Catch-up

I have neglected my little blog of late. June has speed by in a blur of exams, reports, meetings with parents, interviews with incoming pupils, rehearsing for our school production........

                  I found this in the window of a shop waiting to be re-fitted. What a beautiful sentiment!

And to put it into practice, Sass-Belle were having a sale, and these lovelies were 50p each!

I hope July will be a productive month blog-wise! See you soon!

30 Days of Creativity Parts 10 and 11

I had a jewellery session after school with Breda a couple of weeks ago, as she wanted some earrings to match a necklace and bracelet she bought at the British Museum shop. They are golden fresh water pearls and amethyst, such beautiful colours. We experimented with the wires for dangliness!

We had enough for a kilt pin brooch as well!

And this one for Suzanne for her birthday. I chose white and crystal so it would go with anything.

Share the Blog Love - give a shout out to some of your favourite bloggers

A big "Hello my lovelies!" to the ladies who write such inspirational posts, share their lives, loves, skills and talents, and brighten my day with beautiful photos and words when I come home tired from a long commute, or to start my weekend.

So thankyou to Riitta (ROMUYYLI ), Rinda (galloorganico), Helen (helenphillips), Madelief, Hollie (mia fleur), Koralee (bluebirdnotes), Emma (mimiandtilly), Mama Syder, Betty (CUT AND DRY) Ylenia, Maria Glazacheva, Natalia Glazacheva, Liz (shortbread&ginger), Kathryn (Katgotthecream), Christelle (paysdemerveilles), Jane (yarnstorm), Elizabeth (rosalilium), talesfromanoccottage;  and new blogfriends Marion (mytwogirls), Ada (vintagesheetaddict), Daisy (lazydaisyjones), Heather (mylittleredsuitcase), Marisa (nourbesephotos), Aga (passionshake),  Ale (homemadeatmyplace). And for your sweet and encouraging comments on my blog; thanks so much for visiting, and please be welcome any time!

I would love to meet you all in real life too, for tea and cake in vintage china!

Day in the Life - take a photo every hour on the hour

A school day, so a usual day in my life

7am, apple puree, yoghurt (homemade) and granola. Fairly typical.

8am, on the Piccadilly line, just coming up to Hammersmith

9am, working on some admin

10am, writing some reports.

11am, on my way to class

12 noon, in my office before my next class

1pm, on my way to class after lunch

2pm, in class

3pm, on my way to register my form

4pm, making some earrings and a kilt-pin brooch for Breda from a bracelet to match another bracelet and necklace she bought from the British Museum, amethyst and golden pearls.

5pm, at Lambeth North tube station. 

6pm, walking home from the station, passing these gorgeous rhododendrons!

7pm, making nectarine, apricot and mango jam, stage 1

8pm, stage 2

9pm, stage 3

10 pm, peppermint tea

11pm, shower

in bed before midnight (fairly untypical!)

Home Sweet Home

Mrs Robin in her nest, in a hedge in our back garden in Wiltshire. She's guarding 5 tiny eggs!

Our Home Sweet Home will be a while yet, but our onslaught on the garden continues. We are discovering lots of colour behind the forest of brambles!

Favourite Decade?

Easy! The 1920s. Sophistication, glamour, Lagonda sports cars, tea parties, cocktail parties, fancy-dress parties, shingled bobs, flapper dresses, cloche hats, Louise Brooks, Brideshead Revisited, Vile Bodies (my all-time favourite novel)  the Mitfords (a slight obsession of mine), Noel Coward, singing, dancing and piano playing....................... Just too heavenly daarling!
I know I would have had to have lived through both World Wars, but looking at my grandparents' photos of that time, it all looked like one amazingly happy decadent decade.

A most amusing read, from 1925.

National Museum Day : your favourite museum or experience

Yesterday was National Museum Day

My favourite museum? Too hard to choose just one! I love the Victoria and Albert here in London with its vast variety of beautiful archives, the National Gallery and Tate Britain for the Turners, my all-time favourite artist. But, I love the Uffici, too in Florence, and the Rennie MacIntosh museums in Glasgow, and the Russell-Cotes in Bournemouth, and the Ashmolean in Oxford, and the Fitzwilliam in Cambridge.....

We went to see The Tomb of the Unknown Craftsman, Grayson Perry's Exhibition at the British Museum a couple of years ago. Fabulous! If you didn't seen it, he curated his own work alongside artefacts and pieces in the permanent collections that inspired him; from pilgrimages to amphoras. The entrance has his wonderful pink motorbike with a throne for his teddy Alan Measles (too precious to exhibit - he has a stand-in in 'Ted') for their roadtrip around Germany. We bought the catalogue and some postcards to remind us.

Here we are, reflected in the wheel cover!