Sunshine and flowers.

Today we awoke to sunshine in our quiet corner of England...
Sunshine and a few more brave flowers as the soil warms up....
Finally, finally the crocuses are beginning to unfurl....
Crocuses and primulas beside the front steps....
Even the moss on the old stonework is bursting in spring green....
...but the rest of the garden is taking a while to catch up, not a lot to see yet; just a few bulb tips daring to peep through....
So I stitched some flowers for mumsie....
a few of my favourite stitches, a pretty button and some beads.......
All stitched into vintage Hungarian linen, a gift from lovely Maud of Beyond France. Such beautiful fabric, like stitching through butter.....
Filled with lavender picked from the garden last summer's close....
Happy Mother's Day mum.... and thank-you. t.xxx

Turning the tables

Didn't I promise you gratuitous cupcakes? Well how am I doing so far? Mmmmm. Yes they were just that yummy!Now, what's been going on here? Well the bedside table got dressed.....
...the coffee table got colourful.....
...the dining table put on it's finery....
the kitschen table was treated to more pink tulips and hyacinths....the party glass and cutlery came out to play....and for the first time in a while some cakes were baked! And my oh my I did enjoy that!...the beautiful boy even tidied his nature table!
AhHA! You guessed? Another photoshoot! I know we had one a few weeks ago but this week we had the delightful and eccentric Tony Hall who is the writer and photographer for the homes features in EDP Norfolk Magazine. Tony was a pleasure to work with and we had a thoroughly enjoyable time. We'll be featured in the May issue which comes out on April 25th...
Now, about those cakes.....
Plain buns with cream cheese frosting from the Hummingbird Bakery cookbook....
I thought about colouring the icing but it was so perfectly and beautifully milky cream.....
and at the end of the day I had certainly earned this!
I wish you could share a cuppa and cake with me too. Wouldn't that be nice? Lets just imagine! Have a lovely weekend all. t.xxx

Shopping and magic!

Busy Busy! Well, from saying there hasn't been much buying, I've been doing some catching up! But first the giveaway because I know you want to know about that first! Congratulations to MyVintageParty!! Lisa chose your comment as the springiest:
What I love about spring? Waking up early to sunshine shining through the windows, hanging out the washing in a lovely spring breeze, watching my chickens bask in the sunshine and of course daffodils! I LOVE spring!
Laura x
Do get in touch, Laura, with your address and the item you would like to receive from Lisa's store! You lucky lucky girl!
I have another lovely giveaway for you all later in the month. I do hope you'll come back and join in again!
Now, shopping! Whilst the beautiful boy spent the morning at a roller skating party, I popped along for a bit of mummy time at the Little Vintage Lover Fair. Oh lucky me! A chance to catch up with friends and a little bit of shopping too! I couldn't resist this adorable plastic basket - such lovely cheerful colours!and I treated myself to this cute little fairisle top.... just my colours...
a few buttons - I always need more buttons.... of course!
and this amazing pinny and oven mitt set looking very at home on the Aga....
and a little bit at home on me!
and last but not least a delicious vintage roses cushion.....
as if that weren't enough excitement for one day, in the afternoon the beautiful boy and I headed off here .....
Houghton Hall up in North West Norfolk. This incredible estate is run on largely organic principles and is a wildlife haven. As we arrived we watched Buzzards wheeling above us. Then the big excitement, off on our five star transport around the estate.....
and yes, once again I was a COLD cold mummy but the boy was well prepared for an afternoon of Hare spotting! The estate has one of the largest populations of Brown Hare in the country and this is the time of year to go spotting when they are at their nuttiest; out boxing in the late afternoon sunshine!
Beautiful boy stuck close to Robert, one of the estate workers, who kindly took us on this magical tour....
...and magical it was indeed! I really must get myself a better camera this year. I really, really must because that pale dot in the field is ..... a Silver Hare. Never heard of such a thing? I'm not surprised! These lovely creatures are so incredibly rare that probably only a couple of hundred people have ever seen one! On the estate there are only about 3 a year out of the hundreds of Brown Hare and Houghton Hall estate is the only place in the world where you might ever find one!
A rare and special sighting indeed. The boy dutifully recorded his amazing good luck in his pocket book, date, time, weather, and a SILVER HARE!!!!!
Of course wildlife doesn't always have to be rare to be a special sight. As dusk fell and we returned to the hall the estate's herd of white fallow deer were wandering through the woods around the church... an equally breath-taking and quintessentially English sight....
Back home there was a huge bucket of flowers in the utility room sink.....
... and baking commenced the next day ...but more of that another time....
Lots more gratuitous cupcake pictures too.... See you soon! I hope you're having a lovely week. t.xxx

...and did I mention? We saw a SILVER HARE!!!!!! xxx

Better Late!!

