Good bye january- and good riddance

Today is the last working day in January. Halle- freakin- lujah. Does this not call for one monumental celebration? I have the perfect party in mind involving slippers, crafting and tea. Hells yeah.

January has been a month of paradoxes. It has been mind numbingly slow and dreary, coupled with a dire lack of motivation and a complete inability to focus. But it has also been a month that has been subsumed by hoping and dreaming and hatching plans which have long been in the making; an unusual combination i'm sure you'd agree.

(Image from Recovering Lazyholic's photostream. Very apt, no?)

Either way, good bye to the January blues; Goodbye to the darkest mornings of the year and the over sleeping and (hopefully) the total lack of motivation, and hello February; Bring on the pancakes! (Valentines? Pish and tosh) February speeds on by and before you know it spring will have sprung.

I hope you all have lovely weekends and 'goodbye january' celebrations planned. My weekend will involve sticking like glue to my mister who has been absent for a couple of weeks and talking and talking about his trip and the rest of the year, and it will hopefully involve a bit of crafting too. Bliss.



xx

My non creative space

Evidence of furtive crating at work...

I dont have a creative job. Its interesting in other ways, but creative it most definitely is not. But that doesnt mean that I dont feel the need to craft. Oh no. Sometimes the desire to hold paper and fabric and scissors and nice pens and yarn overwhelms me, and I throw caution to the wind and find ways to indulge in some  illicit but deeply satisfying office crafting.


A friends birthday recently tested the limits of my craft audacity at work. A combination of being wildly disorganised and having no money or time led to furtive desk based crafting of the wildest kind. Oh yes! With colleagues inches away, I managed to whip up a card using only the materials present to me in my immediate vicinity. Nobody even batted an eyelid due to the cunning use of the space under my desk....





Its amazing how a used envelope, some paper clips, and some cardboard dividers can call to you from within your desk drawers....




With my mission accomplished, and thirsty for the next challenge, I embarked today on another furtive mission to make a colleagues birthday card. While colleagues were away from the neighbouring desks I whipped up another stellar birthday card, making yet more use of the colourful cardboard dividers usually reserved for the budget book. Very nice it was too.



Maybe one day, I'll be able to spread my paper and scissors and glitter and glue all over my desk and roll all over it all day long, without being sacked for it. Yes! One day indeed...

Update: Apologies everyone, I gave away the cards before taking photo's! And while i'm updating, I  also corrected some spelling and grammer and rectified some terribly constructed sentences. I hope you werent too offended by my dyslexic ways, dearies. Must get better at proof reading...


Do you get the need to craft at inconvenient times?!

Ps My mister arrived home today. I was so brave all by myself, and I did indeed have a blast yada yada, but hurrah! He's home!

Pps Baby Florence  is the most expressive, active, wide eyed and curious new born I have ever met! Totally gorgeous! (I will resist the brood, I will resist the brood...)

Mmmmmm New Soltaire stuff.....

Just came accross the new stuff from Soltaire. Lovely...

Via Print & Pattern

Id really like to do a course in print and pattern/ surface design. Yes, I really really would. Do you know of any short/ flexible courses in London?

Hope your wednesday is treating you well!

I am visiting a very special lady tonight for some new born baby love.... Congratulations Fay! Oh wow! You made a baby!

Treehugger Tuesdays: Food shopping musings

Since blogging about my green intentions for 2010 a couple of weeks ago, I have had all sorts of green and local and organic and supermarket thoughts swirling around in my noggin.  Suma, the wholefoods shop is a brand I am familiar with but I wasn't aware of their home delveries until Pippa, a lovely reader left a comment making me aware of them. Very exciting stuff indeed, I hear you say. well yes, I agree.

But here is the thing. I have had an Abel and Cole box delivery on and off for about 5 years- and I am currently on a break from them (due to rotting veg as a result of the weekly deliveries). I learned recently that Abel and Cole have created a new shopping option which doesn't require a weekly box. You can now use abel and cole as a normal online shopping site, selecting what you need and arranging a delivery to suit you. Abel and Cole stocks pretty much what the suma site stocks- plus fresh veg, meat and fish all from British or fairly traded farms. So I thought I would go back with Abel and Cole.

But then (the plot thickens), I decided to trot down to my local market shop in Brockley. I am not sure how many of my readers are local to me, but if you are and you haven't been to the Broca Food market id highly recommend a vist. Its on the 'other' side of the tracks though! (sorry, local in- joke). As you can see it is quite large and it is very well stocked.

Image via

I got all of this stuff for £22 which isnt bad at all.

(juice, pasta, peppers, carrots, eggs, onions, milk, portabello mushrooms, teabags, chocolate truffles (naughty!), and hummous, and it is all organic, wholegrain and/or Fairtrade, and other healthly things

The debate is very current for me, as i'm currently reading In Defence of Food by Michael Pollan. My one day maybe future brother in law let me borrow it, and it has really made me think about proper real food (as opposed to processed, fake stuff... um, just read it)

That was probably a very boring treehugger post. Apologies about that. I guess I thought that maybe you are interested in finding ethical food shopping options too?

