No New Items - a Holiday Instead

So no new item for today. I am off on holiday and have decided to put the shop on holiday too, to give me a little break.

I say I am off on holiday.....I am going to be cat sitting.

Image sourced from HERE

My parents are the ones going on holiday and the 3 family cats will have the pleasure of our company for the week. The fact that one of the cats is evil (I mean really evil, she hates me, I hate her, there is mutual loathing), one has a health condition so we have to force feed him tablets twice a day, and the other one is a complete hunter and brings in dead, half-dead and live mice on a regular basis.....you can see we will have our hands full. I will continue blogging over the week. I still have work but I am going to try and devote as much time as possible to crafting, cooking and getting inspired!

Have a nice weekend everyone. I have a date with 3 lovely men on Sunday car booting - I can't wait!
xx

My Favourite Game...

I haven't played this game in a while but I got the urge today to go on a dream home search. I generally use a property search engine on-line to look for lovely houses - in this case www.rightmove.co.uk. I normally pick a rough location or price criteria to help narrow things down a bit, this time Wilshire for £750,000, and watch all the gems load on to the page. Obviously I can't afford a £750,000 house but the idea is this is a 'dream' house, its something to dream about and aim for. We all need goals.

Atworth - 4 bed detached house - £750,000

Maiden Bradley - 6 bed detached house - £750,000

Corsham - 5 bed semi-detached house - £725,000

All images sourced from www.rightmove.co.uk

I used to play this game a lot but with a more affordable budget. It was how I found the house in Frome that we were going to buy back in May. Unfortunately the whole thing fell through when we came to sort out the mortgage and we would have had to sacrifice our upcoming wedding (and more!) in order to buy it. Ever since then I haven't really enjoyed playing the 'dream house search' game as it just reminded me that we are so far away from achieving our dream. But time is a wonderful thing. I finally feel ready to dream and believe and hope, that some day it will come true. Maybe next time, when our deposit is healthier (as well as our pay packets) we'll apply to go on Location Location Location and achieve another dream - meeting Kirstie Allsop!
xx

Before and After: New Bedroom

So we only have the bedroom, living room and studio left in the before and after of the new home. Today I have decided so share the bedroom with you.

When we moved in there were a couple of big pieces of furniture that came with the house. These were mainly in the bedroom, which was great for us as we only have a bed and there was a chest of draws and wardrobe left behind. Now it looks like this...

If I'm honest we haven't done a huge amount with this room. We decided to rearrange the furniture a bit and bought in an extra G-Plan style writing desk (ok, ok, I have too many clothes so we needed some extra storage). The main key feature I wanted to bring into the room was our love of Japan.

We bought a beautiful wood block print during our travels at the beginning of the year and it now takes pride of place above our bed. It was also my birthday whilst we were out in Japan and my other half (the gorgeous man he is) bought me a vintage kimono. Not just a kimono, but an undergarment, obi, straps, coat, socks and shoes. Naturally I have to have it on display - it is one of the most beautiful things I own. The vintage curtains, bed throw and lampshade all have a circular theme which helps tie the rest of the room together. I love waking up in this room. My little bit of Japan in Frome.

Just an FYI: Did you notice that I use an old pot stand/stool as a small bed side table? If you are having difficulty finding something to go by the bed, and only have limited space, why not give an old stool or chair a try. It is just the right height, and has just enough space for an alarm clock, phone and book!
xx

Sunday Roast

One of my lovely items has been featured in a treasury list on etsy. For anybody you isn't familiar with etsy or 'treasury lists', here is the low down. You pick a subject matter, in this case Sunday Roast, and you search for items on etsy that fit in with your theme. My little horseradish sauce pot is a perfect accompaniment to a Sunday roast so has to be included in Quirky Purple's treasury list.

Image sourced from HERE

I think this is a perfect selection of items, which have that autumnal feel with the orange accents, and frankly just makes me hungry! With the weather getting colder I'm sure we are all thinking about our favourite comforting Sunday lunches. What would yours be?
When I was little we always used to have a bath on a Sunday evening ready for school the next day. Our Sunday tea would be us wrapped in fluffy dressing gowns, if we were lucky the fire would be lit in the living room and we would all congregate round. My Mum would bring in piles of toast and we would devour them with cheese, pickles, jams whilst watching the tele (probably the Sunday night period drama which is a huge English tradition in itself!). This is one of my favourite memories.

I'm feeling very nostalgic today. Might have to go and have some toast, the memory has made me hungry.
xx

Tutorial: Pickled Onions

How are you all? I hope you had a nice weekend? The market on Saturday went well and the bad weather on Sunday was a good excuse to stay in. Although I usually try and avoid including recipes on this blog, cooking is such a big part of my life, and very important to the home environment, that I can't resist throwing a few in every now and again. The recipe I have for you today is actually a great 'home management' tutorial - Pickled Onions.

Pickled onions are great with cheese, meats and salad, an essential in any ones store cupboard. This tutorial for home made pickled onions uses up any shallots you may have from the garden or bought in bulk. They also make great Christmas presents (yes I just mentioned Christmas presents in September!). If you make up lots of picked onions now, leave them for a few months to mature and pickle away, come December time they will be delicious!

