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In a world full of the latest gadgets, it’s nice to have some older pieces to add their character to your home and bring back memories.  This is my grandmother’s Singer sewing machine.  She was born in 1906.  I’m not sure how long my grandmother owned it.  A little online research suggests that this model was made from 1912 to the 1960s, so as she was alive all that time, it could have been bought at any point during that time.

It’s a hand cranked machine, which means that it is operated and powered by turning a handle on the right hand side.  I find this means it’s easy to control the speed, but I miss having two hands to control the fabric.  As I’m not a great needlewoman, the Singer doesn’t get to see much action these days and only gets used every few years.  It’s simple to use and easy to understand, although it helps to have my treasured instruction manual (hers too).  Using the machine does give me the feeling of a very real connection to my grandmother and to a time gone by when things were a little less fast paced.  When it’s not in use, my Singer sewing machine sits in the corner of my bedroom to add its period charm.

So what are special spoons you ask?  I thought the same when I first heard about RoyalVKB’s Special Spoons Kit.   RoyalVKB’s Special Spoons Kit is a set of “special spoons” with specific uses. The set includes five spoons that can be used for serving:

• chilli sauce – small for spicy things (good for getting out the last bits from awkward corners of chutney jars too)
• pickles (more of a fork really with those spikes to spear your pickled onion on)
• olives (with holes to drain off any liquid)
•  pate (good for spreading humous too)
•  jams

There’s a spoon for all those jars that we store in the fridge.  In the past, special spoons like these were a part of the cutlery canteen, but these days you don’t very often see cutlery for specific purposes.  And yet, I don’t know why as it makes cooking, serving and eating so much more pleasurable when you have the right tool for the job.  Every time I eat a boiled egg I miss my mother’s egg spoons which were just the right side and shape for the job.

Made from a high quality plastic, the Special Spoons are supplied in a model kit format. To use them for the first time you have to break them free from their frame with a sharp knife, scissors or just by twisting them free.  At the back of each spoon there’s a notch cut out to help you balance the spoon on the edge of the jar.  Coming in a choice of 4 rather funky colours, Special Spoons look fun as well as being practical.

Home Sense have recently opened a new store in Solihull.  Have you come across Home Sense?  Home Sense are part of the TK Maxx group and sell lots of lovely things for the home.  They work on the same basis as TK Maxx with daily deliveries of stock, so the choice is ever-changing and you need to buy things you like when you see them.  Home Sense’s buyers sometimes buy fairly small allocations of stock and then spread them out over a number of their stores.  I was surprised to see a full size suit of armour for sale at what seemed like a bargain price of £450 (if memory serves).

At Home Sense the items for sale are displayed in different ways.  There are standard shelves with several of the same product, but many items are presented in a more imaginative manner. Sometimes a mix of items is displayed together with soft furnishings alongside ornaments or pictures.  Elsewhere there are small room sets made up.  Everything changes regularly and the shop is likely to look a bit different every time you visit.

Another highlight of my visit was meeting interior designer Jo Hamilton, who was very lovely to talk to. She gave me some very valuable tips for decorating our Edwardian style house and our west-facing kitchen that has a tendency to be a bit gloomy.  After that I had the chance to wander round the shop plotting how I was going to spend my voucher from my goody bag.  Part of me was quite keen to spend it on the lovely pet range, but I decided that my rather spoilt burmese cats would have to stand aside this time.  The voucher was mine, all mine.