Hygge Nook

Laura Ashley Teatime lamp

2010-03-19T11:21:56+00:00

Isn't this lamp fun? I love it.

I do think the drum shade is a tad boring but that stack of china tea cups base would make a great talking point.

Laura Ashley have a 25% off sale on so the teatime lamp can be yours for £75 until Sunday (£100 after).

Crochet blanket progress

2010-03-18T11:09:18+00:00

The big blanket project is coming along slowly. I've crocheted three whole strips together now. I've taken on board the recomendations of others to do this as you go, so that you don't have a hundred odd blocks to join together right at the end. What I've not been so great about is sewing in all the little ends as I go. I'm doing this one strip at a time as it's quite a boring (but neccessary) job. At least I can park myself in front of a film whilst I'm doing it.

Here's how it's coming along -

I've got another row to join and have now started on row five. I'm pretty pleased with it so far but wish I had more time to devote to making the squares.

I was running a little low on wool so after a meeting in town a couple of weeks ago, I decided to wander around looking for some yarn shops. First stop was the well regarded Loop. I've tried ordering online once before without success (my order went out of stock, so I cancelled it... then a couple of weeks later it turned up, except I had already picked up the yarn in store by then). It took me some time to find the little shop which is tucked away in a side street ten minutes or so walk from Angel tube. They did have the wool I wanted for making a pair of mittens, but not the type I wanted for the blanket. All the yarn inside was very moorish and I spotted several types that made me have a good think about what I could make with them.

Outside Loop

Next stop was Oxford Street for John Lewis. I've never been to the haberdashery floor in here before, but, hello! Sweet shop! So many colours and brands. And can I just say how sweet it was to see a trendy guy on his iPhone clearly been given instructions to stock up on a little pile of baby pink wool. Sweetness personified. For the convinience of the location and the range of stock, I'll be sure to pop in here again. If only they sold online! Perhaps I should do a post about the good experiences I've had with online sellers?

I didn't take a snap in store but I did pick up a nice selection of lovely Rowan handknit cotton (for the blanket), most of which has now been used so it's time to restock (again!)

If you're going to San Francisco...

2010-03-11T16:36:21+00:00

I'd be wearing flowers in my hair... (as the song goes) if only I could go to Crown and Crumpet in San Francisco's Ghiradelli Square.

One can only be happy in such cheery surroundings...

I can imagine hordes of children absolutely delighted to be taking afternoon tea with their mothers; lovers; girlfriends...

These treats make one want to fall into the computer screen...

Tea for two? Yes, please.

Go visit so I can live vicariously through you, until I get to visit! And visit Crown and Crumpet online for more pictures, menus and the reservation number.

Thursday Three

2010-02-12T15:22:53+00:00

I've managed to entirely bypass the whole Twilight phenomenon... until now. Last week I decided to pick up the book and see what it is all about. Since then I have...

+Read all four books in the saga
+Watched the movie (again) but have yet to see New Moon and have looked at far too many 'behind the scenes' clips on YouTube.
+Considered buying the soundtrack (and probably will).

Don't judge me. It's good escapist fun, I tell you!

Boys' beds

2010-02-09T11:46:47+00:00

I thought finding a bed for my oldest son would be super duper easy. Nope. When the children's beds were last updated, they got Ikea extendable children's beds (now discontinued I think, but similar to this). Whilst it was great that we could shorten and lengthen them, the height was entirely rubbish. Too low to get any storage boxes under but just high enough that toys and other bits got shoveled under there.

M and S both have one of these beds each so the idea is to move M's bed into S's room where G will inherit it now that he is ready to move on from his cot. They will have matching beds and M will get a new one. Really, I'd like to replace them all but that isn't financially justifiable at the moment.

The criteria for M's new bed is white wood or metal frame, with storage baskets underneath, or, at least, the height for storage baskets. His room is the smallest in the house, though slightly more generous than your average British box bedroom, and storage space is really vital.

Here's what I'm looking at:

Ikea Odda bed with built-in storage, £139

Habitat oak single bed, £199

Homebase Mirko single bed with mattress, £199

The Ikea one is the closest to what I had in mind though I wonder if there is enough space in M's room to actually open the drawers (radiator on one side and a chest of drawers on the other). Working with small rooms is hard.

Little interview at Tea for Joy

2010-01-28T16:41:24+00:00

Lynne of Tea for Joy asked me to take part in her Style Resolutions series and my interview is now on her blog here. She asked me about my favourite finds of 2009, my style resolutions for 2010 and which style blogs I'll be reading. Nip over and have a look.

In the same series, Lynne has also interviewed bloggers Emma Lamb, Conversation Pieces, Patchwork Harmony and La Petit Oiseau. New ones for your RSS reader, perhaps?

Thanks for having me over, Lynne!

