Rural Idyll

Hustle and Bustle

2012-02-15T22:29:00.001-01:00

I had one of the best sorts of days today. Up early and caught the bus to one of the small market towns nearby. This busy little town is nestled beneath the hills of West Dorset and is a treasure trove for the vintage lover. I was aided and abetted by my daughter during this excursion.

This is one of my favourite shop fronts, they always have a great display and the produce is both fresh and with an emphasis on local

We investigated the thrift shops and junk shops and came away with a small cache of vintage needlework books, including this

I am so curious about the author's name, The Madge of Truth?

I could find no excuse for buying this!

We had tea in one of our favourite haunts.

Window shopped and browsed. It was market day so it was busy and noisy with lots to tempt us.

Truly a day well spent and then a bus journey home around the tiny lanes underneath Eggardon, then back to the village to unpack the bags and decant the day's spoils.

There was a distinct smell of Spring in the air today, at times I swear that there was a warm breeze and the light seemed different. The long winter is coming to an end, yesss!

In my Kitchen....

2012-02-14T21:36:00.001-01:00

And just because the sun was shining

Another little taste of Spring. Lemony cup cakes on an old thrift shop cakestand

Roll on British Summer Time!

A Stitch in Time, London 1952

2012-02-14T21:30:00.001-01:00

14th May 1952 to be precise

My clever mother embroidered this remarkable tablecloth.

Bordered with Scottish Thistles, Welsh Daffodils, Irish Shamrocks and English Roses

Each corner has a Coat of Arms

And in the middle is an embroidered map of London and various historic locations.

Buckingham Palace, the Royal Mews and Hyde Park Corner

I love the giraffes at Regents Park Zoo

And the serpent in the Serpentine.

This is an Heirloom, a work of art, yet many would dispute this as it is an embroidery created by an ordinary housewife. All I Know is that I will never part with it. It is a little piece of English History. I hope that you enjoy it as much as I do

Old Fashioned Rose

2012-01-21T16:43:00.001-01:00

Even though it is only late January, today feels soft and springlike. Like nature's promise of what was to come. I went for a long walk across the watermeadows with my lovely Border Collie. Much as I searched, no tangible signs of Spring were to be found except for one lonely buttercup.

But walking with the sun shining down and an almost warm breeze on my back was wonderful.

The search for Spring was fruitless so we played frisbee instead

When I got home I decided to bake some Spring, well it turned into early Summer. Rose cakes baked using rosewater bought from a Lebanese shop in London

I got this antique Coalport cake stand at the village jumble sale for 20p!

To go along with the pink soft spring theme, I found this wonderful Poole shell, it is for sale in my Etsy shop but I don't know how I will part with it , so beautiful

2011-10-31T19:55:00.000-01:00

In Real Life

This is me aged about 2. I was adopted when I was 3. It had a profound effect on me and I have had issues with trusting people ever since.

I look at that tabula rasa little girl and wonder what she would have grown to be if she had a stable background.

I was lucky enough to trace my birth mother. Unusually she was married to my father. This is them on their wedding day.

I have a fairly distant relationship with my birth mother. Sadly my birth father died before I met him again. Last time I saw him I was 2 years old.

My adoptive dad is wonderful, just how a dad should be and I love him dearly. He is 91 and still cooks, does his own shopping and enjoys a drink with his friends.

I have had a stormy relationship with my adoptive mum but as we have got older we have both mellowed, she always did her best for me.

This post is a tribute to all my parents- I also have a stepmother and stepfather. It is all very confusing but I consider myself to be one of the lucky ones. Adoption was easier in the 1960s, now you have to jump through so many hoops, it doesn't seem to be about the child but about political correctness and the news today about the shameful slowness of the adoption process in the UK sounds so bleak.

The child's happiness should come first, every child should have parents who love and want them

August Goodness from Dorset

2011-08-22T22:36:00.000-01:00

Hive Beach, a feel-good place, just before twilight and the colours are strong

a perfect walk along a Dorset beach, daydreaming yet aware, making plans...

Sloe Gin, wintery warmth

Blackberry and Apple pies

and walking back towards the setting sun

which intensified the colours and reminded me of why I love Dorset so, and on the way home the sun was setting over Eggardon Hill

and then, before my eyes, I watched what looked like Avalon emerge

and I knew what inspired Thomas Hardy

Earl Grey and Lavender Cakes

2011-08-01T20:34:00.000-01:00

Freshly made this afternoon, baked to my own recipe.

I picked the flowers from the garden, pinks, everlasting sweet peas and roses.

The cakestand was a thrift shop find, it is made by Midwinter and has a very 1930s feel to it

Forties Fortitude

2011-07-31T22:11:00.001-01:00

Mum and Dad

Married in the 1940s (OK then, divorced in the 1960s but wasn't everyone?)

