Way ahead!

I was looking through a magazine and I come across this...

You see the 'this way to the beach' canvess for £14.99?

Well, I've had that on my wall for months now and I only paid £3 for it!

One, I am way ahead of you (the person who put that feature together) and two, £14.99, I don't think so!

Catch up people...hehe!

How Much?!

Ohhhh did we get a little bargain or what?!

Mum found a lovely hand stitched patchwork quilt, which is very shabby chic (our favourite at the moment) and very popular again.

As soon as Mum found it, we knew we was on to something very special indeed. So much work and love has gone into the quilt, it is simply lovely and we are very lucky to find it.

Not only was it a fabulous find by Mum and exactly what we wanted, we also got a complete bargain of the century!

First of all take a look...

The last photo is of Mum's bed, it is an odd thing to be jealous over, but I am jealous of her bed! Everything on it has been found, a mixture of Cath Kidston, vintage or second hand to complete the shabby chic look for less!

So back to the quilt and how much it was. Well, it was priced up as £5.00, which we were over the moon about, but the lady (in a charity shop) only charged us...

A POUND!

Yes a pound!! Can you imagine the smiles on our faces when we left that day. If we were to sell it then we could easily start it at £40 - £50 and up!

This has got the bargain of the year award written all over it!



Look what I found!

I am a bit, ok very, pleased about my little find today!

I am not sure if it is the geek in me or because the fact I have always wanted to be a writer and I love everything and anything linked to writing, ether way I LOVE this!

I found a vintage 1960's Lilliput Typewriter in the case, with original instructions and spare ribbon in the cutest of tins for just £5.00!

If you are an expert in anything typewriter related and I got ripped off, please don't tell me (well do) but I really think I didn't and found a gem.

Take a look!

I think I want to collect more...yes I do...no idea where I would put them all and I would not use them all but I don't care...I want them.

I am off to tap some keys!!

Festival Time

It is that time again, that time where we are happy to roll around in mud, sleep in cramped tents and have hairy armpits all for the love of the music! Oh yes, it is festival time once again!

I love festival time. I love that tingly feeling you get when you think about the festival, planning what clothes to take (so many choices) and trying to plan a way to sneak your alcohol past the security guards, not to mention the music, the bands and never forget memories of when you and thousands of other people are jumping simultaneously to the beat. To see a sea of hands in the air, heads bopping up and down, everyone singing the exact same words and looking at a complete stranger next to you and smiling. You both know you do not need a camera because you will never forget that moment as long as you live.

It is the only time and place in the world where it is perfectly acceptable to be dirty, stinky and wearing what the hell you want to wear. No one cares, no one is thinking except what band to see next and no one judges for one weekend only. Don’t wash your hair, shave one side off or walk around naked…who cares! It is that time to be courageous and bold! Wear that outfit you have never had the guts to wear before and wear it proudly, be the true you for 3 days of the year.

At a festival everyone turns into a hippy chick, including me, with flowers everywhere and a Love and Peace vibe floating around sweetly in the air for everyone to taste. It is addictive and blissful.

All your worries will wash away, you won’t care about anything, you are brave and having fun, you are 16 all over again! I will lay on the grass, with flowers in my hair, drink in one hand and listening to the live music with people I love, the real world has paused.

Some of my favourite memories are from when I have been watching a band playing ether at a concert or festival. When that song comes on you have all been waiting for, the one that everyone knows and means something different to everyone and the crowd is a wave of faces you know this feeling will never leave you or them ether. The electricity runs through your body, you become a member of the band, you are 100% there and do not care what you look like. You sing as loud as you ever have before, you dance like no one is watching you and for those moments loose yourself to the music. Sometimes the song doesn’t call for dancing; everyone just simply remains still, focused and sings every word from the heart. Everyone has memories personnel to them related to the song and wishes to remember and sing, oddly everyone feels the same and joins you too. This is when tears are acceptable.

It is the time of year when a sea of canvas is called home. When you pitch up and welcome your new neighbours with a smile and friendly nod. You are surrounded by people wishing you well and all stand on common ground together. You enthusiastically turn your back on brick walls and carpet floor for your new reasonably uncomfortable bubble. The festival vibe is floating heavily in the air and it is all you need to feel protected. The music is the security fence.

Run your fingers through the grass, watch the music notes drift pass and experience the sweet taste of freedom.

Love and Peace x    

Mmmmmmm

Oh yes, that is right, mmmmmmm to my very tasty amazing (modest? Me?) chocolate butterfly cup cakes!

I know they do taste Mmmmmm because the official cake monster has stamped her approval stamp all over them...was a bit messy! Oh, the cake monster has gained her cake credentials over the years and even has a sponge named after her too! Yes, Victoria is a smashing lady, really she is.

Here, take a look and have a dribble...

