Knitted antique chairs by Melanie Porter

Here's something that appeals to two of my favourite things at the same time - old furniture and fibre-art. Ex-knitwear designer Melanie Porter finds old chairs in auctions and markets across the UK and gives them a new lease of life through careful restoration and reupholstering before she covers them with handknitted panels.

I've chosen Henry (see left) to demonstrate Melanie's talents - a fine chair who's on-trend to boot. Alas, there are no prices on her website, so I suspect that means Henry won't be coming to live with me. But perhaps he or one of his friends could come over to your place? Melanie takes commissions too, if you've got an old Bergere that deserves a facelift.

(via guardian weekend magazine, 08.05.10)

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Lufdesign's leaf cable ties

How about this for a simple, yet brilliant idea? Cable ties with little leaves on the ends, making them both functional and attractive. With these babies on-hand you can prettify your copious cables and give up on the much harder task of hiding the messy buggers.

The Leaf Ties are the brainchild of Korea-based Lufdesign. They weren't originally planning to sell direct to the public, but because of the happy problem of lots of consumer interest they are shipping via airmail. If you're quick you might just grab some for yourself...

(via sub-studio)

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Fairy cake semi-fail

Mr V and I made some fairy cakes today (mini cupcakes). They taste great, but my attempts at icing (after Mr V had gone to bed) aren't quite so great:

I iced them all and then tried to put the sprinkles on. Turns out that doesn't work too well. I had to poke each tiny sugar star into the icing. So, next time it's ice-then-sprinkle, ice-then-sprinkle, ice-then-sprinkle etc, etc.

The recipe is from Easy to Make! Cakes and Bakes (Good Housekeeping). First one I've tried from there, but so far, so good...

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