Posh Tea Towels....

Hello all!! I hope you have had a lovely weekend and kept wrapped up out of the cold?

We didn't do a great deal, nipped into our local town, painted furniture, did the horses - the usual stuff so I haven't a whole lot to report.

Recently I was asked by All Tea Towels to review a couple of the gorgeous tea towels they stock. 

I perused the website which has some fab designs (a couple of my faves being this, this and this one) and spent an age trying to decide which ones to go for.

In the end I chose the Queens Diamond Jubilee Tea Towel:

And the Cassandra Flowers:

I loved the CK'esque vibe the two of them have going on.

They arrived the day after I ordered them and I eagerly opened the package:

I've never had such posh tea towels....

My first impressions were how lovely and big they are, and much better quality than our usual cloths (which are a sorry collection of very elderly and cheap ones).

The flowered one is pure linen and has a very open weave:

This one had to be soaked in the washing up bowl before use and over the first few washes it'll get softer and more absorbent.

So it was time to put them to good use, each was used for a couple of days and were lovely to use, they are large and absorbent and their good looks made me smile!!

They've now been washed and came out of the dryer barely needing an iron (I have better things to do than iron tea towels so they were not getting a press whether they needed it or not, it's just nice that they look good without!!):

There was little or no shrinkage either.

So in conclusiion, although at £6.50 each these tea towels are more expensive than I would usually spend, I have found that having used them and had them hung on the range they are far nicer than our usual sorry suspects.

I would definitely recommend All Tea Towels if you wanted to treat yourself to some lovely tea towels or buy a gift. 

I think a good idea would be to buy one or two a month from there until you have a pretty collection to replace your sad ones.

And of course, there are some really lovely vintage and retro looking ones which would great in a frame as wall art.

I have a stack of furniture to finish now so I will be back soon with some Fugly-To-Fabulous pics for you....

hugs,

S x

PS  I ignored Mr G when he said that as I was reviewing tea towels I could say how well they burned as I set fire to at least one cloth a week!!....

(Although I was offered these products for review, the opinions above are 100% my own).

Thursday (AKA I Can't Think Of A Title)....

Hello my lovely readers!! I hope you're all having a good week despite the frrrrreeeezing weather?


Personally I much prefer this crisp, cold weather to the usual mild-ish, wet-ish weather we get - give me bitterly cold and sparkling with frost any day. That's what I call a proper winter. 



I don't have a whole lot to report really, I've not long got back today from my Mum's - she lives on Hayling Island:

Hayling is connected to the mainland via a bridge. My Mum, Dad, Sis and I moved there in 1988 from Nottinghamshire and a couple of months later I met Mr G.


It was a good place to be a teenager (I was 15) - there was the beach which having come from the Midlands was a huge novelty, a fun fair (where I met Mr G) and arcades and much more to do than there was in our northern ex-mining village. Plus our school was one of the first to have a continental timetable and so we finished at 2.30pm each day!!


Mr G and I bought our first home together on Hayling, but we moved off in 2000 when I was pregnant with W - bigger houses cost a lot more on the island and at the time Mr G worked miles away in Bracknell and the journey off the island added a fair bit to the commute (one road on and off you see).


My Mum and Stepdad now live a lovely little bungalow that backs on to the former railway line (which is now a cycle/bridleway). 


I met my Sis down there and we made our way through Mum's considerable stack of trashy and home magazines while she made us doorstop sandwiches and a bowl of chips from her new Actifry machine - the chips were fab!! Honestly, just like deep fried ones and as they cooked with just a tablespoon of oil they are only 3% fat. 


I now want an Actifry. And an iPad. And a DSLR camera.


And a chihuahua (Mr G is still not budging).


On the way back home I stopped by one of my sources for junk/vintage furniture and picked up a couple of bits - I'm going to try and be better at taking "before" pictures, I always get halfway through and realise I've forgotten:

Double headboard - this  will look fab in Old White with a touch of dark wax to highlight the moulding. Very French I think....

