More than I bargained for!

I bought this massive vase from an African charity shop in Nottingham last week for £5. When I got home, I filled it with spring flowers - and then had to raid the bush in the garden for some greenery to fill out the display. The vase is  huge - measuring some 50 cm across! I thought it would fit very nicely into the alcove of the stately home that I will one day buy. In the interim, it takes up half the shelf space of my small London flat. When I purchased the vase I had to nip to the cash point to get the money as I didn't have enough on me. On my return, the guy behind the counter said he'd included an added extra. Tony (I soon discovered his name) had slipped a piece of paper into the bag. On it was his name and number! What a bargain!

How's Katy going to do?

Whilst in Nottingham at the weekend I picked up a great vintage book called NEW CLOTHES FROM OLD - all about war-time rationing and making-do. It's full of useful tips about how to make clothing work extra hard. Some of the ideas are probably far too time-consuming for us today, but there are lots of ingenious suggestions too. I was chatting with my Sister-in-law Katy about the book and she had a flick through it. She's really good at sewing and all sorts of crafts - she recently made a fantastic zebra hand-puppet for my Nephew and Niece at her KNIT NIGHT in Stroud. One project that particularly caught her eye was the 'tiny tot's play dress' which you can make from 'father's old shirt.' Now my brother sports very natty shirts, many of them floral - the perfect fabric for a little girl's dress. Katy rather like the idea of giving this project a go and as my Niece is just a few months old - she's the perfect model. So - Katy has volunteered to try out the challenge and keep us all up to date via my blog on the success (or otherwise!) of her endeavours. I've promised her a bottle of champagne to keep her engaged when the going gets tough. Let's see what Katy's going to do next!

Crystal Palace gem

If you're looking for something a bit different this weekend and live in London - then why not head out to Crystal palace for Sunday lunch at The White Hart. This is a very pleasing pub with cosy sofas and a good range of draught beers. I felt I could curl up there and read the papers for the afternoon quite happily. They do homemade roasts on a Sunday too. Hurrah! Apart from the good atmosphere, weekend papers, board-games and knitting nights, this pub wins brownie points with me by boasting a vintage shop! Yes...you can browse through a hand-picked selection of cool clothes pint in hand and chat to the delightful owners. They do a great window display - check it out above. That in istself was enough to bring a smile to my face! You can get to Crystal Palace on the new "ginger line".

COLOUR

Odd Swan pic

You know those kitsch fake oil paintings you get in elderly peoples' houses? Well much to my surprise I've suddenly acquired a taste for them. Not all of them obviously - but this one in particular. I spotted it yesterday doing the rounds of my local flea market (which incidentally you should all have heard of by now). There was something about the colours that really appealed - and it reminded me of some languorous swans I saw last Spring on the River Wye in Monmouthshire. I find this picture very tranquil -  so I've hung it in the kitschen (spelling mistake intended) to bring calm to my cooking. At £1.50 it was a very good bargain indeed.

Doing it Yourself? Priceless

I don't know what hit me yesterday, but walking through Greenwich Park in the Spring sunshine, I suddenly felt like a change. And what do women do when they fancy a change? They cut their hair of course! When it comes to hair, there's no time like the present, so I walked up to Blackheath village and popped into a few hairdressers to see if I could get a last-minute appointment or cancellation. Being a Saturday of course, everything was pretty booked up, and the only slot I could find was a cut and blow dry for £50. Now call me tight, but that's just too much for a girl on a shoestring, so in spite of being tempted to splash out, I decided to revisit the MJ of my youth and do it myself - thus saving myself £50. Bargain! Now of course, the main rule for cutting your own hair is that you shouldn't do anything too complicated, and you shouldn't do it drunk. Suffice it to say, I stuck to principle number one, but blew principle number two out of the water by setting-to with the scissors at 11pm after a large glass of vino. I thought (in the tradition of the finest craft manuals) that I'd take you through my haircutting technique STEP BY STEP so you can try this money-saving idea at home too.

So - here follows instructions in how to cut your own fringe nudging towards midnight fuelled by Sauvignon Blanc.

1. Firstly separate off the area to be be fringed with a cross-the-head parting.

2. Cut one side (leaving plenty of room for adjustment).

3. Even up the other other side (trying to mirror the one opposite). Realise you really should have wet your hair to do this, so stick your head under the shower.

4. Get a bit more daring and cut closer to the length of fringe you require "feathering" the sides by sliding the scissors down the edges:

5. Dry off hair and even up if necessary.

6. The morning after the night before:

International Women's Day