Waddesdon Manor

Today's a public holiday, it's raining and my knee isn't happy. So we went to Waddesdon Manor! We sat in insanely heavy traffic outside Bicester (still no idea what all those people were trying to do getting into Bicester) and the rain got heavier and heavier. But we persevered and got there in the end, were ferried from the car park to the gates of the Manor by a very swish shuttle bus. This is what it looked like as we walked (I limped) down the drive:

that's the back of mum with her brolly, walking at normal, non-handicapped, pace

 

We pootled off for a cream tea, there were huge photographs of this building on the walls and I love the combination of English countryside and modern architecture. Nothing else of note except this poster (in the loos but ssshhh!)

Enjoy that picture because when we eventually found the real thing in the house it was sooooo tiny I couldn't get a good picture of it - but more about that later.

So, restored by scones, cream, jam and real-tea-out-of-a-pot, we walked (limped) back to the house. 
Waddesdon Manor, roughly speaking, was/is owned by the Rothschilds and holds Somebody Rothschild's collection of art. Which means it's an incredibly ornate manor house stuffed with art! You can't take flash photos and all the blinds are drawn to keep the sunlight out (hah!) so it was tricky to get good pictures. Except of the lighting:

see the crafty light effects I so deliberately worked into this one? or maybe I just started limping off before someone got in my shot - who can say?!?

Now, about the lace. In the first three pictures above you can just about see some lacy stuff hanging from the bottom of the amazing (1 tonne!) chandelier. It's part of the lace exhibition as advertised in the poster which I definitely didn't take a picture of in the loo (above). The exhibition meant bits of lace/art hiding in the rooms. Mum had the leaflet but I'm pretty sure they were meant to be artistic responses to the rooms, etc. The lace was pretty but didn't photograph well, probably because of the light. Here's what happened when we found the above (poster) roses as part of an incredibly elaborate dinner setting:

my camera don't do zoom

On we went. Marble chairs:

mmm, comfy

This green vase-thing which I took lots of photos of, mostly because it was near a window with un-drawn (?) blinds:

And here's the window!

And finally. Mum had been going on about this modern chandelier she saw last time they went, made of forks and spoons and stuff, which we hadn't seen. It was in The Last Room and very impressive it was too. For reasons which are a little dull, I had by this time been declared Immobile by the volunteers and taken to the first floor by the impressively old-fashioned lift. We were, at this point, on our way OUT of the Manor, which meant back down in the lift for me. To access the lift, you have to go through the room that the Amazing Chandelier is IN!!!

crap photo taken from outside the Room of the Amazing Chandelier

Amazeballs photo taken IN THE ACTUAL ROOM!!!!

 The grounds of the Manor looked absolutely gorgeous from the road, of course it was too rainy to explore them at all but I'd love to go back sometime.

-x-

Noro Taiyo Sock sampler

hawthorn blossom

http://www.toimg.net/managed/images/10194549/w482/h362/image.jpg

Oh what a lovely day/weekend!! The sun sun sun is shining shining shining, the little tweety birds are singing their little tweety hearts out - the (ash? must check) tree outside my window that hasn't had any leaves yet even though all the other trees are in leaf is finally leafing - so fast I can almost see them opening with my bare eyes! 
I'm pretty sure I think this every Spring but Oxfordshire is sooo pretty when it's all green, blossomy & sunny. The hawthorn is ridiculous this year - most of the hedgerows looks like they've been iced - or turned into the fluffiest sheep ever by a benign Spring Fairy!
Bunny Mummy's lovely post has introduced me to some of David Hockney's work - I've heard of him, of course, but tbh the only work of his I knew about was the one with the splash in the swimming pool & now I'm not even sure if that's him. His colours are gorgeous and the above picture nicely encapsulates rural Oxfordshire at this precise moment. So, thank you.

-x-

Gush!

I'm in love! I've started the CAL blanket I've had in my ravelry queue for ever & I'm in love with the Drops Karisma yarn I'm using, it's all soft & squishy & silky & mmmmmmm! +, unusually for me, I'm very taken with the slightly orangey bright red colour that was first out of the bag. Honestly, I'm not normally a big fan of reds but this is making my little <3 leap!!
And I'm sooooo grateful to the Utter GENIUS who invented the foundation hdc as not having to chain, & count, 194 has made starting this project even more wonderful. To be fair, it took me a couple of goes to master it, not helped by the fact I was trying to do an online child safeguarding course at the same time, but it's infinitely better than the wobbly old chain I would've produced and the miserable time I would've had trying to hdc into said chain.

