red and turquoise

Top is a detail from my Diwali flip flops, bottom is a thrifted saucer, I can only imagine what the teacup looked like that must have once matched it.

My front door came completely off in my hands yesterday, I mean, right off. I spent over an hour in the rain trying to get it on (luckily the gale was blowing away from the door) bu to no avail. Today Mr P helped me with it, turns out it is unfixable, but at least we got it re-attached so I could lock it. I have to use my side door now, which is not so good as it lets all the heat out my house and sends the wind blowing right across my bed! But hey, at least I have a second door option so I'm happy about that.

Ooh, must dash, got a text to say food is ready, Mr P making his super tasty pasta. He used to live in Italy so his pasta is always beautiful and the best comfort food. Bye....

Purple & lilac

Hydrangea flowers on top of my stove. The black branches hang from the ceiling above my stove to make the whole thing seem less heavy as it's a huge thing in my white room (the walls only look pink here because of the pink indian fabric I hung at the window for Diwali). When the warranty runs out I'll be painting the stove white, can't wait!




Old lampshade on vintage cushion cover.

More Diwali

It's a long time since I posted a Self Portrait Tuesday pic isn't it, so this is me in one of my outfits for Diwali. I had a proper Sari but I was convinced I'd catch fire with so many candles so I wore this thrifted top instead. It was only £1 cause it has a big oily stain down the front, and something red, but the red sequined scarf hid all signs.

And I finally added the red flowers to that table display and took daylight shots. Will be adding the colourfest to flickr soon but need to set up a new flickr account for fancy dress and parties, fun!

The sugar consumption seems to have delayed my 'cycle' (never so subtley said in real life) and so my PMT continues on and on and on. Luckily yesterday was beautifully sunny so it really lifted my spirits. Rain coming today, I may try and sleep through it so I don't go mad and break things. And speaking of sleep, must get some now... Ciao lovely people.

Divali - table setting

Table setting without flash, I was a bit rushed so I never got the second layer of smaller coloured flowers to go inside the white ones, but I was still pleased considering I had 10 minutes to rush something together.



Table staken with flash, but showing how it is reflected in the mirror to create a full circle, but again, the white flowers hardly show without their coloured centres, not that we were looking at the flowers, we were looking at the (top corners of shot) sweets! More pics soon, trying to sleep off the intense sugar rush.

It really was a lovely night, peple looked wonderful in their outfits and I had an unexpected guest that I hadn't seen for over a year, so that was extra special.

Best of all, it was warm and toasty, my stove was on top form (though it switched itself off 10 mins before people arrived!) and the music I had keyed up on my Mac went down really well, particularly as I finally found the cable that connects my Mac to my stereo.

The music was accompanied by some incredibly gorgeous photo's from the internet shown as a slideshow, they really gave a wonderful Indian feel to the whole night. Happy Divali.

All aglow

4.30am, PMT (PMS) mania has helped me get lots done and I now have places for people to sit inside my house on Saturday. They forecast showers all day so probably no garden fire but no matter, I have my stove working! My house is all cosy now, what an absolute delight. Everything is all orangey glow which is psychologically so warming, if only pellets stoves weren't behind glass... I do miss the smell and sound of a real fire. The most recent filling of insulation seems to be making a big difference so it was worth being pinned under the ceiling the other day :0)

I'm looking out as many lamps, tealight holders and fairy lights as I can find to get the place lit up, the photo above was taken a few weeks ago when there were power cuts, I love the light and shadow it casts, especially inide hte bath as seen here. Whenever I see one second hand I buy it, I have 3 so far.

Frozen berries

Look how lovely and frosted my berries got after they came out the freezer!

Yesterday I had to prune off the last of my oh-so-productive berry branches because I don't want my friends to get berry stained as they brush past. No great loss, there were only a handful of berries still to ripen and I have more than enough in the freezer to keep me in smoothies for a few more weeks.

I'm so enormously pleased with the bush, which was the one things that kept itself going even when I was ill in the summer (unlike the tomatoes, poor things). I've eaten mouthfulls (and often bellyfulls) of berries for nearly every day for about 2 months. I'm so glad I bought it instead of flowers when I moved here.

Colder nights

The light fading on a chilly Edinburgh evening


But even the grey streets have bluey beauty


Monuments on a darkening sky

I can laugh now, but I wasn't laughing yesterday when I was trying to re-attach my kitchen ceiling. Having filled it with enormously generous layers of Thermafleece wool insulation I was naturally tackling alone the two person job of putting back the 6ft by 8ft panel. Unsurprisingly the weight on my hand caused a massive pain which I thought at the time was my wrist breaking (but it was just me aggravation my work induced Bursitis).

