100+ followers!!

Woohoo!! Despite my continued absence from blogland, my followers keep slowly mounting and now we've passed the 100 mark!! Thank you all for your interest in my little piece of virtual world!

I'm slowly getting back into the swing of things... lots of crochet and knitting ... and I'm finding new and gorgeous things on the internet daily, I just never seem to find much time to post about it. My Pinterest and Tumblr accounts are gathering dust. However, in an effort to try and make amends I will show you what I found today. These amazing bags from Australian based company Glory Daze. Such a simple idea, but executed so well. Just choose the style you want and cover with the fabric of your choice from their extensive gallery. My favourite was found in their vintage fabric section.




This week sees us celebrate Leo's 5 month birthday and my 42nd!! I have everything I could ever wish for now. So happy birthday to us :)

five minutes of fun

Ah, nostalgia. We never grow up that's for sure... remember those cut-out doll templates that you used to dress with cut-out clothes with the foldover tabs? I used to love those... and now, courtesy of Boden you can do it online, using their entire range of clothes. I spent more than five minutes actually... a bit addictive if I'm honest.


Here's one I made earlier (Trinny & Suzanne... your jobs are safe)...

Home Spun

There's not much I miss about England, but I do miss events like this. If I were there now I would do my best to attend this years Home Spun fair in Cornwall, followed by a large cream tea!


And such a pretty shop too...

spotlight on... Lulu Dee

Spotted on Simply Stated today [an offshoot of Holly Becker's great Decor8 blog], I love these simple retro mid-century modern prints from Oregon based designer Lulu Dee. They are hand printed in short runs of 40... and now she has lowered her prices as she knows times are hard. Grab yerself one quick!

what we need. part 3

I adore anything mid-century modern and probably anything that used to sit on my granny's sideboard, but just didn't appreciate at the time. I'm loving this Swedish glassware from the 60s and these amazing Chance Brothers handkerchief bowls... minus the boiled sweets of course! Head over to 20th Century Glass and start collecting now!

a space within

I love seeing the environments in which people work. These in themselves can be an inspiration! The wonderful Orla Kiely's workspace has recently been featured in The Guardian, found via a great blog called Inspiration Boards.

They also have a Flickr group, so make yourself a nice cuppa, take a pew and have a browse. Just a couple of examples of what can be seen there are shown below.

Photo: Mady Dooijes

Photo: Elizabeth Dye & Chelsea Fuss mood board by Matt & Myra Callan.

what we need. part 2

You know I love crocheting hexagons don't you! Well, you do now. Specially worked up in gorgeous rich colours. Spotted these beautiful things over on the Garnet Hill website via Put a sock on it!. (There are close-ups available on the Garnet Hill website). What's even more exciting is I can work out a very similar motif for myself, and super simple it is too. I will post some instructions if anyone's interested!

what we need. part 1

We all need these! Spotted over on the rabbit and the duck blog, these amazing alphabet drawers are a mere snip (!) at £2700 from kent and london. Start saving...

market day

I live in a wonderful neighbourhood right in the centre of Athens called Gyzi. It's an old working-class neighbourhood, where women of a certain age still wear aprons, sweep their steps and talk to the neighbours across the street from their balconies. I love it! And one of the best aspects is the weekly street market on a Wednesday. I can see the orange canopies of the stalls from my balcony. The produce is wonderful and it is as good as any of the best markets I've visited in Provence. I will let the images speak for themselves.

too much talent

OK... let's kick off the inspiration side of things. Flickr is a hotbed of talent and I always try to spend a few minutes a day there. I have developed some wonderful contacts through it and hopefully some life-long friends too! Here is just a tiny taster of what can be seen on my favourites pages... more to follow.

1. Doilies on the stair. And Papu!, WIP, 2. Untitled, 3. Buttons & Doilies, 4. vintage threads, 5. 09:25, 6. Step by step guide to doily invite, 7. Dancers without foot in Aqua, 8. pinky dinky doo, 9. Voodoo Pierre, 10. close proximity, 11. Untitled, 12. sketch 18th march: a little more than I had bargained for..., 13. Spools, 14. project about senses, 15. Bird-speak, 16. flowers and grannies...