Gush gush gush!

-x-

Best laid plans / hey, where'd Monday go? / a couple of FOs

I had such glorious plans for this bank holiday weekend. I made A List. Here it is:

[ ] Finish makeup pads [ ] Basin [ ] Bathroom floor [ ] Laundry: towels [ ] Loads of Reiki [ ] Nails [ ] Shower (clean!) [ ] Sort out bathroom cabinet [ ] Toilet [V] Finish cardigan [V] Look at size 16 jeans for fat betches & equivalent in men's [V] Buy 2 more baseball caps [V] Order more Argan Oil [V] Laundry: cottons [V] Laundry: delicates [V] Cleanse Amazon wishlist [V] Change bed [V] Finish 1st long sock [V] Hoover [V] Tidy room

The 'v's are ticked items. Except for 'finish cardigan', which I think I thumb-ticked by accident. Or maybe I was trying to make myself feel better because last night I 'finished' the first sleeve of said cardigan and It Don't Look Right, not at all. It's only elbow-length, not 3/4, and it's just, well, kinda short & goofy & not right at all and I'm very depressed about the whole thing. As with all projects that start to go wrong in mysterious ways, the whole thing's now sulking in a bag down by the side of my desk until I've mulled (obsessed?) over it long enough to think of a plan to fix it. At the moment I can only think of finish it & donate it to a charity shop, in a town I'll never visit again, but I think I'll be able to feel more +ve about it & come up with a better solution once I've had a bit of time away from it. 

It's Monday evening and I feel like I haven't achieved anything. I had these lovely plans that I would feel like I'd cleared through some of the backlog of half-finished WIPS and all I've got to show for it is a sock and a bunch of WIPs. Of course, this is because I was over-ambitious with the original plan, as always, but I still feel a bit down right now.

So. 'Finish cardigan' NOT achieved. And I was so determined not to start another new project, even though it'd make me feel better, that I went back to the reusable makeup pads. These will never be 'finished' as a girl can never have too many reusable makeup pads and the more I have the longer I can hold out between laundry days but I decided to stop at 24 (6 each of 4 colours) and call that done for now. No. 24 will be finished tonight then it's just 24x2 ends to weave in, pop them thru the washing machine (gives me the heebies that, what if they shrink / fall apart / turn into chocolate Easter bunnies & melt?) & I can declare another FO.

I have a couple of FOs to show off though.

1st: from a couple of weekends ago & this is a lousy photo but I need to record that I've achieved SOMETHING, the nested baskets:

I'm actually dead chuffed with these as I've loved making them & seeing how the structure of the stitches fits together to make something 3D. I have Absolutely No Idea what I'm going to do with them or who's problem I'm going to make them by giving them away. But apart from that I'm pleased with this FO.

2nd: the 1st Long Sock! YAYYYYYY! I'm so pleased with this, very very pleased. It's held together brilliantly, the wool makes me happy, especially the colours. Knitted up the fabric feels a bit scratchy but I'm sure a couple of washes will put paid to that. And it fits and it looks like a real sock & I'm generally chuffed! 

The challenge now is to make the 2nd Long Sock the same size as the first one. Mm-hm, that's a challenge. I've made what I hope are precise and detailed notes of the round-counts etc so I'm feeling confident but still slightly trepidatious.
+ I'm not allowing myself to start The 2nd Long Sock until I've cleared the current project list a bit more. Sigh.

OK, I feel slightly better about my lack of productivity and anyway it's nearly time for ebd or I'll be all grumpy and tired tomorrow! 

-x-

Sunday

Weather: grey, chilly, breezy, dry.

Mood: OK

Watched: Huddersfield vs. St Helens, The Musketeers & a couple of Dollhouse Season 2

Music: Lizzo

Reading: The Bridge by Iain Banks - still awesome!

On my hook/needles: finished earbuds bag, dead pleased with it + got past the heel of the 1st Long Sock, not without some stress. About halfway down the foot now.

-x-

Saturday

Mood: low

Weather: grey, bit windy, chilly

On my hook/needles: 1st Long Sock - I've got to the heel & boy is it giving me trouble! Decreases for the heel flap were fine but sorting out what to do next has been a headache. The pattern says to pick up stitches from the sides of the heel flap, slip the top-of-foot stitches off the stitch holder and then start knitting in rounds. It's taken me a while & a bit of interneting but I now think this means I should pick up but not knit the stitches from the heel flap, which I've now done. Still getting my head around the next stage ...

