Home-baked scone,fresh coffee and a good book!

I don't know about you , but when I get a lovely new book to peruse, I wish to be alone. It is a bit of a ceremony, the coffee has to be brewed and I need something lovely to eat. How very indulgent I know, yet in this age of "having it all" isn't it good to be really excited when you get something new? Books are such a joy. Sometimes when money is tight, you have to satisfy yourself with  a flick through a few books or magazines at the bookstore, but there is nothing quite like that feeling of having a book in your bag just waiting there to be unleashed in all it's glory, when you get home. I used to feel that way too about magazines but I think they are all rather similar and unexciting now. There is still that bit of a thrill when you pick up a foreign magazine on holiday. Since I have started blogging I have found so many beautiful and inspirational images on peoples blogs and websites, that I am quite giddy with it all! Belgian, French, Dutch, Scandinavian, English and American, you name it you can find it, it is wonderful.

Think Pink!

lovely roses via tumblr

photograph via martha stewart

I kind of like pink, but not in that very girly way that some girls like it, where everything is pink...clothes, shoes, hair! I adore pink roses and peonies, geraniums and sweetpea, tulips and livingstone daisies. I love all the infinite variety of shades.
I love to see little baby girls dressed in the softest of baby pinks. I notice looking at my photos that I  seem to have a penchant for pink drinks!

photograph via tumblr

photograph via tumblr

photograph via crafting chicks

photograph via tumblr

My daughter makes me laugh. She is actively on a "hate pink" campaign at the moment. It appears that there are two camps (when you are 8) the princess, girly pink brigade and the I don't wear dresses, I'm more of a tomboy brigade. She is definitely the latter! Even when she was younger, my mum used to love to buy her the dresses down to your ankles with loads of petticoats underneath. Lois hated them and wore them under sufferance, to please Nan.I love the gorgeous peachy shade of pink you get inside a seashell, or that lovely dusky shade you get in old velvet. In Interiors I love old plaster pink and pale pale pastel pink. I also love the mix of pink and red, which when I was a child was "just not done" but I think they really bounce off each other and make rooms come alive.I adore it when you pick roses from the garden in all shades of pink with peach and yellow thrown in to the mix as well, just so summery and sumptious!

photograph via martha stewart




 

there is something gorgeous about flowers underwater



photograph via kate foreman

photograph via tumblr



chocolate kisses via tumblr

I would like to thank everyone who visits my blog and takes the time to read and perhaps share a little something with me. You really make my day! Thankyou too to all you lovely poeople who follow me, I hope that I can keep it fresh and interesting for you. Consider yourselves wrapped in a pink cashmere throw and hugged! Love Linda x.

Martha Stewart - Organizing Tip of the Day

Martha Stewart - Organizing Tip of the Day

Liebster Awards

I was given the Liebster Award earlier in the week by gillyflower .I am thrilled and delighted by it, but rather daunted by the prospect of passing it on to other new blogs.

I would like to pass it on to A Welsh Girl In Australia a lovely girl with an interesting blog talking about life for a Welsh girl in Australia, with great photos of the wildlife and glimpses into their family life. Congratulations!

I would also like to pass it on to Robynne's Nest a kind of mirror reflection of the above blog, this is an Australian girl living in England. It is a wonderful depiction of country life, with great photos too! Congratulations!

Last but not least I would like to pass it on to The Anusha Diary . This is the blog of an online Boutique owner giving you an insight into her working world plus lots of local interest. She sells beautiful clothes, jewellery, purses and accessories in her Boutique. Congratulations!

Crown image via http://graphicsfairy.blogspot.com/

I hope you will take the time to check these girls out if you haven't come across them before. Many thanks for dropping by, love Linda x.

My Blue Heaven





I love blues......wishy washy sky blue, dusty dirty grey blue, duckegg, indigo, denim, purpley blue, navy blue, airforce, cobalt, ultramarine, pastel blue,........on and on....I love them all! all images via tumblr

The big 50!!!





A few little goodies to take home.

This was at home, but just to make up for lack of photos at Betty's!

Today I am 50......... I can't believe it. I don't feel any different to when I was 20. My present from my husband was a trip to England to visit my friends and re-visit old haunts. It was a lovely present, we all had a great time. On the last day of our trip we were in the Yorkshire Dales. We started off by having breakfast at Bettys in Harrogate. It is a charming tea-room with old-fashioned service in wonderful Art Noveau style surroundings it really is a must if you are in Harrogate. Sadly, we slipped up by not taking any photograps.

A lovely entrance, don't you think?

We moved on from Harrogate to Bolton Abbey, the site of the ruined Priory and delightful walks, with equally delightful tearooms. (I am rather obsessed by these).

details





We really had a great time, but now I need to concentrate on work!

Spring has sprung!



Some of the lovely buildings in Chester.



A very decorative clock in Chester town centre.


