Night Light

The clocks will go forward soon, giving us longer, lighter evenings, and we'll be facing every parent's favourite challenge: how to make the summer bedroom as dark as possible. But for now, Bella and Angus go to bed when it's dark outside. I find photographing anything in electric light very difficult indeed and so, over the last couple of weeks, I have been taking the camera up with me when they go to bed, trying to capture some of the warmth and cosiness of their bedtime routine. 

They usually go up at around 6.30 pm, apart from the odd night when there is an after school activity which runs later, or at the weekends. After the rituals of bath, pyjamas, teeth and stories, they are allowed "a play" before they settle down to sleep. This is undoubtedly their favourite part of bedtime. Knowing they don't have that long, they get stuck in to some serious play; toys come out, dens are built, stories written and pictures drawn. I was wary of all this at first, thinking that after all that calming ready-for-bed activity the last thing they needed was stimulation. But it works. And at about 7.30, one of them usually will come downstairs and say "Can we go to bed now please?" and then they are tucked in, kissed and lights are switched off.

These bedtimes are precious. Already, at age seven, Bella will often choose to read her own story, rather than have us read to her, and I can feel her pulling away from me in lots of small ways. Doing her own hair, wanting to make her own breakfast or packed lunch, not needing help when she needed it before. And soon 7.30 will be too early for her and she'll want to go to sleep later. It's right that she is gaining independence, of course, but I just want to hang on to our bedtime rituals a little longer.

Not Yet

I wanted to thank you for you recent comments here as they have been particularly wonderful; interesting, helpful and informative. You are all brilliant. Many of you reminded me about the Pencil Museum in Keswick when I wrote about the pencils we recently found in the garage. Yes, I am sure they would be able to date them for me (and I remembered that Derwent pencils are after all made in Cumbria). I may email them to try to find out when they were made - when I get round to it - but for now I'm happy just to have them to be honest. And what fabulous suggestions you gave me for my leaf skeleton dilemma! Some suggested just keeping them temporarily in a glass or white bowl, or under a glass dome, until they reached a point where they needed to go back into the garden. For preservation, someone suggested a light coat of spray varnish to help protect them, and then hinged glass frames, box frames and a small glass box were offered as ways to display them long term. I don't think they'd survive pressing - they were too brittle - so box frames or similar are the way forward I think. A couple of you said I should frame my photos, which had not occurred to me at all. I print and frame photos I've taken of people, mainly the children, but I'd never thought to print out any photos otherwise. It might be fun to make some cards or something. I played around with them on picmonkey, just for fun:

Anyway, in the end, they were just so brittle that they were practically disintegrating before my eyes, so I had to dispose of them the day after taking those photos. I don't think coming from a damp garden into a warm, dry house did them much good.

Thanks for the chair love, too. Yes, on the IKEA website, the chair is only listed as being available in grey, orange or blue, no idea why. I loved the grey but we have a dark grey sofa and felt it might be too much gloom. I'm so glad you all like her as much as I do! She's still there, still lovely. Not that I've had a chance to sit on her today...

I'd planned a springy post for this weekend, in as much as I ever really plan a post. There are always ideas simmering away in my head but it doesn't usually come together until I sit down in front of the laptop. I'd been thinking sunshine, pastels and flowers. In typical March fashion I've been pottering inside and out, sorting and rearranging. I found another use for my broken Emma Bridgewater mugs. Is it me or do these mugs break really easily? I put mine in the dishwasher but I'm pretty sure they are dishwasher proof. I must have about six where the handles have cracked and then come away. At nearly £20 a mug they're not cheap, though are they? Very annoying. Anyway, they make excellent, if expensive, pen pots.

I've been buying hyacinths and daffodils like they're going out of fashion. Love 'em. I think spring flowers are my favourite. I'm not bored of them though, not yet. Give me a couple more weeks.

I bought this lovely new pink cushion in IKEA from their brakig collection. I can't find a link to it but it was only £5 so I bought a blue one too. They go on the "kid's " sofa, where they will get covered in sticky fingerprints and crumbs and go in the washing machine constantly.

I've been hailing the milder temperatures this week with less soups, more salad.  I think radishes might win a prize for being the prettiest vegetable.

My new favourite thing for lunch is a boursin and radish open sandwich. So, so good. The combination of creaminess and crunch is divine. Very garlicky though. John complained.