The recipe I used actually comes from the BBC Good Food website - HERE. It is a bit of an unusual recipe as it uses honey to sweeten the vinegar, which gives it an amazing taste.

YOU WILL NEED:

• 500g shallots
• 50g salt
• 500ml malt vinegar
• 200g clear honey
• Hot water
• Heat proof dish (with sides)
• Chopping board
• Knife
• Rubber gloves (optional)
• Colander
• Kitchen roll
• 3-4 jam jars (about 12oz jars)
• Saucepan
• Spoon

METHOD:
I had a glut of shallots from my Mum's garden so actually had about twice the quantity as stated above. I ended up making about 5 x 12oz jars worth. It is always best to make sure you have more jars then you need, just in case.

1. Place your un-peeled shallots into a heat proof dish and pour over enough boiling water to completely submerge the shallots (This is why you need a heat proof dish with sides). Leave the water to cool.
2. Once the water is cool drain the shallots using the colander. Then begin to cut the tops and root and peel them. You will need a sharp knife and a chopping board for this. I don't mind the smell of onions and wear contact lenses so they don't make me cry - if you are really sensitive I would recommend only making up a small quantity of pickled onions at a time. You may also like to wear rubber gloves whilst doing this as the skins of onions contains a natural yellow dye.

3. Once all of the shallots are chopped and peeled place them back in the cleaned heat proof dish and cover with the salt. Make sure you give them a good stir and leave over night. You may want to cover them over with a tea towel. They will make the entire kitchen smell of onions so choose a couple of days when you won't have any visitors.

4. The next day begin by rinsing the shallots thoroughly with cold water. I used a colander for this. Dry the shallots on sheets of kitchen roll.
5. You then need to sterilise your jam jars. I find the simplest way of doing this is to give them a good wash and whilst still wet putting them in a warm oven to dry for about 20 mins (mine were in the oven at about 150 degrees Celsius and I left them in there until I needed to bottle everything up). Remember to sterelise more than you think you need just in case.

6. Whilst the jam jars are in the oven combine the vinegar and honey in a saucepan and heat over a low heat. You do not want the vinegar to boil just for the honey to dissolve. I found stirring the mixture regularly helped.
7. Hopefully by this time your jam jars will be dry and you can take them out of the oven (carefully though as they will still be hot to touch!). I then filled the jars with shallots whilst still hot and slowly poured over the hot vinegar and honey mixture using a ladle (apparently one of the rules of preserving is that you should always but hot liquid into hot jars and cold liquid into cold jars - something to do with bacteria I think??). Put the lids on nice and tight.

And you are done! Leave the jars for at least 1 month before opening and store in the fridge once opened. My jars are going to part of our Christmas hampers that we are making for our family and friends. Our hampers are going to be glorified cheese boards - a selection of cheeses, pickled onions, chutneys, oat cakes, etc. I will keep you posted as I make more things to give you some inspiration for your own Christmas treats.
xx

New Item Friday

Firstly, I am sorry for my lack of posts this week. I'm not sure what has come over me but I am feeling exhausted. I feel asleep in front of my laptop at 7pm the other night, which really is very pathetic. I will try extra hard next week to bring you lots of interesting posts, but for now I hope this gorgeous little sauce pot will make up for my absence.

This is a lovely little Lord Nelson sauce pot which I really would rather keep. Its funny when something so small and simple completely captures you. Tomorrow the shop will be at Rook Lane Arts Centre in Frome. Frome will also be having its carnival and I hope this will encourage you to come and visit us.

Anyway, I am off to make some dinner, prepare my lunch for tomorrow and to do some more computer work. Hopefully I will manage to stay awake long enough!
xx

Baking Storage Idea

Just a quick post for you today. I was checking out one of my favourite blogs Cherry Menlove and got really inspired from a picture in one of her posts.

In the post she was actually talking about the redecoration she has carried out on a dresser which looks stunning. But it was the picture above of cupcake cases stored in glass jar that really got me thinking.

I decided to sort out my own cupcake cases and baking items. I think I may have got carried away, but these jars look fantastic and could sit on the side in the kitchen with pride. I have ended up with a jar of paper cases, a jar of silicon moulds and a jar of metal cookie cutters. I have more plastic cookie cutters, but ran out of jars, I think I need to hit the shops.
xx

Wall-Mounted Scales

I don't know if you guys are aware put in the shop I have for sale a vintage wall-mounted scales. When I take this item to markets it is quite difficult to display - I don't generally have walls with nails in to hang it on. It means that lots of people wander what the scales are or how they work. Well I have a little secret.....I actually have some wall-mounted scales of my own!

It is exactly the same as the ones for sale in my shop - it would seem they are like buses, you don't see one for ages and then two come along at once. I decided to keep one for myself and I think they are so useful.

They are particularly useful when you have limited surface space, like in our new kitchen. You can set them at your eye level and they close up when not in use. It is the best space saver as you can measure things out and have your mixing bowl ready underneath. You can then remove the orange dish to be washed up and close the metal holder to save space. I have to say I love it.