During the last four weeks I have been surrounded by everything 1940s, firstly I HUGELY enjoyed The Nightwatch on BBC2 earlier this month. I feel humbled by what women in Britain had to endure during WW2.

My mother was born in 1923, she was 16 when war was declared. She joined the Land Army and did a mans work on a farm in Kent.

She dated men knowing that she might never see them again after that goodbye at the station.

Along with her peers she made her own clothes, painted her legs when stockings were short, did her own hair and in every photo that I have ever seen of her she always looks glamorous and well groomed.

This has never left her, even at 87 she has to have her lipstick on

Then I found this hoard of 1940s "Woman" magazines. In a box in a bookstore, I have read them and they are utter gems. Post WW2 and full of optimism.

The graphics and colours are bright and breezy, all is about freshness, fashion and what you CAN do on a shoestring. Things are looking up!

One was published the week that sweet rationing ended, with letters suggesting that now that sweets were readily available people didn't really want them anyway.

The adverts are fascinating, some old favourites are there, Mum deodorant, Horlicks, Fairy. These are interspersed with headache and tension remedies, make up, perfumes and a myriad of household items.

Everything was "gay" and women were reclaiming their femininity.

And Evelyn Home's problem pages prove that, in fact, not much has changed at all over the years. Although her answers are, in many cases, quite brutal in what they expect the 1940s woman to endure.

These women are a brave breed, now in their 80s and 90s we should cherish them and listen to them, they can teach us much

Help Us Rebuild: Our Story

2011-05-31T15:29:00.000-01:00

Please consider helping this lovely couple who lost everything in a fire

Help Us Rebuild: Our Story: "I work for a non-profit organization in New York City. On the afternoon of April 12, 2011, I rushed home after getting a call that fi..."

Happy Easter!

2011-04-24T19:49:00.010-01:00

Last Easter I missed everything, I had just come out of Intensive Care and was on Intravenous nutrition- no chocolate eggs for me.

I had been so gravely ill and was lucky to have survived.

I spent most of 2010 in hospital having

antibiotics, blood tests, surgeries, scans and procedures.

It seemed endless but I had lots of rest and time to knit, read and think, and plan and boy did I do some planning.

All the things I was going to make and cook and do. All the love I was going to show and so far I have tried to it all, and I have made some progress.

This Easter I have made...

A Simnel Cake

Hot Cross buns, with worryingly hard pastry crosses

and Easter decorations in a corner of our house, and this is just the beginning. I would like to carry on this year with doing things, rather than thinking what I would like to do and then feeling vaguely disappointed when I never get around to it

The Cinnamon Buns

2011-03-25T23:35:00.002-01:00

Ta Daaa

2011-03-25T16:01:00.002-01:00

Well I had better get started on this blog again as I am home and dry until my next surgery in May and I would like to start writing about life again and the fun I am having with my passion for vintage.

I have even started selling some pieces, even as a child I would traipse around with my nan who loved jumble sales, there were no charity shops then. Nothing can compare to the buzz that I get when I happen upon something that catches my eye. Sometimes I get a feeling even before I see it.

My latest obsession is gloves, long evening gloves to be precise and the day that I discover a pair of Opera gloves will be a heady one.

Today though, I am mostly baking and this is the Victoria sponge that I made and as I am writing, I have Cinnamon rolls in the oven, the house smells divine...

Hospital again...

2010-06-04T17:56:00.000-01:00

I am in Hospital, again, will update when I leave

2010-05-27T09:12:00.002-01:00

My Nanna knitted this bunny. When she wanted/needed something ,more often than not, she made it.
If she knew how much I spent on Yarn, she would be spinning in her grave...
I have had plenty of time to think about her recently as I have been hospitalised for months, had surgery and have been effectively bedridden since March.
When I was well enough, I was knitting socks- six pairs!
At the moment, I am knitting some Kaffe Fassett Regia Design Line socks in Amazon, I love this Yarn but I believe that I have a rogue batch as I keep coming across frayed bits which I have to break and join together again.
The socks are my usual Vanilla ones, mindless, relaxing, round and round knitting.
I love it and I love being well again (well, on the way) and being at home.

Walking the Dog

2009-06-03T08:23:00.009-01:00

I wore my Gilet that I have just finished and took a photo of it au naturel
Shall I jump in? Looks so cool and inviting
The wild Irises are stunning

I love this weather and have started walking our Border Collie in the evenings when it is cooler. We usually walk along the river Frome, it's so peaceful, all you can hear are the splashes of the fat trout jumping to catch their dinner.

