This is probably around a quarter of the cherries we've pulled off the tree in the last few days and there's still more to come. We're eating till we're fit to burst, giving them away and made an immense clafoutis at the weekend (which I didn't get a chance to take pictures of before it was gobbled up). We'll also be making jam before long.
But, I think we're still in need of cherry recipes. Any good ones?
Just a bit of a knitting catch up. As you've probably noticed I'm not afraid of a bit of colour, so I've become endlessly fascinated by Noro self-striping yarns from Japan. The colour changes are beautiful as they're spun into the yarn, not just dyed into it and it's mesmerising to watch the individual plies within the yarn change colour as the next colour comes through.
The colour combinations are also very unusual and generally contain a couple of 'ugly' colours, but somehow they seem to work incredibly well together - with the ugly colours somehow making the colour scheme seem more sophisticated.
Firstly, I finished my crochet project. I'm really pleased with it and it has had loads of compliments on the few occasions I've been able to wear it (Seattle has been ridiculously hot and sunny these last few weeks). I think I can now officially say I can crochet, which is good as I have a ludicrously large crochet project in mind.
I obviously hadn't got the Noro completely out of my system when I finished the scarf because I immediately cast on a Gaia shawl in Noro Kureyon Sock. I'm enjoying knitting my lace wrap but it's taking forever and is not very portable/social, so I was looking out for a quick and easy very casual wrap that I could wear up on the deck on chilly evenings. This wrap is a lot of fun as the colour changes in the yarn dictate the pattern.
This colourway (180) is incredibly garish, but I'm sort of loving it - I think it will work really well with jeans and a purple tee-shirt for a sort of 'punk grandma' look.
All details as before on my Ravelry page.
So we've made a decision.
We're going with the Deep sofa below from Couch Seattle, though we're going to switch out the wooden plinth underneath for mid-century style cone feet and the whole thing will be in buttery soft ivory leather. The leather was a bit of an indulgence, and in all honesty I'm not really a leather sofa person at all, but it did seem the most supremely practical option with a Minx in the house - our existing white slip-covered sofa really does look horrific nowadays.
We partly made this decision because this is one of the few sofas we were able to sit on and test - and goodness me is it comfortable - but also on the basis of a long email discussion with Ameer at Couch. That man knows his couches.
I'm reproducing one of his emails here as I believe the advice he gives might be useful to anyone else currently buying a sofa, but also because this sort of exemplary and helpful customer service really needs to be celebrated.
Over to Ameer (the below is his email in response to my previous sofa post). I've included mini-pics of the sofas he is referring to, so we can follow the argument.
'It seems you want a modern or mid-century sofa that sits like a big lounger - which is a bit of a challenge.
Mid-century styles like the Petrie and Jasper
are a bit more upright. Not familiar with how the Jasper sits but it mimics the depth and geometry of the Petrie so I assume they sit the same-which is to say well, but hardly plush, which is what you liked about my Deep model.
For reference the Deep is 40" while the Jasper and Petrie are both 36"- and the Deep features down blend in the back and seat while neither the Petrie or Jasper do. Styles like that are both all about the straightness of the line, which down would compromise.
As for the 51 , the other style you scanned, I dig it but simply don't dig it as much as the Deep. Seeing both in person in California the Deep was a fair bit more modern and eye-catching. I don't think it's necessarily rounder by any means than the Deep.
The Rae and Nina are both nice looking but the Nina
is only 75" wide, while the Ray looks from here like it sits stiff (and being only 32" will sit quite shallow).
The Danner is pretty (but again shallow) and undoubtedly well made but you're paying maybe $1,500 to get the Adler label. I could do the Nina and probably the Danner as well. But since you've mentioned you want loungy comfort I might encourage you to look at options that include back pillows.
Byward is an awkward knock-off of a B&B Charles.
It looks awkward because the seat cushion is too fat by about an inch - and the back cushions need a touch of space between them so you can see the frame. The Charles needs to be knocked off perfectly to look good. An inch off here and an inch off there and it's not so very pretty at all
Movie sofais good but CB2 quality isn't quite the same as that of the CB main line - and the problem with a sofa like that is that you NEED lots of cushions to put behind you and while lots of throw pillows are nice to look at, they can drive one crazy trying to find the right arrangement on dvd night. Sleek yet plush is really kind of a difficult thing to do.
The Frigerio line at Limn is amazing yet Italian made with prices to match. Restoration Hardware has some great designs, but perhaps a little too traditional for your taste and they're overpriced and Chinese built. Kasala and Alchemy are always options for some contemporary styling, but you undoubtedly visited since they're both on the same street I am. Hmmm. Given your parameters I dunno where'd I'd get a sofa if I didn't get it from me.
If I didn't have 10k for Frigerio (which I don't) I'd probably go for a Steele from CB (which would fit with your room aesthetic). It's got a nice sleek look and in my opinion sits better than the Petrie.
I'm also of the mind that the aggressively mid century style of the Petrie won't age as well as a more updated style like the Steele. You could also get the Steele in time for your parents in a suitable fabric since it's stocked in a nubby polyester. The Petrie is stocked in a cotton which just isn't the right call for you given the Minx. To change out the cotton to the leather on the Petrie you're going to be waiting till well after your parents have come and gone.
