Thrifted vintage and some crochet too

A couple of days ago I popped in our local thrift store

with the intention not to buy anything.
Ha!

The results are these two art deco bowls.
The first one is this 'cabbage leaves' Max Roesler from 1930.
Love the mint green...

And this Dutch design from Société Céramique, Maestricht.

Same bowl. Different doily.
Couldn't choose. ;-)

In case you're interested, the first bowl costed me 2,50 euro,
the second one a staggering 6 euro. ;-)

Anyway. This weekend I finished my blanket - fringes & all.
Still have to make the pictures though.
I hope you've enjoyed your weekend too!
♦♦♦

Still working on the fringes, so...

... in the meantime a picture of a small pineapple doily.
I made it a couple of weeks ago.
It's from a Japanese pattern I found online: here.






















Take care!
♦♦♦

Where have my pastels gone?!

Something I really like about blogging is to be inspired by others,
and to discover that sometimes - to my delight and surprise -
others are inspired by this tiny blog... (Yay!)

Like recently, there were suddenly quite a few visitors
from South Korea to my blog (btw, a country I'd love to visit once).
On which I discovered a lovely South Korean crochet blog
with a 'remake' of my popcorn potholder (remember? this one!)
in similar colours and styling.
This was confusing in a funny way:
At first glance it looked like my own photo,
but there was something slightly different...
Go check it out here!























Recently it worked the other way round
when I came across the wonderful Portugese blog Mi Mitrika
with gorgeous pictures and amazing crochet work. What a delight...
I discovered it on the blogroll of another lovely blog: Pigtails. (Thanks!)

One of the pictures of Mi Mitrika was that of a placemat or doily in bright colours, with lots of red (a colour I normally hardly ever use)
But I was smitten...
So I shamelessly made my own and used a lot of red too.
Although admittedly her colour combi is better - with mustard/ochre
which I didn't have in my stash.
Anyway - it's nice to go bright for a change!

As you can see I got my enamel out too. :-)






















Thanks for the inspiration.
Have a bright day!

What a surprise - a new doily

A couple of weeks ago I made this doily,
the pattern comes from a crochet book I thrifted for 70 cents.
I like the powdery pink, I use it quite often for doilies.

Work in progress...

This is the doily pre-blocking...

And below it is after blocking.
In a minimalistic setting. ;-)
You know what? I prefer this one pre-blocking.
It looks, I don't know how to say it, well,
it just looks softer that way.
(But then again, I might just not like this pattern too much.)

And since we are outside on the terrace already,
here are some Dutch organic tulips for you.

Have a lovely day.
Stay creative!
♦♦♦

So - I hit the jackpot

The doily jackpot, that is...
I often look with surprise at the wonderful potholders and doilies
other bloggers thrift at what seems to be a weekly base. :-)

I guess The Netherlands is not the best country
for finding that kind of second hand treasures.
That - or I'm just a lousy thrifter.

















Until yesterday!
When I found these wonderful, delicate, crocheted doilies...

I bought every single one of them. And love them.
I hope you like seeing them too.

Have a wonderful day!
♦♦♦

Stacks

Hello there,
How are you doing?
Not much signs of spring yet in this part of the world.

Thought I might share some photos of some of my craftroom stacks with you.
The (only) link with spring being the colours. I know - how original...
Oh well!

Below is my (growing) stack of my latest work in progress...
The corresponding stack of pink yarn is destacking (I'm sure that's not a proper word) rapidly,
so the end result won't a be very big throw.

Wishing you a lovely day.
Stay crafty.

♦♦♦

To Dress up a Dull Doily

Somehow I was just not convinced when this doily was ready.
The pattern (from a Japanese crochet book) was cute enough,
but the offwhite made the result, well, just a tad dull.

And although I'm not one for glitter,
I spruced it up with some sequins.
- You know, out of your comfort zone & living dangerous & all that ;-) -

I used a fine gold thread to sew them together,
and embroidered the center of the doily with the same gold thread.
And now I'm ready to go back to my comfort zone.

♦ Thanks for visiting & have a lovely day. ♦

Yarn Talk & Other Tittle-Tattle

Oh dear - it has been too long.
Very busy, but - alas - not blog related.

So no progress to show you unfortunately.
However! I did buy new yarns.

Love the powder pink colour...
The yarn on the left looks more like twine, doesn't it?
It's organic hemp yarn. I used it before, it comes out nice.
I'm planning to make a set of placemats with it.

I like the old fashioned crochet cotton
from the brand Modinetje.
I got the last one (for only one euro).
The brand design is like a flashback to the fifties.
Wonder if it's still being produced?























Mmm, I'm afraid this is going to be a quite messy blog post.
(I apologize.)
I'll show you some old pictures, which I didn't use before here.

This is where I store stuff like leftover yarn.
Old shoeboxes...

Craftroom snapshot...
With lots of crocheted doilies, thrifted finds & a garland.

And why not end this chaos with potholders?

What are you up to this weekend?
I personally hope to have some time to crochet.
Have a happy weekend!

♦♦♦

Thank You and A Warm Welcome ♥

Welcome dear followers,






















Thanks to this amazingly sweet blogpost
from the talented Maaike of CreJJtion
many of you found your way to this little blog,
others came here via Pinterest.
A warm welcome to you all!
(And thanks again Maaike for your nice words...)






















