African Flower Cushion

Hello, how are you? I hope that you are well.

It has been really rather warm and sunny in these parts recently which is a lovely change. I have been working on African Flowers after seeing and and admiring them in blogland. The pattern that I used came from the lovely Elizabeth Cat who has set up a flickr group to show not only her own beautiful creations but also those of others.

Another great source of inspiration for the flowers can be found at Suz's blog where she has created bags, cuchions and blankets using this lovely motif.

My first two african flowers have been used to create a new cushion because some of cushions were looking a bit old and tired. I hope that you like it.

Now I'm off to help the Mr. as we try to sort out my studio. Wish me luck.

I hope you have a good day.
x

Fathers Day Finds

Hello and Happy Fathers Day. My own Dad passed away 9 years ago but I would still like to say Hello to him. I know he is there is somewhere. Also Happy Fathers Day to my Mr, he is a great Dad and we all love him lots. Even though it's Fathers day he still wanted to get up at the crack of dawn and go to the car boot sale. Bless him.

Here are some of the delights that we found...

A pretty little bowl.

A lovely oval dish.

Another coffee pot to add to my little but ever growing collection.

Some wee glasses in fresh colours.

Six Studio Meakin cups and saucers with a milk jug.

And this fabby vase.

Thanks for stopping by. I hope that you have a good week.

For more great finds call round to Sophie's...

x

Homophobia

I came across this today on Yvonne's blog, Today I Love. It originally came from this blog. I am reposting it here because I find it appalling that things like this are still happening. I don't normally repost from other peoples blogs but this was too upsetting for me and I felt as though I couldn't just ignore it....

Homophobia

I am the mother who is not allowed to even visit the children I bore, nursed, and raised. The court says I am an unfit mother because I now live with another woman. 

I am the boy who never finished high school, because I got called a fag everyday

I am the girl kicked out of her home because I confided in my mother that I am a lesbian.

I am the one working the streets because nobody will hire a transsexual woman.

I am the sister who holds her gay brother tight through the painful, tear-filled nights.

We are the parents who buried our daughter long before her time.

I am the man who died alone in the hospital because they would not let my partner of twenty-seven years into the room.

I am the foster child who wakes up with nightmares of being taken away from the two fathers who are the only loving family I have ever had. I wish they could adopt me.

I am not one of the lucky ones. I killed myself just weeks before graduating high school. It was simply too much to bear.

We are the couple who had the realtor hang up on us when she found out we wanted to rent a one-bedroom for two men.

I am the person who never knows which bathroom I should use if I want to avoid getting the management called on me.

I am the domestic-violence survivor who found the support system grow suddenly cold and distant when they found out my abusive partner is also a woman.

I am the domestic-violence survivor who has no support system to turn to because I am male.

I am the father who has never hugged his son because I grew up afraid to show affection to other men.

I am the home-economics teacher who always wanted to teach gym until someone told me that only lesbians do that.

I am the woman who died when the EMTs stopped treating me as soon as they realized I was transsexual.

I am the person who feels guilty because I think I could be a much better person if I didn’t have to always deal with society hating me.

I am the man who stopped attending church, not because I don’t believe, but because they closed their doors to my kind.

I am a warrior for my country serving proud, but can’t be my true self because gays aren’t allowed in the military.

I am the person who has to hide what this world needs most, love.

I am the person ashamed to tell my own friends I’m a lesbian, because they constantly make fun of them.

I am the who isn’t sure what she is. I am the who is rejected by her “best friends” because of a less-than-conventional crush.

I am the boy tied to a fence, beaten to a bloody pulp and left to die because two straight men wanted to “teach me a lesson.”

This is the boy, Matthew Shepard. On October 7, 1998 Aaron McKinney and Russell Henderson lead him to a remote area east of Laramie where they demonstrated unimaginable acts of brutality . Matthew was tied to a split-rail fence where he was beaten and left to die in the cold of the night. Almost 18 hours later he was found by a cyclist who initially mistook him for a scarecrow. Matthew died on October 12 at 12:53 am at a hospital in Fort Collins, Colorado. Murdered because he was gay.

If you believe that homophobia is wrong, then reblog this. 

If you are ignorant, then ignore this.

Button Jars

Hello, I hope that are you fine and dandy.

The sun has arrived here in the deepest, darkest depths of Lancashire, a rare occurrence indeed. This means that  I have been spending more time in the garden than I have crafting. I have done a few wee bits of crochet though such as adding a few more circles to the blanket/cushion and starting on an African Flower. I also organised my buttons into colour combinations so that it would be easier to find a certain colour. 

After organising the buttons I felt that the jars needed a little perking up so I made them some 'hats'......

I hope you have a sunny and crafty day.

x

More thrifting...

Hello, I hope that you are well.

This weeks thrifty finds are a combination of car boot and thrift shop treasures. There seems to be a little bit of a colour theme coming through this week. It wasn't done on purpose, I only realised when I was photographing them.....

A jelly/blancmange mould...

It's years since I have had blancmange.

A lovely vintage tin that originally came with biscuits....

A set of side plates, some with cornflowers and some with forget me nots...

A lovely hand embroidered tablecloth...

Very old looking clogs with flowers on them...

A pretty plate with Australian Flowers...

A pretty lemon coloured bowl...

A sweet little deer and another pretty bowl...

A vintage biscuit tin, I love the pattern...

And some vintage threads. The purple one is such a lovely colour. The bottom ones were used for darning stockings (I don't envy anyone who did that!).

Did you notice that many of the items are blues, greens and yellows? I seem to have been drawn to those colours this week.

For more vintage finds pop round to see the delightful Sophie.

x

Going Round in Circles

Hello there. Are you well?

I can't seem to get going on anything this week, it was the same last week. I have so much that needs to be done but can't seem to get going. Does that happen to you? 

Our house desperately needs a good dose of organisation and de-cluttering. My craft bits are all over the place and it is starting to drive me mad as I can never find anything. There are boxes and supplies in almost every room, falling out of cupboards and bags. I have a "studio" but at the moment it is used for storage and a spider house (there are hundred's). It needs to be emptied out and then painted but I can't do it by myself so I have to wait until the Mr has some time off. Once that is done I can reorganise the house but until then I feel like I am going round in circles.

On the craft front I haven't done much either. I am working on a small project at the minute with some truly lovely merino wool. I don't yet know what it will become, I would love to be able to make blanket because it is a thick, soft and oh so comfy yarn but I know form experience that blankets are not my thing. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE crochet blankets, but I don't have the patience and get fed up too easily. It will more than likely end us as a cushion  cover.

x

Car Booty

Hello there. I hope that you have had a good weekend. Sorry for the lack of posts in the past week or so, things have been rather chaotic around here but hopefully we are back to normal now.

This week I didn't have much luck with the charity shops so I decided to bite the bullet and do something that I have never done before. I went to a car boot sale! In all my years on this planet (all thirtyodd of them) I have never been to a car boot sale. I now know what I have been missing. I can't believe that with my love of vintage and thrifted items I have never been! 

We went armed with a list of "things to look out for" so that everybody knew what to keep an eye out for. The list wasn't very helpful because we only found one or two things off it but we did have a good time and came home with lots of goodies. 

Here are just a few....

A beautiful hand embroidered antimacassar which needs a good wash but I'm scared it may not survive.....

a fabulous bashed old suitcase......

a whole set of six cups and saucers, with side plates, sugar bowl and milk jug....

three small glass bottles....

yet another plate.....

a little floral vase....

a 1970's ornament that looks just like my littlest one...

and this chap who I absolutely fell in love with....

Thanks for stopping by. For many more thrifty finds pop round to Sophies

x