Attic24

Weekending @ home

Well, what a lovely, lazy, relaxed and happy few days I've had Weekending @ home! We've not been anywhere or done anything much for quite a few weekends on the trot now and despite the occasional guilt ("we really should go somewhere or do something with the children"), it's been wonderful. The Little People are mostly very happy to stay home at weekends, in fact they insist on it. They love being out on the street doing streety things with all the other Little Peeps who live nearby, and seem to resent it these days if we try to take them away. Heaven forbid we should make them Go For A Walk In The Countryside. Dreadful idea. So recently we've just gone with the flow and allowed them to enjoy playing at home without interference.

Saturday morning was unexpectedly bright and sunny (we've had awful chilly wet weather of late), and I was so happy to feel the gentle warmth of the sunshine again. The front of our house is east facing, and we have nine old stone steps leading up to our front door.  I've found that I enjoy sitting on the front step with my morning coffee on sunny days :: the stone quickly warms up in the sun and it's surprisingly comforting to sit in this elevated position feeling all warm and idle and morning-ish. For some of my Saturday morning step-sitting I had Little Lady's company. We sat and had a little chat about this and that, and it suddenly reminded me very much of when she was younger and we often did this very same thing together. Oh how she's grown since then!! Such lovely, simple, cherished memories.

Little Lady didn't stop with me for long, she was soon off to skip up the street (she has a brand new skipping rope) so I popped inside and fetched my basket and settled down for a little bit of saturday morning step-hooky. After a slow start and a little bit of uncertainty about this blanket, I'm now really getting into the groove with it, like really going mad for it. Can't stop thinking about it. Will show you more of it later in the week, it's grown quite a bit since my last post.

The rest of Saturday passed in a blur of food shopping, laundry, baking, cooking, coffee and canalside chatter,  baby-tending and entertaining family and friends. Oh, and did I mention I worked on my sweet flower granny blanket? Did I tell you how much I'm loving it? That I couldn't stop working on it and hooked till waaaaay beyond my bedtime on Saturday night?

Sunday morning was not a step-sitting morning at all. It was grey and wet. Wet and grey. Drizzle. Damp. Cold. It was weather that made one glad to be weekending at home and not attempting to enjoy outdoor persuits. I said to J This Weather is Terrible. But then again I said, it does make one feel OK about staying at home and not feeling like one really should be Out and About Doing Things Outdoors. It eliminates the aforementioned "guilt" don't you think? Makes it perfectly OK to loaf around and stay in PJ's till  lunch time. Which is exactly what we did all do. All five of us (haha, even Little B slobbed around in his sleep suit all morning).

The weather outside continued to be wet and cold and grey and so around about lunchtime, J announced he was going to light the fire. It seemed to me like quite a Big Decision as we've not had the fire lit since April or thereabouts. The first Lighting-of-the-Fire really does ram it home that Summer has been and gone. I am simultaneously cheered by the idea of fireside cosiness and saddened by the loss of summer. I think though, that I am more cheered than saddened. And the fire yesterday really was super-lovely.

It really must be Autumn now then cos not only did we light the fire yesterday, but I ate soup for lunch. I would love to tell you that I chopped lots of fresh veggies and made this delicious chicken and vegetable soup, but that would be an out and out lie. Truthfully I love the idea of homemade soups, but in reality I can never be bothered to deal with all the chopping. So  my soup came from a carton and jolly nice it was too.

 

Isn't this little flower such a gorgeous colour? I found it growing valiantly in one of my pots outside, surrounded on all sides by brutish weeds. It must've self-seeded from last year. So I plucked it from it's weedy pot, shook off the raindrops and brought it indoors to accompany my soup eating. Lovely.

Also accompanying my soup-eating was this rather delicious book. You may remember some time ago I went off on a giddy burst of excitement over a Japanese crochet book, do you remember that? Well, this is the second book I bought (called "Pretty Colour Crochet and Knit Goods 2", find it here), and dare I say it, it's even more lovely than the first. It sends me completely giddy with desire and excitement.

