sweet paul and elephant ceramics

the summer issue of sweet paul magazine features ceramics company elephant ceramics.
i have always had a love of blue pottery, so this article immediately jumped out at me.
i really love michele's fabulous test samples, and inky colours - redolent of indigo dyed linens.
there is an elephant ceramics blog too which is equally visually beautiful. enjoy

secret arcade

i have been involved this year in a beautiful project called secret arcade, organised by the talented ladies behind the shop floor project.

this week i am the featured shopkeeper of the week, pop over and have a read!

weekend reading

i was rather delighted to see we had been mentioned on Anna's blog she shops local. i follow anna herberts column in our local paper, she is cooking her way through Elizabeth David's French Provincial Cooking.

Anna is married to the talented baker Tom Herbert of Hobbs house bakery.
and her blog is a lovely read, as she combines cooking with motherhood.

a tenuous link i know but sticking with a bread theme i came across another website, weekend bakery
fabulous photography a real visual treat. also there are some fab bread recipes, both sweet and savoury.
however if you can't be bothered to bake your own head down to hobbs house for the best that money can buy

rose shortbread



sticky cinnamon buns


pizza dough with a poolish

grey

I am totally loving soft greys at the moment, particularly when combined with warm whites. french grey has been my best selling colourway last month on the website.
the herringbone above is part of our new range of plain linens, and we are hoping to have some new limited edition product lines made from it soon.
all of our cloth is made in the uk, which we think is fab!

visually beautiful

from the ikea blog livet hemma .
i am pleased to see this image as i am experimenting with photo wallapers at the moment!

sweet paul and summer seafood

with a trip to cornwall with great friends planned - food is always high on the agenda.
one of the friends is a fabulous chef, so the plan is lots of seafood on the beach. as i have said before you can't beat a nice sustainable sardine! so when i saw these pictures in sweet paul summer issue, i had to share!

something fishy

I know I go on about the fact that men are impossible to buy presents for and that I prefer to give experiences and make a small, relevant, gift to hand over on the special day, but I've done it again. To be honest I think I rather enjoy the excuse of having to make something, particularly if I actually have an idea!

So for hubby's birthday this year I decided that I would take him to a local fish restaurant that is supposed to be amazing and we've been desperate to visit since we moved to the Cotswolds 9 years ago. While I wasn't quite up to knitting an entire platter of fruits de mer I did at last have a purpose for the box from a tin of tuna I've been saving since our trip to Italy last year (because I liked the packaging - obviously).

Using my new found embroidery skills I machined some fishy scales, and then I used the dissolvable plastic stuff I've used before (here) to make some seaweed - that was really good fun!

Now hubby has a stuffed fabric fish in a box which he doesn't know what to do with but at least the enormous fruits de mer platter he had at the restaurant was appreciated!

Lemon Aid

I've recently become obsessed with making homemade lemonade. On the few hot days that we've had this summer I've realised what a refreshing pick-me-up drink it is, and now that I've dug out the juicer element of my magi mix I've discovered that it's also a quick and easy thing to make with the children. Using the traditional method my mother-in-law told me I make up a sugar syrup (boiling water and loads of sugar) and add this to the freshly squeezed juice of about 6 lemons and voila. To make it into more of a 'treat' drink I add fizzy water and the children are in heaven. A perfect remedy for those tetchy toddlers!

Sticking with tradition, ideally it would then be put in a glass jug with a beaded fabric doyley and kept in the larder but since we were recently invited to a Mad Hatter's Tea Party I couldn't resisit the opportunity to take my latest obsession and to blend it with my love of the wierd and wonderful world of Alice in Wonderland with the tiny bottles and enticing labels.