Happy weekend

We've been having a lovely weekend seeing family and friends and visiting the Orchard Tearooms at Grantchester near Cambridge. It's a bit of a tourist hotspot, but for a reason, it's gorgeous. 

Also I've been rustling up some more lined paper pencil cases for etsy, now listed.

And finally, a little unusually for me, I'm actually selling some things on ebay and realised they may be of interest to you lovely readers. See the vintage dresses I'm selling here.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend folks!

New collages

These three are now listed in the shop and have been really fun to make! I am especially pleased with the top photo. 

Have a lovely evening all, the sun's just come out here and there's a nice cold bottle of beer with my name on it :)

Party time!

We had a really cute party on Tuesday night which was a cross between your average house party and a village fete. It was a cool combination though! I enjoyed making and putting up the bunting, making fairy cakes (which didn't rise well but looked alright once iced - I've never been much of a cake-maker!) and making rum punch. The table football set was a freebie from a lady on our street who was throwing it away! It looks brand new so that was a fun addition to our living room for the evening. I say that, it's actually still set up and probably will be a permanent feature... 

I've also been working on some new collages which were inspired by the party, which I shall be listing on Etsy shortly. They were so fun to make I can see myself doing more if people like them. 

Hope you're having a happy Thursday whatever you are up to, and have a great weekend!

Pretty houses

My little collage (top right corner) has been featured in this beautiful treasury put together by Elsie Marley. I love everything she's chosen and her own cute soft toys. Thanks Elsie!

I'm itching to get some new things on Etsy but until the weather picks up a bit there's no point me taking photos. Fingers crossed for this afternoon!

Before and After

After I saw Heather's post yesterday I thought it might be fun to show the chairs I've just recovered. Compared to Heather's professional job they are rather low budget but I love the duck egg blue fabric I found in John Lewis and how it works with the colour of the wood. The colour came to me when I was sewing my quilt and had my lovely old Singer sewing machine out. The colour of it against the elm of the table top looked yummy! I'm pretty chuffed with the chairs, let's just hope we don't spill red wine on them now - we're having a party next week!

Ta da!

Just a quick post this evening to show you my finished quilt! It's rather poorly made but I absolutely love it, it looks so cute on our white shaker-style bed. It totally lifts the room I think. Our bedroom isn't very big so no wide-angle shots of the whole quilt from a far-off perspective I'm afraid, but I hope you get the idea...

Oooops...

Oh maaan! I seem to be only too good at a) getting myself into situations where there are vintage things to buy, and b) buying them. It's a skill. And one that I'm seriously going to have to curb if I'm going to afford the rent on the new flat! Still, this metal tray and matching coasters were too good to miss and the orange anglepoise lamp - I seriously couldn't believe my luck when I saw it, I've wanted one for ages. It's now on my bedside table (also bought last week) and clashes rather excellently with Jacob's bedside lamp which is a light-up globe! Very soon there will be too many colours in our house but until then, it's feeling pretty cheerful round here!

In the very beginning

My quilt was a pile of squares. I cut them all by hand with scissors which was probably a bad idea abut I didn't have one of those wheely cutter things. I did use a template but having now sewn all the bits together it appears that those extra millimeters here and there make all the difference! 

Nice colours though I reckon, mainly whites but quite a few turquoises and a few bright red and white stripey panels. Lots of the white bits are old lacey tablecloths and placemats that had old stains on that wouldn't budge so I chopped them up. A little sacrilegious I know but they'd just sit in a cupboard not being looked at otherwise. I suspect it will turn out rather more shabby than chic but that's fine by me. It's not as though I'm selling it, and I quite like that it's my first attempt at quilting and will be a bit rustic....

Settling In

Hello!

We're in! We've spent the last two weeks sorting out masses of stuff, finding new homes for things and thriftily buying the things we still needed. It's been really fun! And obviously a bit knackering too... 

It didn't help proceedings that I had my first year deadline on Tuesday and had to dig out my sketchbooks from boxes! I knew it would happen and was dreading it, but all went surprisingly smoothly in the end. So now, we're in a new home, I've finished uni for the year and am now looking for a summer job. It's all change!

I think I need a week to sit around, drink tea and recover! Oh and watch all the episodes of Kirstie's Homemade Home again. You know, I'm a woman obsessed. I do love a posh bird on telly getting stuff out of skips! On her recommendation I'm even making a quilt for our new bed! Maybe I'll show you an in-progress pic or two soon.

Have a great weekend all :)  I plan on doing some baking and lots of sitting about.

Moving moving!

I'm currently having a quick break from moving stuff, as today we got the keys for the new flat! It's got a really nice feel to it but obviously looks very bare as it came completely unfurnished. So...I've bought more stuff to put in it! These were my bargains from the last week on ebay: an original G Plan coffee table for 99p and a set of 4 1960s chairs (which I'll be revamping with some nicer fabric on the seat pads) for £1.99! I've had some good luck with finding things haven't I?!

Today I have concluded that I have waaaaay too many clothes (my car is completely full of black bags of clothing) and it's just plain silly. I predict a massive haul to be taken to the charity shops in due course, which makes me happy as it's all part of the great recycling process that I have come to know and love. 

Hope you have a lovely weekend folks! I'm off to heave more stuff around....