I could show you each and every page and you would be drooling with lust. Seriously, it is one of the most beautiful books I have ever owned.

I was really taken with the above image, and suddenly had a Ping of an idea, right in the middle of my chicken and veggie soup. PING!! Throw down spoon, rush down to the cellar, unearth the old wooden shelf which came out of our bathroom when we revamped it, drag it out into the back yard (in the rain) and start scrubbing it down with soapy water. In the rain. Scrub scrub scrub.  YEs, I am quite bonkers. I have in my mind the red painted shelf, do you remember it from this post? I think :: yes yes, I can paint this little old manky shelf (cos it is indeed quite manky, stained a dark seaweedy green colour), make it bright and red and gorgeous and then crochet some Shelf Trim for it!!!!!! Oh, happy days!!!! crochet Shelf Trim!!!!!! So of course I could not wait and I immediately started hooking up an idea for shelf trim. I'll show you what I've started when I've done more of it, and the shelf too, yes I'll show you progress on the Manky Shelf.

 

Ahhhhh, you can't beat sitting by the fire on a rainy Sunday afternoon. Quite blissful I tell you.

I even had time for a little bit of a stroll in Magazine Wonderland....the October issue of Country Living is an absolute joy, it really is. Colour and Charm, yes it really does have that in spades.

So that was the extent of my weekend at home, and pretty darn good it was too. Right now it's Monday morning and Little B has just woken from his nap. So I shall love you and leave you, I'm trotting off now, heading three doors down to number eighteen to have morning coffee with my lovely neighbour. Have a beautiful day one and all......got a Box to unpack for you next time, bet you can-not-wait for that eh, thrills and spills of the boxy variety!

See you soon xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

Sweet Flower Grannies

 

Hello my Lovelies! Some crochet talk today :: is it me or does it seem like an aaaaage since we chatted about crochet?? Truth of the matter is, my hooky activity has been quite minimal of late, almost to the point of being non existent some weeks. And that's a sorry state of affairs for sure. However, last night once the Little Ones were tucked up in bed, I managed to get all my chores done in double quick time. I zooooomed around the house tidying up toys, sorting laundry, clearing the kitchen, ironing J's shirts (yes, I know, if I could include icons in my text I would've inserted a big fat YaWny one right there). And by 8.40pm I was all done and ready to flollop on the sofa for a spot of crochet time.

I began working on this blanket back at the end of July, it's a granny square blanket for Connievan. But not an ordinary bog-standard granny square blanket (much as I LOVE the traditional squares), no no, these are my new extra-special granny squares which I designed myself. Called the Sweet Flower Granny Square, they do indeed start out as a sweet little flower. Awwwww!! Cute eh?? I've been producing these dinky little Sweet Flowers in any spare bit of time I've had available (like I say, almost non existent) as it's been quite easy to sit and make them without having to think too long and hard about colour choices. The idea is that I can then have a pile of flowers to dip into when I have time/brain power to turn them into squares, cos it's the square-making that requires colour-combining skills.

This morning I managed to find both brain power and time, it was a major event. Little B was sleeping soundly so I grabbed the opportunity and set to work.

Sweet Flowers became Sweet Squares, which in turn were worked into the blanket. Joining on-the-go of course.

 

I'm using Stylecraft Special DK (an acrylic yarn) which is of course the same yarn that I used for the Granny Stripe. So I had seventeen colours already  which were left over from the striping, but I got to thinking that seventeen wasn't quite enough. Not enough balls in my basket I thought. I need a few more. Just because. Because yarn shopping is So. Much. Fun. So off I toddled to my LYS and I bought five more, so twenty two colours in total now. The above balls are my new additions, as follows.........

