Poorly Peepers, Crochet and Faffing with China

My eye has finally healed and I'm back to normal.  I have my life back! 

It has been a busy weekend.  I've been making up for lost time dashing here, there and everywhere.  Meeting up with family, shopping, eating out and generally having fun.  I feel free!  

I'd started to feel a bit low - not quite myself.  Usually I'm quite chatty and cheerful but I lost interest in everything and just wanted to sleep.  Not anymore!  

I am pleased to report that I am once again belting out songs from my favourite musicals (Julie Andrews style, of course), faffing around with china and chattering with anyone who will listen.  On Friday I was only working from home but, for the first time this year, I put on a full face of make-up, blow-dryed my hair properly and wore a nice little tunic dress with tights.  I even wore a stack of gorgeous bangles and bracelets (which really irritate me when I'm working because they bash on my laptop but, hey, I was BACK!). 

I've had a sudden surge of motivation to finish the blanket I started on holiday last year.  It's just a giant granny square and although I'm in my fifth month of working on it, it hasn't actually taken me that long.  It has been languishing in my crochet bag and I'd just do  a few stitches here and there when I felt like it. I got a bit too caught up in Christmas and redecorating the dining room towards the back end of last year.  

I'm just doing the edging now... 

Can you see, there's a row of not-very-impressive-but-extremely-complicated flat-X-stitch in red.  It is preceded by a couple of rows of double crochet.  (Mental note to self to use a larger hook for a double-crocheted edging in future - because the stitch is a little tighter than the trebles the blanket doesn't quite lie flat when outstretched.  The red edging is also frilling a little (too many stitches/too large stitches?  who knows) - it's completely accidental but I rather like it.)  I'll do a proper 'reveal' (!) when it's all done but I am so pleased with the colours - I think they all work really well together. 

♥♥♥

We went to my MIL's for lunch today.  She is a keen gardener (her gardens are beautiful) and we got talking about my plans for our little garden this year.  I want to have a go at growing my own flowers, specifically because I'd like to be able to cut flowers for the house.   Andrew gave me this lovely trio of books for Christmas:  

The Ten Minute Gardener collection.  There's one for flowers, one for fruit and one for vegetables (I don't think there are more but I could be wrong).  They are such good books for an absolute novice like me, advising what I should be doing each month in really straight-forward language.  We have the tiniest patch of grass but I'm going to reduce it further and chop another border into it, specifically for my cut flower patch.  It will be a tiny space but one that I can experiment with.  I'm so excited to get started.

I've been fiddling about with little bits and bobs in the house today.

The utility china on the dresser in the dining room had been bothering me for a while.  I still absolutely love it but the dresser just looked messy to me, and not in a good way.  The china didn't seem to fit with the room.

So I've had a move around.  My utility china collection is now stacked tidily (and prettily) in the sideboards and a few favourite jugs are displayed neatly in the living room:

I've moved my chunky neutral 'every day' china onto the dresser and I'm pleased with the overall effect.

Creams and earthy tones with the odd piece of glassware feel calming and restful.

Nothing fights for your attention in the room any more, it all just blends together harmoniously.  I'm glad I did it and had a lovely time fiddling about.

This is the quiet before the storm.  It's my niece's birthday party next weekend and the cake making begins this week.  Andrew has already joked that he won't expect any sleep on Friday evening (as I've said before, it's usual for me to stay up until the early hours at the last minute making final tweaks!).  I'm making a jungle-themed two-tiered cake with 20 matching cupcakes.  My niece is only three but her party is set to be the social event of the century! I can't believe the parties that children have these days - I used to be happy with a few friends to tea and a game of musical bumps!  I think there is a bit of pressure on my sister for Izzie's party to match up to everyone else's.  (Also, she loves planning parties so she is in her element!)

I've decided to make a simple cake for my Grandma's birthday at the end of the month and have some gorgeous cake bunting that I bought from Sew Sweet Violet last year.  It will be perfect atop a simple frosted cake with a few sugar roses.

Have a happy week, everyone, and thank you for continuing to pop by this little web space of mine.

Speak soon!

Nicki 

x

Bit of this, bit of that

As excited as I am to wear my new winter boots, legwarmers and knitted dresses,  I am loving this late September sunshine.  Fully expected to be wearing my denim shorts with tights by now but I've gone back to bare legs for a while! (The razor blade in my bathroom is enjoying a brief revival... tights really are a lazy groomer's best friend.)

