Finding Buried Treasure

Thank you for your comments on my crocheted curtain tie-backs. I'm glad I can share these little forays into creative homemaking with you all, it gives me such pleasure. 

We've enjoyed some mild and sunny weather this week and that, combined with the increasingly lighter afternoons, has given the air a deliciously spring-like feel. I'm wary of declaring it spring too soon though - do you remember how late spring was last year? Winter just seemed to go on and on. We had a heavy snow fall right at the end of March, which I wrote about here, so I have to remember that these Yorkshire springs can be late and very chilly. But, that said, it's been really nice to have the windows and kitchen door open, to be in the garage and garden, sorting, clearing and pottering.  My trawl through March 2013's posts showed that we seem to do a lot of DIY during this month and this year has been no different. We've painted Angus's old bedroom, the box room, and turned it into a study/office. My lovely mum, who has been staying with us this week, has been helping me in the garden. The garage has been emptied, sorted and re-organised, and many, many trips have been made to the tip. (Can you tell I am making the most of having John around before he starts his new job?)

But, while doing these chores, we've uncovered some treasures which really made me stop and smile and reach for the camera. One is this ancient box of Derwent colouring pencils, which John found in amongst a dusty box of art materials in the garage. John remembers them well from his own childhood and thinks they belonged to his father. The language on the box is so robustly patriotic that I think they were far more likely to be from the fifties or sixties than the eighties, when John was a child. They are "British Made Throughout" from "British Colours" and "Based on the standard shades of the British Colour Council". The box tells us they were produced in Keswick, England - we get the picture. No foreign pencils here! The box has seen better days and is practically disintegrating now, but I think it's beautiful in it's faded, water-marked state.

The list of colours on the back reads like a poem. The Derwent range of colours included "Naples Yellow", "Geranium Lake", "Imperial Purple", "Delft Blue" and "Vandyke Brown", whatever that is. They are more like the titles of novels than names of colours.

The original pencils are long gone I hope - for surely they were all used - and the box now contains a mixture of pencils from Derwent, Rowney and WHSmiths, still in a rainbow of colours.

We found many other art materials in the box with these, including lots of watercolour pencils, with which the children have enjoyed experimenting. But what makes this old box particularly special to us is their lineage. John's father was a talented artist who, after attending art college, worked as a designer for a company which made carpets. If he was working now, we'd probably call him a graphic designer. John also has a natural skill for drawing although he'd tell you otherwise. But as, sadly, John's father died long before I met him, the children and I don't have many direct links to him. I like to imagine that he first used this box of pencils, and then John did, and now the grandchildren he never knew can enjoy them too.

Crochet Curtain Tie-Backs

There is something about March which makes me start tinkering with the house; looking at rooms anew and finding ways to refresh them, or improving corners I don't like, just generally pottering and creating. 

This is the window in our bedroom. We bought the curtains from Habitat in 2005 the day after we moved in; there were no curtains in the entire house and we bought a load of ready made ones in a hurry. I don't much like them but they are warm and block out all the light which, when it comes down to it, is all you really need from curtains, and that's why they've stayed there for the last eight years on that curtain pole (which I also dislike).

New curtains or a blind would be nice in the future, but in the mean time I have yarn. I showed you this square on Sunday. I've been working on these for the last week, crocheting up two or three a night.

I believe it is in the rules that, when making granny squares, you must arrange them in various different patterns and piles, just because.

But I had an idea to make some strips with which to tie back the curtains, and so I settled on two rows of six.

I blocked them, sewed them together and added a double crochet border. Using a strip of chain stitches, I created loops to attach the crocheted strips to the hooks. The shorter loop faces into the room and the longer one is behind the curtain, so that most of the granny squares were seen in the room, not hidden from view.

I used these stick on hooks which I bought in B&Q. I use the smaller ones a lot for things like fairy lights or bunting, but thought I'd try these larger ones since they aren't holding any weight, and I didn't have to pester John to get the tool box out, even better. Get me, all independent with my stick on hooks!

