shades of grey

I always start the new year thinking 'right this year we will decorate, chuck out a skipload of clutter and make our house stunning'..............this obviously never happens and we invariably accumulate more clutter, and our house is never stunning. You see the problem is, I think i have some kind of reverse OCD , i just cannot, chuck out stuff. keep all of the kids drawings (even the really awful 'what is it darling?!' ones) i seem to aquire vintage china like its going out of fashion, and i am totally unable to throw away even the tiniest scrap of fabric, what 's wrong with me?!
anyway, if i had inherited a tidy gene and was able to declutter my life, this is the type of decor i strive for.... courtesy of the lovely sam at sams notebook.
i yearn for that stunning calm, grey scandinavian style.




this is a stunning looking hotel, (mr h, if you are reading, romantic break??)
I love the layering of tomes of cool cream, bone, grey, blue/grey and old washed wood, mixed with burnished metal and crisp linen.
sadly my linen cupboard does not look like this. (although saying that, it does by volume!!) i am unable to resist a vintage french linen sheet, however i am also unable to resist any kind of embroidered traycloth, tablecloth etc, so i don't have the restraint to have all those cool white cloths and napkins, i have a big vintagey hotchpotch which suits all occasions!
These lovely pictures, found while catching up with Sam, have made me think seriously about a chuck out of tat and a lick of paint on floors and furniture, so watch this space, see if i can kiss goodbye to beige acrylic carpet, and embrace some lovely paint library or little green colours.

fair isle knits

* exhibit number 1

I was rootling through my mother's draws a while ago when I came across all these old pattern books. Some are wonderfully dated, just look at this Cover-ups book, ever practical in this cold weather.


Others are a bit more inspiring. I don't think I'll ever have the time or patience to smock. Luckily my girls have many of the dresses I wore as a girl.


All of these were beautifully smocked by my mother on lovely Liberty Tana Lawn fabrics that look all the better for 30 years of fading.


But I set my heart on the Fair Isle selection. Knowing my knitting skills are even worse than my crochet skills I decided that searching through the world wide web was bound to throw up the goods. But I was unsuccessful so I headed back to mum and very nicely asked if she would like to have a go...


She has just finished exhibit number 1*. I love the sludgy colours of this beret she made for our little girl and a similar one has been requested for baby!

sushi

Hubby and Boy trekked through the snow to our local supermarket yesterday for basic supplies. On their return 2 1/2 hours later Boy announced he wasn't going again in a hurry. As a result I've been rummaging through the kitchen cupboards where, lurking at the back I came across a packet of seaweed.
Now I know making sushi isn't a typical winter past time but having been housebound for 6 days we're looking for new ways of entertaining ourselves. The seaweed presented the perfect opportunity. It's actually very simple to make and whilst I know a lot of people are put off by the idea of raw fish and seaweed it is delicous. On our rare cosmopolitan trips to the big Smoke Yo Sushi is one of our favourite places to take the children. They love the food, the bright coloured bowls of food travelling past on their very own train track and your own personal water tap (the height of luxury in the kid's eyes!).

Anyway, I digress. We didn't really have any of the other proper ingredients for making sushi so we improvised slightly, with normal, unsticky rice and mayo instead of wasabi.



It may not have been up to Yo Sushi's standards but it kept the children happy for an hour or so and provided us with lunch to boot.

let it snow

We are still snowed in here. I found these lovely images on the Martha Stewart website - always a good source of inspiration. If you are out having fun in the snow today, you could try giving your snowman rosy cheeks with a spritz of red/pink food colouring in a spray bottle of water, how about making an extra long snowball caterpillar. have fun in the snow!!

happy new year

hello lovely readers. i am finding it quite hard to write this, as its been so long, its a bit like writing that first agonising post all over again! Anyway I am back, I have finally surfaced from the dark hole of bag/cushion making!! I am so sorry i wasn't around for the christmas festivities, but its nice to be back with you all again, and i am so grateful to Jo for doing all posting on her own for the whole of december! I am starting the new year with a resolution or two (most unusual for me as I live life in a generally more haphazard way!!) firstly I am going to back up all photos/documents etc frequently. this resolution comes about after I lost my hard drive in December with every photo document etc unbacked - up. DEVASTATING!! all the photos of 6 years of children gone in an instant, all my blog favourite links gone too. Secondly I am going to try to be tidier (please stop laughing all who know me!) my lovely man tidied both my studios as a little surprise gift, and oh the joy of working in such a lovely space........long may it continue...............

teddy bears picnic

Baby was 2 on Sunday and somehow in the post Christmas and New Year week I managed to organise her a party. I had to come up with a theme that was easy to sort out last minute and that would be appropriate for little ones - hence the teddy bears picnic. Although it was indoors it was cut short due to the sudden arrival of a lot of snow! Something most of you are probably very familiar with at the moment.


At the demand of the older siblings we tried a few party games, including pass the parcel but they were best entertained by the arrival of the picnic rug (a rather large red & white checked table cloth). Firstly we threw loads of teddy bears on top, took the sides of the cloth and bounced the teddies around, to much hilarity. Then they got bored of that and all crawled underneath the rug and played around in that for a while before the picnic hamper arrived with their lunch. I had made individual bags, stamped with a red bear, containing teddy bear crisps and teddy shaped sandwiches wrapped in baking paper and string.