Hopefully this post has helped explain one of my lovely items and given you some inspiration.
xx

New Item Friday

For you today I have this lovely little tea tin.

It would look lovely on the kitchen side, but I have to confess, I would probably use it for jewellery. The intricate pattern on the surface is just so pretty and I can't resist that little plastic handle.

I have another market this weekend. For any of my readers who live in Swindon, there is going to be a brand new vintage and retro market in the MECA. I will have a stall and there should be a great selection of things on offer. And while we are talking about markets I may as well mention that I will be doing a market next Saturday in Frome at Rook Lane Chapel. Frome will also be holding its carnival on this Saturday so it will be the place to visit.

Anyway, have a lovely weekend.
xx

Inspiring Interiors at Oh So Lovely Vintage

Breezing through the internet checking out all my favourite sites I got smacked in the face by a completely stunning home interior.

Images Coutesy of Oh So Lovely Vintage

This is a 1957 ranch house in Tulsa with the most amazing 1950s interior. The ladies over at Oh So Lovely Vintage brought us these amazing images over at their blog - HERE. I'm blown away and getting loads of ideas, I hope you are too.
xx

Before and After: New Kitchen and Out-house

So I have another new house before and after for you today. We have one of my favourite rooms - the kitchen.

It has to be said that this is a very, very small kitchen. It was one of the things that worried me about renting the house. I generally like to live in the kitchen. I love to cook and I think the kitchen is really the heart of the home. But we had to compromise and the studio space for the business was more important. But I think we have done some lovely things with the space.

I felt I wanted some extra surface space so we put our lovely vintage kitchen unit in. We also bought a space saving (and utterly gorgeous) microwave that fits into the corner due to its curved back. I have to say, I love this kitchen! Everything is within easy reach and the space just seems to work. I think it is a great example of how small can be functional and gorgeous. Of course, I am cheating slightly. Did you notice that I don't have any white goods in the kitchen apart from the cooker? That's because the rest are hidden in our out-house. Previously the out house was a bit of a dumping ground.

But we have divided the space into two. In the entrance is our white goods; fridge, freezer, washing machine, ironing items and recycling stuff. In the back is my workshop material store.

I hope this has given you some ideas if you have a small kitchen at home.
xx

Weekend of Markets

So my weekend did not work out as planned. I had got all my dates in a muddle and I actually had a market in North Bradley on the Saturday and a market in Bath on Sunday. I then had an extended day today at the day job. So I am completely beet. The markets were good as the weather was great, but work today was fantastic. I spent the day cleaning picture frames, making linings and writing inventory numbers on pictures and frames. Anyway, I am going to chill out for a bit in front of the tele as I have a busy day tomorrow collecting a restoration piece from a client. Just call me busy bee.

I hope you all have a lovely evening.
xx

New Item Friday

Especially for you this Friday I have a lovely vase. It is a bit of a coincidence, as they were bought in different places, but this vase would go perfectly with the set of green and pink frosted glasses I added last week. I can see it now, the table laid for dinner, the vase in the centre piled high with flowers and the glasses set at each place setting. It would look very pretty.

I have a very exciting weekend ahead of me. Tomorrow we are going to the Frome Cheese Show! As you can guess from the title, the show has lots of different cheeses from all over the area, but it also has handicrafts, local skills, horticulture, a dog show.....I could go on. One of the things I cant wait to see is the marquee where people enter they crops, crafts, etc. I would love to have a go at entering something, so maybe a will check out the competition and put my name forward for next year?! Either that or I will be so intimidated I will be too scared to make or bake anything ever again. On Sunday the shop is heading to North Bradley, just outside Trowbridge, for a Delightfully Vintage market.

If I'm honest I can not believe the first week of September has gone. Tomorrow it will be 4 months until I get married! But before that we have Halloween (one of my favourite holidays - eating lots of sweets and dressing up, who wouldn't love that!), Bonfire night and then Christmas. Christmas! I have had to start thinking about it already, and will be a very busy bee with 5 markets planned over the festive period. Now I feel a little depressed....think I will go outside and chase that patch of blue sky while I can.
xx

1970s Chairs and Table

I couldn't resist showing you a fantastic set of 4 chairs and a table that I bought recently for the shop. They are obviously a bit big for me to put on etsy where I sell my items (but I do have developments on that front - watch this space!) but this set is so gorgeous, I had to share.

The chairs and moulded white plastic with painted metal swivel legs. The table top is round when both leaves are upright with a white plastic top and painted metal legs, similar to the chairs, but fixed in place.

When the leaves are down the table is rectangular, and when you want to put them up all you have to do is lift the leaves and the metal bar underneath automatically springs into place.

The plastic on the chairs does have some small chips and the paint on the metal legs is also chipped in places, but I think these chairs look stunning. On the base they have written GLC Design, Size D 11-16, Steelux London, Reg. Design 941202. I have been unable to find out much information about them, but there are some very similar ones (found HERE) which are dated from the 1970s.

I think this shape and style really embodies the essence of the 60s and 70s. It would make such a statement piece in any ones home. If it takes your fancy then keep an eye on my facebook page for my upcoming events - these bad boys will be coming to a market near you soon.
xx