I had to see the doctor yesterday morning and spent a few quiet minutes enjoying the view from the surgery.  The surgery is in a pretty part of the village, sits on a little hill and the waiting room has huge picture windows so that you can look right across the fields whilst you wait.  This big imposing house, next to the car park, looked lovely in the sunshine:

Look at the colour of that sky!  

It is quite unlike me to dawdle, in everyday life I mean.  I'm usually rushing from one thing to the next and I don't pay much attention to my surroundings.  It was so refreshing to take my time for a change, I will try to do it more often.

So last weekend was pretty full-on.  We had some utility china (an ebay purchase) to pick up in Somerset which is about three hours away from us.  We booked a lovely pub/B&B for Friday evening and made a night of it.  Best thing we've done in ages.  It was great to have such a spontaneous weekend away and the pub was a real find.

It was called The Three Horseshoes and was in a tiny village (with very narrow winding, spooky, roads) called Batcombe.

The room was nice.  Small, but very comfortable, with lovely views.

But it was really the pub downstairs, and the food, that made this place such a treasure.  We arrived at about 7pm, dumped our bags in the room and bagsied a lovely big scrubbed pine table in the main bar area next to the fire.

We started with a couple of G&Ts then moved onto a bottle of wine and a game of dominoes.

You do have to knock on the table when you can't go don't you?  That's the way we always played it with my granddad anyhow and that's the way I made Andrew play too.  I think he was a bit embarrassed in such a busy pub but you've got to play these games properly or not at all, in my book.

We had a lovely dinner but our eyes kept moving to these beauties on the bar:

Forget smokey bacon crisps and salted peanuts (peeled from those cardboard sheets with topless ladies on), this pub served olives, pistachios and homemade pork pies as nibbles.  Amazing idea.  They looked so appealing and were even served on the most gorgeous small thick rustic wooden boards with a dollop of relish (got to get me some of those wooden serving boards...).  We had planned on making a long night of it but ended up crashing out at 10:30.  Must have been the fire.  Or the wine.

Always take a self-portrait when we do anything fun (well, not quite anything...)

Breakfast the following morning was equally delicious.  Again, a big scrubbed pine table, this time laden with coffee, toast, newspapers and juice.  We had a full English each but there was also a selection of cereal, fresh fruit, yogurt, toast and preserves.  Y-um.  I love having a leisurely breakfast at the table but we never do it, the furthest we get to sitting down for breakfast together is at the kitchen counter or sitting in the conservatory.  Setting the table for brekko is definitely on my 'to do' list when the new dining table arrives.

On Saturday we drove to 'the house of the utility china'.  Oh my.  There was such a lot of it.  The items were listed in bulk by a couple who were moving house.  They had collected loads of the J&G Meakin Glamour Rosa china and just sold the lot off.  I also bought a bulk lot of Meakin Glamour Celeste and some Johnson Bros Greydawn bits.  The lady I bought from was absolutely lovely.  We had so much in common and I could have chatted with her all afternoon.  Whilst Andrew and her husband were loading the car with my new goodies, I spent time looking at the rest of the lady's vintage china collection (she had yet more utility china), the AMAZING sugar flowers that she makes and photos of the cakes she has decorated in her time.  She has also been a member of the WI for a long time and we chatted about that too.  It was fab.

I loved unpacking my china when I got home but as we don't have any sideboards in the dining room right now, I just don't have anywhere to store it all.  I will do a proper post to show my beauties off in all their glory when the dining room is finished but for now I will share the JUNK SHOP that my home has become.  Spot the china piled under furniture and on the floors.

First up, the new dresser in the dining room.  Clearly not styled at all (sorry to disappoint), simply piled with china for storage more than anything:

There are books haphazardly thrown on shelves and we even have things thrown on the window seats too.  We are having the floor redone this weekend and I can't wait.  I know this parquet stuff is very old and expensive but frankly it's knackered and looks awful.

There's more china in the spare room:

...together with the booze from our drinks cabinet and the baking supplies from my baking cupboard.

The windowsill in the spare room is piled with cake stands, lamps and glassware.  It is driving me crackers.  I can't wait for the furniture to arrive but I've been informed we have to wait another month.  Arrggh!!

I will do some proper photos of the china when we get our house sorted for everyone who I share a utility china fetish with.  I  now realise that I have got loads of pink and blue china but very much need to build up my green items.  If you are interested in swapping a Meakin Glamour Jade, Grindley Almond Petal or Johnson Bros Greendawn item for something pink or blue, please get in touch!

