pretty thing of the week

Table mats. They’re a necessary evil, aren’t they?

I’m a fan of a vintage fabric tablecloth, which brightens up our grey and white kitchen no end.

But vintage fabric tablecloths and mucky boys do not sit happily together, so table mats are essential.

Mine are cheap Ikea cork ones, now somewhat the worse for wear. They get caught in the drawer and bits keep breaking off.

If I had more funds I would invest in some of these beauties instead.

Designed by Gillian Blease, these are quite the nicest table mats I have seen.

They also come as coasters and trays.

You can find them for sale at Jenny Duff and see Gillian Blease’s prints on her website.

 

candy for the eye

I love ‘eye candy’. Such a great phrase.

It’s what I read blogs for.

So it’s a brilliant name for a blog. In it’s native Norwegian language it translates as Sukkertøy for øyet – which I like possibly even better! (just don’t ask me to pronounce it!)

And the blog of this name is pretty brilliant too. Ida Susanne has a fantastic eye for visual candy of all kinds.

I thought I would share the loveliness around.

All of these images are taken from Candy for the Eye – my newest blog crush ♥

It’s always nice to pass candy around and share it with your friends ♥

death of a design classic

This is the kettle that boils the water for my all-important Earl Grey tea.

I have always had a Russell Hobbs like this one.

My parents had the same.

I’ve always liked the design. The slanting handle. The traditional shape. The perky, pin-point-accurate spout.

I wasn’t keen on the addition of the water gauge (which doesn’t work) or the loss of the red button, but in essence it is more or less as it always has been and should be.

But I have discovered that I am living on borrowed time.

This will be my last Russell Hobbs kettle.

Apparently this iconic design has been discontinued.

It has been superceded by ugly, dribbling jug kettles with their silly stands and built-in obsolescence.

A victim of its own longevity and the fact that people are too lazy to unplug it when it needs filling (or buy a water filter so they don’t have to).

Call me a crazy fool, but I can’t help but think that Russell Hobbs has lost his touch these days.

Would Dualit have systematically downgraded the quality and then discontinued their iconic toaster?

Would Waring have changed the jug of their classic blender to plastic, before binning the design for good?

Would Kitchen Aid have updated the shape of their time-honoured mixer to look more like a food processor?

Of course not.

font fever

I am something of a late convert to the current craze for typography.

Or rather, I think I’ve always liked a nice font, but it was a sort of passive liking, lurking at the edges of my consciousness.

Since beginning to blog, however, and to design modflowers’ logos, flyers, business cards and suchlike, things have changed.

I have turned into a total typeface totty. A lettering lover. A fully fledged font fan.

I discovered My Fonts the other day. Oh my goodness.

The phrase “like a child in a sweetshop” comes to mind.

I almost drooled as I scrolled feverishly through the vast array of typographical loveliness on offer.

And then after I gushed about My Fonts on twitter, the lovely mini moderns tipped me off about Font Squirrel – where all the fonts are free to download!

Like this one:

And this one:

And this!

I set about merrily adding some freebies to my font library.

When and how I might actually use any of them is unclear. After all, you can have too much of a good thing.

I don’t much like seeing a cacophony of curly-wurly novelty fonts spread all over a page.

Or pictures with everything captioned, just as an excuse to work in that spinky-spanky new typeface.

But it makes me happy to know that they are there… waiting.

talented

I handed in my essays yesterday.

If I pass, I will be allowed to teach adults to sew. Yay!

At college, the final exhibitions were just being dismantled.

I’m so glad I caught them. I was blown away by the amazing talent on display.

I wish I had been able to find out all the students’ names, but alas, many were not available as the exhibits were being packed away.

If anyone spots their work I would love to credit you.