Straight Lines

I do like straight lines. Never been a great fan of curvey things, but here are some elipses from recent days. Easter Sunday cloud, the Devil's Punch Bowl in the river at Braemar in Scotland, and a collage by me.

Nifty Thrifty

The dish with cover bought for £7 on the Isle of Arran during our last holiday. The Midwinter "Spanish Garden" plate has 12 others to match - small, medium and dinner plates. We eat off these now - first time we have had "real" dishes that match and they only cost £3.50. I'm a sucker for anything turquoise.

I would never catch and kill butterfiles, so I ummed and ahhhed in the charity shop over these framed beauties, but I loved them and their typed labels so much I parted with the £2.

Coffee or Tea?

Both the coffee service and teapot were found in local Charity Shops here in Gateshead. One of my best finds ever (and most expensive at £10 - nearly $20), the porcelain coffee service is Polish and had 12 cups and saucers, so I shared some with a friend.

The teapot is German.

Wash Day Blues - or rather reds

This is a peg bag that I hand sewed the other day. The fabric is part of two thrifted skirts from the charity shop down the street. Over the next couple of days I will post some of my other thrifted treasures.

New List

Georgia has just taken herself off to bed (at 5pm) so it is quiet and I've had a little time to tidy up and do some ebay surfing. I'm trying to calm down because there are a couple of 70's Parker Knoll chairs up for auction for next to nothing and only 20 miles away. I'll have to do some swift talking with Cully and try to get Caroline to have one on long term loan and then try to win them.

Chairs made me remember that I made a list of things I like and dislike when I was frustrated (i.e. bored) at work the other day:

1. I am obsessed with Chairs - not chairs that you can buy in shops now, but mid-century-ish chairs that are a mix of wood and upholstery.

2. I like spiders. I think they are beautiful. There is a fabulous white spider in Namibia that is called a cartwheel spider because it rolls down sand dunes to escape its predators (lizards).

3. I do not like clowns. No kind of clown. I don't really like dolls much either. Creepy.

4. Something I eat everyday almost without fail: a Banana. I worry about the fungus threatening to wipe them out. Can't imagine life without bananas.

5. My clautrophobia is getting worse as I get older. Sore throats make me claustrophobic - weird.

6. The thing I want more than anything else in the world for myself is MY OWN ROOM.

7. My favourite colour combination is chocolate brown with any colour blue. I like brown with pinks too - but never with red or yellow.

8. I hate wearing black.

Colour, Colour, Colour

Lots of colour in our house at the moment. Especially since I started the crocheted blanket. I was going to do a ripple one like everyone else seems to be doing - see: http://neisripplealong.blogspot.com . So I bought a great book called Ripple Stitch Patterns by Jan Eaton which shows patterns for knitting and crocheting ripples. But, true to form, I decided not to ripple - I just really like a straight line. I'm loving putting the colours together and changing after 4 rows. I am also using merino, cashmere, and silk blend wool which feels so lovely (should I mention again that I hate acrylic yarn? It squeaks and makes me feel weird like nails down a blackboard.) Crochet is my number one stress buster and always makes me think of my cousin Sharon who's work is of the highest quality.

The pom poms and beads are garlands Georgia and I made for her birthday party. We'll be able to use them every year. Very bright and pretty.

Can you tell which are the real daffodils and which are the ones we made in the birthday present photo?

The bracelet was my mother's day present. I've always wanted one of these, and could have made one myself, but I'm glad I waited for one that was made with LOVE from my very own five year old.

The sunset was the other evening at the end of our street.