Kew Gardens

Morning everyone - did you all have a good weekend?

On Saturday we took a drive to Kew Gardens for the day, and what a fantastic place it is, all 300 acres of it.  Almost incomprehensible when we looked at the plan of where everything was.

The boys were very keen to do the tree-top walk and as the lift had broken we walked up the 108 steps to the top (approx 60ft).  Anyone who know me, knows that heights are not my thing.  I wasn't feeling too great walking up the steps as you could see through them to the bottom!  Then getting to the top, the walkway was also see through (albeit little holes).  That was enough for me, I had to make my way down - what a wimp!

The photo's are courtesy of hubby and the boys!

The glasshouses were incredible.  The largest being the only surviving Victorian glasshouse structures.  Those Victorian's were impressive!  Isn't it fantastic?

I think one of our favourite items was the lily pad glasshouse - look at the size of these lily pad leaves, you could almost sit in one.

This one here is upside down to show everyone the fantastic structure of them.

Another glasshouse held an array of butterflies.  The sizes and colours of them are like nothing I've seen before.  As always, photo's don't do the enormity of them any justice.

Whilst we were there, I did pop into my favourite fabric shop, so I'll share with you what I  bought, later on the week.

Have a good day!

Colour

Well here we are, mid week and day 3 of the school holidays - all going well so far...

We went to the local farm/activity place thingy on Monday with some friends and spent a glorious day there, complete unadulterated fun, as other schools are yet to finish.

Today, we're off to the cinema to see Toy Story 3 with one of Toby's friends which should be fun! and then many more activities are planned for the rest of the week.

All being well with the weather on Saturday we're hoping to visit Kew Gardens, a place which has been on my 'to do' list for 2010 so I can't wait for that.  There also happens to be a little fabric shop round the corner, so it would be rude not to visit whilst we're in that neck of the woods.

Anyway, back to my title - colour.  I'm not a yellow sort of person, despite having dark hair I am pale in complexion so yellow (especially pale yellow) can make me look washed out.  However I couldn't help but spend just £3 on this yellow necklace and ring at the weekend.  I love the chunky look of it and just a little bit of yellow won't do any harm!

What colour do you take pleasure in at the moment?

Goodies to end the week

Out and about on my travels recently, I've managed to pick up some pretty goodies which I thought you might like to take a look at - fancy it?


Not content with making one or 2 cushions, I thought I'd purchase some bark cloth to make - yes, you've guessed it - another patchwork cushion using just bark cloth.  These 2 pieces came from Ebay and they're so pretty I'm almost reluctant to snip away at them.

This pretty plastic floral bowl holds my pom-pom trim, lace and other notions.  It's almost a shame to put anything in it as you can't see the flowers but never mind.

I love these vintage London glasses - in their original box too.  I'm not sure where to put them yet as I'm rapidly running out of 'display' space.

We've almost finished re-doing the lounge - it's been repainted in a F & B paint which I really wasn't too sure about as I slapped it onto the walls, but now I've completed the room it has grown on me and it goes well with my curtains.  The room previously was quite ' busy' so looks quite stark in comparison now, but yesterday I changed that by getting a frame for a piece of  humble wrapping paper I had bought in Sussex a couple of months ago.

(I think you should be able to zoom in on it if you wish)

I'm amazed at how stunning wrapping paper can be and far too good to be used for it's purpose.  What do you think?

I love the style and colours of it.  It looks very majestic hanging above our sofa!

Caffeine's calling so I'll catch up with you soon - have a great weekend.

Blood, sweat and tears

Morning all - where does time fly - I had intended to post again last week but with one thing and another....


The boys break up this week and we are really looking forward to Friday.  I'm whittling down the school uniform, if it looks small, holey and generally yucky, it goes straight in the bin after 1 wear - at least it saves on the washing!  Friday will see lunchboxes, water bottles and shoes going straight in the bin.  I try and recycle where I can but after 12 months they've seen better days!


Last week as you know saw us having the wood burner fitted.  It's in and looking great.  I went out Friday night and hubby, true to form lit it - He then had to open the windows as it was so hot (no surprise!).  I think some practice is required - it took him a rather long time to get it going.


Whilst there was lots of mess going on downstairs, I had to get a wholesale order finished.  I had been putting these fabric flowers off for a while as I get bored of doing the same thing (this was 24 flowers and each flower had 2 different fabrics which needed to be cut out).  Nevertheless it got done.

I also set to with finishing a patchwork bolster cushion.  After painstakingly sewing by hand all the rectangles I then mucked up the end bits where the ric-rack and the ribbon is.  No-one else has noticed which is a relief, but boy I was getting hot and bothered doing it.

My gorgeous vintage curtains arrived and I'm mighty pleased.  They arrived beautifully wrapped and in my haste opened them, before photographing them, but I've taken a photo of the lovely packaging.  Take a look at Vintage Home as they do some great vintage items.

Right, work beckons, and if there's time, a spot of decorating so no doubt more blood, sweat and tears!

Ta ta for now.

Work in progress

Morning everyone, another glorious weekend again - let's hope it continues for the school holidays....!

Our weekend was fairly functional so I won't bore you with the details, but this week is going to be very busy with the installation of our wood burner.  Remember the rather large hole which had been dug out?  Well, finally it'll be filled this week with 1 of these.

It will give out so much heat, we could end up sitting in our underwear (I don't think so).  If hubby has his way, he'll be lighting it at the end of the week!

We also picked out these Victorian repro hearth tiles in cream.  They did a variety of colours, but as I'm not sure what colour the room will be, I thought it best to get them in cream.  It's been made up to our measurements and comes in 1 piece which makes it easy for installation.

So there you have it.  I also bought some pretty vintage curtains, so I think I'll pick a paint colour based on them.  They will hopefully arrive this week so I can show you a picture then.  They came from here 

Thank you to the 1st 3 ladies who left a comment re the Pay It Forward - if Pat from The Sewing Room

Bellaboo

and Serenata from The Balancing Kiwi

please get in contact with their address, I will send them a little something (within 365 days!).  My email address can be found on my profile page.

See you during the week.

Pay it forward. and other stuff............................!

Hello All
End of another week again.  My morning was a bit of a non-starter.  Our school was supposed to have sports day followed by a picnic - guess what - it started to rain so when we arrived we were told it was cancelled! and after all this glorious weather we've had.

I then went to pick them up at lunchtime (they finish at 1 on a Friday) to find lots and lots of cars parked up and I could hear children laughing and shouting.  Rushed into the playground to find out that the picnic didn't get cancelled.  Jack apparently had been waiting by the gate for me......There was a note on the chalkboard outside, which only got added after I had dropped them off. AAAAAGGHHHH.

Having said all of that, I think I was more disappointed than the boys.

We also had the new hearth delivered at 7.15 this morning ready for the woodburner to be installed next week.  I'll take some photo's of it over the weekend to share with you.  The hearth is beautiful, I didn't think I could get so excited by some tiles.

Anyway, back to the title  - Pay it Forward.  I signed up to this following a post on Marigold Jam's blog and the idea is that the participants pass on a little kindness without expecting any reward. I promise to post a little item to the first 3 bloggers to comment on this post who will in turn do the same and keep the kindness moving forward. There's no timescale involved apart from getting them sent within 365 days - I promise to be a lot sooner than that!

If you fancy getting a little handmade item from me, then please comment on this post!  Simple eh?

I'll leave you with a photo of my little pink house hubby made - remember?  It's now full of glorious colour.

Have a great weekend.