This Week's Love Affair...

I am so in love with these bags.  Designed by the amazing Clare Vivier and available from the fabulous Bodie & Fou.  Gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous!  Trying hard not to obsess over owning one of these but I can hear them calling to me - and it would be rude not to answer surely?!

 

Blooming Summer!

Our garden is a farm garden.  For those not in the know, this means that the farmer NEVER gardens and his wife, yours truly, rarely has the spare time to give it the attention it needs [all on her lonesome].  The result - a partially [and I do mean partially] cultivated field!

I went out to pick some flowers yesterday and realised, pretty quickly, that we have little left in bloom in the garden at this time of year apart from wild flowers.  Bad planning, I hear you say!  Planning?  What planning?  I rest my case!  I did find enough flowers to create a couple of pretty posies for the house and workshop...

 

Busy Doing Nothing...

I don't know about you but I find it impossible to sit doing nothing, even when I'm watching TV, so this is what I have been working on lately.  The pattern was a devil to get the hang off, initially, but now I can do it in my sleep [well at least without the pattern anyway]!

I love the retro design and the colours, which I have chosen for my sitting room, work well together too.  I am already planning another version, in bright, citrus colours [possibly for the Lloyd Loom chair in our bedroom].  Just need to finish this one first!

Let There Be Light!

When we moved our shop to new premises recently, I designed the window around these gorgeous lights.  They represent all that I love about good design.  Not only are they extremely stylish but they are also made from recycled plastic in Britain by some lovely people.  Now, if that doesn't 'tick all the boxes', I don't know what does?!

 

 

 

High Days and Holidays

We have just returned from a lovely week's holiday in Scotland.  Chris found us a wonderful 'home from home', with Wilderness Cottages, on the fabulous Applecross peninsula [Wester Ross].  Since words fail me when it comes to describing the beauty of this place, I thought I would let my photos do the talking for me...

Applecross Bay in the evening light

Applecross Bay in sunlight [with Skye & the Cuillins in the distance]

Butterfly Orchid

The fluttering flags of Cotton Grass

This lovely hand-carved sign caught my eye...

A very pretty Marsh Orchid

Bacon and Eggs anyone?

A beautiful day on the beach

Sleepy Head!

Applecross Walled Garden - a cultivated haven in the midst of wilderness!

A lovely corner of Applecross walled garden

Our gorgeous 'retro' cottage

A hidden cabin bedroom at the top of the stairs

The view from our cottage windows [over our own terrace on the beach]

Vintage Nautical Interior

Coffee at Shieldaig with my 2 favourite travelling companions!

Just to show that the sun didn't always shine on us!!

A river runs through it...

A mill pond at Lochcarron

Bring the summer in...

I put this mood board together to remind myself of what summer feels like - even when it isn't apparent outside!  This is just a small selection of the lovely things we have in store right now.  The gorgeous images were taken by Kevin Peschke of Millennium Studios. I'm now dreaming of blue skies, sandy beaches [preferably deserted ones!]and white-washed beach houses... 

 

A Great Giveaway!

We are GIVING AWAY one of our Stags Head Tea Towels, worth £10.00, with EVERY ORDER placed on our website from Friday 10th June until Friday 24th June 2011.  These gorgeous linen union tea towels have been specially printed for us, in Great Britain, and are based on our best-selling vintage linen Stags Head cushions.  Get ordering whilst stocks last!