I'm going through my databanks here for a good source for a deep, stylish, plush, sofa and coming up blank.
Best I can do is the CB Lounge which is stocked in a stain resistant poly velvet. Yup, that's my story and I'm sticking to it - though that one is 46" deep so will have a large footprint in a not so very wide room. I really did try!
To answer your question I've got the exact spec for both the Petrie, Jasper, and Movie but I'm not in love with any of them. I'll take another look at my resources and see if I can't suggest a couple others. For a really progressive piece that looks fantastic and sits well, I really am a big fan of the Deep. I think it would look right at home in one of my neighboring boutiques at 3x the price.
ameer
The good news. THIS is what you get when record-breaking rainfall in the early part of May is followed by a month of continuous unbroken sunshine and temps in mid to high 70s.
The bad news. These pics were taken from an upstairs window and the tree is so big we will hardly be able to get any of these. Any ideas on how to get these little beauties down and into our gaping mouths?
The inlaws have booked their flights out to visit us this August and we are now panicking because our crummy thirteen-year-old sofa is in a state of severe delapidation and is hugely uncomfortable. I suspect rather too much of this is to blame.
So, a new sofa must be procured.
This Saturday we went along to Couch in Seattle, whose owner Ameer was really helpful and incredibly passionate about sofas (see also this write-up on Apartment Therapy ). He has a range of sofas which are eco-friendly, completely customisable and competitively priced, plus he can get sofas made 'inspired' by those at the big box stores, but again customised to your own requirements.
So here are some sofas I like. I find that I'm drawn to a sort of mid-century vibe (definitely want feet) but it needs to be incredibly comfortable and relaxing and not the sort of sofa that makes you sit bolt upright. Any other ideas? Are there any other aspects I should be taking into consideration? Anyone got any experience sitting on any of the below? I'm thinking of shapes at the moment rather than upholstery colours/fabrics/prices, though if anyone knows of any mid-century styled slipcover sofas I'd be all ears.
Jasper at Room & Board, $1,299
Movie Sofa at CB2, $999
Byward at Velocity, $1,800
Petrie at Crate & Barrel, $1.499
Rae at Chiasso $1,598
Nina at Maine Cottage, $1,700 - $2,590
Danner, at Jonathan Adler, $3,800
Finally, here are a couple of ideas they had a Couch, both of which can be made up in a gorgeous buttery soft ivory leather, which I'm very drawn too due to the practicality aspect. (Excuse the quality of these, they're scans of scans). I'd get the feet changed on both of these though.
Oh and here's reminder of the room it's going in. An no, we still haven't painted the walls.
Remember Abigail? Well, this jewellery designer extraordinaire happens to have bagged herself a boyfriend who, not only designs handbags, but also, after some instruction from Abigail, is designing jewellery as well. Ladies, would that we all had such a man about the house.
Check out all Ryan's bags and jewellery here. It's all great but I have absolutely fallen in love with these tiny chick ear studs. Something about the expression on their faces I think.
So here is the new baby. She's not exactly the colour I would have liked (we saw a fab orange one which was just out of price range) but she's cute and nippy and the Minx loves her very much. We are in ongoing discussions about her name - I favour 'Myrtle' but the Minx pefers the alliteration of 'Belle' (though we should be grateful that Aurora, Ariel and Tinkerbell have not yet come up as options).
I am naturally wondering whether any embellishment is in order - or would that be unspeakably naff and cliche'd?
Options include.
Retro flowers from TonyaBug on Etsy
Daisies from the Daisy People
Fabulous and fabulously expensive offical Beetle decals from Mibo.
Daisy tail light covers
and er, 'eyelids'
and, just in case you have money to burn, daisy hubcaps
Just in case I have any readers left after my shameful lack of blogging in recent weeks, here is a poll.
My knitting seems to be following a springtime theme at the moment.
I managed to persuade the Minx that she'd like a little shrug in, horror of horrors, SPRING GREEN (and not her favourite colours of red or hot pink) by promising to embellish it with little pink beads. If I'd been left to my own devices I would probably have used lilac, aqua or white beads, or more probably still, saved myself a whole lot of trouble and not used any beads at all.
Most importantly though, the Minx herself seems delighted with the result and may actually deign to wear it. I'm not convinced a modelling career beckons though.
I'm also working on a crochet scarf for me. I like this as it looks fiendishly difficult but is actually pretty basic (it has to be as it's only the second thing I've ever crotcheted).
The beauty mostly comes from the Noro Silk Garden yarn. I love watching the yarn unfold in all its different colours and textures. It sort of makes me want to take up spinning and dyeing in all my copious free time (ha ha!).
Apologies for the light posting recently. Life has been a getting in the way a bit. For those readers who consider the approach of summer to be an excuse for excessive drinking rather than excessive crocheting, may I point you in the direction of my latest post on Shelterrific, where I attempt to educate the US in the ways of Pimms.
One of our very favourite suppliers is Scottish jeweller Abigail Percy, who makes, among other things, our very popular Sweet Horse Chestnut Earrings.