Well so much for the February giveaway! It is now squeezing into March...oops! How did that happen? Well, I got here eventually and if you can't bear to read all the way through a catch up (well if I can't get here so often you'll have to let me waffle on when I do!) quickly skip to the end to enter the fun!
I am so enjoying the arrival of Spring! The flowers on our doorstep make me smile every time I pass them by. Snowdrops with crocus and muscari bulbs following soon and there's a warmth in the sunshine at last! Have you noticed? And the birds! Oh my they are getting busy and noisy fussing around all over the place!
With Easter fast approaching, the barmy bunny parade took over in the workroom last week!
I do always find myself giggling at this stage - almost like they need something to cover their modesty!
Starting to look a bit more rabbity here.....
...ah! That's better! I call them barmy because they somehow seem to have that look that rabbits get when they're caught in the headlamps - your car screeches to a halt and they stare at you this particular way.... but do they get out of the way? Oh no. Do we wait, and wait whilst they ponder around wondering which way to scamper off? Yes we do!
Another batch cut and ready for stitching already.....
those first little cheekys came with me to the seaside for a visit to lovely Jo's store.... oh you'd love it here ....
...so many wonderful treasures. Everywhere your eye falls there's more to cherish...
I especially loved this donkey on wheels as it reminded me of a dog the beautiful boy had which he used to walk for miles.... very.......slowly!!!!
I fell in love with this birdy....
Now this is a kind of bird-watching I could get used to... nice and cosy and warm....
Needless to say the boy continues to monitor birdlife on his feeding station and his drawings and photographs are a delight... here are a couple of the many many Long-tailed Tits who have been visiting us all through winter..
and I especially love this photo of Mr Robin which I found whilst downloading my pictures. The beautiful boy gets up very early at weekends to watch his birds from the kitschen window. Apparently we grown-ups are far too noisy once we arrive and start to do unreasonable things like make coffee and toast!!
and just for a bit of gratuitous wildlife cuteness, he took this picture on a behind-the-scenes visit to the RSPCA Wildlife Hospital at East Winch. An amazing afternoon of close-up contact with poorly animals and lots of activities like how to handle a seal using a trusty floral towel (although for the record, the advice to the public is to never ever handle a seal - they look cute but they are very strong and very, very dangerous and they have a viscious bite!! If you see a seal in distress, call the RSPCA!). This, however, is a sleepy hedgehog! Oooh!
Now, since I'm doing a catch up, it occured to me that I haven't caught you up on any shopping lately! Well, partly because there hasn't been a very great deal of buying. So here's a little update on a few recent finds too special to miss out on .... china, of course!!
The beautiful boy and I are both being very possessive about this very fine woodpecker!
and there was a bit of a birdy theme with this china as there's a darling little songbird on the tankard too...
For 20p, this little sweetie had to come and live on the barmy shelf...
.. but it's getting a bit over-crowded now so I may have to stop....or get a new shelf unit!
I do love to find things in their original packaging. Always very exciting!
This wonderfully elegant 'Lady Scripto' mechanical pencil intended for someone far more ladylike than myself I'm sure!
Oooh and look! Crisp, bright, new embroidered linens! It will take a while to cut into these!
More flowers here - my lovely Hyacinth in full bloom! Two flowers from one bulb! A bonus!
The bunnies are taking up a bit of time. I shall be popping some into my store in the next couple of days....
And now, the moment you've been so patiently waiting for! Enough waffle about me! May I introduce the lovely, creative Lisa Leonard!
Her Blog is one of the most humbling and heart-warming places you might ever visit. I love to go there for a bit of peace and quiet.
And then there is her jewellery design... ahhh. Such ponderous work. So much love and care in the concepts. It just shines through don't you think?

fly free necklace

She makes personalised items too which are even more heartwarming but I love all her designs... they are original and thoughtful....

illuminate necklace

So, Lisa has very kindly offered an item of jewellery to one of you! Aren't you lucky lucky lucky?! All I would like you to do is leave a comment on this post telling us your favourite thing about the arrival of Springtime! Lisa and I will choose one lucky winner who can pop over to her website and choose an item they love which Lisa will send over in her precious packaging. How's that for an exciting start to Spring?!
Now, what shall we say? I think until Monday? We'll pop in Monday evening to choose and I'll let you know who's the lucky one?! Have a lovely weekend everyone. t.xxx