Another (very dusty) trolley....

I'll be sure to post pics after their transformations....

hugs,

S x

Quilts and Questions....

Hello my lovely ladies!! I hope you have had a nice weekend?


Before I tell you about mine, I'll start with the questions - iPad or laptop? 


My laptop (or laptopamabob as   Aleksandr the meerkat calls them - I laugh every time he says it!!) has been playing me up the last couple of days and I fear it is on it's last legs. 


I really fancy an iPad but want to make sure I don't make the wrong decision (and we Librans are not good at decisions at all!!)


I use my laptop for general surfing, shopping online, eBay, blogging and reading blogs, watching Netflix and sometimes BBC/ITV players. 


Those of you with iPads, can you do all that on it? I have an iPhone (Which I love and which I can do all that on) so I am assuming an iPad is a bigger version?


My Sis got an iPad for Christmas and she says she is not that impressed, and that several of the websites she has to go on for uni will not run. 


Mr G is wanting me to try and check as best I can that I'll be able to do all I want to on it before I sell everything on eBay that isn't nailed down to raise cash for one!!


Also, I do a lot of surfing at night laid on the sofa, is an iPad a pain if you are reclined?!! I rest my laptop on a cushion on my (not inconsiderable) tummy and the keyboard is at the perfect angle for typing and I don't have to hold the screen as I guess I will with an iPad?


Incidentally, that's why I have been a bit absent from commenting on your blogs, I am reading on my iPhone (which is a pain to add comments on as is so small) and when I can wrestle Mr G's laptopamabob off him for 5 minutes (and thus don't have time before he wants it back!!)


Now for the weekend, my Mum accompanied me on a coach trip run by my quilting group to Ardingly Spring Quilt Show. I had a few pennies saved so was looking forward to admiring all the quilts and getting a few bargains.


The quilts were amazing, but a whole different animal to what I think of when I think of a quilt, these were quilting combined with machine & hand embroidery, applique, beading and all manner of other textile art.


Here are a few of my faves (iPhone pics so apologies for quality):

Aren't they gorgeous? I'd love to have a go at doing a wallhanging like the foxgloves and the robin, which were made of tiny bits of fabric freeform machine embroidered onto the quilt. It was like painting with fabric.

There were lots of trade stands and I got a couple of bits including some lovely FQ's:

A bobbin saver because I am fed up of them being tangled in a jam jar, this donut thingy is made of rubber so holds them all nice and tightly and you can see at a glance what you have:

And a pattern for this bag, which is hand pieced, so something I can do in the evening in front of the telly:

Yesterday,  we went to stock up on paint and stopped by The Chesapeake Mill to have a look around, it is a beautiful old building on the river stuffed to the rafters with vintage, secondhand and shabby chic goodies - I bought some vintage thread and gorgeous wooden reels (which I have forgotten to photograph so will have to show you another time).

The afternoon was spent sulking in our bedroom because Mr G and I had one of our yearly huge rows - the cats are eating out of a cereal bowl because I threw their proper cat bowl in the general direction of Mr G before I flounced off to cry. 

Naturally, it's all forgotten now. We never go to bed on a row - why do that when you can stay up and fight?!!.... ;0p

hugs,

S x

What Did You See On The School Run Today?

We had an invasion!!:

Eeeek!! 


(Mind, you'll be OK if you stay upstairs!!)


hugs,


S x

My First Quilt - Ta Dah!!

Hello, my dears - have you had a good weekend? 


We did nothing much at all so I don't have a whole lot to report but my first quilt is finished!!:

I'm much happier with the red now I have the binding on....

It's a "stack & whack" quilt made up of nine blocks.

Wendy, who runs the quilt group, kindly made me a label on her fancy pants (love that phrase Ashley!!) sewing machine....

I even managed to mitre my corners....

