Wise words

random photo of the day: revealed retro

 

Old signs revealed during work at the Fountain Centre, Belfast.

Weird weather

 

 

This time last year this corner of Ireland was enjoying a freak heat wave. This year we have a freak snow fall, in March! Climate change deniers please take note.

 

Now I love the snow, but the sun gods really need to make an appearance soon; I'm still itching to get my new tent up!

Happy (belated) St. Patrick's Day!

This year Belfast City Council pulled out all the stops and put on a four day festival for Saint Patrick's day and I was drafted in to do origami and papercraft workshops for three days.

 

We made shamrock badges, hairclips, necklaces and origami shamrocks and four-leaf clovers with kids from one to a hundred (more or less) and it was great craic, the only thing problem being that I was kept so busy that I hardly got a chance to take many photos or indeed to take part in some of the amazing other traditional crafts that were on offer.

 

I hope you all rose a glass for luck on Sunday, wherever you were in the world.

Adventures in sacred Ireland: Nendrum

 

During a brief spell of sunshine last week Danny and I escaped the big bad city and found a little oasis of calm which I never even knew existed before, just 16 miles out of the city. I'm mapping out sacred Ireland for myself inch by inch.

 

On the edge of Strangford Lough lie a series of tiny islands connected by causeways and on the very last one, Mahee Island, sits Nendrum monastic site dating from the mid fifth century, when Christianity was beginning to flourish in Ireland under St. Patrick. This monastery was founded by an associate of his called Saint Mo Choí.

 

The monastery had its greatest days between the 7th and 10th Centuries and the ruins include a church, a round tower and a sundial all within enclosures of three concentric circles.

 

 

We brought the sunday papers with us and sat on the grass overlooking a bay full of yachts.

Ireland is real pretty when the sun's out.

 

The Truth

With this ring......

 

 

So you may have gathered that I like getting my craft on, but I've always been a bit useless when it comes to fabric crafts. My seamstress granny taught me to sew (ish) but to my shame I've never learned to crochet, knit or make clothes.

 

So I made my fabric crafts debut with this little ring cushion. My sister was recently bridesmaid for her lovely friend Angharad's winter wedding in Cambridge and I undertook to make this for her. The burgundy felt went with the colours of the wedding and as she was a Northern Irish girl marrying an American in England, we chose to use the vintage Irish lace doilies to reflect her roots.

It turned out quite cute I think, just don't look too closely at the stitiching!

 

(I took these photos before posting the ring cushion so that's my beautious engagement ring that Danny chose all on his own-io. Clever boy!)

precious stones

 

Okay so this is clearly not a fashion blog but I couldn't resist posting this amazing malachite print  dress I came across because it's a total work of art and I covet it ever so.

 

Malachite is mined in Zambia and I got a beautiful bangle and necklace when I was there so I've got the jewellery all sorted and now I just need someone to lend me the $$$$$ needed to buy it (from designer Monique L'huilier)

 

Plus: Florence dresses as a sexy dinosaur.

Love it.



Happy Birthday Hubby

 

For Danny's 36th birthday we hired out this amazing little cinema in Comber, just a few miles away from Belfast.

 

The Spence brothers have built two 1940s style cinemas just down the lane from one another, using materials reclaimed from local cinemas as they were refurbished or closed.

 

 

Look at the beautiful interior! A friend who was there with us remarked that the place reminded him of the Regal cinema in Limavady that he'd grown up going to, and it turns out that the seats came from that very cinema! Northern Ireland is a very small place.

 

 

We watched pretty much the best film ever made, 'The Princess Bride'.

Haven't seen it?

Inconceivable!

 

 

 

Happy birthday husbando.

 

 

Feliz Ano Nuevo

 

That's happy new year to you and me! This year I lucked out and spent it in Madrid along with Danny, his mum and sister and her boyfriend.

 

Weirdly all bars in Madrid close until after midnight but we managed to find a Cuban restaurant which served obscenely large rum cocktails in which to pass a few hours before the countdown.

 

I forced poor Danny to make the trek down to the Puerta del Sol where everyone traditionally sees in the new year but our tardiness and the crowds of 30,000 or more people meant that the square was full and we were squeezed into a side street for midnight.

 

As it turns out Dan's sister and her boyfriend had a better view of the countdown at the square from the warmth of their bar (and it is COLD in Madrid this time of year!) but it was cool to be part of all the excitement. Plus I have a slightly perverse love of being in big crowds.

 

 

I hope you all spent the new year somewhere lovely with someone you love.

 

shopping for twigs

 

Christmas is upon us once again. So Danny and I went out to the Cave Hill Forest near our house at the weekend to collect some branches, added a vase, some decorations and a random assortment of christmassy bits and bobs around it, including the obligatory animal skull. Merry Christmas y'all!

 

 

 

Introducing Melanie

 

 

This is an original 'Melanie' by Louis Shabner. I found her in a charity shop recently and swore to myself that I wouldn't spend any more than a tenner on her, but I found that I couldn't bear to pass her by even at the £20 they were asking. A bit of ebay research though leads me to believe that she's relalatively rare and worth about £150!

 

I hung it up in my sister-in-law's salon to have a gander at it and had to admit that it looked good there against the amazing wallpaper; so there it stays until I find somewhere appropriate to house Melanie in my house.

 

Isn't she a little sexpot?!

 

 

 

Here are a couple more pictures by Louis Shabner which were printed in their thousands and hung in every stylish home during the 60s and 70s.

 

 

And they're contemporaneous with the more famous work of Tretchikoff, the 'King of Kitsch'. Original prints of these used to be thrown out in their dozens but it's near impossible to get your hands on them now. I'd sell a kidney in return for an original 1950 'Chinese Girl'.

 

But for now I'm satisfied by my girl crush on Melanie.

 

width="640" />