Hooray the weekend is here - another week closer to moving into the new house and also another week closer to summer!!
Hope you have a great weekend wherever you are.
Ahhh the smell!
I picked some of this beautiful Jasmine from a neighbours house yesterday and put it in the bathroom with some water. The beautiful aroma has filled the entire house. I'm so glad spring is here at last - it is definitely my favourite season. I walk past this jasmine daily to get to the park at the end of our street, it is really so lovely and pretty as it covers most of the fenceline and when the sun shines on it the smell is intensified. Just as lovely are the people inside the house with the jasmine - I feel so lucky to have them there. Have a great weekend everyone!
Portobello tea cups
I recently went to the famous Portobello Market early one Friday morning and bought the adorable tea set above. The colours were so me and I love how you can mix and match them!
The above set are from The Colclough China Company from the Harlequin range.
The Colclough China Company was founded in 1890 by Herbert Joseph Colclough, who was an ex-Mayor of Stoke-on-Trent. Mr Colclough was a very conscientious man who loved his pottery and was known on occasion to stay up all night next to his kilns, which he had packed, so that he could be the first to see the new designs when they emerged.
After expanding his company, he moved to the Vale potteries in Longton and was honoured when in 1913 he was visited by King George V and Queen Mary who gave royal licence for the company to produce Royal Vale china.
In the 1930's Colclough China Limited was expanding fast and it was then that they started to produce the tea and dinner ware that we know today. They were the first company to produce fine bone china for the every day market which was marketed by the piece, ruling out the need for large sets to be purchased first.
In 1948, Colclough China Limited took over Booths and Adderley and then in the early 1950's merged with the Ridgeway Company. Colclough and Ridgeway became part of the Royal Doulton Group in the early 1970's. However, in 1996, Colclough production discontinued and manufacture ceased.
You can buy Colclough Chinaware online from Focus on Colclough. They have a similar set to the above called "Ballet", which is £35 for a 21 Piece Set.
I bought the above to keep trinkets in on my dressing room table, which match some lovely pink glass dressing table pieces my dear Nanny left me.
Modern Quilting
Not so very long ago, I thought that traditional quilts, and quilting as a craft was more than slightly nanna-ish. How wrong I was! There are so many amazing fabric stores nowadays, with gorgeous materials in every colour and pattern, and so many ways to create something modern and original.
After I fell pregnant, my mother-in-law volunteered to sew a quilt for my daughter. After poring through scores of quilting magazines and coming up with nada, I realised I wanted something a little less traditional and out-of-the-box than the standard triangle/ square designs so common in traditional quilts. Strangely, I found what I was after in an old Pottery Barn catalogue (not avail in Australia; but by golly I wish it was) and, after a happy day spent trawling through bolts of fabric come up with a design and colour pallette that would form the foundation for the design of Fern's nursery.
The finished product, complete with hand-embroidered detailing and scolloped edging is everything I dreamt of and more. But the best part is, aside from looking amazing the quilt is an artwork in itself, its form as important as its function. After Fern graduates from her cot to a bed, we will transform the quilt into a wall mural, providing her with a visual reminder of her nanny's love for many years to come. And one day, the quilt will perhaps be handed down to her own daughter...
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