Top row ::

1302 :: denim 

1062 :: teal

Bottom row ::

1277 :: violet

1123 :: claret

1425 :: emperor

You can find info about the other seventeen colours in this post.

So although this latest blanket has begun slowly-slowly, I am liking it very muchly. There's still a weeny bit of uncertainty as I've not perhaps made enough of it yet to really get a feel for how the design is working and how the colours are coming together. But first impressions are good.

This is where I'm up to..............................................................................................

 

Its a blanket of large and small squares, see? The large squares are worked in eight rounds, the small ones in four rounds. I think it's going to work out, don't you? Here's hoping.

Right-oh, been lovely sharing this with you....7.30pm now and I need to go get my things together ready to head to the pub. Yes, I go out to the pub every Monday night now, I started up a Crochet Night in my local hostelry. Beer 'n' hooky. Natter 'n' slurp.

It's a wonderful thing, this life of mine.

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Chitter-chatter

WOW, that's quite a punchy photo to be shoving in front of you straight up isn't it??!!!

Haahahahaaaa :: Hello!!!! Lovely to see you as always, thanks for bobbing by. Thought you might enjoy a real good bit of colour therapy to begin today's witterings, I certainly feel like I need a colour fix as the weather in my patch is so grey and damp and miserable today. Got wet walking to school and even wetter walking home again. Its that kind of dismal light drizzly rain that is neither here nor there, yet still manages to make you incredibly wet.

Still, I'm home now, and when I walked in here I was greeted by the sight of these amazing sunflowers beaming out from the corner of the room, aren't they beautiful?

I bought them home from the supermarket yesterday, along with two other bunches to give to my two lovely neighbours (I just love giving friends flowers for no particular reason). I walked home along the canal with the pushchair completely laden down with groceries, this big pile of sunflowers balanced precariously on top, and in the short fifteen minute walk I had no less than three people comment on how beautiful they were. Yes, Aren't They Just, I replied.

Ahh it is good to sit and have a chitter-chatter with you all! I've not got an awful lot to say really, but I do like to chat about This and That, to share with you some little snippets of my week, pics that've been snapped on my camera in the past few days.

I'm enjoying this week, it feels really comforting to be getting back into a routine with home and family life. Little People settled back to school, J back to work (he's been on hols the past fortnight), which leaves just Little B and me hanging out together. I do like my pottering little routines. Generally speaking, by the time we get home from the morning school run, Little B is asleep in the pushchair, which is wonderful timing on his part cos it gives me a weeny baby-free space to sit, breathe, think and drink a coffee. Sometimes I sit in the Big Chair, sometimes at the table with my laptop catching up in Blogland, and sometimes if the weather allows, I take my coffee outside. I like outside coffee time, I really do. Even though we don't have a garden as such, I do still enjoy sitting in my teensy-tiny back yard looking about me and feeling the air on my face as I drink and ponder. I've got this lovely checked oilcloth spread on my outside table right now and it cheers me every time I clap eyes on it, even when it is covered in rain drops.

I've been making a real effort to eat more healthily this past week, and I'm enjoying that too. Well ok, honestly, I'm kind-of enjoying it. But I'm missing my Sweet Things. I'm cutting right back on the amount of sweet sugary things I consume as I developed an alarming sugar addiction whilst being pregnant and then breastfeeding. But as I'm no longer feeding Little B (as of last week when he turned eight months) it seems time to address the alarming size of my midrift. Don't worry though, I'm not going to blather on about dieting, cos truthfully I find talking about dieting and weight loss Very Tedious. But I can talk about fruit can't I? I love eating fruit, most especially fruit that's been chopped into bits. I find that if I can be bothered to go through the hassle of chopping various bits of fruit onto a plate, then the whole fruit eating experience becomes pretty fine. Not quite as fine as the experience of eating caramel shortbread but hey ho, I am making the most of it.

