Beadin' creative

For some reason this weekend I had absolutely no plans. It's very unlike me to not have a thing in the diary, but with the rain pouring down, a cold not sure if it was coming or going, and a bead box bursting at the seams, it felt like some kind of karmic force was telling me to go nowhere and bust out my slightly rusty wire wrapping skills.

So wire wrap I did and here are the fruits of this weekend's labours....

 

Earth Mother:

Two necklaces made of clay and glass and chips of stone. I found the braided one on the More Design Please blog (not sure if I've done it justic though): 

Spring awakenings:

Earrings made from various glass and plastic beads - blossom and spring inspired, even if the weather's not quite with us!

 

Oriental express:

Earrings made from some of my favourite beads with stunning Japanese patterns, and fish charms taken from a necklace I got for £1 in a Miss Selfridge sale.  

 

With a lot of birthdays coming up, hopefully these will be put to good use in the coming weeks (obviously, if you're reading this, they're not for you...).

A tale of one duvet cover

It feels like ages since I blogged, partly because I've been super busy and partly because I've been a terrible craft mistress lately, with a pile of projects that I've started and not finished. So this weekend is to be a weekend of completing BEFORE I start on anything new.

But first a post that I've been meaning to finish off for a couple of weeks... The tale of one duvet cover. As you may remember from my Completion cushions post, my first flat purchase was a beautiful Ikea duvet cover, from which I crafted two large floor cushions. Which have settled nicely into their new home, Sofa:

Said duvet cover has now also been crafted into:

My first ever homemade skirt!

This skirt is intended to be my Lake Garda skirt for an upcoming family holiday in May. But given the weather in London town lately, the wellies seemed much more fitting for modelling purposes.

The skirt idea came from Brett Bara's One Hour Skirt video, though I must admit that I did line the skirt with an old white pillow case as the material was a little bit too sheer to be decent, which made it a bit longer than a one-hour skirt! Thanks to Tilly at Tilly and the Buttons for her 'Easy sewing projects for beginners' post!

And a table cloth:

Having used the fabric for several table-posing photoshoots, I thought I should do it the honour of making it into an actual table cloth, which has now become a permanent feature on the ugly table that the old flat owners left behind.

So all that for just £10.99 and still two pillow cases left over (which I might actually use as pillow cases). Who says crafting needs to be expensive...?

By the way, I think I may have mastered 'the straight line' and in a fit of over confidence (or possibly one too many white wines) I have now purchased my first ever dress pattern. I'm so jolly excited about this upcoming project....I'm sure that plenty of pics, tears of frustration and calls to my Mum will be shared in a post to follow!

Make do and mend

Something I've been meaning to write about fully (and something that it seems I share with many other people out there in the blogosphere) I haven't bought any new clothes since February, and I'm hoping to stay true to this until my big 3-0 at the end of May. I've almost fallen off the wagon several times with some hasty ebay bidding (which I was unsucessful in), but I'm not entirely sure that my embargo also covers second-hand clothes. Ho hum, not the point. The point is that with some mild heart ache plaguing me on Saturday and turning me into a slight hermit I decided it was a good day to get started on the mound of clothes that I've not worn for ages to turn them into wearable new not-new togs.

But first things first, I'm delighted that in the final year of my twenties I've finally learnt to poach an egg. With a little bit of help from the Guardian's Fiona Cloake that is... So this was the starting point for my day of making do and mending, two beautifully runny-centred poached eggs:

And a mound of things that needed attention:

Symptoms include holes, broken button hooks, and one pretty floral ebay dress that I've never worn as it turns my usual size six frame into a maternity smock's dream.

So after much hemming, darning and stitching armpits together (actually just the one armpit), I have now repatriated four more items of clothing to my wardrobe. I won't bore you with the full operation but the makeover success of the day is this turquoise dress that I bought years ago but I only ever wore once - I couldn't ever quite bring myself to get rid of it as the colour's lovely, and it's a good fit. 

But with a new waistband and a couple of feature buttons, it's now something I'll be quite happy wearing to the office. Job done and much more satisfying than a trip to Topshop. 

Just in case you're worrying about my mental health, you'll be pleased to hear that I did actually leave the flat today. At 6.30am in fact to indulge one of my other passions in life - running. Ten miles later down the Thames towpath and a satisfactory race time, myself and my dear friend KJ are the proud owners of brand new Fullers pint glasses - way better than the usual race medal:

And the best post-race recovery to follow some hearty lentil soup at KJ's? A couple of pints (Fullers of course) at the rugby this afternoon. A good Sunday had.

