Crushed

This isn't the first time I have blogged about a kitchen utensil, but it is the first time I've had to replace something I love with something I never will.

Susi the Swiss made garlic press has been part of my life since I can remember but not for bringing the flavours of the world to our Blackpool kitchen. You see Susi is really something, she didn't just press garlic, in fact in our house I doubt she ever even saw so much as a clove until the late 90's, no instead Susi formed the main part of a northern housewife's 'toolkit', taking many a blow in aid of  my mums Christmas card strings, decorations, pictures and repairs to the garden fence. Why buy a hammer when you have this eh?

Susi met her match with a new brand of dishwasher tablet, stripping her shiny coating off she now leaves grey marks on my hand.

Every dint tells a tale

Bye bye Susi, you just weren't made for these times, Susi 2 will have nothing on you x

What a find

Wednesday morning Joel and I took a stroll round the charity warehouse in town, it is a freezing cold place, where you have to dodge buckets catching rainwater on the floor, but oh boy it is good. Really good. The kind of place where the cups you buy still have fresh tea stains in them, like the stuff in there has just rolled straight out of someones sideboard and onto their over burdened shelves. Exactly the kind of charity shopping I like, non of this over priced clobber, arranged in order of the colour spectrum, ornaments in locked cases displayed with print outs of their eBay potential propped next to them.  I want to pay low and work hard for my treasures, I'll take my chances in the Nana scrum!

This visit was no disappointment, tucked under a pile of rugs something brighter than bright caught my eye. I pulled out a circular tapestry wall hanging of what can only be described as pop/folk art style. Perfect for Joels room.

Signature woven into the tapestry

Reverse detail

It's stamped with the studio details and also signed and dated (23:5:67) by the artist, Luis Montiel. He took some finding but I now know his work was mainly from the 50's and 60's (although he was still producing tapestries in the early 90's) and he lived and worked his whole life in Venezuela. All his work featured bright orange and magenta (amongst others) and is described as 'Pop Art Venezuelan style'.
It was up on Joels bedroom wall the very next day and looks fab with his bright wallpaper and curtains. His 'tweet tweet' tapestry must have had quite a journey to end up at Oakbank 45 years after it was woven, I am so happy to have found it and know it will give us many years of pleasure.

Alright Me Old China!

I am too much of a blab to not tease you with wedding prep. A total and utter blabber blogger, that's me.

Anyway.........I'm enjoying the creative aspects of wedding planning the most, seems like forever since I could indulge my love of nice old stuff (I won't use the 'V' word, it's too cliche now) Messing around with place settings was one weeks nap time (Joels not mine) antics. Having admired from afar, but seldom purchasing, beautiful fine china over the years I have been on a one woman mission, since entering fianceedom, to be thoroughly greedy when I now see pretty little cups and saucers, gilt edged trios and plates of fancy going cheap. Here's a wee taster of what's going to be waiting for each of our guests on May 19th.

This cake plate is probably what sparked my love of china many moons ago. Laura Ashley at it's best, this range of fine china deserved to have most of my wages spent on it.



Make do and mend with odd cups and saucers, pick up some bargains too only 5p for the cup on the right!

 

Picked up a set of these unusual birdy cups and saucers in Westbourne, heavily decorated inside the cup and plain on the outside. Lovely.

Only right to have Diamond Liz sneaked in. I love a bit of commemorative china me.