Linens & Soaps

The postman brought some lovely things in the post this morning. I used to subscribe to 'English Home' magazine and was persuaded to renew my subscription with the promise of these Cath Kidston soaps which I just love. They are £12 to buy in her shops.

Regular readers of my blog will know that my 82 year old mother enjoys being a 'runner' for my website! She attends lots of sales and car boots looking for things for me to sell and I often pop down to Cornwall to collect more stock. Sometimes she posts them, particularly linens and this morning I received a package of the most beautiful things.

This Irish lawn single bedspread is exquisite and I think it would look lovely as a curtain which I've quickly tried to photograph. Does anyone know what this type of 'embroidery' is please?

There is also a large case measuring about 4 ft by 3 ft so too large for a continental pillowcase, I wonder if it was intended to be used on a child's bed as it is embroidered with the name 'Margit'. It also has the most intricately sewn handmade buttons along the bottom edge and pretty lace edging.

Apparently all this large tablecloth was embroidered by a man (the seller's grandfather).

There was even more but I won't photograph all of it.

The Bear Nobody Wanted

The Bear Nobody Wanted
Many years ago I came upon a jumble sale. Unfortunately it had more or less finished and already someone had come in to collect all that was left for rags for his business. I happened to spy this bear that nobody had bought and I rescued him for 5p. How could he have got left with nobody wanting to buy him? He has obviously been well loved and cuddled and so I brought him to a new home where he has now lived for about 20 years.

Christmas Boxes

I have already received two Christmas cards but I refuse to put them up! It's still 5 weeks away! We went Christmas shopping on Saturday and already the shops are manic, queuing for the car park, queuing at the tills and more queuing just to get something to eat. We don't buy a lot of presents as we both come from very small families and a couple of years ago my mother and I decided to give to charity rather than each other.

Our particular favourite is Shelterbox who provide emergency aid for victims of natural and other disasters anywhere in the world. As soon as it is needed they provide shelterboxes – a tough, green plastic box containing a 10-person tent and ancillary equipment designed to enable a family of up to 10 people survive for at least six months. Following the cyclone in Bangladesh on Friday they aimed to despatch 230 boxes within 24 hours. If you are interested in helping this charity a box costs £490 but whatever you donate helps (£15 provides an axe, shovel and hoe).

Nepal 2007

Pakistan 2005

Kenya 2007

Weekend in Kent

Last weekend we stayed with a couple of friends in an old coach house in Kent. This was the 4th property we have stayed in managed by Rural Retreats as we know they will be of consistently high quality with beautiful decor. This one was like stepping into a magazine!

This was the garden looking out from this kitchen. I want this kitchen!!!

Here is hubby relaxing in the sitting room ....

and one of our bedrooms.

We spent the Saturday in Royal Tunbridge Wells. There was an antiques fair on so I had a good look around that but didn't find anything I wanted to buy. There was also this wonderful second hand bookshop where I spent all of 20p on two books!

The weather was absolutely beautiful and it looks as though it will be the same this weekend.

Having decided to concentrate more on linens and kitchenalia we are having a SALE on our website where many of the items are half price. Do pop along and have a look.

Chair Makeover

We've been away for the weekend so just a quick post here and I'll blog about where we went later in the week. I bought a couple of director's chairs a few weeks ago and decided to give one of them a makeover. Here is the 'before'.......

...........and here is the 'after'.

I think it would look really pretty in a bedroom or bathroom and is far too nice to use outside! I had intended putting it on the website but now want to keep it myself having put so much effort into its transformation. If I do the other one exactly the same then I can at least sell one of them. Hope you like the finished product too.

Magical Mystery Tour

My daughter announced last week that she was taking me on a mystery tour yesterday. I didn't know where we were going but it was her treat and it involved a train. We went to Brighton! We had a lovely day together. It's about a 90 minute journey (so great not to be driving for a change). First we went to the palace

then down to the sea and saw both piers. The west pier was built in 1866 but, sadly, caught fire and was almost destroyed in 2003.

The other pier is still open and houses a funfair etc. We went here many years ago when Rosie was much younger but we had more important things on ours minds like SHOPPING! We visited the new Cath Kidston shop,

and a huge emporium of bric-a -brac and antiques (I could have spent all day in here

and I could have spent lots of money in this salvage centre)

We we had a lovely lunch in 'Ask' - delicious pasta and a big glass of wine, then down to some serious clothes shopping. considering it was my treat I wonder how Rosie managed to buy lots more than I did!!

We were both feeling exhausted on the train coming home and Rosie wasn't sure whether she should have bought this red beret. I thought I would try to link the music on my blog to the content of the post, hence the titles of the Beatles and Prince's tracks.

I look forward to many more days out together. Thankyou so much Rosie.

Birthday Prezzies

Two belated birthday presents from Rosie (daughter) this afternoon meant all good intentions of doing some painting were postponed in preference for a lazy afternoon spent using my new mug and looking at all the lovely things in this Cath Kidston book. She always buys me such thoughtful presents that I really love - Thomas Hardy is my favourite author, especially his 'Tess of the d'Urbevilles' and I can't get enough books on vintage style! Tonight we are also going to have a belated 'girly' birthday meal out together.

Last weekend we had a lovely day out in Boscastle. I haven't been since 1984 and it was interesting to see how much of the flood damage is still in evidence. For those of you who are non-UK bloggers I am attaching a video of the fateful day in August 2004. Miraculously there were no fatalities.

The Sky at Night

I just had to take a photograph of the sky this evening ablaze with colour, it almost looked on fire. This would most definitely be a 'Shepherd's Delight' promising a lovely day again tomorrow.