victorian tailors bills, old copy's of Tailor and Cutter, an Art Deco tie press, all manner of 'tailor' related ephemera which he displays proudly. This was £2, I was going to save it towards his birthday present in July but I usually get too excited when I find something for someone that I'll probably just end up giving it to him next time I see him. 

I also got these for myself.

They are so cute I couldn't resist and only £2.

Then we went for lovely coffee and cake which Miss M treated me too in return for me doing the driving in the lovely Tulip. I still haven't finished the Tulip Car Blanket yet, but I did manage to squeeze this in...

Inspired by Lucy at Attic 24, I made this to take to work tomorrow to cheer me up while I'm chained to my desk for 8 hours.

My last weekend bargain was these.....

I really needed new wellies as it will soon be time for Classic Car shows /Country shows/ Steam rallies etc and all the other shows in fields which get muddy in the lovely British weather. I wanted shorter ones and saw these in Tesco (of all places). They were £12 and I had £11.50 in clubcard vouchers so they cost me 50p-total bargain!!!!

This week I will be chipping away at my Klimt-inspired car blanket. I've got a bag full of pieces now and I can't wait to start fitting them all together. Also I need to start knitting the puppy pug jumper I've been asked to make for 12 week old Tilly Puggles. My first commission-wish me luck.

XX

Another quirky-vintage find....

Do you like my lovely vintage casserole dish? My friend has been dabbling in antiques as a hobby for a few years now but she recently gave up work and is now starting her own small business. She particularly likes clockwork tin toys, drinks/cocktail items, kitchenalia and Art Deco. She bought me this and I just love all the pictures (even the mincer!!). I've got quite a few new things to display in the kitchen so I need Geordie to get his drill out and get me another shelf up!! I can't bring myself to use it because I just know something hideous would happen and it would end up in bits on the floor (and me too!)



 

A Most Successful Day.

Well I had a wonderful day with my wonderful sister shopping for birthday presents for our Mum. We of course ended up in Cath Kidston (well I say 'ended' but we just went straight there,lol). I got Mum this , the mini dot box bag in green, and my sister got her this, mini dot passport holder, and this, red Stanley glasses case. The munchkins gor her this mug in Provence Rose. I also gave Mum the orange scarflette I made earlier which I'm modelling (badly) in one of my earlier posts. I have to admit I did treat myself to some gorgeous little red rose slides from CK too!! I also bought a keyring for a friend who is taking her driving test tomorrow-I really hope she passes and hopefully the keyring can go on her new car keys. We then lunched and chatted, then off to Primarni-it had to be done, it's the law! I got 2 beautiful vests with a chiffon trim, that could have definitely come from Monsoon-£3 each!! I just had to get both. One is a kind of jade colour and the other tan.  

I have started my car rug/blanket for Tulip and I'm really excited about it. I love the candy dolly mixture colours and it's so quick to do. Now that I've had my fill of neck and wrist warmers, I want to fly with this. In fact in my head I'm already planning another one for when Geordie gets around to decorating the bedroom. I'm also thinking about getting a sewing machine for my little box room cum study cum junk room. Even though my Dad is a tailor and has a fabulous workroom, I'd like my own machine so I can start a few sewing projects too. I've got 4 days off work now so by Sunday I hope to have doubled the size of my blanket-woohoo! 

Need it to freeze....brrrr.

Finished my lovely burnt orange scarflette. I love it!! It's so chunky and warm and the colour reminds me of ginger biscuits-Yum!! (can't you tell I'm back at WeightWatchers). The colour's a bit darker than on the picture and it's soooo thick, it needs to get really really cold now so I can test it out in real-life conditions.I've just noticed there's a duck flying out of the side of my head, a rabbit on top of my head and some kind of dinosaur perched on the other side-no wonder I look like I've taken some sort of hallucinogenic substance-lol!

Ps. here are my lovely vintage-style bird slides which I bought off ebay for £1.75 each!! I love love love these....they go so well with my Cath Kidston oilcloth Bird messenger bag.

sandwich heaven!

My Cath Kidston flask and sandwich boxes!! Soooo excited, soup, sandwich, salad and fruit...yum yum!

Just thought I'd share...

Love my Hilda Ogden duck! I know they normally come in 3's but I spotted this at an antiques fair, at the Reebock in Bolton, all on its lonesome and had to have it. I'd quite like 2 other 'odd' ones now so I still have a set of 3 but not a set (if you know what I mean!!)

Also recently acquired this vintage Bluebird toffee tin. It has 4 pictures round the side depicting the 4 seasons (I think you can just make out the Winter scene at the front), so I plan to keep turning it around as the seasons change. This came from the Antiques Centre  in Helmshore which is a gorgeous old church building absolutely crammed to the rafters with all sorts of stuff. The tea and cake in the cafe is to die for too!