Music: Muse, lots of, loud.

Listened to: I've started The News: A User's Manual audiobook by Alain de Botton. 

Reading: I've also started The Bridge by Iain Banks, one of his that I hadn't read before he passed away last year & his own favourite, according to The Times. It's awesome so far. I've decided I'm going to try & finish it in a week. I'm worried that I'm not reading enough & my brain is going to shrivel up & I think setting myself targets and making sure I get through books at a reasonable pace is the way forward.

Watched: 1st half (!) of Return of the King.

Toodle pip!

-x-

really?

I haven't posted since last Sunday? Really? Funny, feels like I have.

I've been working a fair bit, almost up to what a normal person would call 'full-time', and yes, I'm still voiceless and not really feeling very fabulous. Although to be fair the last two days I've felt quite close to normal, except I still haven't got my voice back. I'm starting to think that this croaky hoarseness is My New Voice, which is actually kinda OK as my Old Voice sounded like a five-year-old on acid, at least I sound like a grown-up now!
I'm still struggling to get through a day without feeling washed out by the time I get home but I am definitely better, not worse or even the same. It's been 2.5 weeks so bloody should be getting better, quite frankly.

What else?
Had an impromptu night in the pub on Weds, did my voice/cold the power of good (no, really it did, this is the most contradictory illness I've had in forever).
We had a film crew in work today, a proper one with lights & stuff, a change from the normal humdrum for sure! (they did NOT film me)

this is the film crew, a couple of examiners and a couple of students, none of whose permission I have to publish this picture, so soz!

This evening we went to see The Grand Budapest Hotel, it was fairly entertaining but mostly it was gorgeous to look at! Better than watching TV.


And on that note, today:

Mood: good

Weather: grey, humid this morning, bit chilly this afternoon, clear starry night for the walk back from the cinema.

Music: Game of Thrones soundtrack in class (I put it on for a laugh & then the students begged me to leave it on!), tUnE-yArDs on the bus (my newest discovery, although I'm not entirely sure tbh)

Reading: I finished Red Earth & Pouring Rain! It's very good but not very enjoyable, one of those kind of books. I'm deciding, with no small amount of glee, what to read next, very probably The Bridge by Iain Banks ...

Watched: The Grand Budapest Hotel, please see above.

Listened to: Radio 3 Arts & Ideas podcast about leadership, a bit but not much.

On my hook/needles: nothing today, haven't had time. I've done quite a lot on the 1st Long Sock this week as well as starting a little bag for my earbuds last night.

Here's a random picture of some pink spring prettiness from my walk home from the bus today:

 
 See ya!

-x-

 

better, worse, better, who knows?

I'm better than I was before but I'm still sick which totally sucks, partly cos being sick sucks and partly because I'm SO OVER IT!!!!!

Cooked dinner for my mum, which she & stepparental really enjoyed but I felt horrid while I was cooking it & couldn't enjoy eating it. Ho hum.

Today:

Watched: a hell of a lot of Dollhouse + some Stargate Atlantis (yes, yes, I know!)

Music: Disclosure

Weather: erm, probably sunny but I've been inside feeling crappy for most of it :(

Mood: grumpy

On my hook/needles: Long Socks - just got past the dec row so feeling pretty good about them!

-x-

another day late!

This is Thursday night's post on Friday morning. Did I mention IT'S FRIIIIIIDAAAAAY!?!
Good. 
I was on catering duties last night for Stepparental as mum was out. Then 

Watched: 3 (4? it might've been 4) episodes of Dollhouse on Amazon prime, cos I've got it free this month, I think. Should check that ...

Music: Invincible by Muse

Reading: Red Earth & Pouring Rain

On my hook/needles: mum's necklace - after 2.5 episodes of Dollhouse I had to unpick a whole row as I'd miscounted the number of trebles - damn! It's slow going as it's a lot of stitches but I'm not frantic about it. Yet.

Weather: grey, raining when I came out of the hairdresser's, of course.

Oh yes, I went to the hairdresser. My hair looks exactly the same as it did this time yesterday but now I can run my hands through it without getting them snarled in the wire wool that my split ends had become + the fringe is sitting nicely because it's cut that way.

-x-

oops!

forgot to post yesterday, not sure why!