Then it was back to the old party bag issue. Whilst I knew the younger ones wouldn't know any better I had to meet the older ones expectations too. I bought a bumper pack of crayons, divided them up and tied them together with red gingham.

Quickly machine sewed some pieces of paper together to make little drawing pads.


Then put some party biscuits in a clear bag with some paper doyley (I have to confess I was really chuffed with the way these came out).

These were all put into a white paper bags which were stitched together with a little name tag.

As always, I totally forgot to give out the balloons as everyone left. I hate that I always do this and end up with 15 part shrivelled balloons lying around the house for days on end. But what I did discover was that it is possible to use rubber stamps on them (before inflating). So, for what it's worth I did have teddy bear balloons too.

happy new year

It's been a slow start to the New Year and much as I love the holidays I was looking forward to the children returning to school in order to kick start me into action. As it was the children haven't yet gone back to school because of all the snow. It is truly beautiful here as I sit at the desk looking out over a completely white view, the sun shining whilst the smell of chocolate cookies that hubby and boy are baking drifts in from the kitchen.


Anyway I've been dying to share with you some pictures I came acrossa while ago, but because the Christmas Tree was in front of the cupboard containing the scanner I've had to wait. These were in the December Waitrose Food illustrated and are pictures of the Nutcracker by book sculptor Su Blackwell. I just love them and even sat down with scalpel and books to try and make my own, (to then photograph and make into Christmas cards - an idea that was far too ambitious for mid December, when the cards should already have been sent).Then I came across more in the Harrods Christmas magazine, depicting Dorothy and the Yellow Brick Road. I love the added glitter. It makes them so exciting, almost kistch.

Any way to see the full spread of both these articles have a look at her blog.

merry christmas

The mince pies, carrots and a glass of port are waiting expectantly on the hearth, we've read 'Twas the night before Christmas' and 3 very excited children are upstairs trying to sleep. So, just before I embark upon a long evening of stuffing stockings and drinking wine by the fire, I wanted to wish you all a very....

MERRY CHRISTMAS

love Jo

cranberry and pistachio biscotti

I didn't realise December would be so busy. Along with all the activities the end of term brings I seem to be making endless visits to the supermarket. Partly to stock up on Christmas goodies but also to buy ingredients for various gifts I've been making with the children.



I'm really chuffed with this recipe I found for Cranberry and Pistachio Biscotti. It's really easy to make and looks wonderfully christmassy with the jewel like cranberries and amazing green of the nuts.


We've put a load in a kilner jar (decorated with ribbon & flowers) and plan to give it as a gift with a bottle of Vin Santo, an Italian dessert wine. For best effect, and a decadent Christmas, dip the biscotti in the wine! A good alternative for non drinkers would be some really good quality coffee.

the great iced cake

This weekend saw the arrival of our Christmas cake. The one the children helped Granny make in half term. She always keeps the cake so that she can add the apricot jam, a wodge of marzipan and a thick, solid layer of icing. All in all almost doubling the size of the original cake.

Then there is the cake decoration. It's not that it's mum's forte but each year it is different and each year it is a surprise. And this year it was very different...

Any regular/astute readers may realise that the inspiration behind this years decoration is a painting by Alan Peacock. And with the talk of snow (possibly) arriving over the country tonight it seems rather apt.

sew pretty christmas homestyle

If you still have some Christmas presents to find and would prefer to sit in front of your sewing machine rather than traipse around the shops in the cold and wet then take a look a sew pretty christmas homestyle.

I've recommended the original in this series in an earlier post and this book is done very much in the same style, so you spend a lot of time admiring the pictures and lusting after the fabrics.

I was instantly struck by the angel wings and absolutely had to make a pair for baby and as I don't seem to have any fabric that is remotely fitting I raided hubby's wardrobe and used one of his old shirts. I have to say that I think the result is enchanting and it really didn't take much time to make. A perfect Christmas present for any little angels out there!

a cold and frosty morning

When Sarah wrote her post about Attic 24 I really enjoyed having a browse through Lucy's blog. November was such a grey and dreary month and the site was bright and full of welcome colour which really made me smile.

Thankfully November has ended and what a beautiful start to December today was. Jack Frost had been and covered the view out of our window with tiny ice crystals and the early morning sky was bright and clear with just a hint of pink (I chose to ignore the shepherd's warning). If this wasn't enough excitement for the children, who were eager to 'skate' to school, it was also the first day of advent and there were windows to open.



Before children I used to make hubby an advent calendar every year. Now, as with so many other things, he's been relegated and the children are the benefactors. Last night, once Boy's birthday celebrations were over and the children were tucked up in bed, we set to making little numbered envelopes with which to make advent bunting. Inside each one is a paper elf to be hung on an 'arrangement' of sparkly, glitter covered twigs over the next few weeks.

Envelope 24 contains a Father Christmas so come Christmas Eve he'll have 23 little helpers to fill those stockings and hopefully we'll also have a nice table decoration for Christmas Day.