So I've had a quiet week.  I needed it.  Read a fab book mentioned here on the Florence and Rose blog (it's a lovely blog, you might want to linger a while).  The book is called The Help and is set in Mississippi in the early 60's.  It is a story about race, class and friendship.  It's definitely a feel-good story and I'd recommend it.  Thrilled to hear that it has been made into a movie; there are some strong characters in the book and I'll enjoy seeing how they have been interpreted.   So now I need something else to read.  Any recommendations?

In between the reading I have been practising some Christmas crochet:

Ha!  Funny little thing isn't it.  I downloaded this stocking pattern from Ravelry.  There are a few tweaks I'll make to the pattern when I make them for realsies (I'll make them in thicker, neutral coloured yarn) but I'm planning on hanging these on my tree if they look any good.  Not bad for a first attempt (and if you'd told me last Christmas I'd be able to even make this, I'd have snorted derisively!).

We're planning a quiet weekend too.  I might nip off to the local car boot sale on Saturday morning but apart from that we're taking it easy.  My stepson, J, is coming to stay this weekend and I think he has school gossip for me - he texted me earlier this afternoon to tell me he doesn't fancy M as much any more (he has liked her for two years now) but he fancies K instead.  Love it when he tells me this stuff!

Still have loads to chat about but I'll be back in a few days.

Hope everyone has a lovely weekend.

Nicki 

x

PS And thanks, Sam, for the blog award!  Am thrilled. I'll do a proper post for it next time x

Vintage goodies and planning a road trip

A hard week so far and I'm ready for the weekend.  So let's chat about shopping.

We had a bit of a spending frenzy on Saturday - first of all we went to a vintage fair in Northampton.  I had arranged to meet a seller there to pick up a couple of bits of china and I'm so glad I went, it was lovely!  It was only a small event but every single stall was worth a  look.  Every spare surface in the room had something pretty or interesting plonked on it.  Tea and cake was available, served on mis-matched china, and 40s music played in the background.  Everyone was super friendly, in fact there was a very festive atmosphere, and it was the nicest way to spend a Saturday lunchtime.  The next one is in Olney on 8th October and if you live nearby it's worth making the trip.  I bought a few vintage goodies - a pressed glass jug, an etched glass bon bon dish, two little jugs and a bird cage.

Then we popped across to Olney to check out the Food Fair (love this town, would move there if I didn't like my house so much) and from there to Brackley Antique Cellar.  (Brackley Antique Cellar is another lovely way to spend a couple of hours.  Relatively quiet, loads to look at and a sweet little cafe.)  

By Sunday we were ready to veg out on the sofa.  My MIL invited us over for lunch again (well we invited ourselves really) and we had another lovely big feed up.  Have I told you that my MIL does the most amazing roast parsnips?  I don't like them ordinarily but she does something funky with proper fat and a big glug of maple syrup.  They go all sweet, sticky and crunchy on the outside... delicious.

Anyway.... she gave me some china!  So chuffed.  Having listened to me waffle on about utility china she was reminded some bits that her MIL gave to her years ago and dug it out for me: 

It's so pretty.  There are dinner plates, bowls, side plates, cups and saucers - four of everything.  I let out an embarrassing little squeal when she unwrapped these for me though:

They are cute little spoons (tiny coffee or egg spoons really) with floral ceramic handles.  She'd polished up the silver and they look perfect - even prettier in real life.  She told me that she had a jam spoon and butter knife to match at one point but can't find them... I had to sit on my hands to stop myself rifling through the drawers.  Hope she unearths them some day!

Speaking of china, I had fun on Saturday displaying my (now rather large) collection on the new dresser. 

Until Saturday the china had been displayed randomly, with all four colours mixed up (I do have yellow and green, just not as much).  It took me ages to dust it all and put back in colour order - I can't decide what to do so I'll keep playing until it looks just right.

I have to tell you, I'm very excited.  I've found a huge job lot of vintage china (again pink and blue!) on ebay.  It was a good price but collection only so Andrew and I are making a road trip to somewhere in Somerset on Friday to stay in a B&B and pick up the goodies.  Cannot wait!  Andrew thinks I'm barking - we are talking about A LOT of china here.  It has apparently been sitting in their loft for years unused. What a way to spend your anniversary weekend.  I will have a lot of surplus china so I think I'm going to do a little giveaway to share the love in a couple of weeks time.