She has a wonderful blog detailing her inspirations and the creative process in her tiny studio and has recently been taking us through a project she calls 'Hyacinth Watch'.
Together we've watched her hyacinths grow, seen her sketches, marvelled at the limited edition jewellery she created from the sketches of hyacinth blooms, and you can now buy her photo postcards, wrapped in a brown paper band printed from one of her hyacinth sketches.
Do yourselves a favour, wander over to her blog and see the process for yourself. Or, even better treat yourselves to a necklace or a set of postcards.
All photographs copyright Abigail Percy. Find her Flickr here.
I'm feeling very inspired today by these pictures by American photographer Laura Letinsky, who is currently exhibiting in London until May 30th.
Letinsky has put together tablescapes showing after-party disarray, with crumpled tablecloths, spilled wine, half-eaten cake, fading flowers and the dregs of drinks. Her spare compositions and pretty pastel colours give her images an inner stillness and wistful beauty but intrinsic to all is morning- afterish sense of melancholy, emptiness and decay - the party is over, the people have gone and only the washing up remains to be done.
Gorgeous.
When the landscapers were doing the hardscaping for our back garden we asked them to build a fence in order to corral the Minx.
They left us with an large orange structure which we naively believed would soon fade to an attractive weathered grey.
I don't know what the wood was treated with, but we waited and waited. And the other new wood such as the trellis faded. But still the fence glowed orangely in the corner. (And as you can see it didn't even do a very good job of corraling the Minx).
So about a month ago we bit the bullet, dodged the Spring rain showers and attacked it with the dark brown stain we'd used on the deck. It took forever - it needed two coats and it was a pain in the behind getting under the chicken wire. But in the end it looked like this. I can't tell you what a difference it makes to the whole garden.
Here is a somewhat random picture of a raccoon in the garden at the weekend admiring the fence. (You should have seen us all marvelling when we saw two raccoons - we are SO British).
I'm still on my massive knitting jag, though I was amazed to find that for a couple of days after the accident my head was so all over the place that I found even that difficult.
Here's what I've been working on recently.
Firstly I managed to turn the yarn barf into this. You can't see very well, but I beaded the ends instead of adding a fringe. I'm absolutely delighted with it, and have been wearing it often
Secondly, I knitted these on the way to and from Portland. It was a revelation to me that I could knit in the car, as reading anything usually makes me very nauseous. I'm really pleased with these as well, though the Husband does start singing 'Gotta pick a pocket or two' every time I wear them. Ha ha. NOT.
Finally I'm working on a wrap/shawl thingy since I'm now very addicted to both Sea Silk and lace knitting after the Yarn Barf Scarf and Megan's Garter. It's the first time I've knitted anything this lacy but I'm really enjoying it. It's knitting up quite slowly as it's pretty dense, but my aim is to get it finished for wearing on the deck on a summer's evening while sipping margaritas. Apparently lace looks awful until it's pressed out and 'blocked' at the end of the process. The little white threads you see running through are 'lifelines' made of dental floss. If I make a horrible mistake I just have to rip back to the closest lifeline and not right back to the beginning of the work (and let me tell you, if you drop a stitch with Sea Silk all hell breaks lose pretty quickly.)
More details, including patterns etc., are, as usual on my Ravelry page.
I've recently come to know Jessie Oleson of Cakespy. She is a Seattle-based artist and illustrator who does cute watercolours showing the adventures of Cuppie, an anthropomorphic cupcake, and also writes the blog Cakespy, where Jessie hunts down various cakes and desserts. At which point I fully understand if you've all fled there en masse and are no longer reading this post.
As part of this month's Wallingford Art Walk Jessie was exhibiting at Trophy Cupcakes showing pictures of Cuppie in various Seattle locations. Given my borderline obsession with Trophy anyway, wild horses couldn't keep the Minx and I from attending.
I did buy a couple of little watercolours which Jessie will be sending to me. In the meantime the above is the promotional postcard for the event, which the Minx absolutely adores and which I will probably also frame for her. She particularly likes the 'Mummy and Minx buying a box of cupcakes' (yes she is fairly familiar with the appearance of a Trophy box) to the left.
If you're in Seattle, Jessie's work will be on display at Trophy through to June 1st. She's also exhibiting at Schmancy in downtown Seattle on Friday evening. For all non-Seattleites, her work is available online here.
I'm back!
Thank you so much for all your good wishes. I was quite taken aback by how badly affected I was by the shock of it all. The first couple of days I was all over the place and after that I was very, very tired - presumably as the adrenaline left my body. Fortunately the only major physical injury was to my tongue, which I managed to bite, and to my jaw, which I think was bruised by the seatbelt and which seemed slightly misaligned and made eating hugely difficult. I've had some bodywork though, and if you are in the Seattle area I can't recommend my chiropractor Dr Ted, who straightened my back out, or the magic fingers of Anne the rolfer - who managed to straighten my jaw out - highly enough.
The car was a complete write-off though, so we're currently in the market for a little practical runaround. My head tells me that I should be getting a little fuel-efficient and practical hatchback, though such things are as rare as hens' teeth in the land of the Hummer, but my heart is telling me to get a VW Beetle. If anyone's got any experiences, good or bad, to share then I'm all ears.