I thought of this poem by Valentine Ackland as I walked. She lived and died in this village

"Praise God for the sheep on the tall, green hill,
And for the shadows passing over the grass where they walk;
Praise God for the spear-heads of weeds in the river,
And for the heart-shapes they make when the flow changes;
Praise God for the flower of the rose and it's cruel stalk,
For the moonlit pallor of the spring as it dies forever,
For the careless wind that wakens and then estranges-
Praise God for the things I saw when I walked on the hill"

and I , though not overly religious, praise God for my life and what it has taught me, that simple pleasures are to be treasured as they are the best...

Proud Day

2009-05-31T14:04:00.004-01:00

These three girls decided to take part in the race, sent off for the information, registered and Ran for Life in the hot sun near Dorchester this morning.
Youngest daughter raised £40.00, on her back she had written "Mike" He was my brother who sadly lost his fight against Kidney Cancer in 2005, aged just 42.

I am so proud of them, their initiative, determination and compassion.
Young teenagers don't receive good press these days.

This little bunch of friends are great girls. Only one is mine but I am so proud of them all, and all the runners this hot sunday morning. Next year I hope to be running too

It's Official!!!!!!!!!!

2009-05-25T12:43:00.003-01:00

...My handknitted hats are worn by London Art Students. The hats in the photo above are worn by my daughter and her friend.
Both are Noro, one is Kureyon, one is Blossom, plain honest to goodness beanies.

I almost have finished the Gilet and am heading towards the steeking bit, all could go wrong but I am hopeful.
I am also embroidering some vintage dogs to sew on to the project bags that I am making for some very special people.

Weather is hot but overcast. I went for a long walk with my border collie last night at dusk, all along the Frome.
Lots of Buttercups,Comfrey, Mint and Irises, the dog had a good swim and ran loopily across fields.
I don't know what she had been up to but her undercarriage was pinky-red when we got home.
I love this time of year.

Works in progress

2009-05-09T13:42:00.004-01:00

And finished, yes finished Noro Kuryeon socks. They were supposed to match but the yarn had many knots which caused rather abrupt changes in colour.

Here is the Noro Silk Garden Gilet, my own pattern. I love this yarn, it is shade 86 which I think is discontinued. I love the deep Magenta tones and the jewel like turquoise colours.
It is enjoyable brainless knitting, perfect for watching films, I also find it quite meditative.
This is the semi complete needlepoint from my previous post. Of course I am not following instructions and using my own colourway. I love needlepoint but have several huge projects on the go which will take years to complete, this is portable, fun and, importantly, finishable.

Flower Bed by New Zealand designer Jennifer Pudney

2009-04-27T17:05:00.002-01:00

I am busily stitching away at this Postcard Tapestry which I bought, as new, from a charity shop for £1.50-coool
I also bought my entire summer wardrobe today for about £20.00- linen blouses and trousers, good labels, Wallis, Boden. I heart Charity shops
It is making a lovely change from my obsessive sock knitting at the moment.
As I am writing this I am almost deafened by the strains of my youngest daughter playing her 1957 Fender guitar, I believe the tune is There She Goes by the La's...

In and out the Dusty Bluebells......

2009-04-26T11:38:00.003-01:00

Looking out at the garden on this rainy day, I can see a blue haze. The bluebells are out in force and the smell is heavenly. I have a bunch in a vase, in front of me as I type.
They remind me of the old playground game that we used to play-
In and out the dusty bluebells,
In and out the dusty blue bells,
In and out the dusty bluebells,
Who will be my master?
Pitter patter,
pitter patter,
on your shoulder.
Pitter patter,
pitter patter,
on your shoulder.
Pitter patter,
pitter patter,
on your shoulder.
You will be my master.

All sung and played while weaving in and out of the people in the little circle.
Happy innocent days, well before the advent of ipods and computers.

2009-04-08T14:07:00.008-01:00

We went to the beach at Burton Bradstock on Sunday, Issy is back from Uni for Easter, Iona has two weeks holiday. After walking the length of the beach, with Issy complaining about her feet (flimsy London shoes) we retired to The Hive Cafe for cakes and sandwiches.
My, it was busy, busy, busy but the fresh crab sandwiches were worth the wait.
The Hive Cafe is one of Dorset's real treasures, we used to go there before the weekenders discovered it.
The food is slow to arrive but we didn't mind waiting, the cakes, which come in enormous proportions are utterly divine ,particularly the chocolate fudge cake.
The beach is not safe for swimming, due to the deep sheling and undercurrents, but great for a good, bracing walk.
The rock formations are spectacular. This is part of the Jurrasic coast.

Above you can see my Border Collie enjoying the beach.

And Billy Bragg lives on the cliffs, what more could one want, especially a rehabilitated punk

On Weymouth Prom in the Moonlight

2008-09-20T20:39:00.004-01:00

My daughter took these photos. I grew up in Weymouth and spent a lot of my teenage years on the Prom. Now my daughter goes there, it pleases me in some way???
She departs for Westminster University next Saturday, I'll miss her a lot...