Lavender and Linen

It's back to work today after a relaxing week off and the sun seems to be coming out ! Yesterday I dug out all my old linens and following a tip from Niki Fretwell's lovely book 'Living With Nostalgia' Vintage At The Stonehouse, I boiled all the linens in a large saucepan with a washing tablet. I then got them all dry on the washing line  amazing ! They certainly came up lovely and white with only a few tea stains remaining. My kitchen reminded me of my Grandma's on wash day when I was a child. I remember her putting the copper on and fishing out the steaming linens with her wooden tongs. Anyway I sorted the linens out in to those to keep, those to sell at the Vintage fair, those to lend to Lesley for the vintage tea room at the fair and those that are damaged to cut up an make in to lavender bags. I then cut the remaining lavender ready to dry, there seemed to be mountains of lavender on my kitchen table and the whole house smelt wonderful.Saturday was spent trying to be creative which doesn't come naturally to me, my friends would tell you I am probably the least artistic person they know ! Anyway inspired by The Crafty Trundler's posting at Clover Cottage I went to Focus and purchased a roll of the lovely blue CK inspired wallpaper. I then used it to line an old brown suitcase I had picked up the previous week at a car boot sale. As a finishing touch I hand sewed a little heart lavender bag with the remains of some lovely CK fabric I used to make a curtain for my utility room. I am quite pleased with the result, the lining could have been better as the insides of the case weren't flat. I will probably take it along the Vintage fair in Nov if I don't use it myself.