Thursday Three

2010-01-28T13:39:00+00:00

+ Crochet Adorned - new crafty book to add to my collection. The author also blogs at Linda Made. Lots of lovely, colourful, crafty things.
+ The True Blood books boxset, by Charlaine Harris, I got as a Christmas gift. It has books 1-8 so you'll need to snag book 9 too. All it took was one bite and I was addicted.
+ Malteser cake - as soon as I saw Helen's recipe, I had to have a go. It's similar to rocky road and terrifically yummy - I added a handful of chopped up mini marshmallows to mine (pic, above)

Memory quilts - what to do with your children's old clothes

2010-01-28T12:05:12+00:00

Like a lot parents (I assume), I have quite a few of my children's old clothes put away. Mostly it's the baby stuff, that is so small and impossibly cute that they hardly seem like a real little human was in them. I adore these things. They were the things my children wore in the first days, weeks and months of their lives and I've attached a whole bunch of sentiment to that. However, there they are lingering in three or four taped-up boxes. They'll probably never be worn again but I can't get rid of these favourite little clothes.

Just before you say that some needy children out there may need them, I do donate absolutely every other stitch of unwanted or outgrown clothing or footwear to charity. However, that's not really the point of this post. So what is, you ask? Well, I heard about someone who had taken their children's old clothing, cut them up (gasp) and stitched them together into a quilt.

Can you imagine? All those beloved prints and patterns and colours all in big quilt that can now be used and seen on a daily basis... and it frees up the storage space. F-A-B-U-L-O-U-S.

Whilst I contemplate learning some sewing skills and see if I could make an eiderdown, let's check out some other patchworks:

Patchwork pillow from Bright & Blith (with tutorial) via Ohdeedoh.

Patchwork quilt from Rice - I love that purple trim.

Baby clothes quilt by Wee Wonderfuls.

Baby clothes from the 50s and 60s by Fonticulus on Flickr.

Now that I've had chance to browse the web looking for baby clothes patchwork quilts, I've realised how popular they are plus there's cushions and pillow shams too. There are even people who will make them for you for a fee. However, I think this is a project I'd really like to take on myself... once I hone up my very rusty sewing skills.

Would you make something like this? Any tips?

More inspiration: Check out the memory quilt Flickr group.

Crocheted granny star garland

2010-01-27T11:42:56+00:00

Do excuse the slightly wonky frames - I didn't notice until I uploaded the pics.

I love bunting, I love garlands. I like colour, I like creating. So, of course, I love everything about this pretty star garland. I don't think this is where it will live, but I wanted to take a snap. I suspect that my daughter will want it for her room as soon as she sees it!

I found instructions for the granny stars here at The Royal Sisters, via Attic 24, and soon whipped up 12 stars. They take no time at all to make, are easy enough for beginners, and I had plenty of colours in my yarn stash to make lots of cheerful mix'n'match colourways.

A pretty stack of stars

Closer look at the colours used

Not so twinkly, but very pretty, stars

To make them into a garland, it was a case of making up a long chain with enough length at either end for hanging and equal space in between each flower.

Simply 20 chains and a slip stitch to attach each star

I'm thinking of crocheting a trim - perhaps a simple scallop edge - over the chains to make the chain a little more substantial and also to make it look a little more 'finished.'

For now, though, I think they're delightful.

Magazines

2010-01-26T10:47:41+00:00

A fairly wide range of magazines makes it into my house every month. This is, in part, down to work - I need to see what issues are being discussed and what issues and sections I can pitch as a freelance journalist. Secondly, they're fun. Of course, my magazine habit can get costly. Every month, Easy Living and Living etc drop on to my door mat. During the course of the month I may also pick up (but not every month) Red, Essentials, w&h or something else that grabs my eye from the women's shelves. I like these because they are intelligent, they aren't solely concerned with fashion and 'how to please your man'. [Disclaimer: I have written for w&h and Easy Living as a freelance].

Interior decor mags are lots of fun. Looking on the shelf of magazines I'm currently clearing out, I can see Real Homes, House Beautiful, Ideal Home, Country Home, Your Home and Elle Decor. I can't see how the sort of writing I produce would fit with these, so they are purely for pleasure. Of course, we're looking at around £2.90-£3.90 a magazine these days so it all adds up.

Subs then, are the way to go. My Easy Living sub cost £12 for a year via a leaflet in the magazine, my Living etc sub was courtesy of Tesco clubcard coupons (only available in the UK, sorry lovely overseas people). I've just been browsing the latter's site and for home decor I see sub offers for Coast, Country Living, Elle Decor, House Beautiful and Ideal Home. So, as a little January gift to myself, I'm laying down £12 of tokens for a year of Elle Decor. I also added £10 of tokens to convert to £40 of Pizza Express tokens. Free mags for a year + free pizza out = fab.

Which magazines are in your house? Do you keep them all?