So I'm spending lots of time this week entertaining Little B cos there's no one else here to do it (oh Little People, I did so appreciate your entertaining skills during summer, you were ace with Little Brother). He has this little plastic box full of little plastic toys which keeps him happy for a while, but truthfully he really does prefer people to plastic. He loves singing and jigging and tickling and peekaboo games which require me to be present and fully engaged. His plastic box of plastic toys will do the job when I really need to go get something done, but it is generally short lived. He is definitely happiest when he has full-on interaction, and if that interaction comes from a whole gang of people then so much the better. Like at Knit and Natter for example.

He positively glows with happiness when I take him to the cafe on Thursday mornings for the knit and natter group. He loves it. He gets soooo much attention, from soooo many lovely ladies for most of the morning. Which I am wholeheartedly encouraging. I was really happy to be back amongst hooky and knitty friends yesterday, I had really missed my cafe mornings. I managed to do a little work on the centres of my Sweet Flower Grannies, I'm enjoying these a lot. Do you like my little housey purse? It's not one of my creations, it was made by a very talented local lass called Cathy who's sells her textile work under the name  "Dear Emma". As soon as I saw those adorable little houses I knew it had to be mine, I adore little houses, as you probably already know. Incidentally, just discovered a new Group over on Flickr which is dedicated to fabric houses :: it's called "New House on the Block" and  it makes for a lovely inspiring browse if you have a little time to spare.

Which leads me nicely on to my own little stitchy houses.....I really hope you like the new Attic24 banner that's appeared at the top of my blog? Did you see it when you arrived?

 

I made it almost two years ago now, in December 2008 (had to really rootle through my photo archives for it as I've "mislaid" the actual textile, oopsie, no idea whatsoever where it might be). I vividly remember the afternoon I finished it :: I was sitting in the window seat of the Attic stitching those little windows, looking out over the white snow covered hills. Bliss.

Ooooooooooooooo sweet Little Houses, I do love them so! I've wanted to have this stitchy banner up on my blog for an age, but it wasn't possible with the very basic Typepad account that I had. So I finally decided to upgrade this week and then got my resident Techie AKA J to help me do furiously devilish things with html code...and hey presto, there it is! I am so so happy to see it there.

Another change to Attic24 is the appearance of a second sidebar over to the right. And you've also probably noticed that this new sidebar contains a little strip of advertisements. I have deliberated long and hard about the business of allowing ads into the Attic, it hasn't been an easy decision by any means. Ideally I would love to be aiming for something like writing a book or designing and publishing patterns in order to contribute financially to my family. But as I am finding it tricksy even to go for a pee during the day, working as such is out the question right now, there is simply no time for it. However, with J on my back I increasingly have to be accountable for the time I spend in Blogland! It’s not always easy to stand my ground when blogging is seen as just “a crazy hobby”. But if it has earning potential….well you get my drift.

Well...I need to hop off and do other things now, but thank you for reading all this chitter-chatter, it's been a pleasure.

Wishing you all a fabulous weekend, full of bright and beautiful things!

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ps meant to say a big huge ((thank you)) for all your enthusiasm and delight over the TRP, it's been great reading your comments, thank you xxxx

Toilet Roll Project (TRP) :: Ta-dah!

 

Hello! As you can see, we are Ta-dah-ing today and I am so so so happy to be here!

I love writing my Ta-dah posts. Like really, really L♥O♥V♥E it. I guess I must've written quite a few of them in the two and a half years since I began this blogging lark, and I always get such a thrill out of sharing with you all. I mean, it's fun sharing the ideas and the inspiration and the on going creative process, but revealing the Finished Object is the most fun of all. Nothing like a pretty successful Finished Object to make one feel accomplished and really rather good and heart-skippy all the way down to ones toes.

What often surprises me about my ta-da-hing is that I tend to feel the same huge surge of excitement no matter what the size of the project. In other words, it could be a big crochet blanket that's taken more than half a year to complete, or a batty little craft project which comes together in a matter of days :: the excitement factor is generally as huge for both.