But then, the thing is, IT'S NOT SPRING YET! No! It's bloody freezing. Every year I forget, Yorkshire springs are late and cold. I forgot. I was seduced by the sun, the daffodils, the 16°c temperatures. Yesterday the weather swiftly turned and a stinging, raw wind blew in. I wore my ski jacket to pick up the kids from school. Their faces were pinched and rosy from the cold and we had hot chocolate when we got home. My head is half in winter, half in spring while I finish this winter embroidery. Do you remember the autumn themed embroidery I did last year? I want to make one for each season, and I've been working on this lately. I have to finish it soon, as I'm already wanting it over so I can begin the spring one, which will contain lots more colour.

And so I do declare that spring is very nearly here, but not just yet.

Just Right

There was once a chair. We'll call him Mr Tullsta. He was purchased in 2000, many years ago, when two people set up house together and had to furnish a home in a hurry on a shoestring budget. He was cheap and practical but he was not comfortable. Oh no. He said, "I belong in a coffee shop or gastro pub, not a living room. I am for perching." He was too tiny, too rigid, and there was no room to curl up legs or snuggle babies, no room to stretch and lounge.

And then there was Mr Poang. He was purchased for a nursery. He'll be wipeable and practical yet comfortable too, and just perfect for feeding babies, they thought. But no. Mr Poang was no good for feeding babies, he was much too laid back. While he is a strong, sturdy chair with a nice bounce, he is not for lounging or snuggling either. His wooden arms do not say "Stay awhile."

Then along came Ms Strandmon. 

Her magnificent wings give her an authority and mid-century glamour which appeals to the man of the house. as did her extremely wallet-friendly price. The lady of the house likes her lines and shape, her soft, pale colour, and dresses her up with throws and cushions. She is firm enough to sit up straight and read in, wide enough to curl up legs and sew, deep enough to lean back with a cup of tea and sigh. She lives under a sunny, south facing window next to a basket of yarn and is much loved by all. The man checks his emails there. The woman sews, knits, crochets, and checks her phone there. The children sprawl and flop and read. "Stay awhile," says Ms Strandmon. "Stay awhile and rest. Bring your cup of tea or glass of red wine. (But do not spill them please for I am very pale.)" 

She is practically perfect.

She is just right.

Finding Buried Treasure: 2

Not in the garage this time, but in the garden instead. 

Leaf skeletons.

Are they not just the most remarkable things? It's like nature, deconstructed. I was fascinated by them as a child and couldn't imagine a "skeleton" that wasn't the white bodies of Funnybones. I'm pleased to find I'm still fascinated by them now. My mum found these two fine specimens in the garden and brought them inside to show Bella and Angus. I think I was much more excited than they were. These leaves look so incredibly, unbearably fragile, with their delicate web of papery stems and veins. But presumably they are fairly robust, given that they've been out there since last autumn, through wind and rain and the occasional ground frost.

The lacy, mesh effect is captivating. It's like an etching, full of lines and detail.

I like the way this one looks as though it has a seam of gold running through it's stem.

Truly buried treasure indeed. 

I don't know what to do with them now. Spray them? Press them? I'd like to find a way to display them, but suspect they might be ruined by any of my clumsy attempts to preserve them. Maybe I shouldn't try, but should just put them back into the garden where they can continue their natural cycle of decomposition.

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The weather is utterly glorious here today and we're off for a walk in the sunshine. Wishing you all a happy, sunny Sunday.

Finding Buried Treasure

Thank you for your comments on my crocheted curtain tie-backs. I'm glad I can share these little forays into creative homemaking with you all, it gives me such pleasure. 

We've enjoyed some mild and sunny weather this week and that, combined with the increasingly lighter afternoons, has given the air a deliciously spring-like feel. I'm wary of declaring it spring too soon though - do you remember how late spring was last year? Winter just seemed to go on and on. We had a heavy snow fall right at the end of March, which I wrote about here, so I have to remember that these Yorkshire springs can be late and very chilly. But, that said, it's been really nice to have the windows and kitchen door open, to be in the garage and garden, sorting, clearing and pottering.  My trawl through March 2013's posts showed that we seem to do a lot of DIY during this month and this year has been no different. We've painted Angus's old bedroom, the box room, and turned it into a study/office. My lovely mum, who has been staying with us this week, has been helping me in the garden. The garage has been emptied, sorted and re-organised, and many, many trips have been made to the tip. (Can you tell I am making the most of having John around before he starts his new job?)

