Berlin sewing cafe

I wrote recently about a new sewing cafe in Paris, for stitchers across the Channel. Well there's one in Berlin too. A decidedly different vibe I think - more hippie-chic than chi-chi.  Sadly it was shut on the Monday I was there, but next time I'm in the German capital I'm definitely going to pop in. And I couldn't resist photographing the Master or Mistress in the window!

Just another ordinary day

1. In honour of the New Sex and the City film - here's me in New York last year.

2. I don't care what the critics say - it's escapist joy! Loved it. Loved it. Loved it. So there.

3. Clean sheets on the bed - bliss.

4. A glass of wine and M&S Belgian chocolate. Sometimes it's the small things.

5. You know when you're little and you think "one day I'll have my own house and I'll be able to do EXACTLY as I please." That day is mine. It happened. It's good!

6. Ladies - make sure you experience the joy of your own space...you can stay in bed AS LONG AS YOU LIKE! It's true! It really happens!

7. Breakfast.

8. A Bank Holiday day off. You wake. It's quiet. It feels like a Sunday. It's bliss.

9. Neighbour's cat curled up contentedly on bed.

10. The longest bath.

My two fleamarket coffee tables

I thought you might like to see the two teeny tiny coffee tables I bought in the Berlin fleamarket. So compact and bijoux they fitted into my rucksack - they are adorable...and only 10 euros the pair! What is SO weird is that the evening before I spotted them at the market, I walked past an incredibly trendy opening party at a cafe full of gorgeous people. There inside, were two nearly identical tables with glasses of bubbly perched on top. Immediately I thought, WOW...where on earth are those cuties from? And the very next day...I found my own. VISUALISATION or what!

Berlin

Berlin has already featured on my blog once before as I was there last year doing a hat workshop. It really is a city that I love more and more each time I go back. You feel that people have worked incredibly hard to make Berlin what it is today, and everyone is always very laid back and friendly. I had a fine time in the fleamarket, managing to buy two retro coffee tables for 10 euros the pair. They were so petite I was able to fit them into my rucksack by unscrewing the legs! These Berlin photos are by my friend Iris who's just started her own foodie blog. It's in Dutch, so perhaps a bit tricky to read for the likes of me, but the fabulous photos of gratifyingly gorgeous grub are worth a look in their own right. You can also see more detailed shots of our trip. Included are a number of pictures of shoes (also featured above). Well that's because the new Sex and the City film is out tonight, so it's in honour of the four fashionistas (well, that's my story anyway!) But also, and here's the amazing thing, the floor of the shoe boutique was covered in sequins! Yes, sequins embedded in lino! Oh oh oh!! I asked the shop assistants where they had found such fabulous flooring, but sadly they had no idea. Could we make our own? Next time I need a kitchen floor laying, I'm having sequin lino, and that's a promise!

Back to white

Those of you accustomed to reading my blog (thankyou) will wonder why the colour keeps changing. Well, it's all part of my experimental attempt to refresh and revive my blog, which I believe is in need of a facelift. However, having lived with the pale blue background for a few weeks now, I feel rather like someone who's been experimenting with paint swatches in their living room. I've decided that the blue doesn't really work. Yes, I love colour (as you'll see from the rather rainbow-like palette of my entries) but settling on the style of your blog is a bit like designing your home: you can really only introduce colour in your accessories and furniture if the background is fairly neutral so that it doesn't all become one big dizzy mess! So, for now, until I go and learn how to do this properly, I am going back to white. Anyone know of a short, cheap, blog designing course you can do in London? Surely, this could be SO MUCH BETTER!

I'm Gaga for hats!

This isn't usually a blog that deals with celebrity, but I was reading my freebie newspaper on the way to work the other day, trawling through the mostly dreary news, when I saw something that made my milliner's heart jump for joy and do a little dance! Apparently, Philip Treacy is taking Lady Gaga on as an intern! Yes - the "chapeaued-up chantoosay" (nice description!) is going to learn to make her own titfers. The mind boggles as to what she might come up with. She's already sashayed on the stage in statement making headgear like a telephone, a flying saucer, and antlers. This is going to be fun fun fun - and will do wonders for the comeback of the hat. I doubt however that Lady Gaga will be thrilled at the wages and conditions that most milliners have to deal with- not much cash and half an hour lunch break. Hmm...do you think she'll cope?

By popular demand

I saw a bag similar to this one a few months ago being carried by a woman at Kings Cross Station in London. It really stood out, and I jotted down the Duttons For Buttons logo. When I looked it up on the internet, I discovered that Duttons is a much loved and enduring button shop in the North of England (the parent company was established in Leeds in 1906). One of the girls who works there had this great idea - to print a picture of buttons onto a re-usable hessian bag so that customers could then sew their own favourite buttons onto the bag. I just had to have one! What an imaginative way to display your button stash! I stitched on some buttons found at my favourite market, and had fun hunting down a few special ones from other places too. I've had SO many lovely comments from people about this bag. If you get one, you will find you make new friends wherever you go! The new IT bag! Just click here to to order your own.

....Just another ordinary day....

1.mwah!

2. my button bag catches attention wherever i go - especially caught the lovely bright eyes of a little girl in a wheelchair on the tube. i willed her to look at it to give her some sparkle and hope

3. me and news are in the process of a long and difficult divorce

4. scrambled egg and smoked salmon is just the best

5. lemon or lime? i don't mind if it's lime or lemon

6. i am love with a flat in Montrose that I wish I could buy

7. why is all my love unrequited?

8. i now know alot about may day around the world

9. my neighbour's borrowed cat has not been round for days

10. i love sitting in my bed looking out of my window at the trees dripping with rain

11. i wish i could just make things all day long

12. i have a new hair rat which is just going to be so fab(see forthcoming styles) if you don't know what a hair rat is....then watch this space!

13. hands up if you'd like to come to a boutique crafting weekend in my imaginery flat in Montrose!

14. should one really eat a whole bag of M&S salt and pepper cashew nuts all in one go for tea?

15. washed down with three glasses of wine?