So yes :: toilet roll tubes then, here we go....

This quirky little project began back here if you remember. Nothing major, just a spot of spontaneous late summer crafting with the Little People. A fairly pointless project really if the truth be told, but oh my, how it captivated me! How I LOVED making it happen! This little project (the TRP) really got me excited to the point where I seriously began to feel extremely un-normal. I mean, I was stopping my neighbours in the street and talking nineteen to the dozen about toilet roll tubes, and that's not normal behaviour is it, to get so excited about bits of cardboard?

But excited I was, and then some. I think it was a whole combination of things really that made this little project so top notch for me. It was the fact that I was doing it with the Little Peeps, and it felt like a long while since we'd been creative together. It was the fact that I could get out all my lovely crafty bits of fabric and trims and buttons and beads which had not seen the light of day for a fair old while. And it was the fact that we were making and representing Our Family, which happens to be something I am passionate about. And to somehow see us all set out, all Five of us really made me think about my children and the fact that there are now three of them. Cos in many ways I am still somewhat getting used to the fact that Little B is here and that we are indeed a family of five. Not four. Five. Yikes! Those innocent toilet rolls proved to be quite a reality check!

Lovely isn't it when you go skipping through blogland and you discover a new voice, a new creative spirit? Sadly I don't have time to pootle through Blogland like I used to, but I do still love seeing what other folks are getting up to creatively. I like to feel inspired as much as the next person. So I was delighted to discover Jane over at Teawagon Tales and to feel inspired by what she was doing. And in fact, it was she who suggested I needed to make my own Toilet Roll Self something crochety to wear. Oh the joy! Hooking those little mini granny squares was the best fun ever. My cup did runneth over!

I am really excited to be showing you the TRP.

Like ants-in-my-pants-yippety-yeeehaw excited.

Can you tell?

Nearly time.

I didn't take many photos of the work in progress cos truthfully I was way too engrossed in it to pause and go get the camera.

The Little People really did me proud you know. They somehow sensed that this project was important to me and they put a lot of effort into making it work. They really thought hard about how they wanted their clothes to look, and they got sheets of paper and practiced drawing all kinds of different faces for themselves until they were happy with what they came up with. I assisted them with the hair, but mostly the rest was down to them.

So.

You wanna see?

OK, a little peek..............

.....ahhhhhhhhhh there we are look, the Attic24 T-roll family, looking all cutey on the mantel.

They look right at home don't they?

Sorry?

You can't see them very well?

You need me to go closer?

Zoom in you say?

Show you some detail?

OK, of course....

....just for you....

Ta-dah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Do you think we did good, the Little Peeps and Me??

Love love love love love love LOVE my Cardboard Family!

Let us introduce ourselves...........

This is Me, modelling my very own dinky little crochet cardie, isn't it just a teeny bit super? I made little one-round granny squares using embroidery thread worked on a 2.5mm hook, joined on-the-go. A button to finish. Oddments of fabric and ribbon for my outfit, felty brown hair in a very Fetching Style. And to finish off, a little pretty hair clip cos that's what I wear most days.

Little Lady and I look remarkably similar in real life so I'm told, only her hair is much darker and her eyes are blue (mine are green). She chose the fabrics for her outfit and even drew a picture of exactly how she wanted herself to look. We worked on our faces together on paper first, drawing out lots of different variations until we were both happy. It wasn't spontaneous. It was very well thought out. And a little nerve wracking actually doing it for real, with Non Adjustable felt tip pens. Oh the strain! I held my breath the whole way through when Little Lady did hers, I honestly did, but she did great. She got herself in a little bit of a tizzy when her rosy cheeks didn't line up, but oh I was so proud of her.