Hmmm. If not, and for saome major eye candy- see rays blog post about colourful bed linen. Say Hi from me if you stop by!

Ottolenghi veggie stew to die for

Last night  Ray of sunshine cooked us swiss chard, chickpea and tamarind stew, a recipe from Ottolenghi.

Oh my goodness gracious me.

I. cant. stop. thinking. about. it.

How I wish one I could click my fingers and scrunch my eyes shut and magic up this dish. Right now.

(Image Guardian)

 See the recipe here....

House lust.

Having not drank in about a week and a half (quite an achievement, I hasten to add) I got sozzled last night, beginning at the pub, and ending rather unceremoniously at my flat. I cant tell you how gross I feel right now.Urg.

So, nursing my mug of tea this morning,  I started to lazily click through my favourites and I came across this house. Its hard for me to put into words what these pictures do to me. There is a heart that lurches, and a tummy that tumbles and butterflies that flutter.  This house embodies a far away dream of self- sufficiency, and hand made, and living every day in a creative, joy filled way. Or maybe i'm being a bit hungover and emotional. Certainly quite possible.  Either way,  enjoy some house porn, lovelies. x

Note  the WILD FLOWER MEADOW!

Some details of the barn from Maya's Flickr stream

The decked area out the back

Flowers from her meadow

A kids art display area

a spaghetti bar!

The studio:

I love that she shows the inside of the cupboards- and LOOK she puts bunting inside the cupboards! This opens up a whole new world of bunting possibilities, no?

Details of Maya's sewing supplies, from her studio

Bedroom and closet area

(look at the hanging linens at the end of the bed!)

In his pockets.

My mister? He is in a faraway place at the moment.  Its true. I miss him. A lot. I especially miss telling him my stories.

But do you want to know a secret?

Im also having a blast.

Sometimes,  I think its a little bit nice, and important and weirdly nourishing to be apart. For a while. Not too long. But a while. Not least because it makes seeing each other all the sweeter.  And also, to pretend like you have a legitimate reason to bop around your flat to 'all the single ladies' . Hells yeah. (true story). And also to go for drinks and coffee and see all your lovelies.  And watch Flashdance. And have crochet sleepovers.

So anyway, I washed his jeans for him before he went away and I couldn't believe what I found in his pockets. I had to take a photo.  He isn't here so we'll look at the contents of his pockets. Weird? Maybe, but indulge me.  This is a slice of my mister. Right there. I kid you not- this was all in his pockets.

From clockwise, we have his handmade iphone case, then a sort of weird box of sweets which is also A CLAW, (wtf?) a gig ticket, his headphones, a lollypop, a train ticket (there are usually about 10 of these in his pockets- I think he was saving some in there) a WHOLE bag of chocolate eclairs, a push pop, keys, a penny, his phone, his wallet and a lighter. In his back pockets were his gloves. And yeah, I know what your thinking. All this stuff in his pockets DOES give him a funny walk. (Don't tell him I told you so)

And also- Holy moly. That is so much sugar. He doesn't usually eat all this stuff (I don't let him), it was after a friends birthday, but still. In fact, because i'm not there, he is probably in a sugar coma of pleasure right now.

Le sigh...

Are you all tip top? Hope so.

x

Hear and cheer: I'm listening to lots of new music at the moment. (Apart from Beyonce, that is) Like Bibio and Soy un Caballo (gorgeous) and Cloud control. Lovely jubbly.

Street booty; fruit boxes.

I frequent a friendly fruit stall near my office and noticed today the charming wooden orange boxes near the bin. I asked if I could have them and the friendly fruit chap said yes! Party! So I took three and will continue to take them up on my way home.




Sweet aren't they?! They are just thrown away at the end of the day so by recycling them I am preventing them from going to landfill. They will also look mighty pretty as storage for light bulbs and batteries in my pantry, and save me from spending money on cardboard varieties that will inevitably perish more quickly than these wooden vaieties.







I am going to line two with orange checkered fabric to hold my undies too, don't you know. Hurrah for street booty!


Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Treehugger Tuesdays. Household cleaning...

