happy couple (lovely dress)

This weekend we are celebrating my parents diamond wedding anniversary, married sixty years ago in 1951. I can't help thinking that my mum's lovely dress reminds me of another famous wedding dress!

london

There's no escaping the big event in London tomorrow and I have to say it has suddenly become quite exiting! There are lots of flags and bunting and plenty of guardsman action. Any excuse to dig out my vintage london books. Seeing London - I love the red elephant bus, the classic This is London, and a schools broadcasting book from the fifties showing Westminster Abbey decked out for the coronation in 1953. I am now off to polish my tiara!

mermaids

Margate was looking festive last weekend for the recent opening of the new Turner Contemporary art gallery, perched on the edge of the harbour and looking crisp and new in the sunshine. Plenty of mermaids to be found, shell ladies in Margate, Lucy and her cousin Flo on the beach and my mermaid cushion looking at home by the sea in my sister's lovely house in Broadstairs

three out of three

We had a gloriously sunny weekend in Broadstairs, the beach was looking stunning in its chalky seaside colours and I was able to fulfill my three wishes; flip-flops, sun screen and burnt sausages. (Well, actually I'm cheating, we cooked the sausages today in our garden in London)

new old books

It's becoming hard to find charity shop books that didn't start out life as 3 for 2 at the airport. But these two are little treasures. The first, Artists of a Certain Line by John Ryder, a pocket sized show case of children's book illustrators from the sixties, many of them unknown at the time but soon to become familiar illustrators of Puffin paperbacks. I also love its wood grain binding. And the second - Petunia's Treasure illustrated by my favourite Roger Duvoisin, the 'silly goose' finds some treasure and gets rather above herself in the farmyard.

I am off to the seaside for a couple of days, hoping to wear my flip flops, eat burnt sausages on a beach and use up some sunscreen - perfect! A happy easter to everyone!

in my beautiful balloon

 

My ballooning screen-print is ready to go! Available now in my Etsy and online shops.
I was originally inspired to make this print when we were woken early one Sunday morning in our sleepy Spanish village by what sounded like a fire breathing dragon outside our window. An enterprising local firm had started selling hot air balloon rides, launching from the nearby riverside and complete with Catalan breakfast involving cava and cake. I am now experimenting with another colour version of the print, not sure what yet, maybe a hot pink/orange/brown combo as everything is getting a bit blue and grey at the moment, any ideas?

launch report

The bloggers were out in force at Libertys for the Decorate launch yesterday evening (there must be a collective noun for a bunch of bloggers, what could it be?) Like news-readers it was a surprise to see that they had legs or even heads and bodies! These events are all about making connections and as I am the worlds worst networker I was very glad to have Lucy, my homegrown 'PR assistant' with me to stop me from hiding under the table. I was very happy to meet among others Rebecca, Alexis, Kate from The Fabric of My Life, the lovely chaps from Mini Moderns ( I really love their new Whitby wallpaper) and Will from Bright Bazaar which is a new blog to me and lots of fun.