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• – 2018/25 – vintage crockery –

  Posted at 11:34 am by quiltwhileyoureahead, on February 1, 2018

  

  You know what they say about buses… you wait for ages for one to arrive and then two show up at once.  Same with vintage finds.

  Last weekend?  the one before? who can remember… I popped into a big charity shop (thrift store for you across the pond) on the way back from a super early and wet hockey match to cheer myself up and I found four delicious dessert bowls waiting for me… in the sale section!!

  

  Check that border out!  Perfection right?

  The reverse had this mark:  Royal Art Pottery.

  

  Now researching things is a passion of mine and with a little digging I think I cracked it.  The company hails from Stoke on Trent, like many of the great pottery manufacturers, in the area around what used to be called Waterloo Street and was renamed in the 50s Barford Street and is now a Matalan superstore (sadly).  I can’t quite decipher when it was established but we know that by 1897 the Waterloo Works had become the Royal Art Pottery Company.  To be precise the Waterloo Works had a number of companies working from it through it’s life span (including Alfred Deakin Co etc., you might have come across some its products if you’re a pottery hunter like me!).

  From what I understood the company operate as Royal Art Pottery Co from 1897 to 1915 and had a different mark etc (Royal Art Pottery Longton might be from this period too).  From at least 1940 to the mid 1960s was operate by Alfred Clough ltd and became Royal Art Pottery with the mark under the plates I found.  This is when things got a little confused because Alfred Clough ltd produced a lot of other pottery out of Staffordshire too.

  I don’t know.  Please help out if you can with more details.

  Anyway, back to the buses… a few days later I stumbled on (eBay) onto this little gem of a side place…

  

  and then… two more dessert plates…

  

  Three buses!

  Joking aside, I’m getting quite obsessed.

  They’re worth swooning over though… don’t you think?

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  Posted in food and drink, home | 2 Comments

• – 2018/18 – a simple table mat

  Posted at 11:25 am by quiltwhileyoureahead, on January 25, 2018

  

  It’s amazing what you can do with a bag of scraps!

  I’d ordered a couple of bags of scraps from the Denyse Schmidt’s website a few months back and the other week when the sewing itch needed to be scratched I cracked open one of them and just started sewing pieces together.  Like a puzzle.  No plan.  I didn’t measure anything, I didn’t use a ruler until the end when I tried to square it up a little.

  

  As the piece grew I realised that our ‘white’ kitchen table could use for another mat and a project was born.  We use mats in the middle of the table at ever meal, they protect the surface from heat and stain… and they turn around is high each week.

  

  This is the reverse.  I’ve had it for ages… bought in Savannah, GA on a holiday with Mr… yonks ago… can’t remember who’s the designer as the only piece left didn’t have the selvedge, but it’s always bene my favourite.

  The quilting is random straight lines at random intervals.  No fuss.

  

  It’s not very big, but it’s useful size.  My pilea likes it.  She told me so.  Yes all my plants are girls.

  

  And it’s a little bit wonky.

  But we like wonky.

  

  It does the job and it’s colourful and all the different fabric make me happy.

  So there.

  Posted in craft, home, quilting, sewing | 1 Comment

• – 2018/10 – a trip to IKEA

  Posted at 2:34 pm by quiltwhileyoureahead, on January 17, 2018

  

  Last week I popped into IKEA with my parents; they were looking for a bookshelf and a guest bed, and I was under instructions from No 2 to purchase a new desk.

  We were very successful in our endeavour although the desk wasn’t ‘like the picture’ (eye roll) and somehow that is my fault (double eye roll).  When you’re 15yrs old everything is your mother’s fault.  Apparently.

  Moving on swiftly or I’ll start a rant I won’t be able to finish…

  The store had had a revamp since my last trip and I was really impressed with the new ‘sets’.  I’ve take a couple of photos for my personal inspiration… we’ll see if I can convince Mr M to change a few things around here.

  Fabulous choice of wall colour, love the pop of yellow (very comfortable chair)

  

  They seem to have gone for a much ‘darker’ theme, which is interesting because I always associate ‘Scandinavian’ living with white walls and pastel colours. That big blue chair is the perfect size for curling up with knitting and a book by the way.

