Welcome to the Jungle

The devil makes work for idle hands, apparently. So, y'know, cross stitch. Saving souls since the Middle Ages. There are a lot of cool designs out there via Subversive Cross Stitch and similar, but given the small people I live with, this kind of design is still out for a few years:

A great housewarming gift for childfree couples though, eh?

My version is a cross-stitched QR code - those unique 'fingerprint' designs that marketing departments stick on posters etc in the vain hope that consumers will zap them with a smartphone app and 'engage with further content' from the brand. Anyway, you can make your own for free using a QR code generator, and link it to whatever URL you fancy. If you print the resulting code out on A4 paper and draw a grid over the top, you have an automatic cross stitch pattern. 

I picked the YouTube link to Welcome to the Jungle by Guns n' Roses. 

Not very complicated really, but essential to keep count properly, as any mistake means it won't work and it will be a right arse to work out where you went wrong! 

Being very childishly pleased with myself when it worked, I went on to make one for the kitchen which takes you to this classic line from Withnail and I

It's by the wine rack of course.

Lakota x

Ta-dah! Tuesday - And then I played the harpsichord and ordered new ribbons for my bonnet...

Ok, I didn't really, but I have been cross-stitching, which is basically a really good way to feel like you live in a Jane Austen novel. It's also a good method of developing a squint and an arthritic claw, but don't let that put you off. For some reason I have had the fear of counted cross-stitch charts and haven't done any since the age of about 10, when I would make my Mum and other female relatives bookmarks and dressing table mats using that binca fabric designed for kids.  Anyway, aside from the distinct possibility of becoming cross-eyed, I quite enjoyed my latest foray into ladylike pursuits.

The kit came free* on the imaginatively named Cross Stitcher magazine, and everything was included, although I did change the colour of her dress from lurid turquoise - which clashed with the pink - to purple, using my own thread. It claimed stitching time was 4 hours. Ha! I reckon it must have taken me twice that, which is a sobering reminder that perhaps I'm not quite ready to attempt their larger cushion charts, for which they give times of 40 and 62 hours respectively. I was pleasantly surprised by how nice some of the projects were - there was the inevitable cupcakery nonsense, but also a Mad Men inspired retro phone design, some Scandinavian style birds and sweet designs for little girls.

Mothers' Day Card

[I'm not sure my Mum is really a pink polka dots kinda gal, any more than I am, but I didn't have any aperture cards, and this one came with it. I guess with a kokeshi doll design you need to embrace the kawaii factor anyway.]

I have some more aida, graph paper and a book of motifs and alphabets, so I quite fancy working out my own design or slogan. Did you see this on HuffPost? I thought 13,000 stitches was what was required to create Joan Rivers, but apparently you can end up with Bruce Willis too.

A Good D'aida Die Hard

[photo and work by BriocheBun]

Amazing huh?
What have you been making? Link up any makes, bakes, finds and fripperies below.

Lakota x

*Speaking of freebies, I will have a post on those tomorrow.

A hippy vibe to the thrifty finds...

I seem to have unwittingly been thrifting to a colour theme this week, with various lovely shades of purple, orange and gold jumping out at me.

First up, and my cheapest find was this groovy tea tray for 50p

There's no label on it, but it seems to be made of vintage material that's been laminated. It looks a bit like it's been encased in fibreglass. I tried to do some research and found an old post by by Caren at Tea and Chickadees on her collection of 'FAB' trays (FAB standing for fabric) although all hers seem to be circular, not to mention made in North America. Maybe mine is a homegrown version of the same idea?

I found yet another bubble base bud vase, I don't really want to become a hoarder, but as they're so cheap and pretty I can't stop buying them! Someone local is obviously slowly purging their collection and I'm taking them in.

Amber bubble base vase £1.00

Goldfinch greeting card (new) £2.95

Gold frame £3.50

tablecloth £2.50

The gold frame was the one thing I actively went looking for this week, after buying the bird card and thinking it would make nice artwork. I had to lever all the staples in the back of the frame up with a knife blade, chuck the existing print and had a bit of trouble getting the chipboard back in again, but I'm really pleased with how it looks now. Also, I finally found one of the hand embroidered bits of granny handiwork that everyone else seems to track down with ease. It's really well done, and has only a couple of tiny spots which I may be able to get out when I wash it.



Bookwise, I found Delia's Christmas for a quid (must stop with the cookery books now) and the first Harry Potter for 30p (no, not the first edition hardback!) for my eldest. Finally, I was able to carry all my booty home in this purple and orange basket handbag :

Basket £1.20



I'm quite in love with this bag, and think it will go well with my 70s dress. What bargains did you get this week?

Playing this week with Sophie.
Also linking up for Thrift Share Monday and Magpie Monday
And linked up to Newbie Party

Embroidery Vs Twitter....FIGHT!

Embroidery signifies a lack of work. So says an ancient Arabic proverb. I'm totally with the bearded scholars on this one. Check out the embroidery I started at my craft group a whole eight days ago. Can you tell what it is yet?



Yes, that's right, a beautiful butterfly! Gosh, my niece will just love its pretty, erm, thorax.

I don't see it progressing much in the near future either. Partly cos we've moved on to Sashiko embroidery, which I prefer, but mainly because I have way too many other demands on my time. We're approaching the end of February, so that means it's round about a month since I started this blog*. In this short space of time I have already 'met' some amazing bloggers. I didn't really know whether anyone would be interested in my ramblings about charity shops and vintage frocks when I started writing [naive emoticon] and I had no idea about this worldwide network of op-shoppers, goodwill groupies, thrift store fanatics, dumpster divers, jumble-sale geniuses and secondhand sistas. [The crafty gals and fashionistas I knew about - you own blogland.  I think you can tell from my stitching efforts and headless posed shots why these elements take a teeny back seat for my my blog... ]

Anyway, I'm amazed and so pleased that anyone is reading at all and get stupidly excited when I get a new follower, so sincere thanks to all of you who've commented or joined up. But to get back to the Arabic scholars, one can only imagine what they'd have made of Twitter. Or indeed blogging. I am in awe of some of you. Seriously. It's bloody half term! Some of you seem to manage to home school your kids, dress them in handsewn (and tasteful) outfits, crochet entire coral reefs, stock your Etsy shops, dress yourselves in amazing outfits, run a resale business, research antiques, cope with a chronic medical condition, and post daily to your blogs complete with arty photographs of doilies. Not to mention keep up with everyone else's. It's as much as I can do to type this during Gossip Girl.

If this isn't exhausting enough, now I find out I need to use Twitter as well. Liz at Me and my Shadow has dragged me kicking and screaming into tweeting (140 characters huh? Brevity. Unconvinced it's me) so feel free to stalk - sorry, follow - me there and convince me it's a good idea. I'm @FHCShopping. My children forage for nuts and berries. And my embroidery's in the wardrobe.



*I like to think of it as being fashionably late to the party, a la Moss, as opposed to a simpering 'me too' like Sienna Miller. I'd take SM's hair though.