garden, Kinfolk and quilt

Hi there,

I just received Kinfolk vol 4, reading it is such a beautiful way to relax!

It's already in my shop for pre-orders.

This year I didn't dare to grow any veggies, 
the weather is so unpredictable, but I have 
few herbs which are doing nicely. I bought 
few scented plants too, like pink carnations 
(the plant looks wonky but the smell is amazing)
and curry plant. I'd like to make a corner of 
scented plants, we bought a cheap and cheerful
swing bench which I hope with new fabric will look 
not cheap and cheerful anymore, 
I will put the scented plants nearby.

I also have a shady corner, any hints of which 
plants do their best in a walled sad corner?

The quilt is an antique find, made out of cuttings 
from old wool suits and coats, it's all hand stitched 
and I have no idea who, when and why did it!
. 

on weather again and nonsense

Let me tell you the weather here is dreadful, I feel quite edgy because of it!

Oh summer where are thou? Not in UK for sure! ;^)

Cocon  jade branch on my wall.

Necklace from Eddy and Edwina.

A 1930's silk duvet found last week in an antique market, will be in the shop soon, alongside few pink items.

Anita's clothes (she's wearing today). 
I'm glad I still manage to dress her in a way
 I like because she let me do so, she likes my style, she said. 

But I want to tell you about how difficult is to live in a place 
where people judge you because you do things in a different way. 
I struggle to understand what is wrong to cook from scratch, 
to buy from smaller independent supermarkets or in the market, 
to dress my daughter in nice comfy clothes rather than acrylic stuff,  
to try to control the quantity of junk food she otherwise would eat 
because everybody do so, to watch out the amount of time she 
waste in front of the tv and computer games, to battle day in day 
out on why she doesn't own a wii, or a whatever device to play games 
like -apparently- all her class mates and friends (what's wrong with a 
computer? is not enough?), on why she should be judge as a different 
kid only because after school she's engaged in things such learning to 
play an instrument, play some sports and so on. 

A couple of weeks ago I put in her lunch box home made cookies and 
guess what? she came home and she said to me: "mum, your biscuits 
are really good but I don't want to bring them to school any more". 
Why? Because she was told they were disgusting and your mum should 
buy biscuits from the supermarket like every normal person, as industrial 
cookies are far better than home made ones. Not to mention that a 
friend of hers came to play one day and told me that my cupcakes 
were poo-cakes! But mind you, her mum one day said to me that I 
was crazy to make "cakes" with spinach (an Italian version of a quiche) 
and outrageous to offer it to kids! :D

OK, it's official: we are from Mars!

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An interesting documentary

44 soon

I know I'm a bit behind but I decided to play along 
after I read this post at Fine Little Day's.

So hello, good Monday and this is me half an hour 
ago  no make up, messy hair, big Mediterranean eye 
brows and a tired face already! D took 
the pic, usually I don't allow him to snap portraits 
of myself because he never get it right! 
:^)

Follow Elisabeth links to meet other bloggers around
or  play along.

 

shop update

New items in the shop. 

I was waiting for Renilde's mobiles ;^)

Thank you and have a nice weekend!

still here

I'm trying to update the shop,
but it's taking a while,
not ready yet.
;^)

on gardening

Here I am again, the weather is (so) far too good to be true,
 hence I'm out and about and in the garden. Trying to rescue
 this poor neglected rented garden, we digged all around to 
create a border and now I'm planting edible flowers and plants
 that I tend to buy from other people (lots of cottages around 
sell their plants). I also planted seeds directly to the ground after 
I prepared it. I don't use nasty chemicals, all I use is Epsom salt 
and seaweed fertilizer to feed the plants, but if you can make your 
own comfrey is way much better.
My favourite gardener is Alys Fowler. She talks a "gardening language" 
that I understand, also I feel too that a garden should involved all senses 
and be as much edible as possible. 

There are so many ways to have plants without spending a fortune for 
example from an avocado seed you can have a great looking plant. 
To sprout, the seed needs a dark place and warmth, a couple of weeks
 later or a bit more you will see roots, when the stem has few leaves 
then you can plant it in a pot.

Now as my dear neighbour pointed out I'm becoming a British:
going to the garden centre on Sundays, talking about the weather, 
drinking tea with milk.
;^)

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New potholders from Renilde will be in the shop soon
I'll add few vintage finds too.

mug  Mamzelle Titoo.

choices

I tried hard but I can't give up coffee and sugar, I reduced the daily dose
 to two -good- coffee: one in the morning and one in the early afternoon.
 I only buy fair-trade and organic beans, we drink less so we can afford 
to spend a bit more on quality and I like to sit down for 10 minutes and 
drink it in nice cups. 

I started to collect green crockery a while ago, when I saw this Poole 
celadon coffee set in my friends home last november it became an
 "obsession" and a bit here a bit there: it's building up!

I found this book in a local bookshop, we decided that it's more important
 to support local independent bookshops than to save a couple of pounds 
on-line and give my money to tax avoidance big fat multinationals.

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CAMPS - A guide to 21st-Century Space by Charlie Hailey

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Untitled is the new virtual space where I "collect" things I like, have a peep please.

Enjoy the weekend!

LondOn

Back to London for the weekend, 
back to spend time with nice friends. 

Remember their home? 
Meanwhile it has changed a bit.

Leah is their cat and she 
(of course) is the Queen of the house!

This time we saw knitted trees!

Knitted out!

I'm working on a project that will be 
held in Hackney, watch this space.
Have a nice week.

nice things

She has grown out of pink, I still like it very much.

It's all about blues and yellows now (I dread the black phase)!

I like to wear sandals and socks.

Mieke Willems doll

Mi-avril garland

Udder penguin

socks

I don't know if when I lived in Italy I talked about 
the weather as much as I do here in England.

I don't think so, what I remember when I was a kid
 is that the seasons were hmmm more like seasons,
 even the fruits and vegetables were dictated by them: 
the end of the school year meant the season of cherries, 
nectarines and apricots! Today you can get cherries 
all year around, I think is not right really.

Hail, storm, wind, sun, heavy rain, what other atmospheric 
condition shall we expect today? My head feels like an helium 
balloon ready to explode!

Anyway, the socks will be in the shop tomorrow, 
these are like candies.

;^)