Did you dribble on your keyboard?

I do really deserve a round of applause or an Best Cake certificate but while I wait for ether of them I will happily accept your appreciation in comment form...Ok, I will stop!

Amazing what a few eggs, marg, flour and sugar can do!

Now I better go because I can hear mmmmmm coming from the other room and I want one too!

Knitting and Vodka

Welcome, my name is Soph and this is my new blog “Knitting and Vodka”. I wanted to create a different blog that gave me a platform to be creative, experience everything in life and show you some of the other things I enjoy to do or write about.

The name “Knitting and Vodka” came from; well actually me thinking for days on end trying to find a combination that works well together and represents the two different sides to me and my life also.

 Getting back to me, I have always wanted to be a writer and I think to be honest it is the one thing I do think about when I first wake up and when I go to bed at night. I once got told if you think about something like that (from when you wake up to when you go to sleep) then you are meant to be it, whatever it is so I guess I am meant to be a writer – only thing is I haven’t got there yet and not sure if I am even good at it but I love to do it. I can write for hours on end and not tire so surely that is a good sign? Only in the last 7 months I have been really trying to make it happen from a little “what have I got to lose” attitude and finally believing in myself as maybe, just maybe I could make it happen!

I have always been crafty (in an art way!), I think since school, so when I started blogging I absolutely loved it! My very own little place to as creative as I possibly could; I get to be my own boss and best of all people (great people) read my work and like it. Not only like it but tell you they like it, go to the trouble of leaving you funny comments which makes all the hard work worth while and not as lonely too. But I do enjoy other things too and that is where ‘Knitting and Vodka’ comes into it. I love to write, read, photography, drawing, cooking, films, music, festivals, magazines and the list goes on as you will read here soon enough.

Mum and I are very close and as we have been spending more time together we both have come to realise we both enjoy the same things, very similar in many ways and I have seen that Mum is very good at what she does! We have become a little crafty team! Mum will be popping up on this blog so I will let her introduce herself to you all properly but this is what I remember from when I was younger to when it all began for Mum…

 For as long as I can remember Mum has always gone to jumble sales, boot sales and charity shops. I will admit now that I never got it at all, none of us did, it was something we just got used to Mum doing and liking to do! I remember once Mum dragging me along to a jumble sale at my school, in the school hall and when we got there thinking to myself “Where the hell are we?” There was old painting and decorating tables along the sides of the walls and the clothes literally just dumped on there. I am talking just open the bin bag and empty the contents on the table, no sorting skills required and it must have taken 5 minutes to set the whole event up. Mum would just go into a trance like state, you never disturb her when she is like that, she would pass me item after item to hold and only muttering the words “Hold this, and this, and this…” until I was a walking clothes bundle and lost the feeling in my legs.

Mum could rummage like no tomorrow if she could, searching for that hidden bargain and Mum would always find it – very jammy! To me it was always rubbish but Mum could always see the potential. Mum soon progressed to charity shops. When I was with her I would always wait outside the shop, pretending I wasn’t with her or I would go in but follow Mum around like a lost puppy never leaving her side. I would watch in amazement, Mum would scan a charity shop in seconds, then move with swift precise timing to retrieve exactly the chosen item before anyone had a hope in hell! When Mum found some hidden treasure she would be on cloud nine and on a buzz, I still didn’t get it.

Till a few months ago I went along to the charity shop with Mum with the full intention of really trying to understand the magic and boy I did! Mum had a plan of action for me, I watched her closely, I got briefed on the plan and we were off. I went to my area, got searching and found an item I knew Mum would love and guess what? I then got it. At last, I felt the buzz and understood why Mum done it all them years. I took my item to Mum like a proud child wanting my gold star and pat on the head – I had passed the test.

We then whizzed around the shop like a dream team and I even experienced my first charity shop battle – we both had our eye on the same item, we both wanted it, I moved in closer, she knew my plan, we both went for it and I got it – Woohoo! We were on fire! We even performed a high five in public…I am not proud. We left the shop both buzzing and grinning from ear to ear. We got a rug, lampshade, cover for the bed, two tops and a few books for just over five pounds and with Mum’s magic sprinkled over the top it changed a room completely and sold the other items.  

So, that is what Mum has been doing for years now, finding hidden treasure, some times sprinkling magic dust over the items and even keep them or sell them on. Mum knew what she was doing years back and only now has it caught on, people get it too and even more want it! Like they say “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure”…couldn’t say it better myself!

So, together we make a good team and are always up to something. We both see the world in chilled out glasses and hopefully share that with you guys as we go along…I hope you enjoy and again welcome to ‘Knitting and Vodka’.

Welcome

This is Knitting and Vodka's very first post...and it turns out I have not got too much to say except "Welcome and enjoy the experience".

Please tune in again as I do promise to have much more to say!