  

  Again dark walls… and that orange cupboard is perfect.

  

  I totally fell in love with this cane (love cane!!) rocking chair… sadly there’s no room at the inn for this baby.

  

  But what I did buy was this table for my studio.  It has a removable lid/tray (it’s metal and very sturdy) and underneath/inside you can store all sort of things.  Perfect for quilts or cushions.  It’s supposed to have feet… but I didn’t attach them; I prefer it flush to the ground

  

  I also splurged (not) on two of these banana leafs tables/puffs thingies.  Good for spare seats and extra table space.

  

  I was looking for curtains but drew a blank.  Very disappointing choice on that front actually.

  Also, no candles were purchased in this visit.  I think this alone makes it a victory for the little people.

  So that the next project.  Any suggestions on where to buy plain NICE ready made curtains is very very welcome.  Please please don’t make me sew curtains… it’s a horrible job.

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  Posted in home, thank me later | 3 Comments

• – 2018/4 – urge to purge

  Posted at 2:28 pm by quiltwhileyoureahead, on January 8, 2018

  

  I don’t know about you but this time of year I feel the total urge of purging my cupboards, to sort out the unwanted things, the old clothes, the out of date food and spices… to get rid of the superfluous and the useless, the unused and the extra.  January is for cleansing.   I really love a tidy drawer or cupboard, I feel a sense of deep satisfaction to know that behind those close doors everything is folded and in order, everything in its place and a place for everything.  Even if I’m the only one who knows that… in fact that makes it more special.

  Mr M is an ‘outside tidy’… he needs to see clear surfaces and cupboards are to hide things.  He’s a “piler upper”…  he makes piles on top of piles to deal with the mess.

  You see,  outside of cupboards is a different story, I’m not so fussy and my ‘mess tolerance level’ can be quite high..a good psychologist would have a field day, I’m sure, in trying to explain that one, in the meantime I’m tackling one cupboard at a time and today … was the pantry one…

  Oh boy.

  A part from the crumbs I had to shovel out of it… what a nightmare… so many things  had ‘got stuck at the back’ and … had died a lonely and miserable death of neglect and disregard.

  

  So many weird jars I don’t even remember buying… old flour, old biscuits, old sauces…

  I also realised I’ve been baking with ‘really’ out of date yeast… which obviously still worked because the cakes always turned out fine so I was in two mind about keeping it… in the end I figured now that I knew the truth… it would have ended up badly so off into the bin it went.

  But now look at that cupboard!! isn’t it a sight for sore eyes?  Look! no crumbs, no upside down cereal boxes (why???), sweet with sweet, savoury with savoury.

  Perfection.

  

  I’m feeling so much better.

  One cupboard down… gazillions to go.  The boys’ ones are terrifying and might be better kept for last when I’ve build up some sort of stamina.

  Onwards and upwards.

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  Posted in food and drink, home, life for a while | 3 Comments

• – 178 – another crochet cushion

  Posted at 9:51 am by quiltwhileyoureahead, on December 5, 2017

  

  … the problem with technology is that if you lose something you normally rely on…you’re totally stuck.  I’ve been wanting to ‘talk’ to you guys for a week, but I just couldn’t find the ‘doodah’ to download the photos onto the computer (dongle? sounds rude) so in the end, No 1 man child remembered not to take  his one to school it was radio silence.

  So, HELLOOOOO, how are you all? December you say? Get lost!! Not even remotely ready.

  This other cushion was made with another couple of vintage squares like the previous one, this time with a white border.

  

  I think i like it even more than the previous one

  

  The two sides are have a different arrangement of the same yarn colours and I really wish I knew who made them because I love her taste (… I assume it was a ‘she’… but who knows).

  I keep changing my mind about which one I prefer, this one?

  

  or this one?

  

  I have a couple more squares but I need to buy yarn to join them… as someone said once… “I’ll be back”.

