✴ royaltea

The past couple of days, me and the little lady of the house have been 'at home' to friends calling round for afternoon tea. It has been most delightful. We have supped tea and fine bubbly {for those of age} and dined on delicious savories and home baked nutmeg scones with strawberry jam and fresh cream. Yum.

We have been a bit impressed with our oh so last minute afternoon tea styling with antique embroidered tablecloths and thrifted vintage jugs holding bluebells and wild {or weed?} flowers picked late one night from the 'jungle' before the gardeners mowed them all away the next day. 

We found old rocks, shells and pieces of coral gathered long, long ago from beachcombing trips and now scattered around the garden and thought they'd make pretty good tablecloth weights against the blustery winds that swept though our gloriously sunny days. 

I had forgotten about the heart shaped lump of coral and thought it quite apt and just a bit pretty. 

We watched children play and tickled new babies toes, we chatted about new loves and remembered past high jinks and nights of hilarity, we discussed wedding plans and preceding hen do's and special birthdays soon to be celebrated. 

And with bellies full, glasses drained, teacups gathered and sleepy children heading to 'bedfordshire' we decided that love was most definitely in the air and exciting times are ahead.

I'm wondering if Kate has been scoffing cream tea and laughing with her gal pals and I'm doubting she has a dishwasher to empty and reload...

✴ happy monday {on a tuesday}

Did you have a lovely Easter? Ours was very quiet but delightful nonetheless. 

There was much pottering to be had, a bit of stitching, a fair amount of baking, a grand egg hunt {or two} and an aching excess of weed pulling and seed planting. I am aching...! What a workout!

I planted celeriac, tomato plants, radish, spring onions, cucumber, lettuce {lollo rosso and iceberg} and an abundance of salad leaves.

I harvested {yay!!} a bountiful bouquet of swiss chard that was planted last year and hasn't been tended to, weed controlled or even thought about since last harvested and is still growing strong having survived  winter and deep, deep snow... It was delicious {washed, chopped, sauteed with olive oil, chopped garlic, lemon juice, toasted pine nuts and a knob of butter! Easy as!}. I also took the first cuttings from the pea shoots planted a couple of weeks ago {easy, easy, easy....how to here} and added them to a salad, and I'm eyeing up my flourishing rhubarb and reckoning it maybe time to cut...having waited so patiently and resisted cutting in it's first year {Oh, the torment}.

And the best thing....knowing we get to do it all again next weekend with another 4 day lie in!!! {well, not so with a toddler, but you know what I mean!}.

Happy 3 day week all! x 

✴ retro teatime

I'll admit that I'm not usually drawn to 1960's and 70's retro patterned pottery. Which is odd as I love Orla Kiely and her designs are clearly inspired by this era. 

Anyway, this little teapot sang to me from it's box of donated goodness in the corner of the charity shop.

It whispered to me that in it's state of lidless perfection, it would make a wonderful planter. 

I agreed and instantly began to imagine a flurry of trailing vinca pouring over the pot and through the spout. 

And really, what else could you do with a lidless teapot?

Anyway, then the lady found the lid and when I asked the price she sucked her teeth and said.."Oohh...well it is Sadler.....better make it £2.50" and I knew then it was probably sacrosanct to fill it with earth and leave it out in the rain. 

And don't you just love thrifty shopping when something seemingly so revered can still only cost £2.50!

{crocheted pot holder from a pattern in Kyuuto! Lacy Crochet}

Flea Market Finds here.

✴ happy monday

Goodness, I haven't been here for a whole week. I hate when time runs away like that. Especially when you look back and wonder what on earth you managed to achieve.

It's been a tough week with a little tearaway monster in tow. 11 years too early for the teenage chatback and stroppy tantrums so I assume we are not quite finished with our teeth growing and am blaming the wide awake nights and hissyfits on sore gums and irritation.

Not just a toddlers wild ways I have been trying to tame, but with the recent sunny weather the overgrown jungle garden has been crying out for some pruning and a stern talking to.

Last year I eagerly planted some ranunculus bulbs....a year later there has been not even the merest hint of a bloom. At the same time I planted some anemone bulbs and a year later...the same sorry tale..or so I thought. 

However the other day I spotted in amongst the weeds, a couple of beautiful purple/pink anemone. 

How utterly thrilled I was. Delighted pride and joy in the small miracles of gardening, the pleasures, the pains, of successes and failures, the thrill of new discoveries and that life will always find a way....and then bewilderment, and subsequent devastation that those two brave little flowers had somehow found themselves unearthed by small toddler hands and were being thrust in my direction, roots attached and stems bent, 

"Here you go, mummy".

It's so very difficult to get cross with the gift giver {flower thief} when she smiles so sweetly!

