Friday 22 October 2010

Barking Cloth Mad

I'm EXCITED on a number of counts today.

Firstly I scored these magnificent bark cloth curtains in perfect nick from a charity shop.  mmmmmmmm drooooooool mmmmmmmmm.




I'm very pleased with them.  They cost me £4 plus I got a carrier bag of books for Little Ms J and P thrown in for free!  A bargain methinks.  The curtains actually fit a window in our house but I'm rather attached to the rather lovely patchwork sari curtains we have up at the moment (bought an age ago at the now defunct The Pier). 




I think I might use the bark cloth to re-cover a floor cushion of ours and make a bark cloth scarf that I saw on the internet recently (if only I could remember where).






Secondly, I've WON another giveaway. Yahooo!  Courtesy of Wendy of Cheap2Chic.  It came beautifully wrapped but in my haste to get at it I forgot to take a photo of the wrapping.  Thank you Wendy.


Thirdly, Nic of Woodbank Crafts has very kindly passed on an award to little old me:


Thank you so much Nic.  I now have to tell you a whole 7 things about myself.  I'll be brief:

1.  I am Holiday Queen.  Oh yes I am!  When I was little, the only holiday that I went on was for a week with the school when I was 11 to the Isle of Wight.  I didn't go on holiday again until I was 18 with a friend - to the USA (Charlotte, North Carolina) to visit my friend's relatives.  I've more than made up for it since then and all the money Mr J and P and I earn goes to fund our hols!

2.  Still on a holiday theme, wherever we go, we try and learn a little of the language of the country that we're visiting.  Consequently we know a teeny bit of lots of languages (I could once count to 10 in Arabic and Mr J and P was a dab hand at Bahasa [Indonesian]!!).  This makes for a confusing time I can tell you.  For instance, on a visit to Spain once we wanted to buy two stamps.  Mr J and P asked for due (Italian) timbres (French) por favor (well, at least he got that bit right).  The bloke behind the counter looked at us rather sadly and immediately said "Engleeesh?".  How did he guess!

3.  I've done yoga on a regular basis for years.  Love it!

4.  One of the luckiest things that ever happened to me was when backpacking in Thailand some years ago.  Mr J and P and I were travelling on a bus, each with our big rucksack and smaller "day bag".  We got off the bus just outside a small town and as the bus moved off I realised that I had left my day bag on it.  I ran after the bus waving and shouting at it to stop, but to no avail, and then watched helplessly as it disappeared from view.  Just at that moment, a young lad on a moped drew up beside me.  He could speak no word of English and despite what I said in point number 2 above, I could speak no Thai, but he gestured that I get on his moped and we sped off in hot pursuit of the bus.  Meanwhile, a rather bemused Mr J and P watched, as we hurtled off ,wondering if he'd ever see me again!

The Thai lad and me eventually overtook the bus, he flagged it down,  and I dashed on, retrieved the bag, then got back on the moped where I was delivered safely back to a still bemused Mr J and P.  How about that!

5.  I went to a Convent School for Girls (in fact, the very same one that the Blairs, as in Tony and Cherie, sent their daughter). 

6.  I am addicted to jam doughnuts.

7.  I like to collect things and over the years my collections have included:  ladybird books; Puffin paperbacks; any books, fiction or otherwise, on India; broken crockery collected from the beach; corks; salt and pepper sets; stamps; coffee pots; egg cups; jars etc etc.

I now hereby pass on this award to these 5 versatile bloggers:

The fabulous Alex at Odd Socks and Pretty Frocks

Lovely Lucy at Tete en L`air

Creative Emma at Sylvie's Garden

and the very versatile Alison at Hill and Vale and Fee from FeeBee

Well, hasta la vista babies (guess where I'm off to next week!).

26 comments:

  1. How very strange, I was just reading your post in Google reader when I got the email about your comment! Thank you, thank you so much for passing on the award to me. It is my first award so I will have to have a good think (I'll get the paracetamol ready).
    I love your barkcloth. I have been looking for some since I started thrifting but the thrifty fairy has been against me. Either that or someone else in my area is buying it all before I get chance.
    I love what you wrote for no. 4, hilarious! You were lucky that the guy on the moped stopped and understood you.
    Thanks again for the award. Hope you have a great weekend.
    Much love.
    x

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  2. Fabulous curtains! You can't beat a bit of barkcloth, can you? I make most of mine into bags.
    Jumble sales, love of travel, posh all-girls school, books on India, we've got a lot in common! xxx

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  3. Ooh thank you everso for the tag. I'll save it for a wee while if that's ok? Seem to be doing lots of "about me" type posts recently and I don't want to overload you all at once!!

