Wonderful Woodbridge Weekend

Well what a lovely weekend we had. Mummy butterfly & I decided that we would stay over to save the driving, early mornings & most importantly sample some of the local cuisine & fabulous restaurants. We went to The Cross for dinner Friday evening for some scrummy vegetarian delights (poached eggs & asparagus for dipping = yum!) & great service in an eclectically cool surroundings. Saturday was The Crown which has had a huge make over & is stuff of décor magazines! The service was exceptional & food was lush. Another good evening.

Anyway we were there to sell our Butterflies & Hurricanes wares. The set up was in the quaint market square & it looked very pretty indeed. Candy striped roofs on the market stalls and bunting fluttering in the breeze. A great selection of lovely crafts, delicious food (the stall next to us had the best goats cheese, pesto & asparagus pasty) & tempting vintage clothes & homeware.

Of course I treated myself to a couple of vintage dresses which I shall post later this week – I may need some expert reader advice picking outfits for some events I have coming up!!

We met lots of lovely customers & caught up with super duper stall holders which is always fun. I think we could talk vintage for England!

Check out the knitted bunting! It's awesome & was displayed by St Elizabeth Hospice stall. Their stalls are dangerous as they are piled high with goodies... I am the proud owner of a large round vintage suitcase. No real need, just liked it!!

Apologies for the lack of photos of the rest of the market, clearly I was in a self absorbed mood - I shall have stern words with myself tonight.

Oh I also recently picked up some bits & bobs to adorn the stall. Old tins which sold very well, some picnic bits (I don't know why - memories? bright candy stripes? Magpie? all of the above!).

Oh I hope you like my denim bunting too, made out of old jeans & shirts. Not quite as effective as the knitted version but I like it. xx

Woodbridge Weekender

This weekend is the Woodbridge Weekender (in Suffolk, lil' ole England) and myself, Mummy Butterfly & my lovely friend Emmie are really excited.

2 days of vintage & cool handmade clothes, accessories, gifts & homeware - in the sun!! Yes I have put in my order for decent weather - dry at the very least. The Met Office has been listening & the report looks good ha ha.

Lots of my dear friends are also excited about this event. Last time a car load of us bizzed down there, had a little lunch out (with wine oooh) and purchased a few treats. We had a thoroughly lovely day out.

If you fancy something a bit different in a gorgeous town filled with nice boutiques and restaurants, then Woodbridge is for you. Oh did I mention free parking too??

What more could you ask for? xx

Little Miracle in Malvern

Well I don’t know about you but this weekend I just happened to discover possibly the best boutique B&B!

This year has been full of unusual events and this weekend I returned to the Malvern Hills for the second time in as many months. Not bad for somewhere I couldn’t have located on a map previously (yes I admit Geography is not my strongest subject!).

I had been to a wedding in Eastnor Castle the last time, where we drank (maybe a little too much) champagne whilst the firework display lit up the lake & forest below the stunning castle. Quite a decedent event & a fabulous wedding. The next day was not quite so fabulous as we were feeling a little second hand to say the least! We considered a brisk walk in the beautiful countryside & chose a nice drive & several pints of sugary soft drinks in a pub garden instead!!!

Anyway, this weekend was just as opulent (quite a contrast from my DIY & car boot purchasing weekends!). I was invited to an Aston martin DB7 weekend in Wales. It clashed with various vintage fairs and amazingly I was torn (I do love my Vintage). The decision was swung when I was told that I could drive the DB7 some of the journey!! The roar of the V12 engine does make me giggle like a small child offered the keys to a sweet shop. What a beautiful car & when there were 25 variations in one place it was definitely a little piece of eye candy heaven!!

On the way over I decided a stop off at the Malvern’s would break up the cross country trip & what a break it was! Treherne House was our destination – a boutique B&B & possibly the nicest, friendliest place I have ever stayed.

Relaxing, sumptuous, spoilt rotten, delicious cuisine ….. The décor was fabulous, attention to detail was incredible and the friendly & helpful warm welcome from the owners Mark & Alex made for perfection. We spent much of dinner chatting with the other (very lovely) guests, who were gushing with compliments about the place & wonderful owners. We felt like we were staying with friends. I was really sad to leave even though I had the rest of the weekend ahead – and a sexy car to drive too!

I could ramble on for ages about this place, it was so sweet & I’m definitely going back. I would have taken photos of the décor and detailing but silly me forgot to charge the camera battery! There was an antique wardrobe I would like to have taken with me – sadly the Aston didn’t have a tow bar & a trailer would probably spoil the streamlining ha ha. The room was filled with all sorts of useful goodies like a Cath Kidson knitted cover hot water bottle, we had (very nice indeed) wine in our room on arrival (always a winner with me) and a great selection of nice herbal teas & coffees (I think this is missing at many hotels and I like to have a cup of tea in my PJ’s!).