Here's the window now. Not a massive difference, granted, but the curtains have a little more shape and detail than they did before, and a little homemade love.

I love the pattern. I've got a thing about circles-within-squares at the moment. It's from Susan Pinner's book Granny Squares and I used RICO essentials cotton DK yarn with a 3 mm hook. It was my first time with this yarn and I like it a lot, it has a subtle sheen to it and the depth of colour is nice and strong.

I also finally got round to hanging this map print, bought from Tynemouth Market last year. Isn't it funny, just a print and a plant and two strips of crochet and I feel like the bedroom has a new lease of life. 

I am happy with my tie-backs; the pattern is decorative enough without being overly fussy and feminine, and the blue and white pick out the same colours in other parts of the room, but without being too matchy-matchy, I hope.

So, crochet. It's not just cushions and blankets. It can be curtain tie-backs, table runners, place mats, coasters. It's such a versatile craft and so well suited to things for the home, which I think is why I enjoy it so much.

I have an idea for a table runner, in cotton again, but I'd probably need to make it at least 6 squares wide by, say 30 long...which, at 180 squares, feels a bit too much like making a blanket (and I've already got one of those on the go) so maybe I'll just stick to my tie-backs for now.

March Miscellany

Trying out (and loving) a new crochet pattern, in cotton yarn.

Pondering when and where I should plant these seeds, sent to me through the post by my friend Leanne.

Admiring this deliciously curvaceous ampersand. I've had the silver A and B since Angus and Bella were babies, fixed to their doors. I love the way the ampersand joins them together on the door to their shared bedroom.

Delighting in bunches of daffodils, still. I'm not tired of them yet. How can you be when they're so sunny and yellow?

Eating my greens. I made a kale smoothie with banana, yogurt and honey. It was ok, a bit...chewy. I think the banana, honey and yogurt added more enjoyment to this drink than the kale. (Also I'm wondering if a smoothie should count as breakfast on it's own, since I was hungry about an hour later?)

Deciding that I prefer my kale cooked, in colcannon, with a poached egg on top. 

Remembering why it's so rewarding to support independent makers and sellers. This print was beautifully packaged and came with a handwritten "Thank you Gillian" on a matching postcard. Such a nice touch.

Inhaling the heady scent of hyacinths.

And appreciating the dramatic shadows they create.

Eating up the last of the birthday cake. We made the happy discovery that when it's a bit stale, if you blast it in the microwave for twenty seconds the cake softens and the icing melts into the most divinely gooey chocolate sauce and it's really good with vanilla ice cream.

Hanging sheets of wrapping paper*. At £3 a sheet it's expensive gift wrap but a very thrifty piece of vaguely educational colourful wall art for the children's bedroom.

Discovering that if you throw enough key words at the internet you'll probably find what you are looking for. When I worked in retail, we used these plastic strips to weight the vertical banner posters when we were doing the window displays. So I googled "poster banner hanging plastic weight clip strip" and found these. John trimmed them to size with his hack saw (or something - I wasn't really listening) and...result! Much quicker and easier than framing.

And last of all feeling proud of my girl for bringing home the Dancer of the Week trophy from her ballet and tap class. It's gold. It's shiny. It's been shown to everyone who steps foot in the house and I think she'll be very sad to hand it back to Miss Annie, the teacher, this week.

Goodness, it's March already! After the looooongest January ever, February flew by and now, bam! it's March. Apparently, according to the Met Office, March the 1st is when Spring begins... I'm not so sure - it's still winter here - but it's nice to see bulbs coming up and smell that springy smell in the air and feel a little heat from the sun. Yes, hello March, I like you.

* We bought the wrapping paper in Waterstone's ages ago. It's made by a company called Cavallini and lots of online shops stock their products. Waterstone's probably still do.

The Colour Collaborative: February - Storm

Storm: A violent disturbance of the atmosphere with strong winds and usually rain, thunder, lightening or snow.