This might have to be a light week of posting, as I've got a lot to catch up on with mirrormirror, but here are some photos from the annual tulip festival in Skagit County that we went to the weekend before last. I'm also writing some posts over on Shelterrific if you can't get enough of me.
Just to let you know that I was in a car accident on Monday. All pretty much OK, but I've been taking some time to rest. I was amazed by how shocked and discombobulated I felt for a day or too afterwards and I'm still feeling rather tired and unable to concentrate.
I appear to have sustained some damage to my jaw and bit my tongue hard, so eating has been rather painful and difficult. It's getting better and I'm having treatment, but in the meantime I'm living on a diet of Greek yogurt, mashed potato, applesauce and soup. Please do not mention steak or crusty bread in my presence.
I hope to be back posting next Monday. Don't miss me too much!
I'm sorry this week has all been about knitting and photo collages - still getting back in the groove after spring break.
I was a bit concerned that three knitted dishcloths was a somewhat mean present for Megan (though it seems from your comments that I needn't have worried) so I took up the tiny bit of blue Sea Silk I have left from the scarf I'm knitting and decided to knit her a lacy garter as well.
Actually this was a very selfish present as I've been dying to try out knitting lace and this seemed like the perfect size of project, and I could knit with Sea Silk all day, I love it so. Here's what I came up with. I found the pattern on Ravelry of course, and it seemed very appropriate since it's called 'Eloping'.
I also managed to knit a little Easter gift for the Minx, who is very fond of a soft-boiled egg for breakfast. I was going to make three - one for each member of the family - but the other two are going to have to wait until next year. All details on my Ravelry page. Come and be my friend.
Oh by the way, I've decided I LOVE lace knitting and have already embarked upon a lace project for ME.
Well I couldn't be bothered to do a post for March. Due to the incredibly cold spring temperatures, the garden really looked hardly different from February - mostly hellebores and some rather sorry looking daffodils.
But then sometime last week Spring came along and this happened. I can't begin to tell you how much pleasure this tiny plot of land gives me sometimes.
The setting isn't remotely as naturally stunning as Seattle's and we spent much of the weekend dodging rain and hail showers, but I came back with serious case of Portland envy.
The architecture is older and therefore more charming to my European eyes, the streets are narrower and more pedestrian-friendly and it just has a cooler and funkier urban vibe, despite being much the smaller city. Just from the clothes people wear you can tell that Portland is a city of artsy types whereas Seattle is the ultimate city of geeks.
Thanks so much for the recommendations, here and on Facebook. Things we really enjoyed - apart from the hotel - include Habibi for great Lebanese food (we used to live near some great Lebanese restaurants in London and its something I really miss); Hot Lips Pizza in the Pearl District for seriously great tasting pizza; Cool Moon Icecream near Jamison Square (the perfect shelter in a hailstorm); Sushiland, also in the Pearl District, for good cheap conveyor belt sushi; Cargo for funky ethnic stuff; Knit Purl for YARN and of course Powell's for books. The Japanese Garden in Washington Park is stunning and the rose garden must be amazing when the roses are actually out. Lots of amazing rhododendrons when we were there though. I also found the Holocaust Memorial, which we wandered into on the off-chance, very moving.
Mostly though we spent out time wandering the streets, admiring the street art, riding the trolley buses and hoping that Seattle's urban planners will someday turn South Lake Union or Georgetown into the Pearl District with better views. Keep your fingers crossed.
I mentioned last week that I'd been knitting secrets and now I can finally reveal all.
As you may know, Megan of Not Martha fame is eloping to Vegas with her fiance' Scott (check out her wedding blog here) and last Friday we attended a little soiree in their honour.
I decided to knit them some Doctor Who dishcloths as I know Megan is a fan. The colour scheme was chosen to coordinate with their spatulas. The patterns for the Dalek and Tardis dishcloths were found on Ravelry of course, though I had to chart up the Cyberman myself using this fabulous software and a basic chart I found. All details on my Ravelry page.
A propos of not very much I do like close up photos of knitting. Don't you? (More secret knitting to be revealed after I've picked up the Minx and planted some sweet peas. I know you hardly contain yourselves. )
I have SUCH a weakness for gorgeous hotels. This weekend we managed to get a deal on the recently-opened the Nines in Portland. Great location and a fabulous boutique-y feel for a largeish hotel.
There were some great decor touches. I liked the taupe colour scheme with accents of aqua, lilac, purple and amber in the pillows, sheer drapes, and Murano glass light installations; the subtle taupe on taupe patterning in the wallpapers; and the lovely bespoke carpets which reflected the accent colours and the patterns in the papers and drapes. The Minx adored the sparkly chandeliers and a somewhat strange sculpture of an enormous jewelled necklace in the lobby (I didn't get a good picture of this though).
The lounge and bar area in the enormous central atrium was fabulous - divided up into a number of different 'rooms' each with their own decor, lighting and seating, but working together harmoniously as a whole. And we were quite memerised by Matt McCormick's art installation comprising four enormous LCD panels showing silhouettes of cars crossing Portland's Fremont Bridge at sunset in the restaurant. Here's an article with more about the hotel's art collection.
