Coffee Pot

It is half term holiday here this week so all is chaos but I did rush to the local shops and library by myself yesterday. I was supposed to be buying something sensible like milk but here's what I came back with instead. (The local junky charity shop is closing down and has a half price sale).

A coffee pot and milk jug bought for next to nothing (£1.25 to be exact). They caught my eye yesterday - I like the clean simple shapes and the wooden handles.

I gave them to Little I for her play kitchen. She loves them and has made me lots of pretend coffee. I turned the coffee pot over and saw that they are Danish. Anyone out there know - are they for stove top use?

Seventies Sewing Books

On Sunday afternoon, we went to a summer fete at a National Trust house. The top picture shows the entrance - to what was an upper middle class Edwardian villa. One day I will go there without my kids so I can look inside - apparently the last member of the family who owned it was a famous embroiderer - so I wonder if some of her work is on display. Also nothing inside the house was altered from Edwardian times. Many of the houses of this type have been converted into flats or demolished so this one is like a little time capsule.

One thing I love about National Trust houses is they often have second hand book shops. These are often found in an outbuilding, unstaffed, organised by volunteers and have an honesty box for payments. They are also a good source for second hand crafting books. I found this one for children from 1973. I loved the illustration style. Check the great outfit you could make for your friend! Or an apron

Then I also bought this crafting book also from 1973. It originally would have had a pattern sheet inside it which unfortunately is missing...I liked the look of these wide legged trousers either full length or cropped, very summer essentials.

It also has knitting and crotcheting patterns in it - which are in the book. But the things that I bought it for are these projects for children - I would love to have a go at making a playtent. Little I recently fell in love with one in Laura Ashley which costs...wait for...steady yourself...£200! (For a tent....eeek! It is a highly embroidered tent, but still £200! I feel a rant coming on) The tent pattern is in the book, as is a pattern for these cushions which I can see being popular in my house.

See how you can lie down on these cushions or sit up, love that. So now I am adding these to my ever growing list of things to make.