This is Skipton, on the very edge of the Yorkshire Dales, last week. It was a blustery day and there were strong, icy gusts of wind and fast moving clouds. The light levels changed constantly throughout the day from oppressively dark to glaringly bright, as the winter sun reflected off the rain covered landscape. Not a storm, exactly, but definitely stormy. 

**  **  **  **  **  It was a spectrum of greys.  **  **  **  ** ** 

First, the dark, almost purple shade of the oppressive, glowering sky, ready to unleash another torrent of rain over an already soaked landscape. The slate grey of the wet roof tops and buildings are leaden and heavy, absorbing all light.

Now the metallic platinum, silver and pewter of a brightening sky and wet pavements. The rain has eased slightly, it's time to jump in the puddles.

And then the sun comes out. It's incredibly, startlingly bright. I squint and wish I had my sunglasses. Crystal sparkles hang from every tree, balancing, quivering on branches and twigs, luminous and radiant. 

A patch of blue sky emerges from between the clouds. You can almost feel the relief, the lightening of the atmosphere.

Sunlight reflects off a stream in the distance, mist hangs in the valley and the greens of the hills emerge again.

There is something a little bit dangerous about being out in bad weather in the countryside. City life here in Leeds often gives us the illusion of protection from the worst of the elements; buses and trains generally still run, you can walk to the shops - normality returns very quickly and you are never truly cut off from anything. But out in the Dales, when you can see the rain falling on a distant hillside and slowly moving in your direction, and feel the wind picking up, there is that instinct to seek shelter. Of course this was not a storm, not at all, just your typically changeable wet/dry/windy mix of British weather, but it was dramatic, and it was colourful.

What is The Colour Collaborative? All creative bloggers make stuff, gather stuff, shape stuff, and share stuff. Mostly they work on their own, but what happens when a group of them work together? Is a creative collaboration greater than the sum of its parts? We think so and we hope you will too. We'll each be offering our own monthly take on a colour related theme, and hoping that in combination our ideas will encourage us, and perhaps you, to think about colour in new ways.

If you'd like to read posts by the other Colour Collaborative bloggers, please follow the links below:

Annie at Knitsofacto

Sandra at Cherry Heart

And we have two very talented guest bloggers joining us this month, please do go and say hello!

Jennifer at Thistlebear

Claire at Above The River

Zooming Out

Sometimes I like a closely cropped, very controlled image. There are times when I want to share with you something pretty like a ball of yarn or a new dish and I just need that object to stand perfectly alone without distraction.  But today I am feeling mischievous and want to demonstrate that it's not all beautifully lit perfection round here, and I thought it would be fun to show you what it looks like when I zoom out, what is going on around the edges of these photos.

Zooming in: Two gorgeous round balls of alpaca yarn. I wanted to capture the texture of the strands as much as the colour.

Zooming out: Two balls of yarn on a plain white tea towel on the hall floor, because that's just where the light was best that day. The living room was too bright. Good thing no-one knocked at the door.

Zooming in: Three delightfully pretty fairy cakes, complete with girly wrappers and sprinkles. I'm not normally a fan of such feminine colours and patterns but think where fairy cakes are concerned it's acceptable.

Zooming out: That white tea towel is in use again, this time on the one square foot of kitchen worktop that gets any good natural light. Do you see how everything else was, quite literally, pushed out of shot? 

Zooming in: Ah, my utterly fabulous birthday pyrex dish. That coral pink! That repeated floral pattern! I wanted the background to be almost invisible so used an old white sheet.

Zooming out: Angus played around me while I borrowed the toy boxes to create a little area for my backdrop.

Zooming in: Birthday present heaven. Lovely colours and it was fun to play with the composition.

Zooming out: That white sheet again, but in the living room this time. Books and baskets pull the corners tight to stop it wrinkling too much and the bright sunlight meant I had to close the curtains - it's not often that's happened lately! The end of the coffee table is cleared as I stood on it to take the photo.