 



We are back from our little trip, fully exhausted because we did so much, but at the same time energised  and renewed because travelling does that to you. We stayed with a relative in North Wales the first night and we visited Chester (England). It is an historic town full of wonderful old buildings and cobbled streets, it is also rather good for shopping. We stopped for coffee at Carluccio's , the coffee was wonderful but the cakes were disappointing!



The village of Near Sawrey in the Lakes.





Hilltop Farm one time home of Beatrix Potter, now owned by the National Trust.



My lovely Lois at the door of Hilltop Farm.



 







 












We had lunch at Low Sizergh Barn, a wonderful place to spend a little time. It is a farm, a cafe and farmshop, selling delicious local food products and gifts. The cafe serves tasty  home-made fare and I would highly recommend you visit if you are near Kendal.




Lois feeding the lambs at my friends sheep farm in the Lakes.




This little one was her favourite, she named him Milo.




aaahh!

  We had an early start on the second day and headed north for the Lake District. I had promised my daughter that we would visit Hilltop Farm, once home to Beatrix Potter. Would you believe it, when we got there it was closed for refurbishments! We were able to look around the garden and to see the house from the outside and visit the shop, but it was a little disappointing after the build-up and travelling all that way. Nevermind it is an excuse to come again! We were so lucky with the weather it was really spring-like.






The village pub in Near Sawrey, isn't it sooo cute it looks like its just popped out of the pages of a Beatrix Potter book!













I think I will have to leave it there for now as I have to go. Happy Monday everyone! love Linda x.























Happy St. Patrick's Day!

I know I am a little early, but later on this evening we will be sailing off into the wild blue yonder on  our little trip to England and Wales. I thought I would just send you a  St. Patrick's Day greeting  for tomorrow via my little bear that I made, hope you like him? Lots of love, Linda x.

bedtime stories

This is Spangle, my daughters beloved bear. Well actually it is Spangle no.2 as the first one she had for 6 years and he was covered in fabric patches. She smuggled him in her bag when she went to the park with some friends one day and left him behind. Oh my what a day that was, she was heart-broken, we searched and searched in torrential rain and couldn't find him. My sister found her Spangle no.2 on E-bay and although she adores him, her heart belonged to no.1 and sometimes she still cries for him.

 Well at the start of another week I am feeling rather melancholy for some reason (probably hormonal!) Last night I was reading my daughter her bedtime story as usual. I get into bed beside her and we have a little cuddle first and then I ask her what she wants me to read to her. She absolutely loves it and usually is not satisfied with one story. Sometimes I am tired and a little grumpy, sometimes I would rather watch something on t.v., finish my sewing or catch up on google reader. Last night however I realised how very much I love that time with my daughter. She will be nine this year and is growing so quickly, but when I snuggle up to her in bed, she seems soooo small, still my little baby girl. I read to her  from a book that her Nana had given to her called Any Room For Me and she is of the age now where she notices how beautiful illustrations are, and it is just such a joy that we can share these things. I hope when she's older that she remembers being read to. Most of the children in her class are not read to, which I think is rather sad. Later in the week we are going on a little trip to Wales and England, we are going to visit Hill Top Farm which is a National Trust Property and had belonged to Beatrix Potter. You can look around the house, which is straight from the illustrations in her books, and garden ,...where you can just picture Peter rabbit and Benjamin bunny getting into mischief. It is all about keeping the magic alive, so important for our little ones, but rather good for "big ones" like me too! Have a wonderful week, love Linda.

vintage linens revisited

A warm welcome to all who visit and an especially warm welcome to those of you who have just found me. In my very 1st post Christmas Crafting I mentioned books by David and Charles. Well I recently bought a couple more because they are adorable and even if you never made anything out of them they are such delicious eye candy, they are worth having. Now I knew the girl who designs the lovely things in these books was something to do withTilda, but I did not realise that she is Tone Finnanger the Norwegian designer, who started Tilda when she was just 25 years old. Wow! What an inspiration she is, everything she designs is gorgeous. I would love to know a little more about her. Anyway I made a few little items from the "Springtime Gifts" to give to some friends and I thought you might like a peek. I had sorted out some of my old table linen and was going to give it away, a fellow blogger suggested I use it to make something so I did. Much better to make something lovely out of a thing that has become unloved!

Now this is what happens when you are not paying attention! These were supposed to be little birdhouse egg cosies but in my haste to make them I failed to notice that they were supposed to have a seam allowance added. Not to be wasteful, I stuffed them with wadding , added some rose oil to make them smell nice, so now they are little smelly birdhouses for your undies drawer. I made them out of a vintage hanky that had been my mum's and I dyed grey.

These little hearts are made from a tray cloth that was embroidered with flowers. The back of them and the pink hearts in front are made from an old pillowcase which I dyed pink. They had old laundry stamp marks on them which I have included. These are scented with rose oil too.

These little geese are made from a cream linen hand towel, a little bit of crocheted lace and a piece of gingham from a baby dress of my daughters finish them off. Wouldn't these look lovely for a Nursery if a few were strung together with ribbon.

Then I just got a bit silly!