pyremania

Just popping by quickly to show off my lovely latest addition to my Pyrex collection- this stunning egg shell blue butter dish that I picked up for an even more stunning £1.50, hurray!

And also to give you the, no doubt, welcome news that in a bid to stop boring the pants off you here about my Pyrex addiction, I will now be venting my lust with 87 fellow pymaniacs over at The Pyrex Collective, where I have just contributed my very first post.

Come visit!



an invitation to narnia

Flora's 6th birthday is coming up in March and I've been pressing her for the last couple of weeks to think of what she wants to do for her party. She has decided she wants a Narnia theme and is keen that I make her a Lucy Pevensie outfit.

I was quite excited about kitting her out in 40s clothes and knitting her an evacuee cardigan. But no, of course she wants to be Lucy the Valiant, Queen of Narnia complete with cape and potion.



I'm thinking snow-scene decorations and a cardboard lamp post. I'm going to order some latex horns for Steve, so he can be Mr Tumnus and probably a Snow Queen outfit for me.

I've also found lots of lovely inspiration over on Etsy

I'm a bit worried that Flora's friends might not be so enthusiastic about Narnia fancy dress as she is, but I will put a few suggestions on the invites - knights, lions, and, if in doubt, standard princesses wouldn't be out of place, would they?

Good job I've got 5 weeks or so to get organised!

PS updated to include the invitation I just designed...

pick up a penguin

I'm a sucker for a pretty window display and used to love planning out the window when Steve had his record shop. I couldn't resist taking some pictures of the display of Penguin paperbacks in the Oxfam Bookshop today- I love how they've grouped the colours together.

I'm really hoping for a less drizzly day tomorrow, I was planning to get something done at the lottie.

Happy weekend x



save our libraries day

Good luck to everyone protesting to save their local library today. Thankfully our little one is safe, but many of our neighbouring villages are not so lucky.

It's so sad to see communities facing the loss of such an invaluable resource- libraries are about so much more than just books and would be universally missed by residents young and old. 

To find out where your nearest protests are taking place, you can view an interactive map here.

fire and wind

I adore my evenings at the moment.

I just can't wait to get home from  work, tuck up my girls in bed with a story and then creep downstairs to cuddle up in front of the fire with my knitting.

After a total creative void throughout the entire month of January, it feels wonderful to have some socks on the needles again. I love how these ones are turning out- sort of Nordic looking, it reminds me of those funky 1970s ski jumpers.

But whilst I've been tucked up cozy and safe, my mother has been sheltering as the epicentre of Cyclone Yasi whirled past her home in Queensland. Thankfully, she's safe and well, but it sounded like a pretty frightening experience to say the least.

Makes me feel grateful for the dependably miserable British weather!



finding the plot

As well as the bird watching, we've had a pretty jam-packed weekend. On Saturday we popped to a local town to do some shopping and have lunch. There were many charity shops to nose round and I picked up my favourite Pyrex find yet- a mere pound!

It's been given pride of place inside my 1950s oak G-plan cabinet (itself a charity shop purchase) with all my favourite finds.

On Saturday night I went on a very rare night out with some girlfriends, complete with a Joan Holloway inspired up-do. I loved my hair so much that I might just become one of those slightly odd people who dress in a time-warp all the time, although I think I would have to get up at 4am  every day if I were to keep it up.

Being out late on the town was much better fun than I expected-  I really ought to stop being such an old woman and go out more than once a year.

Then, this morning I popped in to see my dad, who had been busy preserving the seasonal Seville oranges in the form of delicious shredded marmalade. Luckily he'd put a generous jar aside for us, mmmmmm...

But today's most exciting activity of all was that we were shown round our new allotment- yes we finally got our very own patch!

Look how lucky we are- lots of it's even been dug over already!

I'm really pleased that there is a shed, even if it is a little, erm, 'rustic'. I'm sure we'll be able to smarten it up a little bit, although at the moment it is full of hay!

What on earth could the previous allotmenteer possibly have wanted with all these bales- rather too much to mulch strawberries with, isn't it?!

It's so wonderful to think that it is really ours for who knows how many years to come- the first thing I'm going to plant is a little apple tree. I might even organise a little planting ceremony!

Hope you all had lovely weekends- even if it went far too quickly like ours. x

rockin' robin

Today, as planned, we took part in the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch.

The best view of our garden is from the bathroom window so we threw out some bread, made ourselves comfortable and waited eagerly for the birds to arrive.

Flora was in charge of recording the birds we saw. Our most frequent visitors were house sparrows, which didn't surprise me, as we have noticed before that they seem to come and go from under the eaves of the house next door.

Our favourite bird was a really large robin who popped by to cheekily steel some bread from the roof of the outhouse- he had the reddest breast I've ever seen! Can you spot him?

Then, because I'd been bitten by the birdwatching bug, we dug out some birdsong records which we picked up at a carboot sale last year and listened to a man with a classic 1960s BBC accent identifying the different calls.

How did everyone else get on with their birdwatch- any surprises?

Flora was a bit disappointed that we never saw a peacock!