Cakes and China

Something I do quite a lot of and really enjoy, is baking. I bake for Mr. Knot Garden and myself, and also for other members of my family. I'm a firm believer in the wholesomeness of home baking with good quality ingredients. Synthetic, mass produced cakes just aren't the same.
Having said that, these are probably highly calorific, but who cares. I wouldn't eat them every day. Naughty but nice. The recipe is Peanut Butter Cupcakes from this excellent book.

We've got some rare sunshine today. Isn't it lovely when the gloom lifts and there's some real light in the house? I was going to take some garden photos, desperately seeking signs of spring, but nothing much is happening out there so I'll show you some recent charity shop purchases instead.

The charity shops in the town where I live are very few and not very good, so I sometimes travel further afield in my search for charity shop goodies. That's how I found these, but not all at the same time. If I can find one thing I'm happy.

A Few Minutes. . .

. . .was all it took to turn a china ornament from a charity shop. . .

. . . into a pincushion.

A Different World

A long, long time ago, before I was married and before the responsibilities of home and small children took over, I used to go regularly with my father to visit local fleamarkets and second-hand book sales.
He was looking for authentic old fittings for our house which he was renovating, or old books for his collection, while I kept my eyes open for old needlework patterns and magazines.
This was in the early 198o's, long before eBay existed. There wasn't the level of interest in crafts then that there is now, and I was usually able to find interesting items for a pound or even 50p.

These are just a few examples of what I bought at that time.
In the early 20th century, not all publications were printed with a date, but if they aren't, you can usually get a good idea of their age by looking at the styling and advertisements.

There are some lovely illustrations.

Wouldn't you love to have these applique curtains hanging at your window? I would.
Cottage garden flowers like foxgloves were popular subjects for needlework in the 1930's.

The usual way to get your embroidery design onto fabric ready for stitching was to use a hot-iron transfer, and many magazines gave away a free transfer with each issue. In other cases the reader was invited to "send for" the transfer needed to complete the project.

I've always thought it would be quite possible to copy some of the designs, because the stitch diagrams often give all the information you need.

Crochet patterns were often designed to be worked with extremely fine thread - in this case, size 80!

I've kept them all these years, and I still like to look through them from time to time, for inspiration and just because they're so interesting. For me they bring back memories of time spent with my Dad, who encouraged my interest, and they really are an authentic glimpse into another age.

Plastic Fantastic

These are some recent vintage button acquisitions. I really like these two-tone ones.

As part of my ongoing flirtation with knitting (lol!), last week I finished a cushion cover in aran, which I think is equivalent to a US worsted weight.

The yarn is Patons Washed Haze Aran, which is partly cotton, and nice and soft to knit with.
The sewing up was a bit of a challenge because of the overlap on the front. The first try went completely wrong, but I managed to get my head around it at the second attempt.

On the pattern they used matching brown buttons, but I thought it would be nicer with ALL DIFFERENT vintage buttons. So now the design is as much about the buttons as about the knitting, I think.

I've been tagged by Dawn to list 7 weird or random things about myself, but I had so much trouble thinking of 7 things last time I don't think I can think of any more! But do check out Dawn's lovely blog.

Down a Country Lane

Recently I was lucky enough to be given this old embroidered picture. It was worked by a relative of mine sometime in the early 1960's. The image would have been ironed onto the fabric from an embroidery transfer, as was usual at that time.
The stitching may have been slightly squashed by the glass, but I don't think that detracts from the picture.

At first glance it seems almost naively done, but if you look at the way the walls and thatching have been filled in with solid stitching, I think that shows real skill.

And just look at the flowers!

I think it's a lovely vintage piece, and the family connection makes it extra special.

These are my pink and brown blocks so far:

Really it's pink, brown and cream/beige. I've also put in some pale yellow to "act" as cream. The pattern I'm using is called Tintype by Liberty Star. It won't be very big, only 30 x 40 inches. A nice size for what is really an exercise in colour. These will be 5 inch blocks.

The weather has been a lot cooler here in the last couple of weeks. I like that sense of a new start that comes in September, and it's so nice to wear something cosy and be comfortable.

This creeper grows up the front of our house. We have to cut it back to some extent every year, so it doesn't get too high and start growing on the roof. In September before the leaves fall, the colour changes from green to bright pinky-red.

As Sweet as Honey

This is my collection of honey pots. They are actually on one long shelf in my kitchen, but I have photographed it in three sections so you can see them better.

They are a fun and inexpensive thing to collect. I like the quaintness of them, and the variations in colour and shape. They belong to the traditional concept of teatime. Most of them have a lovely bee on the lid.

Two or three of them were bought new, but most of them are second-hand. None of them are all that old, but one of the oldest is the cream one with hollyhocks on in the second picture. That's one of my favourite ones.

We went to a local antique market yesterday, a lovely sunny day, and I was lucky enough to find three at once!

So now I'll have to find a way to make them all fit on the shelf.

Thank you to everyone who commented after my last post. It's really encouraging to get so much positive feedback!

Flowers in January

Snow showers have been forecast for today, but as yet there is no snow here, just greyness.
There are a few flowers blooming in my garden though, and I managed to scrape these together. Not bad for January.
This lovely old glass with a green stem is just over 4 inches high. It came from my husband's childhood home. The flowered pottery dish you can see the edge of was a fleamarket find.
A cheery sight on a dull day.

Cute as a Button

I recently acquired these old buttons on cards.
I have been saving and collecting buttons most of my life. I have now got several jars and tins of them, and they include some of my grandmother's old coat buttons from the 50's and 60's. In recent months I have bought vintage buttons for not much money on Ebay.
The graphics on old button cards are so evocative of an earlier time. A simpler time?
I especially like the ones on the right. What a fantastic shade of green! They will be displayed for inspiration in my sewing room.


More button loveliness.