Hello chicken

With my big sis coming to stay from Brum for the weekend, and Ma and Pa coming to join for Easter lunch, my Good Friday was spent happily crafting away in preparation. Not being a fan of shop-bought Easter eggs, I decided to make some egg-based spring gifts instead. The first batch of chocolate truffles didn't exactly go to plan, so I fell back to the fail-safe coconut pyramids and some recycled packaging. Topped with milk chocolate, the result was not entirely unlike a popular coconut-based chocolate bar...

 

Saturday was a happy day of eating, starting with lunch at the Ev Deli, a beautiful haven of gorgeous salads and city gardens under the arches at Waterloo, followed by a mosey around Borough Market. A friend then popped around for afternoon tea (bearing tulips, awww) - a pretty good excuse to crack open the clementine (homemade and wheat free) cake:

My lovely big sis brought me some really cute house warming presents, including these lavender hearts from a recent trip to Wales.

And of course the best thing about Easter weekend...? Still one more day of holiday to go! Happy Easter x

A mini warming of a mini flat

Last night I had a few friends round to officially warm the mini flat. It was an elite (read motley) gathering, with a distinctly retro feel to the party food.

One of my oldest friends came up from the country to stay the night and take the sofa bed on its first spin in its incarnation as a bed. As is usual with myself and said friend, once we got chatting all thoughts of photography and blogging went out the window. Corks were popped and our focus turned to boys and clothes, with a smidge of careers and current affairs thrown in for good measure. So I'm afraid that I've had to make do with the leftovers (all homemade and wheat free of course):

Guacamole - the Hairy Bikers' way:

Babaganoush. This time from a recipe and with tahini, a variation of Hugh's recipe:

 

Gluten free cheese straws:

A retro classic - made me inordinately happy, especially when sticking out of a foil-covered grapefruit. No, really.

Macaroons:

 

After this morning's breakfast of champions (provided by my lovely ex-housemate last night) I've been pretty slow moving today, enjoying a lot of quality time with sofa and rug. Happy days.  

Back on the shelf

This last week has been a good one and a bad one. On the good side, I had my first non-familial dinner party, kicking off a week of house warmings. Due to various unscheduled events such as lockings out and breakings in, the cooking stage was a bit more rushed that I'd have liked and so no time for pics, other than the aftermath:

Dinner was a wheat free, meat free, nut and legume challenge due to various dietary requirements (and there were only three of us!) but consisted of homemade babaganoush (if only I could ever remember the recipe), sweet potato and spinach curry and lemon marscepone cheesecake. Needless to say, Wednesday was a struggle but I felt like a very lucky lady to have such lovely friends.

And on to the bad...sadly myself and the muscle have parted ways, which has left me sad and deflated. But leads me nicely onto two projects I HAVE completed this week - my 'back on the shelf' makeover. And on this rare occasion, I don't mean a new hair colour or flowery dress.

Number 1: My Billy bookcase makeover

Inspired by this blog here, and uninspired by the Ikea Billy bookcase that I've been lugging around various homes in London for the last eight years, here's my Billy bookcase as a work in progress:

 
And unveiling Billy's new look:

 

And onto the worst flatpack job I've ever had the pleasure to experience (in case you're wondering why the cheapest Argos shelves are so cheap). After a link of paint, and some added sparkle, now interim home to all my crafty bits and pieces:

And so off to bed for tomorrow the housewarming continues with a mini warming of a mini flat. Pics and sore heads to follow on Sunday I'm sure.

Good night x

Veggie luncheon for a staunch carnivore

I was delighted to have my first guests round for lunch today as my parents made the trek (mentally far removed, if not physically) from rural Northamptonshire to urban Streatham Hill.

It was part house warming, as the first time they've seen my flat, part Mothering Sunday (though I actually forgot that this morning!), part putting Dad to work utilising his drill.

While I'm not a true blue veggie, I very rarely eat meat these days, apart from an recent crash off the non-meat wagon headlong into a plate of obligatory Ikea meatballs. I blame it on the fact that I was a) getting ill and b) surely there's not actually any meat in said meatballs anyway?

Feeding such a staunch carnivore as my Father the following menu was a risky strategy but having spent most of yesterday either shopping or cooking here was my Mother's Day lunch menu:

Green lentils with roasted beetroot and feta:

 

Quinoa with roasted sweet potato: 

 

Potato salad - a staple favourite at any Tolliday / Ingram dinner party: 

 

The verdict I would say it was a win-lose result. The quinoa was not well-met, but the sweet potato was grudgingly ok, the roasted beetroot was 'good', and the potato salad was worthy of any Ingram gathering. 

And for pud... 

Berry polenta cake:

 

One highly commended wheat-free pud, gorgeously sticky without being stodgy. Nom.

Lovely to see my folks and I'm feeling pretty damned spoilt and happy to have them back in the country after a month of them travelling in New Zealand. And to bring the weekend to a happy close, a glass of wine with a certain young gentleman and Upstairs Downstairs - my new not-very-guilty guilty pleasure.