Finally, I really must dash but I had to show my latest crochet project.  It's a custard jug cosy.  

Yes, I know it looks like a mug cosy that went wrong.  

I used a pattern but it just wasn't the right shape for any of our mugs.  So I tried to adapt it, frogged it about five times, swore quite a lot and ended up with this.  The cosy turned out the oddest shape and the only item of crockery that it fits in the house is this dinky jug.  I learned loads from attempting it though and won't be defeated - you're all getting mug cosies for Christmas :-)

Have a great week!  

Nicki 

x

PS Thanks so much for all the lovely comments about our wedding photo.  I love any excuse to get the wedding album out so I promise to share a few next weekend to celebrate our actual anniversary (I'm  milking this anniversary somewhat aren't I...).  We got married at an amazing venue so the photos are lovely.  

PPS Hello to my new followers and I'll see you at yours soon xxx

A book, utility china, a blog award and swapsies

We are just back from another trip to Norfolk.  This time it was just a weekend break and we took my stepson and Andrew's Mum.  We were lucky with the weather and spent most of the weekend sitting in the sunshine drinking G&Ts (juice for the stepson) and reading.  (MIL was in charge of pouring the drinks.  Her measures are much larger than mine - I spent both evenings slightly squiffy and zonked out by 10pm).  There was also a lot of basketball, football and volleyball, quite a bit of dog walking, some stone skimming and a smidge of bingo.  We had fun.  I was hoping to visit some pretty local villages but it just wasn't possible what with one thing and another.  Husband has promised we can both nip over for a weekend before the weather really turns.  Yipee!

I've got a few things to waffle on about but I'm in a bit of a hurry to get back to a book I started reading yesterday.  It's by Miss Read and is called 'The School at Thrush Green':

Man, I LOVE these books.  They are all slim little novels and the stories revolve around life in a Cotswold village.  They were written in the 1950s.  The stories are so simple and old-fashioned, nothing much happens, but the imagery is lovely and I adore the words that Miss Read uses.  Here's a snippet:

"The rumbustious January weather continued for the rest of the week, and the inhabitants of Lulling and Thrush Green were as tired of its buffeting as the rest of the Cotswold villages were.  But on Saturday morning the wind had dropped, and a wintry sun occasionally cast a gleam upon a thankful world.  Miss Watson and Miss Fogerty agreed that the weekly wash would benefit from a spell in the fresh air, and Agnes was busy pegging out petticoats, night-gowns and other garments when she was hailed by a well-known voice on the other side of the hedge.  It was her old friend Isobel, wife of Harold Shoosmith, who lived next door."

Ah!  Nice and simple, cosy, reading.  Lovely.

Thanks to everyone who commented on my last post about the wonkiness of the house.  I have decided to embrace the wonkiness *punches fist in air* and have set about decorating the dresser.  I won't do a proper 'big reveal' (!) of the dining room until it's properly finished but let me tell you that things are moving along nicely.  I've been hanging a few hearts, for starters...

My china collection continues to grow.  I picked up this little Meakin jug (with the blue tits) last week.  I found it on a vintage china stall.  I love it and find myself liking it even more every time I see it.  There were matching teacups and saucers and a slightly larger jug on the stall too.  So wish I'd bought them.

Oh, and the new fridge has been delivered!  It only arrived on Friday and I've already turned into a fridge Hitler. Every time the husband opens the fridge door I practically pounce on him to make sure that the item he is replacing has been put in exactly the right place with the label facing out.  He must find me trying at the best of times but I think this is going to finish him off if I don't get a grip.

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

Before I go there are a couple of things I wanted to mention.

Firstly, a huge thank you to a fellow bloddie, Louise, at Tea at Weasel's for giving me a 'Versatile Blogger' award.  I'm thrilled!

Louise is new to blogging but I can already tell that I'm going to enjoy dropping by her blogspot to catch up on her news.

I can't think of any interesting facts about myself so I thought I'd list seven things that I'm loving right now:

1.  Stocking up on Autumn/Winter clobber.  Knitted dresses, slouchy jumpers, knitted harems, leg-warmers and snoods have all been purchased, amongst other things.  Still on the hunt for the perfect pair of winter boots, though.

2.  Reading cookery books and drooling over the hearty stews and soups I'm going to make this year.

3.  Drawing the curtains and lighting the woodburners.

4.  Working on my giant granny square blanket.

5.  Booking a big family summer holiday next year to a house in the French countryside.

6.  Thinking about Christmas cake baking and decorating.

7.  Scouring the charity shops, eBay and vintage fairs for pretty china.

Another thing I'm loving is thinking about what I might make for Lynda's Handmade Christmas Decoration Swap!  