So, yesterday:

Mood: great!

On my hook/needles: started mum's mother's day gift, which is a necklace made of blue Anchor freccia (came as part of a kit) So far so good, I wouldn't wear it but I hope she'll like it (it's blue, always a good start w/mum & she likes necklaces so...)
I also ordered a bunch of leather iphone cases for her - they're so cheap on Amazon I got her three different colours so she can ring the changes (!)

Listened to: TEDTalk by Bran Ferran, what a lovely man!

Music: Fratellis & Wombats at work, Reiki music in the morning.

Because I had a Reiki treatment in the morning, which was awesome!

Weather: grey, great big looming rainclouds in the afternoon.

Watched: The latest episode of Shetland + an old episode of Doctor Who that I hadn't ever seen.

-x-

the eye of the storm?

Today I felt utterly horrible although if you'd asked me to list my symptoms they would've been exactly the same as the last 6 days (yup, that's how long I've been voiceless & in pain). I 'gave up', came home early (4pm) got in my pjs, played about on the computer for a bit, then lay in bed & did Reiki/slept. When I got up for dinner, I felt MUCH BETTER!
How weird is that? Not that I'm complaining, feeling much better is awesome, I'm still croaky & it still hurts to swallow, but I feel kinda, normal.

Either I had to mentally admit defeat & declare myself poorly in order to make a recovery or this is the eye of the storm & I'm only feeling better because there's worse to come! My money, optimistically, is on the former.

I must apologise for all the detailed illness updates I've been posting these last few days. In my defence:
- I really am feeling pretty poorly!
- I haven't got much else to post about!

Meanwhile:

Mood: defeated & poorly, followed by optimistic!

On my hook/needles: Long Socks (hibernated ages ago, reawakened on obtaining decent 4mm sock needles, now going well) I 'finished' katahdin a couple of days ago, freeing up the lovely new 4mm dpns, although I kinda ballsed up the fastening off & it's sulking on my desk while I summon the courage to figure out if it needs doing again or not + it needs blocking ...

Music: students requested Guns N Roses Sweet Child O'Mine - what an awesome trip down memory lane!

Reading: nothing, head hurts too much!

Listened to: Start the Week podcast

Watched: Hot Fuzz - we were talking about this film at work & I ended up thinking "I have to see it again" so I ordered it from Amazon - perfect lying-in-bed-feeling-a-bit-ill viewing!

Weather: grey

-x-

company again

Still basically voiceless, slightly less pain, but not so's you'd notice really. (& yes, I am sick of it now!)

Company for dinner tonight so not much other action.

Music: The Eurythmics on youtube at work (dunno why) + Gone by Marry Waterson & Oliver Knight 

Listened to: (can't really remember!) Week In Politics podcast, What the Papers Say podcast ...

Watched: nothing, see above.

On my hook/needles: nothing, see above.

Weather: Cold, occasionally sunny, cold.

Mood: bit grumpy but mostly happy to sit back.

Reading: Red Earth & Pouring Rain (56%!)

-x-

[whisper]

My voice is still mostly absent and my throat HURTS!!! :(((

I'm getting out of breath as well, got up today, showered, changed the bed, had a rest, cooked dinner (for the parentals, who were at church all morning) (sausage casserole), had a rest, went to the shops for more shampoo, had a rest, did some more laundry, had a rest ...

... decided to move furniture around in my room!!








Idiot!

I've got this lovely big room at the top of the house with two windows - a dormer & a velux - (and a cute little en-suite) and I've had it set up as a bedroom + an area to sit, crochet, read, watch stuff on my laptop, work, blog, etc.
It looked like this:
(photos taken from the bed!)

 

I loved the way the room was split & I love my sitting area (mum calls it a bedsitter, which is cute cos I don't think anyone's talked about bedsitters since the late 1950's) buuuut, I keep feeling like I never see the outside world. I know it's winter and all but I also figured it's cos when I sit at my desk, all I can see is the wall/ceiling.

Or this:

 

 So today I swapped the desk & the chest of drawers, kind of. The desk is now under the window, so if I look up I can see a lovely patch of sky and the branches of a couple of trees (really looking forward to watching their leaves come out) and birds & so on. The chest of drawers is fine under the ceiling where the desk was, in fact I can't help thinking it's better there. 
Not very happy with the 'sitting area' now tho, it needs work

Meanwhile:

Music: Radio 1 Live Lounge TV + Childish Gambino (wow! where has this guy been all my life?)