So it took me three weeks from start to finish but a lot of that was hanging about waiting for my next class for help. I'm all fired up to make more now!! 

I want to do the boys a patriotic quilt each; a teal & pink one for our lounge; my Mum wants one; one made from 1930's style fabrics; a Dresden plate, etc, etc!!

Yesterday, I finished my first proper fairisle knitting project:

Milo, refusing to look at the camera (never work with animals or children!!)

 "I'm not looking at you..."

"No way...."

"Oh, go on then...."

It makes him look as though he is wearing it under protest, but Milo loves a jumper - he's not got a lot of hair on his undercarriage and feels the cold.

The snowflakes were a right pain and I had to frog them about ten times, I shan't be doing another any time soon - despite Mr G's requests for a Christmas jumper!!

Speaking of Mr G, we have nearly come to blows this weekend because my friend has some GORGEOUS chihuahua puppies and He Won't Let Me Have One >:0(

I mean, how could you resist?:

Nine times out of ten I get my own way, but every so often Mr G puts his foot down over something and this is one of those things....

hugs,

S x

PS Sharon - I hope you're reading, between my phone & laptop your email has disappeared so I don't have your address, please resend it honey!!

Giveaway Winner, Flowers, Fabrics and Randomness....

I hope you're all having a good week?


First of all I have the results of my little Blogiversary giveaway - I used the random number generator thingy and it came up with 11, which means Sharon has won. Now I don't have any contact details for her so I am hoping she'll check back soon and drop me a line.


My spring bulbs from Lidl have burst into bloom this week.


Narcissus:

Hyacinths (not scented though):

And I couldn't resist taking pics of this pretty little orchid:

A while ago we rescued it and two of it's companions from the discount trolley at B&Q where they looked very sorry for themselves, they were £2.50 for the three of them and so far they've all flowered.

My stepdad got me a little footstool to refurbish but I haven't had chance yet as everyone has taken a shine to it:

You see that mucky looking line on the floor? That's from rug tape, the type that stops your rugs from sliding about. The rug has now gone but we can't get the blasted tape off the floor - so far we have tried white spirit, nail varnish remover and two types of sticky stuff remover. If anyone has any ideas how to get rid if it they will be gratefully received?!!

I finished another tea trolley for Fugly-To-Fabulous yesterday:

See, more glue on the floor? I usually Photoshop it off!!

I went to my quilting group on Friday and Wendy helped me make my quilt sandwich (quilt top, wadding and backing) and over the weekend I hand tacked it. I am now ready to quilt it!! Hope fully I'll have it completed to show you next week.

In the meantime, I ordered some fabric to make quilts for our boys:

Their room has a Union Jack theme so we went patriotic with the fabric!! I now have to choose patterns....

W is off school with a cold and so I am going to curl up on the sofa with him and watch "Flight Of The Navigator"....

hugs,

S x

A Big Case Of The Wanties....

On Wednesday last week my lovely friend Ashley & baby Rose from Country Rose came to visit. We had a lovely afternoon knitting and nattering.


Ashley brought her new baby with her, a fancy new DSLR camera the same as the one I want (Canon EOS 550D) and she let me have a play with it so I took a number of random pics to test it out.

Cups of tea to test the focus (I took one with the focus on the far cup and then one with the focus on the near cup):

Look, you can even see the steam!!

And the detail & colour of these orchids is beautiful....

You can see every one of Chico's feathers (BTW this bird *hates* me):

And Bear's beautiful aqua eyes:

Our current camera (just a point & shoot) is awful, we've had about 4 Fuji's and this one is the worst of the lot.

I had been hankering after a DSLR for a while and after playing with Ashley's I have a serious case of the wanties - fortunately Mr G is now sold as well (after taking Ashley's into the garage to photograph his motorbike!!) so hopefully in a few weeks time we will have one of our own.

Fingers crossed!!

I hope you're all having a lovely weekend....

hugs,

S x

PS There's still time to enter my little giveaway....