green grass

i know i shouldn't have, but i bought this nail polish today! green grass (236). i usually try and buy just one nail polish per year, because i only use it on my toes and with careful application (i do a base coat, two coats of colour and a clear top coat) it lasts for nearly a month, so you can do the maths. but - it's grass green! i didn't have one of those! i have 'coralicious', and a dark turquoise and a hot pink, and a more muted pink called 'frisky clover', and a nearly black purple that i never use. but the perfect green was missing.
i love opaque, non-pearly polishes, and i love mad colours, but they have to work without a tan. i like wearing my birkenstocks, which, without nail polish, can look very very alternative; and i have a few pairs of coloured sandals, that look even better with a bright colour on my nails (today i was teaming bright yellow sandals with dark turquoise nails). if i had better finger nails i would use it on them, too but mine are so thin and weak, they don't survive the taking off of polish, and start to splinter and seperate.
ah the shallowness... to get excited about nail polish!

orange anglepoise

we bought a vintage lamp for the bedroom, it had some scratches so we got it cheaper, i don't mind the 'shabby look'! it's bright orange, to go with the orange flecks in the throw. i never would have thought i'd pick green orange and purple for my bedroom!!

redcurranty goodness

Plans for the bedroom

After buying something purple for the first time in years I've chickened out of the plan for a soft purple feature wall, I am too scared of purple!! Instead I will go for a (maybe even scarier) purple and green combination! The cushions might lighten up a little if i wash them a few times and should nearly match the curtains then. The material for the throw has flecks for purple in it, and I love the fact that it will be handwoven in Ireland. It's a bit of an investment piece but I think it's timeless, and such good quality, for the same price as most synthetic bedspreads! Unfortunately the weaver can only do 140cm width on his loom, but he will make it 220cm long, so it'll cover the width of our king size (153cm) bed nicely. It'll be a few weeks before it's going to be finished, so I have time to look for a nice watercolour or painting of lupins or other purple flowers, which should pull the colours together nicely.

I don't know what it is with me and purple but there are VERY FEW shades of purple that I like in the first place, (it has to be warm and muted, not too pale, not too pink, not too blue...) and I got quite excited when i got the curtains. But I've had the tester tin of paint for the feature wall sitting on my chest of drawers for ages and I just couldn't bring myself to paint the test patch! i think any more than one shade of purple wuld be too much for me!

another sling

i made another one, using lightweight cotton that i've been saving and looking at for ages (and a cream coloured sheet from 'penneys' for lining), i thought i might like a lighter coloured sling for the summer. i'm not so sure now about the print, it's probably a bit too small for wearing? does it look dowdy? M likes it, she is fascinated by the tiny flowers and circles..

painting the fireplace

before (yesterday morning)

some of our break times:
raspberry mascarpone cupcakes
smoked salmon and cream cheese on brown bread

roasted red pepper and carrot soup

the finished product, this afternoon!
weiss, passend zu den fussleisten und Tuer, und irgendwann gibt's dann auch mal ein buecherregal! i really like it, it brightens up the room and is lovely agains the light grey wall

Coralicious

this is rimmel 60 seconds in 'coralicious' on the nails of my rather wrinkly (recovering from sunburn) toes, i just love it. i think it darkened a bit in the two weeks it's been on, when i first put it on i found it nearly too madly orangy red! it's a great vibrant colour, and it was perfect with my current favourite coral red t-shirts on holidays, and it went well with the tiny coral pieces that were being washed up at the beach in sardinia!

oh, the shoes are my beloved birkenstocks which are ever so comfortable and bring out the vibrant colour even more. ok. who am i kidding. birkenstocks aren't stylish, not even in combination with coralicious toenails

Crochet Blankets

Doesn't it just make you think of elmar the patchwork elephant? These are some more holiday photos, for the craft appreciating blog readers out there.





These two blankets adorned the beds in our Sardinian 'agriturismo' accomodation.
The bluey-grey one is a designed pattern of baguette(?) surrounded granny squares, the giant colourful one is seemingly random, baguette squares with coloured centres. it makes me want to crochet again!

and this was the tablecloth, i think it might also be handmade...

green kitchen photos

the kitchen, in crown 'tropical green'



dining area





these 5 tulips are all i got this year...


the fig tree actually has figs! after an atrocious summer last year and a long winter that only really ended 2 weeks ago! i don't really know how figs work, i didn't even think it would survive the winter, i never noticed any blossoms! (maybe because i didn't go out much in the awful weather)


evening sun on the patio