Listened to: Commentary of the T20 World Cup and More or Less podcast.

Watched: nothing yet, Super League show on iplayer when I finish this post.

On my hook/needles: nothing yet, plan to finish katahdin tonight.

Reading: Red Earth & Pouring Rain by Vikram Chandra, 50% now!

Mood: chilled out, when I don't feel like someone's trying to cut my throat with a rusty chainsaw!

Weather: well! Sunny + squally showers (inc. hail)

-x-

Day, er, 12? I have no idea!

Mood: bored & a bit grumpy. Also, sore throat & no voice all day. :(

On my hook: a Moebius cowl, finished!

Listened to: lots & lots of Fool Moon by Jim Butcher.

Reading: Red Earth & Pouring Rain

Music: Hurts

Weather: sunny but cold earlier, now pouring.

-x-

Day 12

I'm losing my voice, which isn't much of a problem on a blog but makes the rest of life a bit tiring.

So I've started hooking a plain, anthracite mix treble crochet moebius cowl to keep my voicebox warm!

-x-

Day 10: colour for the CAL blanket - update

A while ago I agonised for ages over the colours for this blanket, in the end I decided & even posted about the colour scheme. Ordered the yarn. It arrived.

"ooh", thinks tilliemint, "that's more browny beigey colours than I remember including, ho hum."

Also, I counted the balls & there are 14 & I'm SURE I decided to order 12 colours. Hmmmmm.

Anyhoo, in a burst of efficiency I decided to get all the yarn into my ravelry stash before I started using it & it got too late (cos that's never happened before, oh nooooo)

I got in a bit of a muddle about the colours so I went back & found the email confirming the order from the wool store (actually, www.woolwarehouse.co.uk).

Now here's the thing.

I spent a while deciding which yarn to order, I was caught between DROPS Karisma & DROPS Lima. In the end, it got late & I needed some sleep so ...

I popped 1 colour of each yarn into my shopping basket, saved the basket & went to bed.

A few days later I went back to the basket, decided to go with DROPS Karisma as it has a better range of colours, spent aaaaaagggggeeeeessssss matching the colours with the scheme I wanted to use (see previous post), ordered the 12 colours I'd decided I was allowed (me & 6's) paid for them, sat back to wait for a woolgasm to arrive in the post.

Spotted it?

Yup. The 2 balls I'd popped in the shopping basket to remind me which 2 yarns I was deciding between were still in the basket. 

So I have a ball of DROPS Lima in a lovely purple, which is absolutely fine as I'm all about DK weight socks now I have some nice 3.75mm & 4mm dpns (same order - I really went to town!) so that's lined up for that, although of course 1 ball won't be enough ...

And I'm about the check that order again to see which of the 13 shades of Karisma I've got wasn't actually meant to be there (one of the browny beiges, I hope!)

-x-

Day, erm, 9?

The thing is, I have been posting, but on my private diary-blog, which may not count.

Anyhoo.

Music: Butcher Boy, The Mummers, Mumford & Sons.

On my hook/needles: nothing yet but planning to work on Katahdin in a minute.

Watching: nothing yet but planning to finish 37 Days after this post.

Reading: a bunch of stuff about learning styles for a lecture I gave this afternoon.

Listened to: Full Contact Rugby podcast and Weekly Politics.

Mood: emotional, but mostly in a good way!

Weather: sunny - students very skittish as a result!

There are loads of tiny green buds on the trees & bushes I can see from the bus, they make me feel so happy! I can't take pictures through a fast moving double-glazed window so you'll have to take my word for it!

-x-

2 minutes of Day 5 left!

Mood: relieved

Music: Reiki music

On my hook/needles: nowt, company in the evening.

Listened to: Today in Parliament

Reading: Red Earth & Pouring Rain by Vikram Chandra

Day 4

It's nearly Day 5!

This afternoon I went for a Reiki refresher as it's been about 10 years since my Reiki 1 attunement. It was LOVELY!!!

Mood: quiet 

On my hook/needles: nothing today - busy!

Music: Outta Sight by Piney Gir

Reading: The Guardian!

Listened to: TEDTalks audio by Ajit Nararyanan - awesome! The Infinite Monkey Cage podcast

Weather: very misty in the morning, gorgeous sunset!

-x-

 

Day 3

Hello again.

Mood: tired - that's not really a mood but still it's what I am!