Anyway I had a fabulous weekend and I got to wear lots of sun dresses in the daytime & party frocks in the evening. We had a walk up one of the Malvern Hills in silly slippy leather shoes and unsuitable attire (floor length sun dress & clutch bag!!) much to the amusement of the hiking boot & trainer wearing visitors. Luckily the weather held out too, what a lucky girl I was. It’s very grey & wet in Norfolk today, but I’m indoors & I don’t really mind!!

Hula Hula Hopeless

In the attempt to tone up (not scare my girlfriends) for some serious bikini wearing action hanging out in this fabulous weather, I have planned in stepping up the exercise. I get up an hour earlier to embark on 30 mins to an hours core or cardio work. The flaw in the plan is that my daily planned regime is only actually happening twice - ok if I’m honest, once a week – clearly not enough sadly.

My latest brain wave was to purchase a hula hoop!! Genius I thought, how hard can it be? I was ace at the hula as a child, surely it’s like riding a bike??? Errr actually it’s not. My first pop was ½ a spin before it plummeted to the floor. Determined that it must just be a forgotten technique I tried again….. oh dear I am truly terrible at it. There are even exercise classes with hula hoops – thankfully I didn’t sign up before finding that I suck.

I think the random puffball shirt in the photo could be the answer though. Hides a multitude of sins, cupcakes, muffin tops ...... although I think I might sink if I tried to swim in that.

Has anyone else found that this is so much harder as an adult? Wholey unjust ha ha!! However I shall endeavour to master the spinning waist trimming accessory …. Will keep you posted!

Sunflower Surprise

I had a big surprise yesterday when a package arrived for me in the office.

It was just another Wednesday, then a big box arrived from Interflora. Once I had stopped warming up the office from the glowing heat radiating from my face and the guys had tired of teasing me - this took some time I'm sure you can imagine!

Anyway the flowers were very beautiful and a very sweet message in the card too. They were from the (obviously new) boyfriend who has been working away for a few weeks.

I decided that I would split them up into 3 arrangements so I could enjoy them in different rooms. Please excuse my floristry (lack of) skills!

The pretty pink roses are in a vintage cabbage coffee pot (of course!!) that belonged to my dear Gran.

Next to them are the sweet little tea cups & cupcake plates that I found at a carboot sale - I can't part with them. The other yummy thing is a bottle of pink champagne that my bestest friend and her fabulous bf sent me for my Birthday. Yes it is a miracle that it's still unopened but it's being saved for a special occasion.

Whilst I was taking photos I thought you might like to see one of Mummy Butterfly's master pieces. Most of the canvases in my house are painted by her, clever thing! I love this sunny sunflower, it brightens up my teeny tiny hall and makes me smile.

Wishing you all a happy Thursday xxxxxx

Something useful for the weekend??

I have been looking for a nice weekend bag for a while & not had much luck. Ok I admit that I'm rather fussy and I don't want to pay crazy money either.

Anyway I found a lovely website today with patterns! Amy Butler Design has some gorgeous items in fabulous fabrics to buy. For some reason I think that I might have enough patience & skill to make a weekend bag ha ha. If I actually do I shall post the evidence - it will most likely just be a pile of fabric!!

She also has lots of other patterns for bags & cute dresses. All very inspiring indeed and definitely worth a look. xx

A very busy craft & vintage market

Wow, the attendance for the Waterfront Market in Ipswich was incredible. Deben Events certainly know how to advertise & there were loads of blogs, flyers & emails bouncing around telling anyone who might listen. Many thanks to all who helped pass on the good word xx

It was sunny much of the day, the location was gorgeous and the stalls were brilliant. Too many nice things to buy & lovely stall holders to gossip about vintage with.

As always it was great chatting to the owner of the most unique stall & fellow blogger Beach Bygones stall is literally all about the beach – vintage swimsuits, floral swim hats, picnic baskets, wind brakes …. It’s brilliant.

Also there was my fabulous vintage loving friend Emmie looking brightly coloured and very pretty – a contrast to my harsh & haggered all black & lack of sleep look! I thought it was fine to go to a Keeping Abreast Charity Ball & get 4 hours sleep & then pop off to do an event. Not drinking helped, but maybe should have returned home before I became a pumpkin!!

Then there was the rather glamorous Kathy who we were on a stall next too. She packs her rail & high end vintage clothing into her convertible – no boring estate car or small van for this lady! We did however discuss the merits of a magical pop up stall… if only they existed!

The little pussy cat went to a good home too.

Anyway, it was the day of the t-shirt & vest top. There was a lot in interest in the vintage scarf tops & the new granny vest. Looks like I had better get making before the Woodbridge Weekender (another brilliant event of vintage & contemporary niceness on Sat 12^th & Sun 13^th June in Woodbridge Suffolk)..

It was a nice but long day & by the time I got home I was pooped. Pizza, a hot bath & bed for me.