Staying in...

Yesterday I worked from home, and it was lovely to wrap up warm (our house is pretty nippy!) and not have to bother trekking outside in the horrible wet and windy weather for the commute! Its definitely time to make the house cosier, and how about these images by Polly Wreford for inspiration?

 see the rest and suppliers of products featured over at the Mail Online.

xxx

France in Autumn

As I mentioned we had a little break away in France last week.  We stayed at my other half's mum's new place out there, which is being renovated into a lovely home and adjacent holiday lets. There is a fantastic old mill next to the house which was a working mill up until the 70's, and is great to explore!

There is LOTS of old grain sacks around, and I loved this old tea chest - "It pays to drink good tea" - So true! And I gathered up a few old french books I found which I plan to use in my shop photoshoots!
While the other half fixed up an old bike he found in the mill, I wondered around the grounds taking a few snaps...

 And even though there was a petrol shortage in France while we were there due to the strikes and protests, we did manage to get out and about to some of the little towns..... where I snapped more pretty flowers and nice painted doors and shutters!

 xxx

Busy Bee

Sorry I haven't been around in blogland much lately... firstly we've been away in France for a few days which was a nice little break, and then things have been pretty hectic with the shop - I guess with Christmas on its way! So I've been surrounded by bubble wrap and tissue paper every day!

I therefore haven't had much chance to gather inspiration to share on here, but one email that did catch my eye this week was from the lovely online shop Pale & Interesting, with their gorgeous new Look Book Images for Autumn/Winter 2010....

 xxx

Emma Lee Photography

Photographer Emma Lee shot the pictures from my last post for Barbara Coupe, so I had a little browse of her portfolio, and she has some lovely work which I had to share.... I love the colours and tones in her images....

 

 

 I also spotted that Emma shot this image for Fired Earth's National Trust paint range, which I loved.  Such a simple but effective way to display the paint colours!

View more her portfolio here

xxx

Newspaper as Wallpaper

Some of you may know that my day job is a picture editor on the Financial Times weekend newspaper, so I was excited to see what had been done with the styling of this shoot of Barbara Coupe's products....

 

 Not sure how practical newspaper would be as a sofa covering... :)

but its quite effective as wallpaper, and how is that for recycling?! 

Great styling by Twig Hutchinson and photography by Emma Lee.

xxx

In the Press

I've finally got round to scanning in all Patchwork Harmony's recent press, since my scanner broke down about 6 months ago, and I've just got a new one!

So I just thought I share with you a few of my faves from the last few months, I always love to see how the mag stylists use my products in their shoots!

But firstly is a little interview with me which is featured in this months Good Homes magazine!  Even little Claude got her furry little face in there! :)

(Click on images to see larger)

 

Some of my faves are the wedding mags, their styling is gorgeous. Above is from September's Cosmo Bride, floral tiles featured top right...  and below are both from You and Your Wedding....

Gold Birdie in cup in top cutting, and vintage tin & alphabet blocks in second cutting.

Also this month's issue of Country Homes & Interiors have used some of my products on the front cover! 

All of these items are in there...can you spot them?! :) 

Thanks to all the mags who've featured my shop - I really appreciate it! 

xxx

Mini pillowcases

So last weekend I got out the sewing machine and ran up a couple of mini pillowcases for a couple of pillow shaped cushion pads I had, whose covers I was sick off... and this was the result...

 

They are made from a vintage tablecloth and I've just added a couple of little buttons I picked up ages ago... finally put to use!

PS: is anyone having trouble with Blogger's new image uploading tool?! Its driving me up the wall!!

xxx

Cupcakes & Dancing

Wednesday was my birthday, and the other half and I had the day off, I hate to work on my birthday! I got some lovely gifts, one which was on my wish list for a while, this lovely chunky throw from Lombok...

 

you can also catch a glimpse the pigeon wallpaper in the background in the 1st pic! Its not quite finished, but looking good so far! Claude is loving the throw too, she keeps snuggling down on it, and pawing at it!

Another lovely pressie was this perfect little cupcake - which came from the Butttercup Cake Shop. Yum.

My surprise gift was the below which, at first I was slightly baffled by, but in fact they were to represent  tickets to see the Royal Ballet in Covent Garden! hurray! We went on Wed night, and had a lovely lovely time. :) 

We also revisted the Orange Pekoe tea shop in Barnes, West London, planning on Afternoon Tea, allow sadly we were too early, so had lunch instead, still v nice indeed. 

And today I got this beautiful bunch of flowers from my work colleagues and more cake! :) 

All in all, a very lovely birthday thanks to my also very lovely other half! And thank u to all my family & friends for your fab gifts and good wishes! I feel very spoiled! :) 

xxx

Damson & Slate, Wales

Well Autumn is well and truly here... For me, I know summer is long gone when I come out of work at 6pm and its dark, its the final nail in the coffin! But we must to be optimistic, what is good about Autumn/Winter?! Closing the curtains, lighting the fire and getting the kettle on and snuggling down on the sofa, thats what!!

Welsh company Damson and Slate have some lovely cosy things to make it even more enjoyable... 

 Along with all this cosy loveliness they also have some lovely kitchenware items ...

 xxx