All-in-all highly recommended next time you're staying in Portland.
One thing I did manage to finish last weekend were the Minx's socks. I love how cute they make her feet look. There's something very charming about four-year old cankles (unlike my own).
Of course temperatures went up to 70 degrees over the weekend and the beginning of the week and I thought she wouldn't actually be able to wear them before she grew out of them, but we're back now to a business-as-usual, grey, overcast, dull, rainy Seattle spring, so she might get a couple of months wear out of them.
Apologies for the lack of bloggery in recent days. I've been doing STUFF - painting a fence, building a flower bed, wrestling with a gigantic inbox and knitting some secrets. I have no idea how people not only do stuff round the house but also manage to document it.
We're also heading for an impromptu trip to Portland over the weekend, so I'll be back in the middle of next week. Don't miss me too much. And if you have any recommendations for fabulous shops, restaurants and things to do leave them in the comments and I will love you forever.
This weekend the weather was utterly fabulous, so of course we spent it going to Ikea and doing loads of chores around the house and garden. We are in that in-between stage with lots of half-completed jobs and Ikea flatpack boxes lying round the house, but progress of sorts has been made.
We did take a short break on Sunday to go for lunch at the Volunteer Park Cafe and then for a stroll around Volunteer Park, stopping at the conservatory along the way.
I just happened to have my macro lens on my camera, so it was a good opportunity to get up close and personal on some of the flowers.
For all those of you who have a four-year-old or thereabouts. Prepare for SQUEALING.
The vintage Dutch yarn swift I bought off Ebay arrived yesterday and it is so much more beautiful than I hoped - a beautifully carved and lovingly constructed work of art. I love it to bits.
Here it is posing with some new yarn. Ravelry is going to bankrupt us.
Why is all the equipment and stuff associated with knitting just so gorgeous? It used to be so much easier to resist in the days of utilitarian metal needles and scratchy acrylic yarn.
In its wisdom the all powerful Random Number Generator chose Jessica from Esthetic-Eclectic (which is a very fabulous new blog BTW) as its victim and she will shortly be receiving the four pretty puzzle books.
Jessica, if you're reading this, get sorting your receipts and please get in touch with your postal address (I'll also email you)
The rest of you - go and clean out your handbags and manbags immediately.
People have been wondering what an Easter tree actually is. I think it's originally a Northern European tradition (Swedish? German?) but is becoming increasingly popular in the UK. We never had one when I was a child but I've made one every year since the Minx was born.
They're very easy to do. Just put some florists' oasis/foam in a bucket; stick in some branches, (either flowering tree branches or some twisted willow as I've used here); cover the top with sphagnum moss; decorate with little wooden pastel-painted eggs and ornaments, and finish off with peculiar pompoms.
I found our little decorations, by Gisela Graham, a few years ago on Ebay, but I see that for US peeps Williams Sonoma is getting in on the act with some pretty wooden eggs, which are even on sale if you want to snap some up. If you were one of the crazy people who doesn't like my pompoms, I sup-pose some pastel satin bows would do at a pinch.
Talking of pretty patterns, I know I'm supposed to be doing Weightwatchers, but a couple of these chocolate bars from Seattle Chocolates just happened to fall accidentally into our shopping trolley at the weekend.
Of course I only had one or two squares (who are you kidding? - Ed) but I'm pleased to report that they taste just as gorgeous as they look.
Oh and the below would make an extremely acceptable Easter egg substitute.
I don't know quite how I got to this page on Ravelry but when I saw this pattern for peculiar Easter tree decorations, I knew I had to give them a try.
I used a yarn called DROPS Eskimo which is a super bulky (super chunky) 100% wool yarn from Norway and simply wound the yarn round mine and the Minx's hands to create not very prepossessing bundles of yarn, tied in the middle with cotton thread.
Six minutes each in the Wonderful Wonder Washer transformed them into furry alien pompom creatures.
Here they are drying out and basking in the sunshine.
The Husband thinks they look like these
I, on the other hand, am trying to decide whether they're really really cool, or really, really naff.
I'm tending towards the former, but can see that from a certain perspective they might look like very chewed and disgusting dog toys.
Everyone seems to be doing pretty patterned bookcovers nowadays - I posted recently about the Virago special editions and Penguin has recently got in on the act with foiled hardbacks designed by Coralie Bickford-Smith, which I would dearly love to own. (More images here).
You too can now jump on the patterned book bandwagon with the new Spring collection of gorgeous little puzzle books from Andrews McMeel and the Puzzle Society.
Each book is about the same size and shape as a Moleskine notebook but features a different, beautiful, embossed, foiled or flocked cover. It makes sense really - we take care to find pretty notebooks and pens to stash in our handbags, why should puzzle books be ugly?
To have a chance of winning all four of the books pictured, just tell me in the comments below what is the prettiest or ugliest thing you currently have in your handbag. I'll keep the competition open for a week and choose the winner using an unbribable random number generator (though you are welcome to try bribing ME). I'm also happy to ship anywhere in the world. You will need to make sure you leave an email address with your comment so I can contact you if you win.
