Emma's Antiques - 1. Poole Pottery

April 2011 Edition, if you're interested!

I love antiques and vintage - i suppose it stands to reason, given my taste in books and style; I get the wonderful Homes and Antiques magazine on subscription and look forward to my monthly treat of all things vintage and antiquarian (I also love magazine subscriptions - especially when the postie pops your magazine through the letterbox when you're least expecting it - but that's a different topic altogether).

Anyway, one article that I really enjoyed was one regarding Deco Poole Pottery - I knew that I was hooked as soon as I saw the wonderful floral images. I have been scouring our local charity shops for a piece, to no avail. I then decided to explore a different outlet - my old favourite - eBay - and I purchased this little treat very reasonably indeed - a few pounds only. In fact, the postage and packing was more expensive than the plate!

Anyone for cake?

It is, of course, a cake plate, and is in great condition. Looking at the stamp for Poole, there is, I would think, no huge age to it; but I just love it and know it will get plenty of use for scones and buns etc. Its also nice to like something that is quite affordable, especially compared to the ridiculous prices for cake stands one sees nowadays in department stores and gift shops and the like. And for my next Poole purchase? We'll see - maybe a wee jug or vase, but only if the price is right!

Mrs Chanders Bakes.....

Well, what a lovely evening we had yesterday, at the "Ruby Murray Curry Night" to celebrate my parents' Ruby Wedding Anniversary. It was so named because my husband, who is Indian, did the main courses (our family love Indian food) - and delicious it was too. Everyone wore red, and it was great fun. 

And the cake, I hear you ask? Well, i was very pleased with it - it was very plain and simple; but it turned out just as I had hoped - and it tasted quite good too! I used my trusted Mary Berry recipe for a Victoria sponge with buttercream; ready rolled white icing; and then made some red sugarpaste roses and leaves - I found The Pink Whisk's website advice invaluable for icing and flower making.

Anyway, back to a quiet weekend of dinosaur - reading; golf watching and hopefully, a little hooky time, peut - etre. A bientot.

Let them eat cake.

Apologies for the lack of posting, my dental abscess took slightly longer to recuperate from.  A sizable portion of crocheting and watching Wimbledon, as well as antibiotics, seems to have done the trick.  I hope to show you my Cath Kidston-inspired blanket soon,  but in the meantime, I have another pressing matter to complete.

My mum and dad are 40 years married this Thursday - no mean feat; so we are sending them on a jolly few days jaunt at a local hostelry of some repute.  On their return on Friday, we plan to have a little family party at ours to celebrate (which is what they would want, I hope!).  I am going to have a stab at making the cake.

Now for the confession - I am not a baker; but over the last year or two, I have been giving it a whirl with the aid of my trusty Mary Berry book.  This is the cake I made for my son's recent third airplane-inspired birthday party in June.  A simple Victoria sponge, the only thing I was unhappy with was the crinkles in the blue icing.  It tasted quite nice too.  So, I am going to try and make a simple sponge again and a simple decoration for the anniversary (maybe some roses or the like).  Please keep your fingers and toes crossed it's not a culinary disaster....

Childhood nostalgia: anyone for tennis?

My sister aged 2!

The good thing about the rubbish weather and aforementionned tooth abscess is that I haven't left the house much - so I have just had to watch most of Wimbledon. When we were children, we loved watching Wimbledon for a number of reasons: firstly, we loved tennis; and each had our favourites: John Mc Enroe; then Steffi Graf; then, (as I got older) Goran Ivanisevic (swoon!). Secondly, because it happened at the beginning of school summer holidays (children in Northern Ireland finish school at the end of June and have 2 months off); and thirdly, because it inspired us to run out into the garden and re-enact the latest match.

 Me enjoying the summer and the pool.

Mum would put two wicker stools out and put a brush across both as a fake net. We had such craic; and of course we lost more balls than you could count; but summer to me always is synonymous with tennis/Wimbledon. I even remember listening to the Agassi/Ivanisevic 5 set thriller on our old radio in our caravan in Donegal (no TV signal in those days), such was our dedication.

Nowadays, I still love to watch Wimbledon, particularly the men's game and the doubles; I do feel the women's game has lost something; I don't know what exactly - whether it be a lack of personalities maybe? Anyhow, I'm not as keen to run out and have a game; but nowadays I can enjoy a little Pimms with my viewing..... I would highly recommend it!

Under the weather

Sorry for the delay in posting, but unfortunately, I've been rather rotten of late - a dental abscess, to be precise. I can't remember pain like it, but I'm glad to report, that I am on the mend, thank goodness; thanks to a great dentist and some marvellous medicine. It means of course, that I haven't been in blogging form; but that will hopefully change over the weekend. In the meantime, I'll leave you with a nice bit of colouring in on my i-phone by my three year old.....

Everyday nothings



Things have been fairly quiet at Casa Chanders of late: our visitors went home, but unfortunately we have all had a flu; and this, coupled with rubbish weather, has meant a quiet interlude in our little lives.  Not that I'm complaining, as it's been lovely spending some time with the two little chanders men; and  I've had a little crochet time aswell.

As you can see, the Cath-Kidston inspired blanket is coming on well:  I had already made some squares, but starting to join them has inspired me and I've got a little crochet mojo back again at the mo.  I'm using Lucy at Attic 24's method of joining them, as I think it gives the best appearance, and her instructions are so easy to follow.

Other than that, it's been fairly quiet, lots of watching Mary Poppins and reading Shirley Hughes; making comfort food like pancakes for breakfast; cottage pie; and hoping the weather will turn again.  It's hard on the eldest chander not to get out to the garden, but it's been so wet here I couldn't even let him go out in his waterproofs and wellies.  Here's to a little light relief soon.  Take care.



For the love of crochet....

As stated previously, i love making things, and of all the disciplines, crochet is my favourite. I'm obviously relatively new to the whole crochet lark - my eldest boy is three; when I was expecting him, I had to finish work earlier than I would have liked in order to rest. I needed to keep busy in a sitting position, so I took up crochet.

Most of the stuff I learned from surfing the net, particularly blogs like Lucy's wonderful Attic 24. I can't thank her enough, such wonderful tutorials, such inspiring makes. I'll not lie, I initially thought it (or I) was a lost cause; it's so much easier when someone sits beside you and shows you how to do something (like my great Aunt Cassie showed me how to knit) but I'm a stubborn little thing and before you know it I was rippling with the best of them.

I am similar to so many fellow crocheters in that I've about five or six projects on the go at the one time - much to my husband's chagrin, when he discovers another bag of wool tucked into a secret cupboard. But by and large, I do get round to finishing things - eventually.

At the moment I am:

- working on a Cath Kidston - inspired blanket for our playroom : I'm just using some cheap acrylic from a local woolshop . I'm doing large granny squares and I'm at the stage of thinking of joining them.




  Ireally need to finish a lovely uberlarge granny square throw for the living room inspired by
the colours of the railway poster I showed you a few posts ago. I'm using Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran for it - it's so soft and heavy and perfect for winter. I just have to do a round or two more and a border.

- I have recently fallen in love with shawls through the wonder that is Ravelry; I discovered the South Bay Shawlette pattern through this wonderful website and have been working on a shawl as a gift; using the most delicious Debbie Bliss Angel wool. I love this wool so much - but woe betide you if you need to frog a section.


Anyway, that's a little sample of a few of my projects; I'm hoping that by blogging about them, I might put a wee bit of pressure on myself to get on with it and finish a few things......