herbs & sweet peas

Today was a lovely sunny day as I cycled over Port Meadow to the allotment. The cows were cooling off in the water!

Too hot to do much work ....I picked some herbs for dinner and sweet peas.


Parsley, Dill, Mint and Sweet peas for colour. They all smell amazing and look great on the table.

The perfect day to sort through my collection of magazine cuttings and other bits and pieces I seem to gather. Great for colour and pattern ideas. I often keep flower and plant pictures, which help inspire colour combinations and tones.

faded tones

A few bits and pieces to inspire my designs. I love their faded tones of creams and bronzes.

The stem of honesty is beautiful with it's flat silvery discs.

The pocket watch was given to me by my grandad, which I treasure, the little frame I bought last weekend.

Satin bow purse with pink vintage gloves

Bronze drawstring purse, made with shot silk and Victorian handmade lace. The colours work so well together.

weekend

We brightened up a grey Saturday by visiting the Howard Hodgkin: Time and Place exhibition at Modern Art Oxford.

I hope everyone is enjoying a lazy Sunday in the garden.

green & white

The lace like flowers of some plants, such as Cow Parsley and Ground Elder are a source of inspiration for some of my own designs. Soft pale whites and creams against shades of green are always a favourite of mine.

Beautiful handkerchiefs with lace detail and embroidery.

I bought them at a flea market, I love the way they've been neatly folded and I cut the lace to reflect this on my design.

This is the zip purse I've just finished, it's simple but highlights the detail of the lace.

summer holiday

Here are some photos of the house we stayed at in France. It's nearly 200 years old and has some amazing features, antique furniture, chandeliers, gilt mirrors and beautiful fabrics lining the walls!

This blue and cream fabric was on the walls in one of the bedrooms.

It was nice to escape the heat of the day in the cool kitchen.

Lazy summer lunch ...

The region is known for it's lakes and forests.

trip to france

Just got back from a family holiday in France. We stayed in a wonderfully quirky old house in a small town called Senonches, which is in the Eure-et-Loire region. We were visiting my sisters, partners parents for one week, i'll add some pictures of the house later.

Yesterday morning we went to the weekly market that runs through the town's main street.

There was stall after stall of vegetables, fruit, cured meats, cheeses, flowers and honey to name a few. I wanted to bring a lot more home, but I did manage to buy a few things on the trip.

This haberdashery stall was over flowing with ribbons, buttons, lace and beads.

I bought a selection of these embroidered fabric hems. Not sure what I will do with them yet, but they were so pretty.

We bought some things from the market to eat on the journey home on the Eurostar.

I brought back some other bits and pieces too. I love these packet designs

I always bring back a Paris Vogue

We also went to a bric-a-brac shop and found a flour jar to add to my collection and a little glass salt and pepper pinch pot.