Monthly Archives: July 2010

Floral needlepoint 1950s bag

Posted on July 27, 2010 | 4 Comments

I was reading about online vintage seller Allen Company Inc over at the lovely Wish Wish Wish and accidentally made my first purchase from Etsy.

So right now I have in my hot little hands this wonderful embroidered 1950s bag…

Photo: Allen Company Inc

Isn’t it gorgeous?  Bought on Friday, waiting on my kitchen table when I came home from work on Monday. Talk about speedy.  This lovely purse will be going on its first outing to a wedding in Northumberland this coming weekend. Goes quite nicely with my pale gold silk frock. I love the embroidered Pansy faces. I’ll be saving my pennies for one of the beautiful fifties frocks the Etsy based Allen Company Inc next.

I also had another package waiting at home for me yesterday – birthday present from a friend back home. A beautiful Witchery black cuff. But more on that another time. Such lovely things made my Monday so much better.

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Posted in Floral fantasy, Vintage

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Paper plates

Posted on July 21, 2010 | 1 Comment

Why am I bothering with collecting plates to hang from my walls when there are so many lovely versions of china printed wallpaper around? Hanging plates is supposed to be bad for them anyway and place them under stress.

Anthpologie

Are you being served

Teacup Alley

Little Teapot

Deborah Bowness

(available from Caravan Style)

Paper Plates

le souk

Porcelain Wallpaper

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Posted in Bits & pieces, Lovely things, Teapot love

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Perfect picnic at Epping Forest

Posted on July 16, 2010 | 2 Comments

I love a good picnic on a hot day. Even though the lovely summery weather we had for a bit now seems a distant memory after this week’s blustery rain.

Still, I’m hoping to get a lot more use out of my vintage picnic/chilly basket before Winter is back knocking on the door. We went to Epping Forest to christen my basket, get away from the heaving London masses and get out of the city. Perfect.  There was hardly anyone around, a mere 20 minutes on the overland from Liverpool St and we were in what seemed to be the countryside with only wild life for company.

My new basket buddying up with another vintage picnic case

The new Mexican blanket

There really is nothing like a good picnic in a forest on a hot day to wash away all memories of winter. It’s amazing how quickly you forget the negative temperatures and snow.

Epping forest is truly a wonderful place – all 6000 acres of it. Well the small part we explored anyway. We managed not to get lost and even saw a bunny, a pony, cattle, a deer and plenty of cyclists. I highly recommend a visit – but don’t tell too many people, I’d rather the masses stuck to Hampstead Heath.

I’m very jealous of my friend’s floral picnic set that she found on eBay which came complete with green Thermos.

You can read more about our picnic over at in the Sweetness of Passing Time, who also took the lovely photos on this post.

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Posted in Lifestyle, London, Places to visit, Vintage

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Tea with Susie

Posted on July 13, 2010 | 3 Comments

I’m back on a self-imposed teacup buying ban at the moment. My shelves are overflowing with china and each time I take down a vase or book I’m terrified something is gonna bite the dust.

But gifts are okay right? One of the recent additions to my collection is a beautiful 1930′s Susie Cooper trio. A pale greenish-grey and cream number with delicate burgundy decoration.

The trio was a 30th birthday present and considering it’s age, is in almost immaculate condition. There’s just a bit of light crazing on the bottom of the plates, which is hardly noticeable. I like to think it used to belong to a dark-haired, elegant lady called Elisa.  A thin woman who drank her tea unsweetened, black and never with cake.

According to Wikipedia, Susie Cooper (29 October 1902 – 28 July 1995) was a prolific English ceramic designer working in the Stroke-on-Trent pottery industries from the 1920s to the 1980s. She worked for many firms, including Wedgwood, and was even awarded an OBE in 1979.

Her work is pretty and very collectable. This is labelled (on the plates not the cup as shown above) ‘A Susie Cooper Production, Crown Works, Buslem’  so dates back to when she was running her own business that she started in 1929. There’s a good site here, which has loads of information about collecting Susie Cooper.

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Posted in Lovely things, Teapot love, Vintage

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Cake – one of your five a day

Posted on July 11, 2010 | Leave a comment

Pistachio Chocolate Cake

I have a thing for cake recipes that contain vegetables.  My favourite cake recipe for the last couple of years has been a beetroot chocolate cake. It’s completely decadent and mouth wateringly good. I’ve made it for many birthdays and even dinner parties. Beetroot and chocolate – yum.

Recently the beetroot cake has been surpassed by the Pistachio Chocolate Cake from Harry Eastwood’s book ‘Red Velvet & Chocolate Heartache‘.  It is probably one of the best cake recipes I’ve used and has been a success each time I’ve made it.  It has ground up pistachios and grated courgettes in it, which give it an amazing texture.

It doesn’t rise much, probably because it’s made with rice flour, but once filled with ‘Naughty Chocolate icing’ you don’t even notice.

I’m not sure that you could count the courgette in this cake as one of your five a day but it’s definitely worth the effort. So far this is the only cake I’ve attempted from the book as I just can’t imagine any of the others being better.  Perhaps I should give the Red Velvet cake a try next…. it is made with beetroot after all.

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Posted in Food, Lifestyle, Sunday bake-off

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Liberated and looking lovely

Posted on July 8, 2010 | 4 Comments

I finally got around to recovering my chair at the weekend with the Liberty fabric from the V&A’s Quilt exhibition.

And my new gun stapler from eBay, while quite tough to use, gave the finished product quite a professional look –  if I do say so myself.

Much folding and stapling required…

I adore the fabric. The peachy roses and blue bows and leaves compliment the wooden frame beautifully.  And voila! My much loved and well used £5 chair from Broadway Market has been given a well deserved makeover.

What can I attempt to reupholster properly next? More old furniture required and suggestions are welcome…

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Posted in Floral fantasy, Things I've made

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Girls on Bikes new blog

Posted on July 2, 2010 | Leave a comment

My lovely friends over at Girls on Bikes have set up a new blog called gobikes and featured yours truly here.

Keep up the good work ladies. x

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Posted in Thrifting

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Cheering up my chair

Posted on July 1, 2010 | 2 Comments

A large package arrived in the post for me the other day. I’d finally gotten around to buying a heavy duty gun stapler off eBay so I can embark on my very first upholstery project. My housemate thinks the gun stapler part is hi-la-ri-ous. Domestic goddess? Who moi?

Admittedly, it’s only the seat part of the chair that is fabric so it’s hopefully not too much of a challenge. But I’ve got to start somewhere right?  You can see the chair in question here. It only cost me a £5 from Broadway Market and I adore it. I’ve been reluctant to get under way with taking it apart as I use it everyday at my writing desk!

This is a selection of my lovely Liberty fabrics. The far left is from a vintage store near Bricklane that I plan on making into a frock, while the other three are from the V&A’s wonderful quilt exhibition. The dark floral on the far right is the piece I’ve chosen for upholstering the seat. The red/blue heart pattern and the green/blue in the same print will be made into cushions hopefully soon.

Although I have already used some of it to make display hoops for my earrings and brooches! I got the idea for these from tales of a junkaholic – thanks artemis for your inspiration.

Hopefully I’ll be able to show you my finished chair after the weekend. Provided I don’t get too distracted by my new picnic basket… Pimms in the sunshine… and the flower markets.

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Posted in Floral fantasy, Thrifting, Vintage

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