The Vintage Magpie

Goldilocks.... aka Florence

Someone has been very lazy in our house of late, lounging around on the search for the perfect bed.

Unfortunately, however glamorous, the doll's bed was obviously far too small, filled with junk and not enough leg room or sufficient space to lay one's beautiful head

Woody's bed far too large, and obviously already occupied by a previous partner.  The look on Woody's face screams 'typical bloody woman'.

the old sewing room was far too darn messy

although essentially good for playing 'spot the dog' competitions.

The cushions are too soft allowing for one to have misfortune of 'sliding off ' far too often, and ending with a startling bang when you hit the floor

but this, finally, is just perfect ...

Covered with a vintage roses on one side and petal pink blanket on the other, glamorous and gorgeously soft , with just the right colours to make any girl look splendid.

Hallelujah.

Have a great weekend everyone!

The Christening

Last weekend we went to the christening of a very dear friend's daughter, Rose Catherine. 

She was christened in this beautiful church on Woolborough Hill in Newton Abbot, a gorgeous church dating back to the 1600s, and situated opposite the most gorgeous dairy farm (I love cow farms).  Thankfully the relentless rain held off whilst the christening took place..

and whilst James busied himself playing 'King of the Castle' !

And here is my first accomplishment in the new studio.. 

a gift that hopefully Rose will keep through her life,

so she never forgets the date she was christened! 

Somehow I always end up finishing things I have embroidered late at night, and then in the morning when I show my husband the results in the morning I always hold my breath, because he always tells me I've spelt something wrong!  And for a few seconds I feel really sick.  He's lovely like that.

Apologies for the absence

I must apologise for my recent absence from blogging... due to lots and lots of moving stuff around, moving it back, re-moving stuff around, painting, sanding down, painting, sanding down again, painting ... you get the picture. 

My new studio has been a long time in coming, and its been very frustrating not getting any sewing or knitting or anything else done, except painting and rearranging.  Then I had my wrist strapped up for a couple of days after too much painting.. oh the misery! 

Anyway, its almost finished.

And the utter joy of having all my most precious crafting things all in one place is indescribable.... sad, but indescribable!  To be able to cut fabric, iron the fabric and sew the fabric all in one place... utter bliss!!

And.. .joy of all joys...

being able to have all my craft books and Country Living magazines all in one place, in date order... (too much watching Anthea Turner has occurred me thinks)..

Anyway, it still needs some work, pictures on walls, fabrics sorted out and all that sort of thing, but right now I need to switch that sewing machine on and get to work... its been too long !

Dressing Tables

If there ever comes a time in a girls life when her daughter (aged only 8) has a dressing table that is far more glamorous than her own, she needs to leap into action.

So along with my very slow progress in moving my studio from the box room upstairs to the study downstairs, I am also going to take on the task of redecorating my bedroom...

After seeing Posy's post with her gorgeous green bed and bedspread, she has changed my mind from going for white and duck egg blue to white and vintage green...  I just love that combination.

So I'm destined for several weeks on chaos coming up.  Oh goody. 

Domestic Goddesses

To be the perfect domestic goddess, one has to start out with a glamourous apron.

I made this one for my daughter Lauren, after several complaints that her previous one adorned with farm animals was too 'babyish'.  Ahhh these babes grow up so fast...

Then we need our tools for the task ahead

To produce a wonderful finished article.

Banana and apple loaf out of Tana Ramsay's cookbook... Delicious.  Made especially to cheer this little face up..

which is looking decidedly glum because of an ear infection in both ears, poor darling.  So we had to spend the whole day on the sofa in our nightie eating cake and watching tv.  Just to cheer us all up.  Which it did!  Until I got indigestion from eating too much warm stodgy cake as we couldn't wait til it had cooled down.  Such is life!