Seize the day...

Warm, autumn days are hard to beat.

Saturday was pretty perfect. The day was well and truly seized and packed out with all manner of loveliness......croissants for breakfast, an unexpected table top sale, a long cliff top walk from Saltburn to Skinningrove, a flask of hot chocolate with Bailey's and pieces of wedding cake, browsing at the farmers market, a quick charity shop rummage, and fish and chips before heading home. 

 

Having lived in Sheffield for most of my life, I can't quite believe I now live close enough to the sea to be able to just go there on a whim. It's always such a treat!

Gran's chair

After many years of treasuring and determinedly hanging on to my great grandmother's chair it has finally found its place.

It's a funny little chair, very low to the ground. What's known as a nursing chair, I think. It used to sit by the fire in her kitchen and was the perfect cosy spot, in the corner behind the kitchen table, next to the toasting fork and below the cat's head string dispenser. 

I can't bring myself to remove the layers of its history. The varnish on the arms is dulled and worn from years of use. The original layer of striped canvas is beautiful, and the golden 50's fabric is in great condition.

 

Knowing that my Gran stitched the shot silk cover together, however badly, makes it impossible to undo. I think I must have inherited my sewing skills from her!

In my old house it was in the living room, under a ceiling that was 10 feet high, and when I sat in it I felt like Mrs Pepperpot!

For the last year it's been in the garage, getting damp and feeling unloved. And now! Our gorgeous new garden room has given it the home it deserves.

Vintage cushion covers from a charity shop fit perfectly and it's great to see it back in use. 

Olympic yarn bombing

To complete our 'not quite camping' weekend we had a rather wonderful day in Saltburn.

It's a fantastic seaside town at the best of times but in recent months it's been further gilded by the appearance of an amazing bit of yarn bombing!

The range of sports they'd covered was just amazing! Here are some of our favourites.

A huge "Thank you" to whoever is responsible for this - you put a huge smile on our faces!

Not quite camping...

Due to the awful weather predicted for the Bank Holiday weekend we decided not to go camping, as planned, but have a 'not quite camping' weekend at home.

This involved having a campfire, cooking outside, toasting marshmallows and sheltering under 'canvas' in the garden. 

It also took in the Wensleydale Agricultural Show, with its strange animals...

Splendid vegetables...

  

And glorious combinations of the two!

We also loved the tea table - especially the prawns!

And the amazing Lego Olympics!

Rain, rain, go away...

They say cows lie down when it's going to rain.

Well, by my reckoning they can't be doing much standing up at the moment.

Here's some to bring you hope!

Though I think these could be bulls and they might not have the same powers.

So, Kettle of Fish passed the 300 'likes' mark on Facebook and I want to celebrate and say thank you with a giveaway.

This is what's up for grabs. . . . .

A lovely little calico shoulder bag like this, with a subtle print of a vintage French postcard and one or two vintage cloth-covered buttons AND a tape measure bookmark.

To be in with a chance of making them yours, please comment below with details of what you'd use the bag for! 


Please comment by the end of Saturday 7th July 2012. All comments qualify for the draw. A winner will be randomly selected from the beautiful hat on Sunday 8th July.

There's something about pictures of vegetables that just does it for me. I've wanted to use an array of images of vegetables (and fruit!) since I started out with Kettle of Fish but they've never really lent themselves to the lines I've developed so far.


And now...!! I've found some perfect little notebooks! Well made, neat, square, black notebooks. An ideal foil for raggy edged collages with muted colours, worn prints and lots of rustic charm.

To celebrate this exciting new line, I'd like to give a little notebook away!

It doesn't have to be of a vegetable persuasion.....it could be butterflies or moths.

Or indeed, birds. But I haven't quite finished those yet.


UPDATE! Some birds...

Just 'Like' our Facebook page and leave a comment below saying which theme you would like and what other designs you'd like to see. We'll use you for a bit of market research and randomly pick one of you to receive a notebook featuring the imagery of your choice. Not necessarily one of the actual ones pictured, but equally smashing. Promise.

Just because...

...sometimes the world stops you in your tracks with something beautiful and unexpected.

Little white birds for our wedding

I've been collecting ceramic birds from charity shops for about six months now. The plan is to use them to decorate the tables at our wedding in June. I wanted them to be 


a) detailed enough to look quite realistic 
b) of the right proportions to fit into a small glass dome 
c) less than £3 


Today I sprayed them all white. 

So, my first ever Folksy Friday post is inspired by these six little birds. I hope it leaves you feeling chirpy!

Starling linocut print

James Green Printworks

Archibald the seagull bird brooch

menagerie

British Garden Birds print

Kate Broughton

Bird I

Sophie Sew

Woodland bird-print

Sparklehen

original collage screen print of blue tit

Coo & Co

Beautiful eggs for Easter

What is it about an egg that makes it such a beautiful object? The fragility? The chalky surface? The shape or colour? 

Probably all of those things and a few more. In their gorgeous hues of whites, browns, blues and greens and randomly speckled with dots and spots and blotches, eggs are a real thing of beauty.

They're also very unforgiving! Because they are such a smooth and perfect shape, they are very difficult to use for decoupage! Any tiny imperfections in cutting are really obvious and ruin the form of the egg. 

One of the most memorable presents I ever received consisted of a pineapple and a box of tiny quails eggs. Random and quirky, but all the better for it!


Look at Easter eggs differently this year. Celebrate their beauty.

Vintage bunnies

I'm a bit of a hoarder. I like to have things around me that are beautiful to look at, to pick up and handle, to use and to treasure. I know beauty is in the eye of the beholder but I'm also lucky that the future Mr Kettle loves the stuff that came with me!


My collections influence our home and my work.

This handsome ceramic rabbit inspired the Easter bunnies that are in my Folksy shop now. He was a birthday present from a friend at college almost 26 years ago and has only suffered minor ear damage in all that time! 


He was the start of a mini collection but is still my favourite by far.