Nonnie

Brighton

I know it's a bit of an obvious picture when you've had a day out at in Brighton, but I couldn't resist snapping this row of deckchairs flapping around in the (strong) breeze. There's something so lovely and old fashioned about stripey beach deckchairs isn't there?

Well I had a lovely day on Saturday. I decided to take the train rather than drive which was a relaxing start. Friend Becky met me at the station and we had a lovely morning wandering the lovely shops around the lanes. Ooh I could have spent a lot! Good job for my band balance that I wasn't in the car so had to think about what I could carry. Did manage to pick up this little stash though. Some delicious lavender biscuits and 'Cheeseboard Chutney', both made in Sussex, a rather jolly washing up brush (which George asked for permission to use last night :-)), a pretty glass bottle which I will fill with pretty bubble bath, and a cute new ring.

Not a bad mornings shopping! We both agreed, that for once it was quite nice not to have 'the boys' with us as we could shop properly without bored faces behind us.

After shopping we went to a lovely place for lunch called 'Food for Friends'. Very well named for a long lunch with an old friend you haven't seen in a while. We were so busy chatting the waitress had to come back a fair few times before we were ready to order. Not quite sure why, but we both ended up with curry. I had a delicious Green Thai Curry and Becky had Korma. Both vegetarian which made a change for me but it was really lovely.

A gorgeous Brighton Garden.

We walked off our huge lunch with a stroll along the beach back towards hove and Becky's gorgeous flat. Tea and lavender shortbread were consumed along with lots more chatting before I popped myself back on the train to London.

As George was away all weekend racing to Weymouth, I had Sunday to myself and started on the new ideas that have been bubbling in my head over the last month. No pictures to show as yet, but there is a steadily growing pile of cushions ready to be sewn together and I am experimenting with a knitted project that I'm rather excited about.

Holiday photos next post. I promise. xx

Hello I'm back!

Did you miss me? ;-)

Well I know I said I wouldn't be back until August 1st but I think I've had a long enough break! I'll tell you all about the holiday next week. It wasn't exactly what we'd planned but was absolutely lovely anyway. Just to give you a hint, we travelled a lot further south west and didn't go anywhere by boat

So what I wanted to share with you is a totally gorgeous package I received this week. A few weeks ago I signed up to a 'Vintage Tin Swap' organised by Alison of Foxgloves in the breeze. This was my first ever swap so I was quite excited about it.

The idea was to get a vintage, or vintage style tin and fill it with all sorts of crafting items. As well as this we were to include something small made by ourselves. I actually got Alison as my partner and here's the tin she sent me.

I couldn't quite believe my eyes (or my luck) when I opened the tin and the layer of tissue inside.

I felt like it was my Birthday come early. With all the ooing and arrhing as I took everything out of the tin I think George thought I had gone a little mad! Just look at all the loveliness she included.

It's so lovely. Thank you so much Alison, and I'm sorry you haven't received mine yet. It's all ready to go apart from the tin which I bought from ebay and hasn't arrived yet. Typical! As soon as it does I'll pack it full of the little stash I've put together for you and pop it in the post.

I also received another little package from Alison which is going to require a little participation from all of you, but I'll share that with you next week.

This weekend I'm off to Brighton for the day to visit my friend Becky. I haven't seen her for almost a year so I thought it was about time! She lives in a gorgeous flat actually just outside of Brighton into Hove, a couple of streets back from the sea front. They're trying to sell the flat at the moment as they want somewhere a little bigger and so have created a fab website showing the flat in all it's gorgeousness! Do please have a look and if you know anyone who is looking for a beautiful flat in Brighton, please pass on the details.

I'm hoping the sun might shine while I'm down there so I can take some lovely seaside pictures but I'm not holding out much hope. Is there ever going to be an end to all this bloomin rain??!

Hope you all have a lovely weekend. I'll be back next week with holiday tales, Alisons second parcel, Brighton fun, a list of lovely new blogs I've been discovering and more. Gosh, a month off really has revived me! xx

PS I hope the new banner is now showing. I had a little difficulty yesterday getting it right because my computer wouldn't show me the new banner and when eventually it did late last night I didn't like it! So I've changed it again this morning but again I can't see the new one. Arghhhhh! It should be pale pink with grey writing and I hope it looks ok!!

Missing you already!

We're going on holiday for a week on Saturday and I've decided to take the opportunity to take a little blogging break. So I'm taking the rest of July off blogging and hope to come back very refreshed at the beginning of August, by which time I hope we might actually have a summer! If not then I think I'll be starting to think Autumnal inspiration!

Although I won't be posting myself, I'll still be checking up on all of you once we're back from our holiday and look forward to hearing what everyone has been up to for the week.

I think the break is just what I need as I feel a little lacking in inspiration just lately so I'll be taking lots of photos and adding to my inspiration and sketch books!

The shop will remain open while I'm away with the sale continuing for a couple more weeks, but please bear in mind that if you send me an order any time during next week, I won't be able to process it until we return from the Isle of Wight so you won't hear anything from me regarding the order until Monday 16th July. Those who have ordered from me this week, I will be posting out your orders before we go away.

Have a lovely, and hopefully sunny, July and I'll see you all on the 1st August. xxx

A sunny view.

A very quick post today to show you some pictures of the gorgeous view from the top of Richmond Hill. As we drove home from the south coast on Sunday evening it actually stopped raining for a while so we came through Richmond Park spotting deer on the way, and stopped for a while at the top of the hill to admire the beautiful view. It always amazes me when I look at this view, to see just how much green there is around us. We really are lucky to live in a part of London that is surrounded by parks and gardens, what with Kew Gardens across the road, Richmond Park down the road, and Syon and Bushey Parks across the river. If you're going to live in a city, this has to be a pretty good part to live in!

Just to remind you that the Sale is still on over here. x