A great big vintage style cross stitch project

Phew! I have just completed my biggest cross stitch project ever. I have been cross stitching for years, but most are mini projects which I make into cards or put into frames. This little beauty has taken me a few months, and more than a few trips to Hobbycraft for more supplies!

As soon as I saw this pattern in Cross Stitcher Magazine I knew that I wanted to make it. My granny has a stash of threads kept in an antique sewing box in her bedroom, and the last time I visited her I was lucky enough to be allowed to raid it to pick some colours to start off this latest project. I wanted the deep pink of the roses and the dark green leaves to stand out against a paler border. I decided to sew it on an antique off-white aida instead of crisp white because I think it gives it a more ‘lived-in’ vintage feel.

After I had finally finished stitching it I headed to the charity shops to find a square frame for it. The hunt for cheap square frames seems to be getting harder and harder recently – why are they so much less common than rectangular ones?! I finally found a pine frame and brought it home for a couple of coats of white emulsion before sanding it down for a distressed finish.

 

Currently it is sitting pride of place in front of the fireplace in our living room waiting for me to find the perfect space for it. I quite like the contrast of the pastel against the jet black stone of the fireplace but our lounge has a bit of a ‘Scottish hunting lodge’ theme – all tartan and wicker – so it isn’t quite right in this room.

What have you been up to this week?

Until next time,

K x

Home Alone

The other half has gone away for a few days to complete the coast to coast route by bike so I am home alone with only a cat and some goldfish to keep me company. I have four nights when I won’t have to fight for the covers or endure re-runs of Top Gear, and I have started to think – what on earth am I going to do?!

 

It seems so long ago when I had the whole house to myself – it was only back in February when he disappeared for a ski holiday – but it feels like forever ago. For the past few weeks I have been coming across jobs around the house and thinking “when I’m home alone I’ll do that...”, but now all of those ideas have just vanished from my head! As I lie starfish-shaped in the bed I have decided to make a list so that I won’t waste the little ‘me-time’ that I have to enjoy and tick things off as I achieve them.

Number one on the list is to watch Mad Men. I have wanted to watch it for years but always managed to miss it being shown on TV. We have just got Sky installed so I have recorded the first three series’ to watch and it is taking up SO. MUCH. SPACE on the planner that I have been told I will be in trouble if it’s all still there when the OH gets back. I am always seeing references to the amazing vintage outfits and hairstyles that the characters wear on the show so it is high time I settled down for a Mad Men day!

 

Buying a Country Home magazine and reading it cover to cover whilst lying on the sofa is definitely on my to-do list. I think I will have a bath that lasts for hours until I am as wrinkly as a prune, and then deep clean my wardrobe – decluttering from shoes to hairbands – and everything in between!

I have about a hundred cross stitch products started too...so I need to get some of those finished before I lose my mind. I have been meaning to start other types of needlecraft  beautiful crochet blankets and knitted cushion covers so perhaps I will have time to watch a YouTube tutorial or two.
 

Phew – I’m not sure I’m going to have enough time to get everything done!

What do you like to get up to when you have space and time all to yourself?!

Until next time,

K x

Fruits of our labour

This week has been all about fresh fruit in my household. After weeks of being tantalisingly green our homegrown tomatoes have finally ripened enough to eat – and they taste so good! These little beauties have been a real labour of love. They spent weeks on the kitchen windowsill requiring lots of gentle watering and transplanting into slightly bigger pots every few months.

At one point during the last few months you could barely move in the kitchen with all my teeny pots and trays of seedlings – much to the disgust of the OH.

Now that they are outside they are still taking some love to help them grow – they suddenly got huge very quickly and we needed hastily build a frame for them to climb up. They were worth all the care though, just to be able to bring them inside and have them as a little treat!

 

The OH and I were walking his family’s beautiful Border Collie last week when we discovered a massive hoard of brambles. Well, I’ve never been known to refuse a freebie so I got right in there. I filled every available carrier...err....yes even EMPTY UNUSED doggy bags. Don’t judge!