   

   

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  Posted in crochet, home | 0 Comments

• – 177 – crochet cushion

  Posted at 8:21 am by quiltwhileyoureahead, on November 28, 2017

  

  … a few years ago I was given a a whole bunch of crochet squares by a friend who found them abandoned in a house she was renting.  I am not sure when they were made… probably in the 70s/early 80s judging from the yarn and at some point they also got washed in too hot a water because they were slightly felted too.  BUT, they were fab, they possessed a sort of authenticity and so I kept them and kept them…

  A few of them were already half joined to make a rectangular cushion so that was a no brainer at the time, the other ones were left languishing in one of the many baskets in my room.

  Till I got ‘the itch’.  If you like making stuff you know about ‘the itch’… when  you have to make something  RIGHT NOW, forget the rest of your busy life… and ‘the itch’ always strikes when you are at your busiest too…

  Anyway, this time it all started when I decided to move all the furniture around in my study (another type of urge that assails me every once in a while; it’s a faulty gene this one, No 2 has it too and his bedroom is in a constant state of flux) and I stumbled upon an orange ball of acrylic yarn bought to make crochet pumpkin and thought lost forever.

  Needles to say the pumpkins didn’t get crocheted but I noticed that it was an almost perfect match to the outside edge of a couple of the granny squares in the aforementioned basked.  I literally was walking around the room trying to find a place for the yarn whilst kicking the basket to make room for the sofa…

  Lighting striked.

  Like the apple that fell on Newton’s head when he worked out what gravity was all about… only much less dramatic and life changing.

  

  … a few rounds of trebles later…

  

  … and we have a perfectly formed cushion/pillow whatever you like to call it.

  

  It happened that I had serendipitously bought a couple of big cushion inserts so I didn’t even had to go out and buy one which would have meant months of delay because that is just the way life is, right?

  

  … no it was fate, all stars aligned and conspired to give me this gorgeous cushion in only a couple of days.

  

  Fate, people, it was fate.

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  Posted in craft, crochet, home | 1 Comment

• – 148 – wallpaper

  Posted at 11:50 am by quiltwhileyoureahead, on September 29, 2017

  

  When we first moved into this house two years ago (already!!) we gave one swatch to the decorators – one –  Dulux Chiffon White no 4 and told them to paint everything.  Walls, ceilings, woodwork, windows… everything.   We wanted a plain canvas on which to hang our pictures and set our furniture against and more than anything we wanted to get to know the house: the way the light changes through the seasons, how we’d live it… Chiffon white is warm and bright and doesn’t take over.

  …BUT inevitably… after a while… the itch to decorate takes over and whilst I still haven’t been able to convince Mr M that our bedroom needs to go darker… the spare room is getting a make over…

  Time to play with wallpaper.

  I love wallpaper let me tell you.  I could have looked through sample books for hours – I kind of did – and online too although it’s not the same… you need to touch it to really feel if it works or not.

  The room we’re using for our guests is tiny.  There’s room for a double bed but only one bedside table… so the dilemma was… do we wallpaper the wall behind the bed only?  (I hate the expression ‘feature wall’… but that’s what we were thinking) or do we do the whole shebang?

  Decision… decision…

  Anyway, these are the samples that I collected together:

  Sandberg Wallpaper, – Gild, in black – gorgeous Swedish company… could have chosen all of them out of their books.  Calming and natural.

  

  Farrow & Ball – Blostma –  reminds me a little of the 20s and my grandmother’s bedroom furniture.  So delicate and restful.

  

  The one of the left is from the latest Jane Churchill range which she says it’s inspired by Matisse’s work… and I’m saying it’s suspiciously similar to this one.

  The one of the right it’s another one from Farrow & Ball – Aranami – which totally reminds me of the Bloomsbury set.

  

  Then I explored ‘blue’.. but the room is too small and not right… but aren’t they wonderful? sigh…  Farrow & Ball – Yokutori – on the left, Graham and Brown – Indigo blue – on the right.

  

  Then I tried pink.. which I really like but pink in a house full of boys is about as popular as fish night around here.  Farrow & Ball – Wisteria –  and Graham and Brown – Tropical Blush.

  

  The vintage angle flopped.  We like it in principle, we toyed with he idea but we were too worried that to get bored of it in a really short time. So we scrapped it.

