Flea Market Finds

Another Saturday, another chance for a whole new heap of things to be discovered and ushered warmly, make way! make way! into our house.

Today's treasures include... Some fat balls of seagreen wool for my burgeoning knitting project. I have only just learnt how to knit, it's pretty rad.


Some napkins. Ooh these are amazing. Look at the crazy 1960s abstract pattern, feast your eyes on the lovely colour combination, I love orange and brown and green and yellow.



A bin. No ordinary bin, mind. More fabulous use of crazy pattern. Not sure where this is going to live yet.


And a pair of Dr Seuss. The King, The Mice and The Cheese - (look at the cover - don't you just love that shade of orange? It's so Heinz Tomato soup-y) And Go Dog Go!



Sigh, happiness is mine. Total cost? Five pounds!

A Test of Nerve & Skill. Or Marmalade, As It's More Commonly Known

I made marmalade for the first time last year, it was a very long-winded and arduous process, and it required several re-boils (is that even a word?) to achieve the setting point, which if you are at all familiar with jam and preserve making, is when it reaches about 106C and turns from a runny liquid into, well, a jam. Which in turn meant several re-sterilising of the jars and plenty stamping of feet. Quite stressful.

So with that experience still fairly fresh in my mind, I bought up my Seville oranges and vowed that this time, there would be very little or no foot stamping and I would get some pleasure from the making and not just from the eating.

Yes, well, that didn't last too long. I had been putting it off I think subconsciously, long enough for a orange or two to go mouldy so yesterday I cut all the peel, I squeezed the juice, tied the pips and pulp into a neat muslin bundle, added extra lemon juice for luck and let it all soak for the rest of the day. I was following this recipe -
www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2009/jan/25/seville-orange-marmalade-recipe until I saw how much liquid he was suggesting for 12 oranges! So I looked back to the recipe I used last year, and switched my allegiance back quick smart. Good Old Good Housekeeping - I was sorry to even doubt you. So all progressed well, until it comes time to find this elusive setting point. On and on it boiled, until Paul said that it had been doing so for 50 minutes. 50 minutes! Saucer after saucer was chilled in the freezer, spoonfuls of mixture were gently pushed in order to see a slight crinkling. Nothing. Then, what's this? A slight crinkly skin? Yes! A scramble to pot the marmalade broke out, let's get this over with, I thought merrily. A mountain of washing up later, with the newly filled jars cooling their heels outside, I allowed myself a small smile of satisfaction. No, it hadn't been anywhere near as much of a trial as last year.

But this morning, on painful close inspection, the marmalade was not set at all, so I had to tip it all back into the pan, add more pectin in the form of lemon juice and search again for the setting point. Yes, I need a sugar thermometer. But that would've been a very short post with not nearly so many twists.

Here's the end product - we now have 8 jars of glowing amber marmalade (and I have already given one away). So we might just make it through til August. Should've made 12 jars. Hmmm. Maybe next year.

Bird Day Number 2

Here we are again - the start of a new week. We're all a bit tired (me) and overwrought (Iris). It was a lovely busy weekend, but the repercussions of a very late night and catching Iris's cold has left me feeling as though a period of hibernation would be just the ticket.

So, I have chosen a very simple bird for today's post. I love the distilled simplicity of its shape and how, even on a grey nondescript January day like today, this little glass bird seems to hold a beam of golden light and warmth.

Super Market Day

Every Saturday there's a flea market in our little town - you can guarantee to unearth some treasure or other. I love it and it's really sociable as you can bump into lots of people you know. It's one of my favourite things to do on any non-rainy Saturday. So this morning it was time again to wrap up warm and venture out into the sparkly January sunshine to see what we could find...

And this is what we came home with:

Another kilo of organic Seville oranges so I can make enough marmalade for the year. We're crazy for marmalade in this house.


Some willow twigs complete with catkins ( hello Spring, I'm so glad you're coming).


A Snoopy mirror for Iris's room.


Another find for my ongoing plate wall, the design is 'La Madeleine' by Alfred Meakin - Paris in the fifties, what could be nicer?


A groovy bowl.

Some pretty fabric covered buttons - they look as precious as gem stones in this photograph.


Some black French cotton lace trim and a paper rose basket needle case.


And a birthday card which plays a song if you put it on a record player!


What a fun morning - and now we're off to the beach to make the most of this sunny but chilly day!

Silhouettes

I took these photos whilst out collecting firewood, looking up at the bare branches as the gloaming fast approached - they have something of the papercut about them, don't you think?

I seem to be thinking about papercutting so much at the moment, note to self - buy stash of sharp blades and get cutting!

Bird day! Better Late Than Never...

Is it still Monday? Well it is here for a little while longer. Mondays are going to be Bird Day from now on, when I will post a favourite bird, be it illustration, ceramics, jewellery, photographs or actual little birdies, there will be something beautifully birdlike to feast your eyes upon.

So, today we're starting with some wonderful illustrations from a children's book I found in a charity shop a while ago, the book is called Long Ago and Faraway Stories published in the early 1960s with stories such as The Little Red Hen and The Gingerbread Boy.

It was illustrated by Bill and Bonnie Rutherford whose drawing style is so energetic, joyful and vibrant, both in colour and black & white. Really there are so many amazing illustrations to choose from and I feel sure we'll be back in amongst these pages before long, but these three are my favourites.

Neat Feet

More treasures...

I've had a very successful couple of days rootling about, and I've got plenty to show for it!

On Saturday, I got 6 vintage oilskin children's aprons, from the 1970s I am guessing. They are a bit paint-splattered in places, but I don't mind that at all. My favourite is the Snoopy one. Iris is torn between that and the Winnie the Pooh one. I expect some of them will find their way into my shop at www.eravintage.com and the one or two that we keep will be further well-loved (and paint-splattered!).


And then today, I got a whole lot of books, a pair of Dr Seuss's finest, which are not vintage copies but it is amazing to think that those stories were written in the late 1950s. A wonderful vintage book called A Book of Ghosts, which has some lovely graphic illustrations in it, I expect they'll make it into a post soon, a Jan Pienkowski illustrated story of Christmas (you'll have to wait until it's seasonally appropriate for me to show that one!) and also a book on Paper Sculpture from 1973 for me, which I am very excited about, I really want to learn more about paper craft.


A tidy haul I'm sure you'll agree.

Coming Home to Roost

So, one of the ideas I had when I started this blog was to photograph and catalogue everything I bought secondhand from charity shops, junk shops, carboot sales, auctions etc etc. Because, believe me, I am prolific.
And this morning I found myself with a few minutes to kill and one charity shop before me, the perfect marriage of opportunity and intent.
Iris and I browsed happily for a few minutes before my eyes alighted on this in the window... Isn't she a beauty? We rather love her already.

Little Muse

Today was the first day back after the holidays, so Iris (my two year old daughter) and I celebrated with a spot of painting, printing and baking.

I love to watch Iris making marks, she seems to have a good eye for colour, although all colours are 'blue' at the moment! She is very confident with a blank sheet of paper in front of her and that is why she is my little muse.

I'll be back soon with some more bird-related posts but until then enjoy this riotous show of colour...

Post Holiday Post

Phew! What a whirligig of giving, receiving, visitors, visiting, late nights, early mornings, delicious things to eat and drink, afternoon rambles, and much more besides.

A whole lotta fun but enough now, I am craving simplicity and normality.

So here are a few glimpses of the fun we've had, a last bit of looking back before the shiny newness of this year fully unravels..

Here's to a year full of treasures and beauty!