Good luck!
I am so tempted to keep these for myself, as they really are rather attractive, but the chances of me finding a spare moment for puzzling, are, shall we say, somewhat remote.
Slowly but surely, the colours for the main room are coming together (yes, I know it's been ages but I'm still searching, vainly so far, for the right pink- and yes, I know you told me to paint it green).
One question on my mind at the moment is what to do with the stairs, which face directly into the main living room and are currently painted the most revolting shade of diarrhoea brown.
I've posted up a couple of ideas here and here with other staircase inspiration, but was flicking through an old Livingetc yesterday and came across this picture of Orla Kiely's staircase in London which I rather like (though it is intrinsically a much more beautiful staircase than ours). Though not in red.
What do you think? Have you seen any other good painted staircase ideas anywhere? I'm worried that painting a stripe will add an extra layer of complexity that the room doesn't need, but it IS much more fun than just painting the stairs white. The other option of course is just to find a door to replace the one which is currently missing, which we may still do whatever we end up doing with the stairs.
Yesterday we went for a walk in Seattle's rather splendid arboretum (say what you like about this city, but it is incredibly good at trees).
It's been a long snowy winter in Seattle terms, so the spring flowers are only just unfurling, but it was a lovely day for a walk with my newly cleaned 60mm lens, which I am very happy to have back in my arms.
I've been using some of these images as desktop backgrounds and if you'd like to do the same, please feel free to nab them (got to my Flickr, select the image, choose 'All Sizes', open the 'Large' size, right click on the image and select 'set as desktop background'). Please remember that all images are my copyright.
Speaking of desktop backgrounds, check out the Kindred collaboration between Holly Becker and Heather 'Ez' Pudewa, who have collaborated with a number of artists to produce free artist desktop backgrounds (also downloadable notecards and gratitude notes).
Yet another awesome video
FINALLY I get to pick some daffs out of the garden. It's been a long, cold winter here in Seattle.
I'm back doing Weightwatchers and getting back on the Wii Fit again as, due to extreme laziness, I haven't lost any weight since I posted this.
This has of course led to every blog I read to enter into a conspiracy to see who can post up the most enticing/intriguing pictures of cupcakes they can find.
So, in a spirit of 'if you can't beat'em, join 'em' and with apologies in advance for sabotaging your diets here they are.
First up gorgeous things from Aussie Hello Naomi {via Whorange}
Then cupcakes that look like burgers, so you can beat two junk food cravings at once (from here {via Twig and Thistle}
Chocolate Guinness cupcakes with Bailey's buttercream (I am SO stealing that idea) to celebrate St Patrick's Day from Trophy Cupcakes (available through March 31st for all Seattleites).
Finally this has been around the blogsphere a bit but I am DETERMINED to make him some day {via Violet Posy}.
Just wanted to share a couple of recent kitchen purchases.
The Minx takes a packed lunch to school every day, which has become the bane of my life (why am I always packing her lunchbox at midnight?). However I am greatly cheered up by these little washable reusable 'ziploc' bags from Etsy seller Evelyn Fields, made from unbleached cotton. I always feel bad using real Ziplocs, so these bags make me feel good in all sorts of ways.
And we all love our new melamine spoon from Zac Designs (though it's not nearly so environmentally friendly).
Just another quick update before this turns into a knitting blog. Since I have no other projects which are remotely close to completion I promise no more knitting for some time.
The pain-in-the-ass socks are finished. And I don't even like them very much. They're very baggy and saggy - a combination of knitting a size too big (the pattern didn't have instructions for Small Adult); very soft cashmere/silk yarn and a pattern with no real ribbing to it. But they're nice enough for wandering round the house and GORGEOUS in bed.
Apologies for the extremely crap pictures. These were the last pics taken with the point and shoot. I've got my old camera back now - it's unrepaired because the repair would have cost too much, we've decided to go for a camera upgrade instead! Though this will have to wait due to this month's surprise $2,000 car repair bill.
The yarn barf is turning into this - a scarf knitted from silk and seaweed. I'm enjoying this as the pattern is piss easy and it knits up quickly as it's mostly made of holes. The yarn itself is utterly gorgeous, has beautiful drape and sheen and the colour is amazing, imagine silk dipped in blue-black ink. It does seem ridiculous to be knitting this though, when it was snowing at the weekend and the sky is leaden grey.
We did manage a brief afternoon of sunshine yesterday though so I rushed out to take photos.
Flower radiators from Hellos. A mere £460 ($650 - good grief, the pound is crashing through the floor) for each flower.
Made of aluminium and available in a variety of coloured, matte and shiny finishes.
This is what I am working on today.
Why oh why do people insist on selling me yarn in skeins? I am hopeless with them. The yarn is absolutely gorgeous though.
In other news, I have finished a project. Pics to follow when it has finished blocking. And I have just purchased a vintage yarnwinder thingamajig on Ebay at vast expense.
Jona Hoad is a UK-based lighting designer, who specialises in wallpaper-like lighting panels and lighting installations for hotel bars, restaurants and your house if you've got enough money.