I hate cleaning, but during the (somewhat rare) occasions I manage to either boss my mister in to doing it or actually partake in it myself, I have often thought that id like to make may own chemical free cleaning products. There are a few reasons for this. Firstly, I decided that there was something wrong with sloshing substances around my home that would literally burn my hands if I spilled them. Secondly, I wanted to stop spending so much on it. Thirdly, I wanted to protect Mama Planet. And fourthly, maybe I also wanted to make pretty looking cleaning supplies in glass bottles! The key is often vinegar and bicarbonate of soda (If its good enough for Kim and Aggie its good enough for me!) but finding big enough quantities of it has been a real challenge. But no more. I stumbled across the Summer Naturals website last week and I really did do a little dance. Anne, the lady who runs the website says this;

"I see Summer Naturals as being a service rather than a business. I want other people to enjoy looking after their environment, their families and themselves. I want as many people as possible to know that there are easy alternatives to cleaning with chemicals, to prevent polluting our water system and in turn our bodies. I want people to recycle, to use Freecycle, to prevent landfill, to preserve energy supplies and water. I want people to enjoy making their own toiletries and cleaning products, I want people to save money, I want people to be environmentally conscious. I want quite a lot really and this is why I can thank each and every one of my customers for purchasing from Summer Naturals because it makes me happy to know that people care about the world that we live in and it makes me happy to know that Summer Naturals can help by continuing to sell, as unglamorous as it is, White Vinegar and Bicarbonate of Soda."

A woman after my own heart. She stocks bumper packs of everything you need for chemical free cleaning, and its extremely reasonably priced too. Major ethical porn, no?

(Perhaps not everyone gets as excited as me about these things?! Sometimes I dont know!)

I also purchased the Cabbages and Roses Guide to Natural Housekeeping to give some guidance on what to actually do with it all, and its brilliant. At the risk of sounding like a deeply sad and desperate housewife, apparently, you can do ALL household tasks with a few chemical free ingredients (including drains, toilets, floors, dishwasher powder, washing powder etc etc etc) Even my mister got excited about it ("Oooo look, it even cleans rust from cooking utensils!") which I encouraged very enthusiastically.

I am eagerly awaiting the delivery of my Summer Naturals supplies, and poring over my new book and rest assured that I shall keep you updated on my experiments in green cleaning! (You must be jumping for joy!)

Happy Treehugging, lovelies.

Hannah x

P.s Do you remember I told you Ive been asked to write for my friends magazine, Squidge? Well, many months later (shame) my first article is actually up! Eeek! Its about ethical shopping. A wee bit recycled from previous seeds and stitches posts, just to warm me up a bit. If your joining me from Squidge, I welcome you warmly!

Car boot finds and more hipstamatic love

Happy weekend to one and all! Have you done anything nice lovelies? A few of us headed off to South London yesterday with the aim of excersizing our junk muscles at the grey hound car boot sale. When we emerged from the tube the weather had unfortunately taken a turn for the worse (cue freezing cold girls wearing stupid shoes, and grumpy boys slinking off early to the pub.) I snapped a few hipstamatic shots on the bus on the way there but when we were actualy there I was more preoccupied with dodging puddles and rain drops and keeping my core temperature above freezing than taking photos.

The market was mostly empty due to the inclement weather, but a few hard core junk dealers remained, shivering in large coats and clasping flasks of tea. We scored some decent stuff, including this oval plate, already hanging on my plate wall:

This black enamal floral tray:

And two sets of milk and sugar china:

(To be used for some more home made candles I think)

We also bought some old wood planes, to feed my mister's growing woodwork passion:

And I bought this vintage lace dress too. It is too big and the neckline is all wrong but with some moderate tweaks and alterations it should be super lovely.

After our sub zero car booting adventure,  it was imperative that we thawed out in a number of the local drinking establishments (three to be precise, and very nice they were too). We ended up eating a lovely pub lunch with friends, and then my mister and I came home and spent the rest of the day snuggled up under the duvet on the sofa, reading and watching crap telly. Today promises more of the same, which is lovely because I have a rotten cold at the moment, and my mister is also going away for a week tomorrow too. Boo.

I hope your weekends have been lovely.



P.s My heart, and some of my cash go out to Haiti this week. A pitiful response really, but something none the less. Read this blog for discussion on reovery, and why more debt is not the answer.  Some time ago I volunteered with a Fairtrade organisation, and it was here that I first heard about the extent of the problems in Haiti.   This article puts it well: " In Haiti, the last five centuries have combined to produce a people so poor, an infrastructure so nonexistent and a state so hopelessly ineffectual that whatever natural disaster chooses to strike next, its impact on the population will be magnified many, many times over. Every single factor that international experts look for when trying to measure a nation's vulnerability to natural disasters is, in Haiti, at the very top of the scale. Countries, when it comes to dealing with disaster, do not get worse." 
My heart breaks.  

Virginia Echeverria-Whipple

Dear Virgina Echeverria- Whipple,

Goodness gracious me, your work really stirs my cuppa. I mean, really stirs my cuppa, so that a little whirlpool is created in the cup and a bit sloshes out onto the table......

SIGH

Via Design for Mankind

P.s. Virginia Echeverria-Whipple. What a rad name. I really like artists with rad names. Like Song 

Dong.

P.p.s This might be the last collage inspiration I need to actually start making my own.

P.p.p.s Happy Saturday cherries!