Happy week and roll on those bank holidays!! x

✴ happy monday

It always makes me chuckle, that no matter what kind of paint brushes, rollers, stamps, sponges and other fancy schmancy painting tools we have....there is nothing quite like swirling your finger in a dollop of paint and daubing it on the paper!  

It takes literally seconds for the paint to come out that little keen toddler fingers {hands...elbows...toes...} get completely covered and, as we all know it's a short hop, skip and a jump before everything else within toddler reach gets covered too. 

And so, with warmer weather we are doing our painting outdoors. And how lovely it is too...

"I like painting..." the little voice says..."I like hands..."..."I like cats..."

Watch this space, it's only a matter of time before I find a grumpy purple cat {or two} on my doorstep...

Happy, colourful week! x

✴ we will repair to our rooms...and consume our fruit in solitude

One of my favourite scenes in Cranford {the BBC adaptation, it only merits a few lines in the book} is the evening when, by candlelight, the sisters Miss Matty and Miss Deborah together with their guest Mary Smith, sit around the table to eat the oranges that Mary has brought for them. They discuss their preferred ways to eat an orange {which seems such an exotic treat for them all} and after much debate, Miss Deborah decides that the act of sucking juice from such an altogether messy fruit is far too unladylike and vulgar and that they had best eat their oranges each of them in their own rooms out of sight from one another. Brilliant.

What on earth would Miss Deborah make of us ladies today. Constantly eating on the go. Shoving a sandwich in as we nip round the house with a hoover....I'll admit to often having a packet of crisps open in my pocket while out shopping....an utter disgrace, I know.

Anyway, I spotted these transferware pieces in my local charity shop during the week. I have a bit of a weakness for transferware and I'm starting to gather an eclectic mish mash of pieces, like this blue, and this green. It's just lovely don't you think? I can so imagine the Jenkyns ladies eating their oranges off such a plate and dish as these. In their own rooms, of course.

Having just had a few weeks of a cough and cold I've been eating a lot of oranges, and Miss Deborah is so very right..."Consuming them is a most incommodious business".

{ red transferware dish £2 and plate £1.50}

more Flea Market Finds here

✴ hanging around, shooting the breeze...

The temperatures are soaring here. We've been getting rather hot under the collar, me and the little lady. So much so that it is actually quite nice to rest a while indoors and enjoy some shade, some quiet and have a bit of a cool down.

And so, I've been covering wire hangers with selvedge trim. As a 20 minute wind down {or wind around?} and the calming qualities of hanger covering are really quite surprising....honestly! 

Give it a go...turn something destined for the dump into something Mr Morris would be proud of {practical and beautiful?}...

I used selvedge because I have piles of it and really, what else can you do with it? I also love the dual recycling purposes of the ugly wire hanger and the scruffy unloved selvedge, a perfect partnership, methinks!

But you could easily use ribbon or cotton tape. Just wrap it around the hanger, no need even to sew, I just wrapped a small piece of double sided sticky at the beginning and end of each piece. Job done.

Kirsty has got everyone hanger crazy!

✴ all around me...

China cups of tea on a ribbon strewn desk...

Liberty, lavender, love and luck...

Vintage milk glass earrings...{tick}

Hearts and kisses and little girl summer skirts...."Oo... like dat, mummy..."

Can't help but feel all pinky and peachy on this tropical and sun sparkled day. And all about my space are hints of Summer. I've also become smitten with the world of the podcast. To add to my old lady style I'm rather loving, Desert Island Discs, Gardeners' Question Time and, wait for it {and no, smug, "told you so" laughing, mum and dad...} The Archers!!!! Although I have no idea what on earth is going on I just snuggle in to the west country accents and 'trouble at mill' storylines. 

And really, did David push Nigel off the roof..? Hhhmmmm........

My Creative Space at Kootoyoo.

✴ happy monday

I'm so loving these lighter evenings. And todays sunshine and blustery winds meant that for the first time this year I was able to hang the washing out on the line. Hooray! I do love washing on a line.

Did you have a lovely weekend? I did. I had a day to myself to potter on saturday and a sunday in Windsor by the river, and a lovely dinner, which I didn't have to cook, or clean up after. Brilliant!

I made earrings and necklaces and brooches galore. I made fat quarter skirts {for a small person} and played around with pretty fabrics for dresses {for a big person}. I spun around in circles with Miss Ella in a giant teacup and I watched my beloved Boardwalk Empire, with a lovely glass{es} of red.

I didn't do any paperwork or serious businessy stuff or tidy the house. I'm still very behind with getting in touch with people and am late with some birthdays. 

Oh well, I'm only human...!

Have a good week. x