I do find it a bit intimidating to have followers now.
For the first time I'm a bit lost what to blog about. ;-)
Even more so because these weeks are very busy for me,
and I have hardly time to blog (or to crochet, or to try new recipes).
- But hey, I came up with something...






















And BTW, as I wrote in my last post,
I'm planning give away (my first!),
not sure though when it will be online,
but it will be as soon as possible.

Have a very good day!

♦♦♦

Procrastination Equals A New Doily

The hexagon throw I recently blogged about is nearly finished.

Nearly...
I have to make all the half hexagons now - to get an even border.

Which I find more of a hassle than crocheting the hexagons.
A good excuse to make another doily...

Have a wonderful day.

♦♦♦

♦ PS. Give away coming up next week, so stay in touch. ;-) ♦

Gelukkig nieuwjaar!

Happy New Year!
May 2013 be a happy, crafty, creative, sustainable
& an animal friendly one...

This time we didn't make any traditional oliebollen for New Year's Eve,
but a coconut & lime cream pie instead -
from Vegan Pie in the Sky.
I wrote about that wonderful book before: here.

And to be honest...
When I state something like 'we made a pie':
My task was confined to picking a recipe. ;-)

Anyway. It was the first time we had this pie,
and it didn't disappoint! At all.
Creamy it was indeed... Mmm.

So, before we ate the rest of it today,
I managed to take some pictures. (Only just!)

To end this first post of the new year:
I'm absolutely thrilled by the fact that there are a growing number of people interested in this blog. :-)
I find it terribly exciting to have visitors from all over the world.
Thank you for visiting and commenting.
It's appreciated, a lot!

I hope you had a good start of the year too.
♥

And now for something completely different

Except that it's not...

It's just another doily.

Although I did use a thinner yarn then I usually do.
(This one is crocheted with a 2 mm hook.)

Okay, I'm off to brew myself some hot ricemilk chocolate
with cinnamon & soy cream...
Enjoy your weekend!

♥

Vegan Treat of the Month ***Chocolate Hazelnut Flapjacks***

Oops, incidentally I skipped the vegan treat of the month in October.
Time to make up for that with this very easy, but very rewarding treat.
Flapjacks!

They don't look much on these pictures, I know...
However, they truly have a great texture and are delicious.
This week I made them for a friend who loves them.

Another plus: it doesn't take much time to make them,
and you can make a bunch of them in one go.
They keep good for at least a week in airtight tin,
but honestly: they probably won't last that long.
Oh, and they're not expensive!

So, what do you need? 
(makes about 30-35 flapjacks)

450 grams (16 oz) rolled (porridge) oats
300 gram (10oz) margarine
150 gram (6 oz) black molasses (or treacle)
150 gram (6 oz) brown sugar
100 gram (or to taste) fairtrade pure chocolate chunks 
100 gram (or to taste) roasted, unsalted hazelnuts, crushed/cut into half
pinch of salt

You can replace the hazelnuts and chocolate with dried dates, abricots, cashew nuts, almonds, raisins... Anything you like really!

How to make the flapjacks?
Preheat the oven at 190 degrees Celsius.
Melt the margarine, sugar and treacle in a pan, stir & be careful not to burn it.
Mix in the oats, the hazelnuts and the salt. Stir thoroughly.
Press half of the mixture into a square or rectangular tin (mine is about 30x15 cm).
Put the chocolate chunks on top, press gently into the mixture.
Then press the other half of the mixture into the tin and completely cover the chocolate. (This way the chocolate won't burn.)
Smooth over the surface with a spoon.
Bake in the oven for about 20 minutes, until golden brown.
With a sharp knife: mark into portions while still warm, then leave to cool.






















♥ Best enjoyed in the company of a dear friend,
with a good fairtrade tea served in mismatched vintage cups...

It's snowing... Crochet snowflakes (and other stuff)

Inspired by the cold weather
I crocheted some snowflakes.
Still looking for a more convincing pattern though...
Suggestions are welcome!

In this picture there are actually three different snowflakes.
Obviously - well, I hope it's obvious anyway ;-) - the small white ones
(which are my favourites so far).
But the white/blue & white/purple ones (on the left and right)
and the white/coral one (on the top right) are also supposed to be snowflakes, however I don't find them very convincing as such...
(And yes, I do realise the colours probably don't help either... haha.)
Anyways, they are big enough to pass for a small doily.
(One can never have too much of them, right?)

Okay, enough babbling about crochet snowflakes...
I really like the hexagon in the middle of this picture
(with the flower).
I'm considering to make a throw with this pattern.
Even more so after seeing this gorgeous one on Saartjes blog
(made with the same hexagon pattern).

♦ Have a wonderful (crafty?) day! ♦

A Cloud of Doilies

Memo to self: do consider crocheting less doilies.

But if it's going to work...?
Because a while ago I thrifted this crochet book
(for only one euro!).

Never judge a book by its (rather dull) cover, right?
Since it's great, it has many lovely patterns.

Some of these doilies are either patterns from this book,
or inspired by them.

Hope you like them. Have a nice day!