On my hook/needles - nothing yet but plans for My First Cardigan or Katahdin later, while ...

... watching: The Musketeers & probably maybe 37 Days.

Music: Just tried a Spotify playlist by some chick called MO, only with the o crossed through, Scandi-style. Nice. Now Gregory Porter, also on Spotify.

Listened to: Full Contact podcast + fell asleep on the bus listening to a podcast called Escape Pod (geddit?) which wasn't very interesting, obvs.

Weather: not sunny, not hot, not cold. Meh. Nice sunset tho!

Reading: still sloooowly Red Earth & Pouring Rain by Vikram Chandra

That's all folks!

-x-

Day 2 - just!

[yawn] it's quite late, and on a skool night too - I'm sooo dangerous!
Also, parentals had guests for dinner - yum! So I joined in & was all pleasant and chatty & stuff.

Hence, nothing on my hook/needles today + haven't watched anything or done any reading yet although I plan to read a few pages before bed.

Mood: OK as long as I'm busy, which I have been so OK.

Weather: grey + colder than it looks + HUMID feels like I spent all day in a sauna!

Music: Wild Animals by The Cat Empire

Listened to: (in no particular order) F1 podcast (yes, really), London Review of Books podcast by Andrew O'Hagan about Julian Assange (scary!), TEDtalk audio podcast by Annette Hauser about ratings agencies [snore] & just started Start The Week podcast on 'whether we are doomed to carry our history into the future' (fascinating) (but now I'm just showing off).

this isn't a doily, but it should be!

-x-

Day 1 (ish)

Weather: FAB!!!!

 

Music: Solid Steel podcast by Ninja Tune

+ Ben Harper on Spotify.

Listened to: dtw: Porcelain: The Trial for the Killing of Sophie Lancaster

while cooking (see below) - heart-breaking.

Watched: England beat Wales in the Six Nations :) & probably some more of The Fellowship of the Ring this evening, unless the parentals decide to watch Call the Midwife, in which case probably continue with 37 Days.

Mood: angry / sad / chilled out / busy (could be worse!)

Reading: Red Earth and Pouring Rain (Faber Fiction Classics) [Kindle Edition] by

Vikram Chandra (Author)

(only haven't done much reading today)

On my hook/needles: katahdin, + might have a go at My First Cardigan this evening

Also:

• dyed hair - light brown again (I think I'm the only person who can tell but it feels good to know I could pass for under 40 with the light behind me!)
• Cooked bobotie for the parentals as mum was working all morning and had to dash out this afternoon. Major falling out with food processor (still not speaking) but otherwise very successful - yum! :)
• Updated Ravelry - added stash yarn & some new hooks/needles, added to library & purged queue (mostly by adding to it but hey ho)

 -x-

hello, wow & oof!

Haven't blogged properly for ages so I'm gonna do a post/day for 30 days ...

So, yeah. Hello.

Wow = I've been looking for ideas for a crochet tablecloth, the desk I'm writing this on is old & not in a vintage, pre-loved way, just old. It's plain plain plain and has very sharp-looking corners so it's not exactly cosy. In the spirit of I Can Crochet An Answer To Anything, I've decided to crochet it a cloth for its top. This'll need to be about 1m x .5m and, because I do actually use this desk as a desk, I'd like it to be flat, not too lumpy-bumpy. I've been keeping an eye out on ravelry & pinterest and seen  some fairly good ideas, then today I found this pinterest board, and on it, this picture:

That, ladies & gentlemen, is the pattern I want. BUT. Of course, no pattern. I followed the link to the blog the pin came from, squinted at and semi-deciphered the French, followed another link and found the most enorme picassa web album of pages from 'Decorative Crochet' Magazines - about 30 of the magazines so goodness only knows how many pictures - wow!

Oof = Unfortunately I couldn't figure out which magazine the above picture came from so ...

... I looked at all of them!


Do you think I found the page I wanted?

...


No, of course I didn't!

Oof!

Anyhoo, I've just created a pinterest board for my tablecloth ideas - the above picture gets pride of place and maybe it'll serve as inspiration until I find the right one.

-x-

well, it's too late now

Here are the colours I've chosen for the CAL blanket, so help me.



Based on this gorgeous picture:


I honestly don't know how the turquoise got in there, except I like turquoise. And I'm not at all sure about the red or the off-white but it's ordered now so I'll just have to like it, won't I?

gulp!

-x-