wild at heart

I have two more things to do for my small wedding in July; get shoes and choose the flowers for my bouquet. Not a shoe person I am holding off the latter task until I can brave a day of proper 'sole' searching.

Even before I got engaged I already had an idea of where I would get more flowers. I have lived in London for nearly 7 years and one of my favourite places is Liberty the department store. I will have to do a separate post on this place alone. Liberty is housed within a mock Tudor building and in the lobby of the main entrance is Wild at Heart florists. The smell of the flowers each and every time I enter the store is evocative and brings me so many memories. So for sentimental reasons I have chosen this florist.  It also helps that Wild at Heart is a modern and chic florist that is so far removed from flowers that you get from the supermarket.

Even though I am still 5 months away from the big day I wanted an idea if I could get the kind of wedding bouquet I have in my head. But first I needed to know what I wanted. As my wedding is small and not dictated by a colour scheme I can basically get anything I wanted provided the flowers were in season. Out went my first choice of peonies as these are a Spring flower and not guaranteed in July. I also wanted to stay away from roses as for me they are a bit cliche and I wanted something different.  Below is a selection of bouquets I have found overtime that I like but have ultimately shown me that I like textured but simple bouquets.

I definitely want the stems showing so that the full form of the flowers can be seen. I also want them to be tied simply with a simple ribbon.

meet fergal and olive...

...our cats.

I don't want to be a crazy cat lady but I love my cats. Living in London its difficult to give the room and space a dog deserves. Plus we are out of the house most of the day and this would not be fair for a dog.

A cat on the other hand is a bit different as they are more independant and sleep most of the day.

Both Fergal and Olive are from unwanted homes and have long stories to go with them. Anyway I got them both within their first year of their lives and they live happily with us now.

Fergal is small and a very handsome tabby. He acts like a dog and follows us everywhere around the flat. Like everywhere all the time. He is also quite needy and can't be left on his own for long.

Olive is the lady of flat and basically we are all her minions. She is very cool and laid back and the complete opposite of Fergs.

Worm fun.

zzzZZZZZZZZZ

nathalie lete

So let me introduce you to my latest obsession..Nathalie Lete plates from Anthropologie.

I remember seeing these a while ago but the price put me off as I had just purchased a property and hence colourful plates were not a priority at the time. Anyway I was in Anthropologie on King's Road at the weekend and they were still there and fortunately for me, my friend offered to buy two for me as a way of a thank you for letting her stay at my place for the weekend. 

I love Nathalie's illustrations for their colour and quirkiness. Her website is here. She is half french and japanese and I can see influences from both cultural backgrounds in the style of her work.

An obsession doesn't stop at two plates so I went back and bought four more. I actually want two more so my collection is a nice even eight but the OH has told me enough is enough...for now ;)

I have seen many stating that they buy the plates for display only but I think these plates are so delicious and good enough to eat.....from.

I love them all but I think the girl and boy plate are extra quirky

reworked vintage side plates

As noted previously, the first batch, of my "new" crockery arrived in the post. I am being lazy, as I could simply just go to Shoreditch/Brick Lane/Portabello Market to search for the stuff at a much cheaper price but quite frankly I work in Central London and I commute 2 hours a day on the cramped tube, 5 days a week. This does not include meetings that I have throughout the week either. So I do not voluntarily venture back out there if I really don't have to. Plus, there is always something nice about receiving things in the post.

I really like them and I really like http://www.etsy.com/ when you want something a bit different.

diy cotton napkins

Yesterday, I completely gutted my kitchen cupboards to rid the old for the new. Let me tell you there was a lot of old! Recently, I have been inspired to revamp my crockery as its a bit samey samey matchy matchy (technical description). What I want is a mix and match of vintage and new crockery but with a bit more character.

So I have been buying vintage plates on ebay and etsy to start this process off. The other reason for this change is because we have some planned visitors staying with us over the next few months and I want them to start their days with a full english breakfast served in glorious splendor. I feel after writing that last sentence I may haveset myself up for a fall but I am willing to give it a go (to achieve the splendor and not the fall :)).

My other half was away visiting family in Holland so I was left twiddling my thumbs for most of the weekend....which is fine because I revelled in my alone time. After searching online for some cotton napkins (to kickstart the planned glorious splendor as mentioned above lol), there was not a lot that I liked for the price I wanted to pay. I then remembered I had a remnant of some Cath Kidston fabric that I bought some years ago with the intention of covering a chair cushion. The cushion never got covered and now I thought it could be put to good use as my future napkins. I googled "how to make cotton napkins" and the rest is Sunday night history.

Cutting out the fabric. I pre washed the fabric so to prevent shrinkage.

Folding the hems. The fabric was a bit damp which I found easier to work with.

Pinning the corners.

The finished articles. They measure 16" x 16".

Funnily enough I don't know how to operate a sewing machine so everything was done by hand. I kind of like that as I find it quite therapautic.