Sunday 23 June 2013

Art with a heart and a new collaboration

I have been honoured to be the subject of not one but two portraits this week! This first one is courtesy of a young man of my acquaintance. As you can see he has signed it. This work is called 'Tania' by Ross xx. I adore it - look at my big hair and huge eyes! And that is a party dress I am wearing by the way.




































Well, then, the lovely Clare of Miss Simmonds Says put out a call for models. I was a bit late because I was watching a rather glorious film about Genghis Khan, but she very kindly squeezed me in. And here I am. Waiting for the milk man! Look at that eyebrow. Makes me laugh every time. Thanks Clare, you are amazingly talented.

Ross's artwork adorned the parcel of some samples I received from his Mum and Dad who are the talented owners of Cardtastic, the company which has decided to licence freckleface cards. Very exciting news for me and a really happy collaboration.

Friday 21 June 2013

But uh-oh those summer nights!

We ate outside two nights in a row this week. It felt like a staycation!
Tagliatelle with sage, butter and capers with salad and wine. Oh and parmesan on top. Hugh lovers, he's done it again. Just scroll down for the recipe.
We discovered these candles on our last night in Dubrovnik when we went for cocktails on the terrace at the Hilton with our last few kuna. They are battery operated and move through different colours in phases. They put you in a trance.
Outdoor fairy lights above the patio. All twinkly and beautiful. The man of the house particularly loves them in winter.

The stars of the garden show at the moment are these foxgloves. How I love them. 

Monday 10 June 2013

The King of Rock and Roll and the King of Heaven

I intended to post yesterday in celebration of the fact that I now have 100 followers, but I left it a day and now I have 101! Thank you so much to all of you for following me.

Without further ado, here is the wonderful Swiss made frock that lovely Curtise gave me. It is a terry towelling  fabric in red white and blue with a zip down the front. It is soft, comfortable and I love it! It takes me straight back to about 1974. Time travel, you can't ask much more of a dress than that can you?
Here it is teamed with the amazing 1970s platforms gorgeous Vix gave me. I regularly put high heels on my list to Santa in about 1974. Didn't get them at the time. It just goes to show, good things come to those who wait...
































































A few of you asked what I bought on my recent trip to Chesterfield market. Well, the easy answer is fabric! Plenty of it! Can you tell I'm a Textiles graduate?

An amazing alpine tea towel, a wonderful 1970s offcut featuring a rocking horse, the softest yellow floral cotton curtain to be made into something or other and a 1940s tablecloth which went straight outside onto the table up the garden.












































The tea towel is entitled Les Chamois. I looked it up and it is a type of goat antelope which lives in the Alps. Perfect. I love it so much.

Such is the voraciousness of the pigeons hereabouts, we have had to cover our crops in netting. I like to think of these strawberry blooms as little brides peeking out from behind their veils.
I inherited an amazing gold and turqoise ring which was stolen years ago. The universe has sent this 50p special from Chesterfield market to replace it. Thanks Cheapskates, I shall wear it often.
The King of Rock and Roll and the King of Heaven. I can't believe I didn't buy these Graceland pounds. What am I going to use when I visit?
Coffee pot from Chesterfield market and matching anenomes in my garden.

That's all folks! xx

Friday 7 June 2013

Didn't we have a lovely time, the day we went to...

Can you tell where it is yet?
This is what I look like serious. By later on in the day I was grinning so much I developed extra chins and ended up looking a bit like David Walliams when he dresses up as a laydee.

It's the one and only Chesterfield, in Derbyshire, in the East Midlands of England. A place I have driven through many times on the way to other places, but never actually stopped to enjoy. It is famous for the twisted spire on its church.
We were invited by the lovely and lady-like Curtise to come and join her on one of her regular jaunts to the Thursday flea market. We followed in the steps of market goers who have been doing the same thing for over 800 years!
The romantically named Knifesmithgate, a row of beautiful black and white tudor buildings.



If they got anything like the welcome we did, I'm not surprised they kept coming back for more! Every few yards people were calling out greetings and offering compliments. Our Vix was like a celebrity. One woman we encountered is even a fan on her facebook page! I've never known anyone who inspires strangers to make so many spontaneous approaches. It's the combination of looking so amazing and her trademark big smile. We basked in the reflected glory.
Strawberry daiquiri followed by Mojito. Post prandial grins all round.


Over a lunch of cocktails we made a lovely new friend in Annie. She is such a sweet, gentle soul and so easy to talk to. We were asked if we were fashion lecturers, performers at the local theatre, on a historical reenactment, or Jehovah's witnesses. We had such a laugh. Just to clarify, the answer is none of the above.




































We got quite excited in the toilets at Wetherspoons. This is the way it works on a bloggy day out: we talk non-stop for a few hours and then realise that we haven't taken any photos, so out come the cameras in all their shapes and sizes and we snap away like seasoned paparazzi.

And then, just when you think it can't get any better, there are the presents! It's like Christmas morning!
A fine woolen scarf with alpine flowers, a 1969 marmite cook book and an amazing pair of original platforms from Vix, to be modelled soon. Travel fridge magnets from Annie.

Photos from a 1964 copy of Woman's Journal, colourful vintage glassware and a wonderful dress from Curtise, to be modelled in a post of its own soon.

Bloggy days out are the very best!

I promise to come round a-visiting you all soon! xx

Monday 3 June 2013

We're having a heatwave, a tropical heatwave

Over here in Blighty, June has come in with a bang. There is sunshine, there is warmth and there are summer dresses.

Do you remember this one? It's my tablecloth dress. It looked a bit dental technician in white so I dyed it yellow and added a bit of lace down the front. It's simple and cool and the length makes me feel all youthful.






























The weekend was very sociable. On Saturday I met up with the girls for a country walk and picnic. This is a typical farm building in this part of the country, with this red brick and these decorative patterns in the brickwork. I wonder if this part of the building was used as a dovecote, with these holes where the doves would fly in and out.
A field of rapeseed, fluorescent yellow against the blue sky. A snake in the grass!
This looks like a normal pair of hands, doesn't it? Well it's not. These, my friends, are the Fingers of Fear. They belong to my younger sister, who came to visit. 

The Fingers of Fear and their work are part of our ritual when we get together along with eyeballing each other's wardrobes and usually a bit of disco dancing. They are permanently cold and are capable of inflicting the most excruciatingly effective massage known to man. Long and thin, they intuitively know where the tightest muscles are. They go straight to them and work their brutal magic. She laughs her head off as I whinge and moan and say 'blimey' and 'oh my word' on repeat. By the time she finishes, I want to sleep like a baby. 



















Our latest food obsessions. Rosemary potatoes and roasted tomatoes with garlic and thyme. Here we did them as crostini with olive bread and goat's cheese. Perfect for a summer lunch out in the garden.

I'm linking to Lakota's Ta-Dah Tuesday because of my homemade dress.