Here are some pictures from the DeVigne Bar in Marylebone and the Vanilla Bar in Soho. Sometimes I do like a bit of spangly overthetopness.
I also liked these pictures from his website, which reveal that things are not always as they seem in the world of interiors photoshoots.
Whenever anyone links to the blog or, better still, the mirrormirror shop, I like to say 'thank you' by including a link in my right hand toolbar.
However, I thought I'd take a leaf out of MadeByGirl's book and make my 'thank yous' a bit more prominent every so often, as it's nice to spread a bit of link love around occasionally.
So here are a few recent mentions that haven't yet made it to the side bar. This month it's a nice mixture of old favourites and new discoveries, so do go for an explore. Please let me know by email or in the comments if you linked to me recently and I haven't included you, you'll definitely be on the next list.
First up is a great piece about the mirrormirror shop in NWSource, the website of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. If you're a Seattle-based reader then this is a great source of shopping intelligence put together by shopping editor Alison Brownrigg (who used to run online boutique Petaline, so you know she knows her stuff).
Next is the ever-fabulous Not Martha, who mentioned my plans to make a chandelier on her blog, which lead to me getting lots of useful advice about light fittings from her ever-practical readers.
MaryT at Shelterrific linked to my post about hearts on furniture in her Valentines round-up.
Did you know that the fabulous Velocity shop in Seattle now has a fabulous Velocity blog - Simpatico? Well now you do, and thanks for a couple of recent shout-outs.
Finally Bijou Kaleidoscope wrote a fabulous post about Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day and mentioned us.
Thanks to everyone!
Holly at Decor8 has been writing a fabulous series about unleashing your creativity, which has made me decide that this is the year I learn to crochet.
I have a couple of super scary projects I'm contemplating (to be discussed when they've percolated a bit more) but have told myself that I can't buy the yarn for anything big until I've finished the incredibly tedious blanket of doom. In the meantime I'm attempting a few simple projects, so I can see what this crocheting lark is all about and whether it really is for me.
My first project was a cover for the orchid the Minx gave me for Valentines Day. I adapted Erika Knight's bottle covers from Simple Crochet and used some string I found in our useful drawer and a length of fine chartreuse ribbon I found at the bottom of my knitting bag which I must have bought for some project I can no longer remember.
It wasn't difficult, though string and ribbon are not the most forgiving of media, and has encouraged me to persevere, though the Husband did take one look at the finished article and said, "Isn't that all a bit macrame'?" and I couldn't really disagree.
Here's some crochet that actually looks good. Found via the Style Files and available here if you can read Dutch, these are all crocheted in polyester so are good for outdoors. I'd love some for the deck.
More details in my Ravelry notebook. Come and find me there.
When we were talking paint colours recently (still dithering about that and waiting on a couple of samples) a couple of you mentioned my little Matte Stephens painting, which I picked up when Matte gave his talk at the Lab last year. It was originally intended for the Minx's room, but I've decided that I love it far too much to waste it on her.
I bought the picture because, although it's supposed to be a picture of Matte's wife Vivienne, it reminds me of the Minx, and the fir trees and umbrella are just SO Seattle.
Those of you who spend a lot of time in the American blogosphere will certainly have seen Matte's work before - much of his talk at the Lab was about how he had been quietly plodding along with his art for years, before becoming something of an overnight sensation, with lots of interesting projects in the works.
However, for those of you who don't know him so well he has an Etsy shop here full of prints, and a blog here. You can also buy original works here at Velocity. And as of today he is giving away these three new pillows on his blog.
I hope you appreciate how much I love you, as by telling you this I am severely impacting my own chances of winning.
Here's Matte and Vivienne at the Lab last year
Just updating to say that, just in case you're not lucky enough to win, the pillows are on sale at Urban Outfitters at a very reasonable price.
We knew it might happen, but it seems from customer feedback that the Hannah Tofalos stacking eggcups appeared on UKTV's Market Kitchen.
I don't suppose any of you saw it, or better still recorded it? We'd sort of given up on it happening so hadn't been watching and I would love to see mirrormirror's 15 seconds of fame.
I was awash with nostalgia after seeing these pictures on Crooked Shmooked of the quintessential London Victorian house. Most of our friends with kids in London live in houses like this and if we had stayed in London I'm sure it's the sort of family house we would have ended up buying. (This particular house is not far from where we lived in Notting Hill in London and in an area we were definitely considering moving to).
Vast swathes of houses like these were put up in the 19th century all over London, and while this is certainly not on the cutting edge decor-wise it's a very well done example of the genre, is quintessentially London and the sort of decor I love. If you want to use it for a photoshoot all details are here.
Come in! The encaustic tiiles inside and out are very Victorian and very typical, but the colour of the front door is fresh and modern and the beautiful stained glass is again a very Victorian idea, though I'm not sure if the glass in this particular door has been restored and modernised.
I've sat in so many rooms like this, with beautifully ornate fireplaces, a large bay window and an ugly telly tucked in the corner, because no one knows quite where to put it. Not sure about the sofa though.