Ahhh Little Man...my Big Boy. It took a bit of gentle persuading to get him in on the TRP, but when he finally did join in the fun he really enjoyed it I think. I allowed him to chop up some of Little B's grown-out-of dungarees so that he could have some denim, and he designed his top based on one that he actually owns. The 8 is cos he has just turned eight. But what really got me was the way he drew his face....awww, so cute, with tongue out and freckles and everything, this is so very him I tell you, he really did great.

And this is of course our Little Baby B. I made him first before I made myself and honestly, I was squeeeeealing with delight just making his little outfit (the sleeve from an old vest of his). Then once I got to drawing on his little cheeky baby face, well that nearly sent me over the edge. I've no idea why I was soooooooo excited, but I honestly was beside myself with happiness when TR-Little-B was born.

And last but not least, here is J. He was great fun to make. Easy hair cos he has None. I made his shirt from one of Little B's teeny tiny old baby shirts, and J's amazing face was drawn by Little Man. I asked him to draw his Dad's face on a piece of paper first as I was really curious to see what he would come up with and knew instinctively that it would be miles better than anything I could do. How right I was. It's fabulously accurate, even down to the wonky glasses.  I LOvE it.

Incidentally, I also had Little Man's assistance during the Photo Shoot :: I wanted to do it in similar style to Jane's, with some sort of prop to represent each of us. He chose all the props excepting mine which I was quite adamant about, it had to be fresh flowers from the back yard for me. I was really stumped with what to use for J (couldn't put a computer on the mantel), and it was Little Man who thought of this "Dad's Army" DVD box set which is a current obsession with J right now (yawn, that show drives me demented with boredom, but hey-ho, each to their own and all that). Just so you know.

So :: there we are, the Attic24 Toilet Roll Family. All complete and looking fine and dandy. Oh I have enjoyed writing this post, hope you've enjoyed sharing this daft little bit of Creative Nonsense with me.

Now then, just before I love you and leave you and head for bath and bed, can I quickly show you my picture that's also up above there?

I treated myself to it a month or so ago and it makes me so incredibly happy every time I look at it (which is often). It's a small print taken from an original by the supremely talented and very lovely Julia Crossland. Ahh it just makes my heart sing, it really does. You can find this print along with others in her online shop, do go and take a look. Lovely.

Right-o my Lovelies, I am out of here and off to run me a hot bubble bath, followed by clean pyjamas and a little bit of hooky.

See you all soon xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Picnics and Pretty-things

 

The first day of September today, and our Summer holidays are officially at an end :: back to school tomorrow for the Little People. The past few days have been really lovely here, both the weather and the little things that we've done as a family to round up the holidays. The change of season is very noticeable now, the shortening length of the days, the slight chill in the air, the incredible light. I took the above photo this morning, gazing out of the attic window into the sunrise at 6.43am, it really honestly took my breath away for a moment. And do you know what?? I just had a quick trip back into my September archives from last year and had a little chuckle to myself at the total sameyness of my life year on year....look at my attic view on 1st September 2009, and note the time, teehee!!

We've been making the most of being out in the countryside these past few days as we are being blessed with the most glorious late summer weather here in my patch. Yesterday we decided on a last minute jolly to Bolton Abbey for a late picnic lunch. The landscape is looking glorious, the distant hills turning purple with the heather already.

The early afternoon sunlight was magical, and the air was warm as we walked.

This river beach was our picnic destination, and the Little People were very excited at the prospect of river paddling and tree climbing to accompany their lunch.

Isn't the beach amazing? It's proper sand, just as you would find at a seaside beach, only instead of the sea, we have the river and the view of the old Abbey. Oh, and a lovely grassy bank to sit on beneath the shade of a big tree. It was blissful.