My hand recoiled
The panel bagan to fall
The prop posts (with nails in them) started to collapse towards me.
My good hand reached out to stop them...

Nothing was now holding up the ceiling.

I was stuck underneath it, keeping it just above me with my feet, for one hour until my wrist and hand had recovered enough to lift it off without causing further damage. Luckily nothing was seriously damaged, other than my enthusiasm for the work, but that was never really there anyway.

Thankfully I managed to get the panel up and will now have at least one clear space for friends to retreat to if it rains on my Diwali garden fire this weekend... but lets hope it doesn't rain, an October fire is such a delight. A delight for the Festival of Light, how perfect.

Now I need to find somewhere to hide the remaining insulation so I can get to my indoor pellet stove and free up seating space. Am I crazy? What sort of person entertains in a home like a building site? This person :0)

Baraka

If you don't mind paying £1.75 for a cup of tea then head to Baraka, Infirmary Street, Edinburgh, it's really quiet in the afternoons. I practically had the whole place to myself to pour over my huge pile of library books, so much easier than lugging them home on the bus and then back in again, and more treat-like than just looking over them in the library itsef.

Love the oversized round lights on the ceiling, the colourful cushions, the and the bluey wallpaper with a muted gold print.

The Museum

I love the museum on Chambers Street, not just the exhibits, but the building itself. These pics were taken in the original building, but the new one is equally wonderful and detailed. Anyone visiting Edinburgh must go there and go to the roof terrace to view the city. I like to go there if I feel tired or in need of fresh air in the middle of the city.

Coe and Waito cones

Art Esprit are now stocking some of the pottery from Coe and Waito that has been popping up on many blogs. I really want to feel the birds and cups that they make, they look incredibly smooth. But what I really want is a little collection of those pinecones, I must email them and ask about UK stockists.

Blue city

I was really pleased with these pics taken in early evening.

They are looking from outside into a building in the centre of Edinburgh which is currently empty inside, but fully lit. I love how they came out all bluey, they almost look like negatives but they haven't been altered at all, just scaled down in size for the blog.

Summer in Autumn

This is the sum total of my dwarf been harvest!
But they are very adorably tiny and white, I was thrilled, never expected that, you know how I love all things white. That is a standard sized elastic band that they fit inside, tiny!

It's very strange that harvest-wise the summer is over, but weather wise it really hasn't turned autumnal properly. It's been delightfully un-seasonally mild. My only worry is that it's October and the winds are here and starting to blow away some leaves, but the leaves haven't turned autumn colours yet.

So in the spirit of seasonal change, or lack thereof, I have been snapping Autumnal reds, golds and yellows around the house. Had no idea there were so many.



But... I just uploaded them to my Flickr account (been having Flicker breaks in between pulling down the ceiling panels) and Flickr says I've reached my limit and need to go Pro to show all my original pics. I'm devastated, I had no idea they would only show 200. I may have to abondon it and use the Yahoo photo site instead cause I can't possibly spend money on a pro account. Bah, so frustrating, and there aI thought I as being so good and finally adding lots to it.

Orange and turquoise

I'm trying to decide on colours for my kitchen, I always have some variation on turquoise or 50's minty colours, usually fairly zingy. Since moving to this house I've wanted a more muted version of the lovely blues but held off because I didn't want the place to feel cold (remember, no heating for a few years), plus the kitchen is in the centre of the house, no direct windows though plenty of light.



Then I had the first new grapefruit of the seaon the other day. Of course most fruit can be had all year round these days but they don't taste so good out of season so I've not had one since late winter. I loved how it looked on my favourite cardigan (you can't imagine how much I love this cardi) and realised it was the answer to my kitchen dilemma.



I just need to warm up a grey blue (like the Mediterranean Sea on a hazy day) with zingy orange/yellow/gold, and I have plenty of retro lamps, bowls and fabrics to do that. If any of you have this colour combo already in your house I'd love to know if it feels good, and even better I'd love links to photo's of it.

White latch

More pics from France uploaded to my Flickr page today, not my best ones, I was didn't use the tripod at night (wanted to be unencumbered on hot day) and the pic quality pretty low as I was saving card space for wedding photos.

Amazing bluey beans here found on Bubamaca blog.

