Angel Jem's City Cottage

For my friend from Germany. She's driving up from Stanstead and then, I think, a lunch out and a trip to the supermarket before afternoon tea on the lawn and a restful evening of gossip. A weekend of friendship still fresh after 30 years.

OK, admit it, who hasn't lusted after one of these? Or these? But £30 for a basket, even a lined one, is too much. I love the style of Cath Kidston but I hate the prices so I try and adapt as much as possible. I went thrifting on Friday and found this in the local Barnardo's. It was 3.99 and in top condition, but the lining was light and cream, not my style at all. But that never puts one off, does it? It came home with me, of course, and I set off making it a basket fit for a really well planned holiday in Paris (shortly to be experienced) The lining material is Michael Miller's Eiffel Tower in red. I couldn't resist it.  The old lining became the pattern, cutting and sewing was a cinch and the hardest part was sewing the lining to the basket. I was afraid I'd need a thimble but my long needle worked well enough without. I had 90 minutes and it took me 100. By the time I had picked up the kids I just whipped the last part of the lining to the

I hate money. I hate it so much I don't want to keep it. If I get any I have to get rid of it. Right away. It burns me and makes me feel dirty. But it follows me around. It creeps up at the end of intershopping and reminds me that I need it, otherwise that lovely red top cannot be mine. It laughs at me when I look at books. I need its paper to buy more paper. That I need it for the food I want to make tonight. That I need even a little for a packet of sweets to give my kids. And it leaves me in a never ending stream of bills and expenses that just grow and grow. No matter that I paid the gas last year, I have to pay it again. The phone bill creeps into my bank and takes the price of my top away. The water rates creep around and shoe horn themselves into the gap where my holiday spends should be. Even the union takes the price of a coffee and a croissant off me. Oh how I wish I was the Queen, who never sullies her hands with filthy lucre. Or perhaps a vampire who doesn

I can't believe it's half way through the year already. And I'm behind already. How does that happen? I have a list of things to do today and it doesn't include a quick post here. And yet, here I am. I wanted to post yesterday and had no time. Happy Father's Day to anybody who is or stands in place of a father to somebody. I have two special fathers in my life. My Dad, who has had a bad year so far. He was diagnosed with throat cancer in March and since then life has been a round of doctors, operations, radiotherapy and struggling to get better. He still can't taste things, still has pain (more of an ache now, thank God) when he swallows and finds the tiredness of being ill tiring. He was never a sit still man and was working 3 mornings a week until they finally dragged him in for the operation. But..... it was throat cancer, thank God which has a good prognosis. And he should be OK again afterwards. Love you, Dad. And my hero, the Father of my childre

Can't sleep. Came down for drink of water. Found 'Once upon a Time in the West' was on. Love the music and had to stay until the end. Sometimes insomnia has its good side.

My 9 year old really likes Taylor Swift and I encourage her. At the moment Taylor dresses well, and definitely wears more clothes than Rhianna or Beyonce. Also, she writes her own material and dates men like Taylor Lautner so, what's not to like? Princess plays her non-stop somedays and this is one of her favourite songs. It's also been going around in my head a lot this week, having begun examining just why so much stuff is mine . It's almost the first word a child learns to say after names. Anybody who has watched a two year old playing with a friend who suddenly yearns to play with a best loved toy will have heard the cries of 'Mine!!!!' echoing around the room. We're biologically wired to own stuff. The top caveman had the best knife, the best rocks to stretch the leather, the biggest club for the biggest sex appeal. We can see through archaeology that ownership denotes status; Sutton Hoo being probably the best known British grave find and Tutankhamun&

Wishlist; Girls' Own Store Shoreditch Sisters WI Bath, especially The Makery Posy Gets Cosy .... love the blue walls! And more longings to make little felt creatures... that's before Little S sees the book! Lace from Clothkits and too many adverts to search today. I need another cup of chai and a free hour to check it again. Glad I subscribed.

Or is there a law against it? Ever since Willy Wonka miniaturized Mike Teevee the race to make children minimal has been on. My life has gone digital in so many ways, from the music player I use to the masses of digital photos that I take and still the quest goes on. Since I read about the new minimalists I have a hankering to be able to fit most of my possessions onto a laptop. A posh one, of course. And the only thing that stops me is these three. Do I save them as a Jpeg or an MP3 file? Decisions, decisions......

Tuesday marked 100 years since the launch of the Titanic in Belfast and, I expect, the start of a year's build up to celebrating (commemorating?) 100 years since the tragedy. My children know the  name but not the details so our feel-good movie on Tuesday had to be Titanic . It's been years since I watched it and I had forgotten quite how good it was. The shipwreck is covered in detail and the information the movie gets across about what precisely went wrong without it being a lesson is amazing. My children came away knowing that the ship was surrounded by a sense of hubris about its unsinkability, that there weren't enough lifeboats for everybody, that most 3rd class people died and that afterwards, only 7 survivors were picked up out of the water alive. And I had a quiet weep about the love story. Anyway, yesterday we wanted a day out and decided to go to the Merseyside Maritime Museum  to see their Titanic exhibition.   It's only a part of a floor, but it highli

How the study looks now.... I've moved in my pens and some books Where these baskets are full of rubbish and books  now, the plan is to fill them with material in a couple of weeks There should be a bit of space available. Sewing shelf, see the Cath Kidston box? And the Aldi coffee jars underneath? And the computer is still here      :o( This tote carries most tools for papercrafts. I'm pleased with the colour, it's not too dark or light. I had to keep the dark furniture (Billy bookcases from Ikea) but I lined the back with a roll of wallpaper. My 'stuff' is travelling in slowly. I can have 2 or 3 of the filing cabinet drawers and baskets to store material so I should fit quite a bit in. And I want to replace the plastic boxes that things like paints etc are in for baskets or tins, but that's an on-going project.But, for now and considering it's half term, I'm happy. I have a knitting