    Hahaha, loved the Thai tale :)

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  4. The bark cloth is wonderful. Congrats on your award. They can be fun!

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  5. Gorgeous barkcloth and well done on your win!

    Shirl x

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  6. Great barkcloth and a real bargain - it's so expensive now everyone has 'discovered' it! Well done on your award!x

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  7. Thanks for sharing, I love getting to 'know' other bloggers! I am in love with your barkcloth - I have a real thing about it at the moment! xx

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  8. Hola Loo. Buenos tardes, como esta. Me llamo Beverley soy de Bolton soy Inglaterra. Adios. xxx Not bad for my third lesson....

    Beverley xx

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  9. Good score with the fabric. I think your fab sari curtains should stay, they are deliciously colourful. So I look forward to seeing the floor cushion!
    Your 7 facts are great. Would never have guessed you like to collect things ;) Fact 4 is heartwarming. Just shows that despite any languages barriers or cultural differences lots of people are just genuinely lovely and helpful. x

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  10. Wow, lovely barkcloth, would make some fab cushions! Im glad you got your day bag back - what a hilarious story! Have a great weekend x

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  11. Congrats on your award. I love the old curtains from the Pier too, a new life as a floor cushion sounds like a good way to use your new fabric find.
    Enjoy your next holiday!
    Lisa x

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  12. Great to find out more about you, love the Thai story :). I've just started doing yoga too, you've inspired me to carry on x

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  13. What a lovely and interesting post. I love all the "things" aabout you. I too am at my best on holiday. And I used to love "The Pier".

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  14. Well done on the win and the award, it's nice to get to know a little more about you. I especially liked the story about losing your bag on a bus in Thailand!
    The cloth is pretty, but I agree the curtains you have up now are really nice. I loved The Pier too, shame it closed down! :) x

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  15. This is such a cool post.

    Your seven things about yourtself were fab.

    I've received this award and it's still festering at the back of my to-do list because I've yet to think up seven things!!!

    That's bad, isn't it!?

    I'm totally with you on the jam doughnuts. Yum. A jam doughtnut away keeps the doctor away.....or so I say!

    Perhaps that well be my epitaph..........

    Sarahxx

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  16. Wow, nice fabric, I think it will look great as a floor cushion.

    Well done for winning the award,great stories and thanks for thinking of me.

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  17. Thanks for the tag, will do this when I can think of seven interesting things to say about myself! What a lovely Thai fellow - he's going to heaven for sure!

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  18. What gorgeous barkcloth :) xxxx

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  19. I too used to love Pier :( - nothing quite like it. Lovely curtains (the Pier ones and the barkcloth). Great Thai story - faith in human nature and all that! I keep trying to become a follower of thnis blog, but little men in the workings of the computer are conspiring against me...

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  20. Ooo lots of interesting facts there. I LOVE your curtains, they are fab.
    twiggy x

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  21. Oh, I suddenly had a panic that I might have been missing your posts by mistake. Are you okay? I haven't heard from you.

    You've been unusually quiet!! I've been missing you. :-)

    By the way, I've been telling everyone I know your Kangaroot joke and, without fail, they all love it!!

    It's shot up into first place on my joke list. Not sure what that says about me!!

    Anyway, just thoght I'd see how you are....

    Sarahx

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  22. Great barkcloth. I lurve barkcloth! The smell I mentioned is of old dead people. There is no way anything is coming in the house. In fact, I have even gone off the lamps. I might do them up a bit and sell them on. I am thinking of learning how to cover lamp shades and do them in vintage fabric....your barkcloth would be perfect:) Cheers Nick

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  23. loving the curtains and the Thai story about the boy on the moped....how lucky!!

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  24. I have curtains just like the ones that you have above. I had them in my old house - but now that I am in a new place, I need another set (actually, I just need 1 of the 2 panels) because it's a very small window. Do you know where I might be able to find them? I have looked high and low and am so sad!

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