Nonnie

George has been cooking!

No, not my George. This George!

OK, so perhaps cooking is a bit of an exageration. More, making a cappucino (We're very sophisticated on our boat!). Don't you think he's clever? Of course he had to concentrate very hard so as not to spill boiling water on himself, hence the very serious expression.

We had a lovely afternoon pottering and getting jobs done as it was too windy to sail. I scrubbed all the decks which was very satisfying, although I managed to bump my shin on a corner so now have a huge bruise which is slowly turning a very nice shade of purple!

On Saturday we had a very relaxing day in Kew. We wandered to the shops where I was bought these gorgeous tulips. :-) We played tennis. (I won!) We made delicious food and watched a lot of rugby, and I started consulting my inspiration files and books for Easter ideas. I have a few lovely ideas in my head. Now I've got to start making.

I was also sorting and photographing some new vintage things for the shop that arrived last week. I'm particularly in love with these two pretty plates.

I should be adding these and a few more bits and pieces later in the week.

Well after such a lovely weekend, I'm full of energy and enthusiasm for the week ahead. It's going to be March on Thursday! Spring will soon be here! If that's not something to feel happy about on a Monday morning then I don't know what is.

Have a lovely day. XX

Addicted to Ebay and another new mag.

I've been getting a little bit addicted to ebay lately. Actually, I think both George and I have. Only difference is that he's been buying things for the boat and I've been buying buttons and lovely little bits to put in my little shop. Above are some little lovelies that came in a mixed bag I purchased. It was one of those gamble bags really. You can see it's a mixed bag but you don't really know what's in it until it arrives. Needless to say, quite a sizeable bag will be going back for re-sale on ebay, but I did find plenty of goodies amongst the dull ones that more than justified what I paid.

I'm particularly keen on these three little cuties. I'm not entirely sure what I will do with them but I just think they're sort of sweet.

I also got another selection of pretty, new buttons in pastel shades. They're not terribly exciting but they're the sort of thing I use a lot when I'm making cards. The price was excellent as well which was the best bit.

I had another exciting parcel in the post yesterday.

I just couldn't help myself! Being a very big admirer of Alicia, when I saw she was featured in Romantic Homes Magazine, I knew I just had to have a copy. As far as I know, it's not available to buy here in the UK, so I went on their website to see if I could order a copy. I discovered that not only can you order the current issue, but you can order back issues too! Very dangerous for the old Bank account. Anyway, I showed restraint and just ordered the March issue. I have to tell you that it doesn't disappoint. It's a pretty long article with lots of gorgeous pictures of her lovely house. There are some other lovely things in the magazine too, although I have to say that it is perhaps the thinnest magazine I've ever purchased. But definitely worth it.

Well we have another reasonably busy weekend ahead of us. Off to Salisbury again tomorrow (I'm sure we should just go and live there, the amount of time we are starting to spend there recently!) then sailing on Sunday. When I say sailing, I really mean sailing. We are hoping to get the sails up for the first time and really see whether we can sail her. I think George the Bear will be pleased to see us as it's been a couple of weeks.

Have a lovely weekend and I'll see you all on Monday. X

P.S ~ Gemma asked me how to order the single issues off Romantic Homes website. I'm always happy to help other people spend money so here's how you do it. Go to the site, www.romantichomes.com, click on Subscribe from the menu at the top. Then, from the menu on the left hand side click on single issues and it takes you to an order page for all the back issues as well as the current issue which is at the top of the list. Simple

Salisbury(and the South Coast) - part 2

So I guess you're wanting to see what I bought on my trip to Salisbury? Sorry not to have shown you yesterday. I now feel like it's going to be a bit of a let down to those of you who have expressed feelings of excitement at seeing the Salisbury shops and what I bought! Unfortunately, beautiful City though it is, it doesn't really live up to expections with regards to shopping. But talking of shops, I must first say a big big thank you to Emma and Kelly who both took the time to email me with suggestions of places to visit. I think I went to most of the places they suggested.

So where was I? Ah yes, shopping. I was really hoping for some good vintage shops to explore but unless I missed something, I came across just one Antique shop(well more of a centre really) and a few charity(thrift) shops. The Antique Centre was very nice and lovely for a wander round, but it didn't throw up anything exciting for me unfortunately.

But I'm pleased to say that I did find some fabric and buttons all of which were at bargain prices. In particular I found a couple of lovely Cath Kidston napkins in a beautiful soft green which are going to be turned into cushion fronts. They were supposed to be £2 each which I think was already more than half price, but when I got to the till, I was charged only £2 altogether! I like bargains like that.

I also found some cute little buttons in my favourite colours. Not vintage unfortunately, just from a great fabric shop, but useful none the less. I already have plans for them.

And some lovely large scale red gingham. I can't resist gingham and am now wishing I bought more as it was a lot more reasonably priced than I've ever seen it here in London.

Finally, I found lovely felt in moss green, fusia pink and soft baby blue. The picture above really doesn't do justice to the colours I'm afraid. Actually, none of the pictures are great because I had to take them at about 9 o'clock last night. It was either that or wait for daylight next weekend to take them and that's just silly. (Can't wait for light evenings again!) I've got a few potential ideas for the felt. Just need time to sit down and try them out.

After we finished in Salisbury, we drove down to the coast to stay with George's Brother and his girlfriend again as we were doing boat work with them again on Sunday. Sam is as enthusiastic about the boat as George is. I just hope that Becky is not getting fed up of us or spending her Sundays hanging around our little boat? Hopefully not! We really had a fun time with them going to their local pub on Saturday night where there's always live music on. We did a lot of dancing which I love. Don't get to do it so often these days. I even managed to drag Geoge on to the dance floor for a slow dance! Poor thing! I think he secretly enjoyed it.

We got the mast up on the boat on Sunday so George was pleased. It's now looking like a proper boat. An apology to those of you not at all interested in boats, but here's a little pic. I thought it was about time I showed you where I go to most weekends lately! She is rather cute don't you think. She's going in the water this week so then the fun can really start, although I won't be sailing until I know George is totally confident with everything.(and the weather warms up a bit!)

So that was my weekend. Yet another busy one. This week I really do need to set time aside for creating as very little was done at the weekend other than buying materials. I'll post pictures as soon as I have some things done.

Salisbury - part 1

I have so many lovely pictures to show of my weekend that I thought I'd split it into two posts so more tomorrow. What a lovely weekend we had! Saturday's weather didn't start off with much promise and I feared I would be walking around Salisbury in the rain, and that I would have an extremely muddy boyfriend by the end of the afternoon spent on a soggy rugby pitch. But the rain did hold off and I had a lovely time wandering around the streets and shops of such a lovely town.

Above are a couple of shots of a particularly lovely street that was within the Cathedral grounds. I walked down here on my way to look around the Cathedral and when I got to the end of the street, I came across this lovely view.

And in the oppersite direction, this one.

I also saw the Cathedral properly for the first time, having caught site of the spire numerous times while driving into the City. Unfortunately there is some scaffolding around a bit of it at the moment but it's still stunning. I really loved the stonework details, especially some of the funny gargoyles.

The Cloisters are particularly beautiful at Salisbury.

So with all this site seeing you're probably wondering if I managed to find any shops. Of course I did! More tomorrow.
x