Surprise post

Feeling a bit under the weather with my neuralgia (post shingles) just now so not blogging after work, but had to thank Janet for these baby bunnies which came in the post... the 3 mini eggs that came with them never made it to the photo shoot, I wonder why ;0)

Thanks Janet, such a treat, I am owing you big postal goodness! I can't imagine how you got bunnies at this time of year, you must have connections, or maybe you're a secret hoarder? I've seen Lindt reindeer in the shops for Christmas already, I think that's what the bunnies are discussing in whispers in this photo, they are not impressed, they think it's a bit commercial and that only bunnies are the real deal. But lets face it, the reindeer are pretty cute too, and made of chocolate so who could dislike them, not me.

Autumn/Winter clothes

A change of colour.
I like blues in the summer.
I like darks in winter.

Apparently when I was a baby my mum always thought I suited black best, but didn't dare as people would think it was weird to dress a baby in black. But I do like black when the seasons change, and dark greys and rich autumnal reds (never scarlet for me), ochres, mossy greens etc. Such a Scottish lassie in the cold months.

When I went wandering with Daphne the other week she introduced me to a wee shop in Edinburgh called Troon that was SO out of my price range but had the most gorgeous coat by Bitte Kai Rand which, at £314 will NEVER be mine (sigh). Unfortunately the website doesn't show the great fastening on the front of this coat...



I also really liked this skirt. The quality of the design and the fabrics used were both excellent, hence the price tag. Kate, I don't suppose they have a Bitte Kai Rand seconds warehouse near Oslo do they? Perhaps not. In that case I'm off to take a pair of scissors to one of my old coats.

But don't let it be said I abandon my blue love affair, I like this bluey top, again, Bitte Kai Rand. And these trousers from Anthropologie I bet they'd be really comfy and cosey with a winter lining added, and would look great with those olive wellies from recent post.



I just got a ping on my email, Design Sponge shop is now open with limited editions of Karin and Mav's work. 10% of each months Ad revenue will be donated to charity.

More Origin

Oops, I missed Ruth Singer on the Springboard section of Origin, I blogged about Ruth's cushions etc. recently. I'm sure I missed lots of others too as I was skimming through the all star line up. So jealous of those of you who are getting to go, though I reckon you'll leave with much lighter purses.

I hope you'll all be posting on your faveourite finds, not that I'm doing a lot of blog reading, but I will do a bit if it rains. Best wishes to those of you that are showing there.

3 x winner!

I WON I WON I WON!!!
I am always making fancy dress costumes for friends, and spend so long my own get neglected. Then when we go out the ones I made get prizes but mine never do. But yesterday I wasn't helping anyone else with a costume, I only had my own to do and I got the prize for best costume!

I know it's shallow but it really made me happy cause I make so much effort with these things but never get any credit, and sometimes it's nice to get credit, especially when that credit comes in the form of £100 in cash!!!!!!! I nearly passed out (though that could be because my Edward Scissorhands outfit is very very hot to wear). Prizes for such things are usually a box of chocs or a bottle of wine.

It really was my lucky night, I had already one some little toys in Pass the Parcel, then the Costume prize and then... 2nd prize in the raffle, £50 of vouchers for River Island - at last I can buy winter trousers which a) fit my new slimmer size and b) have a crotch on them. SO exciting, the crotch wore out on all my winter trousers about 3 years ago but I couldn't afford new ones so I've been wearing long jumpers and things to hide the embarrassing bits.

I've never been so lucky before and I feel with all the things going wrong with my house that I rally needed something like this. Plus I was in big debt after going to the wedding, so know I can afford to eat again. I mean, I love quinoa porridge and Ryvita with hummus and tomato, but it does not constitute a varied diet. I've been deeply wanting to buy aubergines and various squashes for roasting, and now I can, yey.

It's Blogger Monday so no point me trying to post images today, instead some links...

Lots of favourites are showing at ORIGIN
Karin Erksson (really like her new postcards, I want one of them just as much as I want more of her ceramics)
Kaz Roberstson her jewellery is so edible looking and colourful
Hannah Lamb Jewellery (see more of her work at Papa Stour)
John Dilnot mini books (I have one of the birds ones)
Cleo Mussi mosaic work
Cathy Miles quirky birds
Claire Coles ceramics with stitching
And of course, my ALL TIME favourites Grainne Morton (Jewellery) and Alison Willoughby (skirts) who's work I deeply want to have in my possession!

But also names that are new to me, looking at the site I was interested in...
The Sculpture category on the Kaori Tatebayashi site has lovely white shoes, clothing, spools and more
Gorgeous 'Floating Brooch' can be found when looking through the portfolio of Kayo Saito
Chunky red scarf and autumnal coloured knitted bags by Kate Mowson
Colourful Japanese inspired ceramics (which I thought were brooches when I first saw a photo) by Zeita Scott
Louise Turner flower bags are nifty.