Zooming in: Four prints - some new, some I've had for a while - in four IKEA frames. I'll hang them soon. For now, I just wanted to group and admire them.

Zooming out: Me, in my pyjamas, standing on a chair so I could lean over them as much as possible (while trying not to fall off). And see the glasses on the edge of the table? I hadn't yet put my contacts in, but find my glasses really annoy me when I'm using the camera. It's like I can't get the viewfinder close enough to my eye. Does that happen to anyone else? 

So that is what it looks like when I zoom out. I am putting together a little post about photography tips (for what it's worth - I am not a professional, clearly!) as a few people have asked in the past. It's not technical, more tips and tricks. Things which are easy. I'm a bit nervous as I'm painfully aware of my lack of technical knowledge, but I'm enjoying writing it and I'll share more on that soon. 

Thank you so much for all your birthday wishes and your messages of good luck for John. Really, thank you. It means a very great deal and I think you are all wonderful. Have a great week. 

Because I'm Happy

It's been a lovely week for lots of reasons, but mainly my birthday. I love birthdays! I get the feeling you're not supposed to say that when you're a grown up but it's true, I do. The day started with two overexcited children opening my presents for me while I peeled my eyelids open. John made me a cup of tea. We decided to go to Skipton for the day, a pretty Yorkshire market town on the edge of the Dales about an hour from Leeds. The weather was mixed, to put it mildly. Sunny, showers, sunny, showers. We had a pub lunch then went to the castle and got only a little wet. John had made me a cake! We came home and they all sung happy birthday to me, our little party of four, then John cooked me tarragon chicken and we drank white wine when the kids were in bed. Honestly, I felt spoiled and loved. So far thirty six is good.

Birthday bounty; pretty gifts in pretty colours, making me think of spring.

John did good; I have him a list of websites and online shops I liked and off he went. He gave me the beautiful anchor print, yellow tree-printed cushion cover and necklace (which will match my mustard Orla Kiely shoes when I wear them both to my sister's wedding in a few weeks - hurrah!).

Other special and really lovely presents which made me grin from ear to ear include this pyrex dish. I admired it in a second hand shop in Bosham over Christmas while we were staying with my parents. My mum went back to buy it, a lovely surprise.

 And my parents also gave me this beautiful, beautiful basket. I dropped heavy hints, I'll be honest. I've had my eye on this for ages. The thing is, I didn't realise quite how big it was! Duh. Still, it's perfect for yarn. And logs, when we get a wood burning stove one day...

My lovely sisters gave me this bowl. Love, love, love. I think I'll keep eggs in it, the colour of the shells will look great with the white and mint.

And there were surprises that came through the post too. Jennifer of Thistlebear sent me this handmade pot holder. Isn't it perfectly lovely? Jennifer and I got to know each other through blogging and now email weekly, chatting away and exchanging news, opinions and ideas. She has become a firm friend. (Even though we've never met.) Thank you Jennifer.

Here's a picture of me hiding behind my phone, taking a photo of a hat my friend Debora made me. I like a hat. Thank you Debora!

But, hands down, award for the best present goes to Bella for this felt-pen drawing of the four of us. She even drew me in a striped top.

The other reason I'm happy is that we finally, finally, have confirmation of a new job for John. He starts in a two weeks. This has been simmering away in the background since November, as he went from first interview to second to third, and jumped through a few hoops too. Oh, they dragged it out. He found out he'd been successful in January but we only just got the details and dates all sorted this week. It's been a long and draining process, but it's behind us now. This will a great opportunity for him with a lot of potential to move onwards and upwards and he is so, so ready to go back to work, chomping at the bit in fact. So this half term has been extra nice as we've felt we can finally stop our strict budgeting. Don't get me wrong, we're not going mad, but it's been wonderful - especially with the wet weather - to take the kids to the cinema, to go to museums and castles, to go out for lunch, without feeling guilty and counting every penny. To just relax.

Today we went to the library and baked fairy cakes.

We put the new sprinkles to good use.

A work of art, I'm sure you'll agree.