  Graham and Brown  – Do the Stretch – on the left.  Little Greene ’50’s Line papers’ on the right.

  

  So… you might ask… which wallpaper won the contest?

  Ta dahhh…

  It’s a little bit girlie, but not too much, it’s fresh and the neutral colour will allow me to personalise/change the mood and feel by changing the the bedlinen and cushions and even pictures on the wall…

  That’s the plan anyway!

  

  Gilda it is… can’t wait.

  The new bed is ordered… so curtains are next… I find those more challenging…

   

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  Posted in home | 0 Comments

• – 142 – indoor gardening

  Posted at 8:33 am by quiltwhileyoureahead, on September 18, 2017

  

  I’m not a gardener.

  I enjoy being in a garden, I love sitting and reading in the garden, I love waltzing around cutting flowers and then going back inside and put them into vases… but that is the extend of my skills.  The fact that I don’t know much (anything) about gardening might be where the problem lies… I can rake leaves…  but I don’t know my weeds from my primroses… so no.  Gardening is not for me.  Once I got told off by my father in law (before he was my father in law) because I was mowing the lawn ‘and not doing the stripes’… what? stripes? Apparently I was mowing the lawn like I was hoovering the carpet.

  Lawn stripes, you see,  are an English obsession. I’m surprised there wasn’t a mowing the lawn exercise when I took my citizenship test!

  But I’m veering off theme here… gardening… yes… no, actually gardening no, but house plants yes.  In a big way.  I love them.  All of them.  The weirder the better.  It does help that we live in a house with huge windows, of course, but I like to think it’s because of my love towards them and the constant sound of country music that they thrive.

  For example the Pileas Peperomoioides are thriving and are having babies all of them, I was told they have babies in the spring, but we’re ‘in season’ right now… I’ve tried re-potting one for now just to see if it survives.

  This gorgeous little thing has moved into a new pad 4 days ago and seems to be doing ok in my hand thrown coffee cup…

  

  … there are few others still living with their parents, so fingers crossed.

  I have no idea of what type of plant this is (if you do let me know, please) but what I know is that it has virtually doubled the quantity of ‘stems/leaves’ since the beginning of the summer.

  

  Again we shall see if it’ll survive the trauma of separation.

  The Oxalis Triangularis seems very settled in a much bigger vase…

  

  Have you ever tried propagating an Oxalis??  It’s definitively one of my favourite, but don’t tell the others.

  This type of gardening is fun!

  Also I’m very fond of pottery and am always on the look out for different  pots.

  

   

  Posted in home | 2 Comments

• – 141 – how many is too many?

  Posted at 7:29 am by quiltwhileyoureahead, on September 14, 2017

  

  Houston we have a problem.

  It’s the scarves.  There’s too many.

  I did a half Mary Kondo… I collected them all and dumped the big pile on the table

  Quite a frightening sight to be honest, things had obviously gone completely out of hand, but with the help of a few baskets and a rubbish bag I tamed the beasts.

  So now we have a basket of summer scarves in the wardrobe, a box of woven scarves, a basket for hats and gloves and a big one for all the hand knit shawls.

  This slideshow requires JavaScript.

  I haven’t been terribly ruthless.  Not all of the summer scarves ‘sparked’ a huge amount of joy… but I had years of my mother’s voice in the back of my head saying ‘never throw away anything at the end of a season, wait till next year when you get stuff out again…’ .  And in the context between my mother and Marie Kondo… Marie, frankly doesn’t stand a chance.

  Horrible job, but glad it’s over.

  Now I can plan my next knitting project… I’m sure I can squeeze another one in the basket… right?

  Posted in home, life for a while | 1 Comment

• – 61 –

  Posted at 10:40 am by quiltwhileyoureahead, on April 14, 2017

  

  Time stands still best in moments that look suspiciously like ordinary life…

  

  Have a lovely long weekend.  We’re taking it easy… I’m flying to Italy to retrieve No 3 from the spoiling arms of his grandparents, Mr M is flying solo with the other two (… interesting times ahead…).

  Posted in home, life for a while | 0 Comments

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