I haven't participated in a swap before so I'm really excited!   If you fancy joining in, pop over to Hookin' with LaaLaa and sign up here.  Go on, it'll be fun.

I think that's it from me.  Stories of two elderly schoolteachers await me.  

Nicki 

x

Obsessions

I get little obsessions all of the time.  Once I get something in my head it consumes every waking moment and I can't think about anything else.  

Current obsessions include:

• Crochet (even doing the odd stitch as I blog right now)
• Fabric (keep buying fat quarters of pretty fabric - can't sew yet)
• Smeg retro fridges (MIL is buying us one for our anniversary present... eek!.. now which colour?)
• Cake (can't stop fantasising about whopping chunks of sponge with tea)
• Socks (Great big cable-knit warm ones to wear with PJs and/or winter boots)
• Legwarmers (as above)
• Cushions (a long-standing obsession of mine)
• Bunting 
• Cake stands, domes and cloches (for my cake obsession)
• Embroidery 
• Scarves and stoles (making them, buying them and wearing them)
• Blankets (as above, but also for folding up and putting in piles or draping cosily over chairs)
• Boots (it's an Autumn thing.)

But my biggest obsession of the moment is utility china.  I totally blame the lovely Little Gem (see her gorgeous blog here) :-)   Of course I realise that I am, again, a late-starter and definitely behind the times in blogland - lots of people have been loving this stuff for ages.  I know I've admired a few bits of Jasmine Wood's Ware (amongst a million other pretty things) over at Coco Rose, for example, but I didn't really realise what it was until I started to read Gem's blog.  Didn't realise that there is a plethora of vintage china available, quite cheaply, in these pretty pastel colours that mix and match beautifully together.  Posts like this fuelled the obsession... and now I am well and truly hooked.  Thanks, Gem, for sharing your knowledge with me and pointing me in the direction of other lovely blogs.

 

I've always had a bit of a thing for jugs but it's getting out of hand!  I think I've picked up about ten jugs over the past two weeks (I'm not kidding).  

I was up early yesterday morning, before the husband and step-son, so I had a lovely time trotting backwards and forwards with various bits of pastel china and jugs of flowers, taking photos of my bits and bobs!  I had to laugh at myself, skipping about in my PJs with my camera and various random items.  

The top blanket (in the next picture) is my current crochet project - the giant granny I started on holiday.  It's coming along nicely, I'm really enjoying myself.  Have plans to make loads more (received a few requests from people, too).  The spotty one is a holiday purchase - a gorgeous lambswool red/cream spotted blanket.  It's red with cream spots on the reverse.  I ♥ it.

I bought this little string of shelf bunting at a vintage fair last week and popped it in the kitchen until I found a better place for it.  It has a nautical theme and I think it looks quite good with the kitchen gubbins so it might stay there after all.

We are about to start giving our dining room a bit of a facelift.  The furniture that we brought to the cottage just isn't suitable. It's very dark wood and too oppressive.  This house is very dark, cold and quite small so it needs light, soft, colours to lift the rooms.  We are hoping to have a new floor put in and I have started to consider the type of furniture we will choose.  I think I'm going for painted oak and I really REALLY want a nice dresser to display my new china collection!  The postmistress was laughing at me on Saturday morning as she delivered a couple more of my ebay purchases - the husband had moaned to her about the fact I was collecting this china and that he wouldn't mind but now we have to buy a cabinet to put it in!  

Are you still with me?  Sorry to bore you... I could go on all night so I'll start to wrap things up.... 

We've got J (the step-son) saying for the week so I've got a couple of days off work and we're going to London tomorrow.  We are doing a few touristy things, taking him to the Forbidden Planet megastore and having a good feed-up somewhere.  

My MIL came over for lunch with us today.  The weather was gorgeous and we all lounged around in the garden, it was lush.  She was especially welcome today because she brought dessert too:

I am feeling really sunny and cheerful at the moment.  I'm loving the last dregs of summer and excited to see the first signs of autumn, it's my favourite time of the year.  I feel in control of my workloads at work, I've got a few things to look forward to in the next few weeks, but most of all I am loving being married.  LOVING it.  This is a big thing for me - I always thought I was commitment-phobic. Turns out I just hadn't met the right man.

Nicki 

x