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.

storm in a tipi

As I sit here typing it is slashing down with rain out side and I'm glad I'm in my cosy, secure, watertight home. Unlike the night of my brother-in-law's wedding. We were due to sleep in a fabulous looking tipi, but when the heavens opened and an immense thunderstorm erupted at 11.00 at night we were kicked out of bed by water, pouring in through the top. Thankfully there were pop up tents to hand and we ended up sleeping in tents inside our tipi! The children found this thoroughly hilarious!

Despite this mishap the wedding (for which I was making all that bunting) was beautiful. The setting was a rural country idyll, with chickens, geese and ducks running a muck amidst the wedding guests.

Right from the outset it was inevitable that this was going to be a beautiful wedding. Their shop Holly Anna is a treasure trove full of useful props and with their eye for detail I knew it would be a visual feast.



Talking of feasts, the food was impressive too. There was a constant, rolling supply of food and drink throughout the day, including this fantastic creperie. Obviously the children loved the chocolate and strawberry ones and quickly ended up smothered in the stuff.

And in keeping with the bride's colour theme (she loves pink, which is why she gets on well with our little girl!) we had even managed to source some pink Prosecco. Perfect for drinking in the dappled shade of an apple tree.


Guests danced the night away to an Irish band, and while we slipped off early(ish) to put the children to bed and for our storm in a tipi drama, the revelling continued, enhanced by the thunder.

garlands again!

a happened upon this lovely post on decor8 the other day and thought i would share it.
jo and i sold lots of scrap bags at the vintage handmade fair, and something of this nature would be perfect to make with them.
i love the styling by sania pell (who we featured a few weeks ago).
for the full tutorial head over to decor8 here

inspired by chinoiserie wallcoverings

 yesterday i mentioned that we had hung our chinoiserie grande wallpaper in the dining room, but omitted to show you a picture!! the floor is not grey any more though, it is now painted with farrow and ball bone floor paint (not terribly hardwearing just in case you are thinking of using it)

 this is the same paper in peapod

 and these 2 are both custom colourways.

here are some more chinoiserie lovelies form across the world wide web!

images (probably) from de gournay, francie readman, fromental and probably some people i have forgotton (if one of them is you please do tell me and i will rectify the situation!)

sew happy

HOORAY.

After months of swearing and cursing at my lack of sewing prowess the broken foot of my new sewing machine has at long last arrived and I have a fully functioning machine. I spent a happy afternoon fiddling with it and making sure it really does work and I'm so happy that I seem to have a machine that works with me.

It may seem a bit odd to invest in an ancient machine, but Sarah swears by them and I've really enjoyed the times I've used hers. I love this old clunking machine and it's robust Swiss mechanics and what's more I've had far more success at machine embroidery this afternoon than I think I ever had. I had thought it was just that I was completely rubbish at it, but it appears that in fact my old untrustworthy machine may have been partly to blame and hopefully, with a bit of practice, I'll soon be giving Sarah a run for her money!!!!

Anyway here's (hopefully) to many happy hours of stress free sewing!

visually beautiful

i am loving wallpaper on a grande scale at the moment, in fact we have put our chinoiserie grande wallpaper up in the dining room in colourway aqua and pink, and it pleases me every day when i look at it!

i think the scale of this yellow floral mural is stunning  - particularly paired with the simplicity of the rest of the room (i am sorry but i can't remember where i found the photo it has been lurking in my inspiration folder for months!!)

a place in the sun

it is tipping it down in Gloucestershire today, not a ray of sunshine to be seen. I had planned to make some elderflower cordial for the school fete, but i remember reading somewhere you have to pick the elderflowers on a sunny day to get the best flavour out of them, so that little job will have to wait for another day.
instead i have done some armchair travelling and discovered this beautiful place, so i am dreaming of sunshine and wishing to be transported to the peacock pavillions in marrakech......enjoy
(ps maryam the owner also writes a very beautiful blog here)

a visual treat

a visual treat for you today combined with a little weekend reading.
i find Leslie's blog a creative mint an inspiring place to visit, especially if i need a bit of a colour pick me up.
she also writes a column for decor8, anyway enjoy some creative eye candy.......

get a grip!

You know how sometimes you see something and you can't bring yourself to buy it because you think you could make it yourself but then you never do, and you end up kicking yourself for not just buying it in the first place. That's how it usually works for me, but this time I did manage to make it.

I bumped into a friend in the supermarket and her little girl had some fab fabric flower hair clips in, so while I chatted to the mum I also scrutinised the clips and I when I got home I promptly had a go at making some of my own. They were so simple to make. I literally did a running stitch along a strip of fabric and pulled it tight to create the main flower, then added the button for the centre.

And my little girl was as thrilled with the result as I was!