Got to love the that Paul Smith 'Love' needlepoint from the Rug Company. It's the companion piece to the one hanging in Carrie Bradshaw's redecorated apartment and something I'd love to have here in Seattle, if only George Bush and Gordon Brown hadn't stolen all our money.
I wish twinkly interior light strings were more prevalent in the US. We had them all over the flat in London and you can generally find good examples at Habitat and Graham & Green. Unfortunately the voltage is all wrong for the States (which we forgot about when we shipped some twinkly lights back for the Minx's room last year).
Pretty much everyone in London has extended into the loft to get a bit more space.
As someone who is in the process of knitting thousands of interminable small stitches for my blanket, I do hope this video was made by some sort of camera trickery, and not by someone knitting every frame.
I'm going to do this series of monthly blog posts again as I do like looking back on them when the weather is gloomy and it's lovely to see the garden developing year by year. I've also found them enormously helpful for thinking about what else needs to be done. So these posts are mainly for me.
If you're still reading, here for comparison, is what the garden looked like last February (about six months after it had been installed) and here is what it looks like now.
Everything's filled out a lot more, and even in the depths of winter it has more structure to it than last year. And I'm pleased with how the chairs brighten up even the gloomiest of days.
We've had a lot of snow by Seattle standards this winter and spring seems much further away than it did this time last year, so thank goodness for the hellebores which are romping through the shade garden at the back under the tree and looking truly amazing. I think they may be my favourite plants in the world (they certainly are at the moment).
The garden designer paired them with sarcococca ruscifolia or sweet box, which this year has beautiful glossy evergreen leaves and shiny black berries - a truly inspired plant pairing. The flowers of the sarcococca are small, white and insignificant, but also give off a most beautiful scent.
I'm also liking the way the hellebores work with the pink-edged heucheras and tiny pink cyclamens I planted last year. Unfortunately the heucheras to the other side of the tree don't appear to have made it through the winter - a shame as they also work hugely well with geranium Anne Folkard in the summer and only one little snowdrop of all the ones I planted last year has so far appeared. A flurry of snowdrops below would be perfect, so I will buy some more in the green now and try and get them established next year.
The nandinas have also been in berry and really quite pretty, though I was intrigued to note that this time last year they appeared to be in flower. The vegetable patch is looking a bit sorry for itself with only the rocket and a few tiny carrots showing through, whereas this time last year we had broccoli and lettuces. Last year we already had tiny narcissus in flower, and this year they're hardly poking up above the ground.
And, finally, in really sad news, I think the snow has done for the beautiful mature orange tree which had been put in by the previous owners. (There appear to be two trees - I'm assuming a male and a female - the one that seems to have died is the female fruiting one).
Last February This February
But really this February, it's been all about the hellebores.
Notes to self: Buy couple of extra hellebores. Plant more snowdrops and tiny cyclamens in pink and white. Replace dead heucheras next to daphne. Replace orange tree?
Oh please, London readers, tell me you saw these. What were they like? How did they make you feel? Did you kidnap one and take it home with you? (Despite the grey skies and general doom and gloom coming out of the UK, they made me very nostalgic for London today).
London artist Stuart Semple wanted to cheer people up, so he released 2057 pink smiley faced clouds made of helium, biodegradable soap and vegetable dye into the sky. After 30 minutes they dissolved in the air. More deets here.
I want one of these so badly it hurts (though probably not as much as my hands would hurt using one, as I can currently only use a very ugly ergonomic keyboard). I never knew before that there was a hole in my life only a decorative keyboard could fill.
Handmade and available here and here for about $165 or £115.
{via If It's Hip It's Here}
A sign of the times - which has inspired me to count up those coins {via The Daily Dish}
This is long, but if you're struggling to create something, anything, it's well worth the listen. I wasn't a huge fan of Elizabeth Gilbert's book Eat, Pray, Love but she sure can give a cracking a motivational speech {via the ever-inspirational Uncle Beefy}.
Tuesday was Shrove Tuesday - Pancake Day in the UK - so like good little expats we whipped up some batter and pretended we were in England. English pancakes are more like a French crepe than fluffy American pancakes, but are cooked in a smaller pan and are tossed to make them brown on both sides - with much ensuing hilarity in the kitchen.
Pancakes are most traditionally served with a sprinkling of lemon juice and sugar, but this year the Husband introduced a new level of danger and excitement by caramelising the sugar with his blowtorch.
This proved to be a great innovation, as it introduced a layer of sweet crunch between the smooshy folds of the pancakes, and family cooking is definitely made more interesting by the brandishing of naked flames and throwing food around the room.
The weather in Seattle
The weather in London
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Recent Comments
Oh they don't need any recipe this fab. cherries:) Yummy:)
Just for the record - she is not American, she is Canadian.
Cherries Jubilee. Definitely. Hot cherries in boozy sauce poured over vanilla ice cream and set alight- what's not to like? Recipe here if you fancy having a go:
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/recipes/cherries-jubilee-553936.html
I was reading on angry chicken about cherry crumble cake:
http://tinyurl.com/l7tr9h
I don't have any cherry recipes, but they look good! How fortunate to have such a productive tree in the garden :)