Florist Window

Whilst on the way back from S's swimming lesson this evening we passed a florist and the window display caught my eye.
A garden of real flowers complete with lots of mini beasts made from craft materials.
I loved this snail with it's shell made from yarn wound round and round

and just look at these toadstools made with lampbases and papier mache tops

I got very excited at the sight of these sandwiches and cakes made from painted sponges.

I may get S to make a couple of these flowers from the cut up inners of kitchen rolls as little gifts on Mother's day for mine and G's mum. One reason being I think they'll like them and another reason I want to have a go and making them too!

Supersize me

Well not actually me.
Just this dress.
I found this in the charity shop I volunteer in on a Wednesday morning.
Isn't it just the cutest little dress?
I want one in this style and in this fabric and I want it now thank you very much.


Look at this lovely close up of the pattern.
How beautiful are those roses?
If I could swoon, I would.

I'm not sure how old it is.

The dress has a stain on it and has a smell about it too, like it's been stored for a long time. It needs a soak in some gentle non-bio washing powder.

The label has yellowed over time and I can't read the make properly as it's a bit torn, something like Prava or Proma?

It states it's for a 7-8 year old but I think S would struggle to get it to fit her at 6.

The instructions on the back read

WASH IN WARM SUDS

DO NOT WRING

IRON WITH A MODERATE IRON

WHILE SLIGHTLY AND EVENLY DAMP.

I love the suds bit and the very precise state it needs to be in for ironing.

Round up

Last week was a bit of a strange one.
S had her birthday party at a soft play centre yesterday and so there was stuff to sort for that. Although I didn't do goody bags as such. There's nothing good about them really is there? Each little girl went home with a little named wrapped package containing a small bar of chocolate and a Disney Princess door hanger/sticker craft pack which cost me 70p for each child. Much better than the £1.50 ones offered by the centre which had a couple of chewy sweets and not a lot else rattling around inside.
G moved office for his job. Not a move he wanted to make, but one he had to make if he wanted to keep his job. All in the name of centralisation and saving money. He now has a short train journey to work.
I went into work on Friday to find that my job is being moved to another office. All in the name of centralisation and saving money. If I go with my job I'll now have to make a short train journey to work.
We are thankful to have jobs, but the restrictions these changes put on us and our family are such a pain.
Chuck in the fact that T didn't get the first preference choice we wanted for his secondary school and so we are working on an appeal, it was an odd week.

Saturday morning I drove up to Salisbury, we had lunch out with G's parents and before we made the journey home again, with G's mum coming back with us, we grabbed an hour to ourselves and went for a wander over to Old Castle.
As you can see from the photos the weather was a bit overcast, but when the sun did come out it was a completely different day.


The low building just right of centre is G's primary school. He feels extremely lucky to have gone to school in such a fabulous location.


This tree has grown this way over the years following the shape of the old moat.

I wonder what this week will bring?

Box of memories part 3

Nearly finished showing the treasures from the box found in my sister's loft.

Among the photos of me as a baby was this one.
These 2 chaps are my Grandad's.
Sat down is my mum's dad and stood up is my dad's dad.
This was taken on my parent's wedding day back in 1967.
I can remember the day my dad told us his dad had died. It was the first time I had ever seen him cry. We didn't see him very often and I don't have very many memories of him. One very clear one though is of him doing the 'two little dickie birds sitting on a wall' trick with tiny pieces of paper stuck to his fingers. It totally captivated me.


During the couple of days after he passed away I hardly moved from a chair in our lounge and read this book from cover to cover. I can remember telling my mum how upset I was as she was hoovering and she replied with 'he's ok, he's with the angels now' as she heaved the furniture around. It didn't give me one ounce of comfort. I desperately wanted to go to his funeral but wasn't allowed.

The other book I have saved is Baby Island.

I'm not sure how old I was when I read it but I thought it was so wonderful.

Two young girls find themselves on a desert island alone with 4 toddlers to care for.

I thought it all sounded very exciting.

Sounds like a flaming nightmare now!

I wonder what S will make of it when I share it with her?

A bit of a jumble

Saturday morning saw me, my mum and my sister at what was billed as a Bumper Jumble. It attracted a bumper number of people and it was packed out. My sister co-ordinated our strategy. I was to do clothes, my mum went to footwear and my sister did household linens and bric a brac. I ended up with a very cute miniature glass vase (which I have forgotten to photograph) and 6 new items of clothing. I'm not entirely sure what their pricing policy was as I paid for these my sister's 2 items and 3 my mum's 3 items (one of which was a coat) and I was charged £1.80. I very happily passed over two one pound coins and said 'please keep the change' as I wasn't sure I could stand being squashed in between eager bargain hunters anymore and who minds shelling out £2.00 for that amount of clothing?
As well as these 3 very ordinary tops I managed to get a lovely Fat Face one with green and blue stripes but try as I might I could not get a decent photo of it. The grey one is going to be worn with the skirt from a couple of posts ago.

These 2 are my favourite buys.
Now I know the skirt looks like a fabric which may have been used to make curatins for a caravan in the 1970's but I happen to like that look, which is just as well.

It was then off to Southsea as a friend had text me first thing to see if I fancied joining her for a nosy round Southsea boutique market.
It was their first fair at this particular venue and she had heard about it from a work colleague who had a stall selling her own jewellery.

The advert said it would be part market, part vintage, part car boot and it described the mish mash that was there perfectly. We enjoyed a wander round then had a cup of tea from vintage mis-matched china along with a huge slice of Victoria sponge.

They only thing I felt needed to come home with me was another piece of polka dot cuteness.

Yesterday G wanted to go to a car boot as he is rediscovering his love of vinyl and wanted to browse for records. I really wanted to go for a walk because the sun was out and the sky was blue but seeing as I had done as I wanted on Saturday it seemed only fair he got to do what he wanted Sunday.

I bought these tulips on the way home from work on Friday and they looked so beautiful today catching the sun as it shone in through the dining room window.

Spring is definitely in the air.

Spring cutouts

I can't believe it was nearly a year ago since I confessed my love of cut outs.

With the lighter evenings, more blue sky and lots of daffodils in bloom all around I thought I would make another little collage of all things Spring-like.
So there's wellies and pumps for the still very changeable weather, yellow florals, reminders for future day trips and spending more time outdoors, hot cross buns and tea, eggs for Easter and a reminder to get Spring cleaning. All topped off with plenty of polka dots.

Thrifty Thursday

A Next one for S

and a Florence and Fred one for me.

Not bad for £1 each.