But, while doing these chores, we've uncovered some treasures which really made me stop and smile and reach for the camera. One is this ancient box of Derwent colouring pencils, which John found in amongst a dusty box of art materials in the garage. John remembers them well from his own childhood and thinks they belonged to his father. The language on the box is so robustly patriotic that I think they were far more likely to be from the fifties or sixties than the eighties, when John was a child. They are "British Made Throughout" from "British Colours" and "Based on the standard shades of the British Colour Council". The box tells us they were produced in Keswick, England - we get the picture. No foreign pencils here! The box has seen better days and is practically disintegrating now, but I think it's beautiful in it's faded, water-marked state.

The list of colours on the back reads like a poem. The Derwent range of colours included "Naples Yellow", "Geranium Lake", "Imperial Purple", "Delft Blue" and "Vandyke Brown", whatever that is. They are more like the titles of novels than names of colours.

The original pencils are long gone I hope - for surely they were all used - and the box now contains a mixture of pencils from Derwent, Rowney and WHSmiths, still in a rainbow of colours.

We found many other art materials in the box with these, including lots of watercolour pencils, with which the children have enjoyed experimenting. But what makes this old box particularly special to us is their lineage. John's father was a talented artist who, after attending art college, worked as a designer for a company which made carpets. If he was working now, we'd probably call him a graphic designer. John also has a natural skill for drawing although he'd tell you otherwise. But as, sadly, John's father died long before I met him, the children and I don't have many direct links to him. I like to imagine that he first used this box of pencils, and then John did, and now the grandchildren he never knew can enjoy them too.

Crochet Curtain Tie-Backs

There is something about March which makes me start tinkering with the house; looking at rooms anew and finding ways to refresh them, or improving corners I don't like, just generally pottering and creating. 

This is the window in our bedroom. We bought the curtains from Habitat in 2005 the day after we moved in; there were no curtains in the entire house and we bought a load of ready made ones in a hurry. I don't much like them but they are warm and block out all the light which, when it comes down to it, is all you really need from curtains, and that's why they've stayed there for the last eight years on that curtain pole (which I also dislike).

New curtains or a blind would be nice in the future, but in the mean time I have yarn. I showed you this square on Sunday. I've been working on these for the last week, crocheting up two or three a night.

I believe it is in the rules that, when making granny squares, you must arrange them in various different patterns and piles, just because.

But I had an idea to make some strips with which to tie back the curtains, and so I settled on two rows of six.

I blocked them, sewed them together and added a double crochet border. Using a strip of chain stitches, I created loops to attach the crocheted strips to the hooks. The shorter loop faces into the room and the longer one is behind the curtain, so that most of the granny squares were seen in the room, not hidden from view.

I used these stick on hooks which I bought in B&Q. I use the smaller ones a lot for things like fairy lights or bunting, but thought I'd try these larger ones since they aren't holding any weight, and I didn't have to pester John to get the tool box out, even better. Get me, all independent with my stick on hooks!

Here's the window now. Not a massive difference, granted, but the curtains have a little more shape and detail than they did before, and a little homemade love.

I love the pattern. I've got a thing about circles-within-squares at the moment. It's from Susan Pinner's book Granny Squares and I used RICO essentials cotton DK yarn with a 3 mm hook. It was my first time with this yarn and I like it a lot, it has a subtle sheen to it and the depth of colour is nice and strong.

I also finally got round to hanging this map print, bought from Tynemouth Market last year. Isn't it funny, just a print and a plant and two strips of crochet and I feel like the bedroom has a new lease of life. 

I am happy with my tie-backs; the pattern is decorative enough without being overly fussy and feminine, and the blue and white pick out the same colours in other parts of the room, but without being too matchy-matchy, I hope.

So, crochet. It's not just cushions and blankets. It can be curtain tie-backs, table runners, place mats, coasters. It's such a versatile craft and so well suited to things for the home, which I think is why I enjoy it so much.

I have an idea for a table runner, in cotton again, but I'd probably need to make it at least 6 squares wide by, say 30 long...which, at 180 squares, feels a bit too much like making a blanket (and I've already got one of those on the go) so maybe I'll just stick to my tie-backs for now.