 When we got home we realised we had quite a lot of berries. About 3kgs. That’s a few berries. We decided the best way to use them up was to make tons of jam.

There are a few berries left so I have been looking at recipes online – apart from the obvious blackberry crumble – my favourites are blackberry sorbet and blackberry roulade.

Finally, the weekend involved more fruit – in the form of cocktails with some of the girls from work – a Strawberry Supernova counts as one of my five a day doesn’t it?

Until next time,

K x

Dirty little secret

Today I’m going to let you in on my dirty little secret. Here goes....

I hoard empty glass jars.

Ok that doesn’t seem so bad. I don’t know why I do it – although growing up my mum always said “it might come in useful one day”, so I think it has been engraved in my thoughts since the very beginning!

Much to the annoyance of the OH they DO come in useful!

 

Whether used for storing leftover food instead of a Tupperware, or as coin or button storage there are no limits to what an empty jar can do! OK maybe I am getting a little over excited there but I constantly have to justify why an entire shelf in the pantry is covered in empty jars and tins of all shapes and sizes!

This year we had a bit of a bumper crop of sweet peas. It’s amazing to think that the tiny seedlings which I looked after on the kitchen windowsill a few months ago have ended up in a wild, beautifully sweet smelling plant which has overgrown the wicker obelisk which we bought for it!

I read that sweet peas will continue to flower if the blooms are picked regularly, so it seemed like the perfect excuse to bring some of them indoors to brighten up the living room!

When I brought the delicate sweet peas indoors I discovered that my vases were all too big...

 

...but an empty Loyd Grossman sauce jar was perfection when filled with my sweet smelling blooms!

 

I just can’t help but smile when I look over at my mini vase!

Have you been hoarding anything this week?!

Until next time,

K x

I have a dream

This week marked the 50^th anniversary of Martin Luther King’s famous ‘I have a dream’ speech. It got me thinking about dreams which I have – whilst they may not be as grand or visionary as King’s I know that my dreams would make a huge difference to my little life!

I have always dreamed of living by the sea. I love nautical style and that beachy driftwood look. Something about watching the waves roll onto golden sand is so hypnotising and so calming, but equally watching grey stormy seas is somehow so emotional! If I win the lottery any time soon then I will be snapping up a little whitewashed cottage on the edge of the sea somewhere. I want to wake up to the sounds of crashing waves and seagulls and stroll along the sand collecting shells and seaglass.

I dream that one day I will live somewhere where I can grow stacks and stacks of fruit and flowers and fill my home with beautifully scented blooms in every room.

I dream of a day when I can be happy with what I’ve got. Not that I’m ungrateful or don’t know how lucky I am – that’s not what I mean at all. I mean a time when I can lust after something which someone else has which doesn’t send me in to a fit of jealousy because I can’t afford / can’t find / one of my own! Reading other people’s blogs is a bit of a curse for me – one the one hand I think they are such a great source of inspiration for me for craft and how to style my home. On the other I am positively green-eyed about the bargains other people get at car bootys, the wonderful freebie ‘finds’ they discover in skips and the ideas for handmade craftiness which they seem to have!

 

I dream that one day, just one day I will wake up and know what to wear without having to think about it. Every morning I have to try on at least three pieces of clothing until I feel happy enough with how it looks. I’m sure that it’s nothing to do with my wardrobe and everything to do with how I feel about my own body, but I’m not ready to make any big changes in that department!

My secret big dream (don’t tell anyone...!) is to open a little vintage shop in a tiny village. I want to spend time sourcing vintage pieces and then thinking of a story about when they were first worn and who wore them. I won’t just sell clothes though – I am thinking teacups, coloured glass vases, dinky silver cake forks, pretty floral plates and retro furniture. Basically, everything which I’m trying to smuggle into my own home! There would be a little space in the corner of the room with tables for people to sit and have a cuppa and a cupcake and a good ol’ natter! I would also like to sell some handmade things of my own and other local crafty people.

These pictures have all been taken from my favourite Pinterest boards, a constant source of day dreaming!

Do you have any dreams – big or little? What motivates you to keep trying to achieve your dreams?

Until next time,

K x