 

This morning we had the toe curling business of buying new school shoes, so we weren't organised enough to go anywhere for lunch. But as the weather seemed almost too good to be true, we decided to head out mid afternoon with a picnic dinner instead. We drove right up into the Dales to a favourite picnic spot of ours :: beside the river in Hubberholme (you can read more about this place here)

 

It was glorious. We spread out a blanket on that warm flat rock up above there and lazed about for a while, enjoying the heat of the sun on our faces and the sound of the babbling water. Well that's to say that J and I did, oh and Little B too, we three are very good at lazing. The LP, as you well know, do not sit or laze about. Good heavens, how silly to think that they might! No, they run, leap, paddle, throw stones, build dams, construct twiggy sailing rafts, chase ducks.

 

All that riverside activity made us hungry and we ended up eating quite early. We generally picnic very simply :: fresh crusty bread, goats cheese, cherry tomatoes, apples. A punnet of sweet strawberries and some left over birthday cake (Little Man turned 8 on Monday), washed down with apple juice/tea. It was absolutely wonderful.

 

The above photo was taken today at 5pm as I was drinking a mug of tea and nibbling cake. Oh, and indulging in a little bit of riverside hooky....

 

...yes, I did manage to make four little flowers, gosh how industrious!

 

Travelling back down the dale on our way home, J suddenly swung the car into a lay-by and declared that he wished to go fishing. We were at a little spot by the river that he remembered from his own childhood where he knew for a fact that it was exceptionally good to catch bullheads. And as we happened to have the fishing nets in the car, that was it :: he and the Little People leapt out and went forth to trap fish. Little B and I stayed in the car to do a little bit of dribbling/chewing/babbling and some crochet, which I was more than happy with. We had the car doors open, and I sat looking at this wall for ages...such beauty and craftmanship and history in these old dry stone walls, I had to take a picture to show you. Love love love them I do!

Hanging above the dry stone wall were these tree branches laden with berries...I do believe that Autumn is peeking around the corner isn't it?

And talking of Autumn, it's the season for my absolute most favouritist flowers from the market ....yaaayyyy it's DAHLIA time!!!!!!!!!!

I bought myself two bunches from the market at the weekend, I was hugely excited to see them looking all exuberant and showy in their pavement buckets just the same as last year. Oh my heart was going bump-bumpety-bump carrying these beauties home!

The dahlias are sold as very long tall stems tied up with brown string, but really I prefer to have them much shorter when I get them home. I like to chop a lot of the leafy stem off and bunch the flowers altogether in a jug of some sorts.

Dahlias just have to be put into a jug, there's no other way.

They are simply not vase flowers in my humble opinion.

It has to be a jug.

Something pretty and bold.

Something like this perhaps???

 

Ahhhhhh-HA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes, The Button Jug!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

I finally got the delightful Button Jug that I have been lusting over for months on end (remember me mentioning it in this post back in April?), I am so happy! I spotted it in the shop window of Fuego in Lyme Regis last week and that was it, I just knew it had to come home with me. I simply could not walk past and leave it behind. Wonderful, super-duper, heart-skippy stuff for sure.

A few dahlia blooms made it upstairs to my bathroom windowsill too, they make me smile every time I nip in there.

Something else in my bathroom too look............

 

....there on top of my bathroom cabinet........

 

......thats my new Cath Kidston washbag that I bought in York the other week, plus two beeeautiful soaps that came home from Dorset along with the button jug. I can't tell you how wonderful the soaps smell, in particular the rosy one. I keep yanking them down and inhaling them, but can't yet bring myself to open them cos the packaging is so damn pretty.

Both the jug and the soaps are made by the same Irish company Avoca, which I am quite in love with.

Just one more thing to show you, well two things actually, that were part of my little itsy-bit of Retail Therapy...two pretty little melamine spoons. For stirring my morning coffee in a very pretty way.

Ahhh spoons and jugs and soaps, such Deliverers of Pleasure! I do love my new purchases very much indeed.

And on that happy note, I shall say night-night, it's all gone dark and I am nearly ready for the rosy pillows.

Will be back again soon with a quirky little TRP Ta-dah. Hope you hadn't forgotten about them, the Toilet Roll People?? They are waiting patiently for their moment.

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