Autumn Flowers

The house seems to have been full of flowers this week. On Sunday we took mother in law to the annual dahlia show at a lovely garden centre nestled between thatched cottages in a pretty village in the east of Northamptonshire. We regularly go to the garden centre because it is so much nicer than a lot of the well known ones we have locally that are the same wherever you go in the country. This year we arrived towards the end of the dahlia show and my mother in law was given an arm full of dahlias once they started dismantling the arrangements.

I have never particularly been a fan of dahlias but after living with these for a week I think I have been converted. They are so cheerful and such fascinating shapes and forms I can really see why people love them. We also have a lot of different varieties of sunflowers in the garden and they really cheer me up too. I love the colours of a lot of the flowers this time of year particularly all of the heather colours. The Autumn pots are now planted following our visit to the garden centre, I really like the purple ornamental cabbages I have used with pansies and ivy.

The house is in chaos this week as we are in the middle of decorating the hall stairs and landing and work is also pretty demanding. I am doing a stall at our local antiques and collectables fair with Debbie on Saturday so at some point between now and then I have the mammoth job of getting all my stuff ready ! Oh well, back to work.

London Weekend

I have been away for a couple of days in London with my daughter. She loves London and shopping so we usually go in the school holidays. It was exhausting as always but the weather was kind and we enjoyed doing a bit more walking than usual and exploring new areas. One of the hi- lights for me was visiting the 'Prints Charming' exhibition in Libertys. I didn't realise it was on until I turned the corner in Carnaby Street and was confronted by the back wall of Libertys that looked as though it had been wallpapered in the most amazing pink flowery paper. On closer inspection you can see it is a heavy canvas but it looks brilliant. The design is 'Betsy' created in 1933 and is from the Liberty archive.

In the front windows were wonderful displays, I was particularly taken with this felt doll dressed in lovely liberty prints. There were more of these inside as well as felt brooches, each one a different vintage style face with liberty fabric hair bows and scarves, beautiful but very expensive ! She is sitting on a chair surrounded by scraps of fabric and with a chandelier made entirely of fabric.

Finally I just had to take a photo of this lovely pub just off Kensington

High Street. The hanging baskets of flowers were just so colourful they made the whole street look cheerful. I did think about the poor person with the job of watering them all though !

I didn't get the chance to visit a few of the shops I had planned to as vintage style really isn't my daughter's thing and the trip was for her. I think I will probably go back myself for a day once she is back at school. I did however manage a visit to the lovely CK shop on Kings Road after patiently waiting around in Jack Wills.I treated myself to a few things including the pretty tin sugar shaker I had had my eye on and a lovely big sewing tin to store all my bits and pieces so I was happy.

The Sun Is Out

Well, the sun finally came out and I made an early start at the local hospital car boot sale. I had never been before and as it is quite small wasn't expecting much . However I was pleasantly surprised and came away with various bits and bobs including some very pretty brooches and a lovely big Blue Bird Toffee tin.After all the rain I ventured out in to the soggy garden, some of the flowers have survived the battering.My favourite colours in the garden are dark pinky reds.